Big Man Book Worm

Dang...
I had about 3 paragraphs written while Samuel was playing all around the living room, until he decided to climb up to my lap. Somehow, by grabbing onto the end of the keyboard and pulling himself up, he amazingly managed to highlight everything I had just typed and replace it with "22-". How he managed to do this, I'll never know, but what was even more frustrating was that I couldn't get it back. Ctrl Z didn't work and Blogspot is very good at 'auto-saving' every chance it gets. So, it's all lost and now I can't even remember what I had just written...

I guess I can start with the fact that Samuel is really coming into his own independent self. He feeds himself very well now - still working on the pincher grasp and using his thumb and first 3 fingers to shove every bite in as far as it can go, eating his fingers all the way up to the last knuckle. But the food gets in! We're still in the cardboard book phase because he's already torn through a few paper-paged books. He uses his left hand the majority of the time for feedings (his right hand it seems is mostly good for squishing things), but he alternates between both hands for other tasks.

Samuel also LOVES to "read" his books! Whenever we give him the opportunity, he squats down in the middle of the floor, picks up one of his favorites and starts flipping through the pages. He's so smart, too, because I've never seen him read a book upside-down! He'll flip it himself if it's not right side up and then keep on reading! One of his favorites is a flip up book that reveals different body parts on each page like "Inside my mouth I've got...TEETH" or "under my scarf is a...NOSE" so I've been trying to work with him to point to them on my face. The other day (with a little help getting his hand going in the right direction) he grabbed my nose and squeeled with a big smile!

He's cruising around a lot these days, all around the coffee table and couches. He's still hasn't quite grasped the idea that he can turn around when he runs his walker car into a wall or the side of the couch. He still just pulls back and rams it into the object in his way, thinking more force will move it!

Just this week he has started clapping his hands and playing patty-cake! He also loves to mimic what you do with your face, like sticking out his tongue and moving it side to side while making noise. He also makes this strange noise with the back of his throat where he opens his mouth as wide as he can and pulls in air with his throat mostly closed so that it vibrates with this very strange sound. I obviously can't describe it, but if you've ever heard him do it, you know what I mean!

He's also gotten very good at opening the lower cabinets, and I actually got motivated this week to install some magnet safety locks on them like at Andi's house. It was a long and arduous process because I bought the set at a consignment sale and they didn't come with any directions. I was able to find the manual online only to realize that there were a lot of things missing in the set I had - important things like the guide paper to line up the locks on the cabinet door and frame so that the fit together perfectly...oh well. It took 2 tries with the first door, drilling 5 holes in the cabinet door only to realize I hadn't calculated correctly because they didn't line up just right, and having to drill 5 more. But after that mistake, they others went much more quickly. :P

I never posted anything about my birthday, but it was a really great one! I had several days worth of celebrating with Daniel and Samuel, friends, in-laws, and family at the lake. Daniel invited several of my friends out to a surprise dinner for me on my actual birthday. We had a great time, amazing food, and we stayed late finishing off some wonderful while Samuel was with Mimzy and GPA. We went down to the lakehouse that weekend and had a combined celebration for Greg and I (his birthday was the 18th of May and Andi had thrown him a great surprise party at their house). Samuel loves being around his cousins and will just watch them, mesmerized. I got to play golf for the first time in about 2 years (since well before I was pregnant) with Dad, Greg, and Josh while we were down there. It was a great weekend!

Samuel and I went down to the lakehouse again last weekend for the Dairy Festival and had a great time getting to see everyone. I, like a dummy, forgot my camera, but Morgan and Andi took lots of pictures for me. We didn't run in the race, but we had fun cheering on Doug and Morgan. Andi and Anita joined them for the last 2 miles of the 10k and finished strong. Doug was a little worse for the wear having not trained much and not slept much the night before, but he finished with our cousin John pacing him through the end. Samuel was worn out by the time the parade started, but he got his nap in and was ready to play when we got back to the lakehouse. We had some great weather for the most part and I'm really glad I got out of working last weekend to go. :)

Tuesday, went drove up to Andi's house to hang out and go to the pool. We had a great time and Samuel loved floating in the water. Doug and Morgan were on their way up to spend the night and keep the kids tomorrow for Andi, and they arrived while we were still at the pool. Dellaina has become quite the little fish and was swimming on her own in the deep end with her lifejacket. She was jumping off the side of the pool (into someone's arms) and even pushing off backwards away from the side and swimming all the way across the pool. Wyatt was getting adventurous too, and jumping in off the deck. Andi kept trying to get him to float on his back but he wasn't interested at all!

Mom and dad came up to Atlanta last night and stayed with Andi. They're watching the kids this morning while Andi and Greg take a trip to the hospital to see Greg's sister Andrea who just had her heart surgery (it's been planned for a over a year but she just went in on Wednesday). The report is that everything went as expected with no obsticals or problems and she's been moved from the CCU to a regular room. We'll be thinking about her and their family this week for a fast recovery and no complications!

Hope you all have a great weekend!