Guitar Man

Beach Baby, Beach Baby

This is how I say "truck" and "kitty"

So, at this point, "truck" is a nasally "crnk" and "kitty" is "kee." Hey, we know what he's saying!

Samson's other vocabulary is really starting to pick-up now, and he understands even more words that he hasn't yet attempted to say. Along with his new verbal skills, he has also begun using his sign language much more. For example, he loves to say "mo" for "more" and at the same time (or whenever someone else says the word) do the hand motion for "more." Another communication game he loves is to point at Mama and say, "Mama!" and then point at himself and wait for Mama to say, "Samson!"

Here are some of his other favorite words of the past couple of weeks:

• Mmm! = yum
• Ahhh! = refreshing (after taking a swig of beverage)
  
• num-num = yum-yum
• brrr = cold
• haah = hot
• opp = up
• puh-zaa = pizza
• teess = teeth
  
• caa = car
• ba = ball
• haa = hat
• gah = goat (maybe this is a cross between "goat" and "baa")
• shish = fish (for fish and any cheese-flavored cracker regardless of shape)
  
• Hi! (to be said whenever passing anyone in public or upon seeing Mama after being out of sight for any length of time)
  

Lefty with a Spoon

Our readers may have begun to wonder why it is that 75% of our posts seem to involve food. It boils down to having a captive subject. When Samson is snug in the high chair, he has a hard time getting away from the camera. Thus, it seems that most of our photography sessions occur at mealtime. That, and during his twice daily trip to the crab sandbox in the front yard.

Here's our first video with the new camera, taken last weekend on Samson's 19th month b-day. He uses the spoon throughout this clip, but in the past week, he has preferred to alternate between the spoon in his left hand and the fingers on his right hand, so mealtimes are now often as messy as they were back when we first started solids! We're not sure which hand is dominant yet. Maybe he'll use them both, like Mama.

Eggs and a Dirty Rabbit

Oddly, given that we're not a particularly churchy family, it appears that Easter has become the source of our first bona fide family tradition for Samson. For the second year, we took a trip to IKEA for photos with the Easter bunny, and earlier in the day, Samson collected eggs in the yard.

Mama hid several hollow plastic eggs and a few dyed boiled eggs along the path Samson usually takes when he goes into the yard: up the back steps, into the grass toward the pool steps, around the house into the front yard, and to the swing. At first, he wasn't that interested in the eggs, but then he realized that the hollow ones rattled when he picked them up, so he could shake-shake-shake like with his musical shakers. Inside were either Matchbox cars (Samson is newly obsessed with all things wheeled) or coins. Unfortunately, the excitement of the plastic eggs made the silent boiled eggs seem boring in comparison, so these were quickly discarded.
((check back here later for video of Samson testing the eggs))

After the egg hunt, the cold windy weather pushed us back inside for some traditional Easter treats. Here Samson tastes his first Peep:

















Then it was time for lunch and a nap, with the outing to IKEA waiting for the afternoon.

As you'll recall, last year's photo session with the Swedish Easter bunny did not result in a very good photo. The amateur photogs were more intent on featuring the IKEA products than the children and the guy in the bunny suit was less than enthusiastic in engaging with the kids. This year, the set-up looked better and the process seemed improved, even if the bunny had a curious brown stain on his head. We waited for a few minutes in line and then it was our turn. Samson seemed fine until we close to the bunny's sofa and he realized that Mama intended to leave him there (if only for a minute). Samson was not in favor of this plan.


Needless to say, we didn't get our free portrait this year. Oh, well... we'll try again in 2009.

We're Walking, We're Walking

For months now, Samson has been doing what the child development people call "cruising," meaning that he could pull himself up and walk upright while holding onto furniture and other objects for stability. For weeks recently, he would also take a couple of unassisted steps to get across a gap with no handy supports, say from the edge of the sofa to the adjacent chair. And for the past few days, he finally began making use of the fleet of ride-on/push toys around the house to go mobile for a few yards, although as soon as the toy met an obstacle, Samson was back down on all fours for scurrying to his final destination.

We had accepted that he might be on the back end of the curve for walking, given that he's a boy (they usually develop later), and a preemie (which often results in delayed milestones through age 2, sometimes forever).

Samson, however, decided that today was a fine day to go ahead and get around like the big boys.


Seeing the other walking toddlers at his buddy Rowan's party yesterday may have given him a push. More likely, he realized that there is a whole new world of breakable stuff at the 2-3 foot level and it's easier to survey and plot a plan of attack when standing on two feet.

Oh, yes, and Samson is itching to start making his own blog posts. Here's the first installment:

#E@ fq `AXw w

Mmm. Crunchy.

Samson had a big day of firsts on Sunday:

• first meal from the kid's menu
• first grilled cheese sandwich (thumbs up, he said)
• first taste of chocolate
• first taste of ice cream (it was the aforementioned chocolate; thumbs down, said he)
• first trips down the big kids' slide
  

And then there's the subject of this video. After the slide, Mama thought it might be okay to let him get onto the ground and check out some of the toys at his eye level. As usual when Samson hits the ground, he immediately had get his hands on it. This was a new sensation, the sand flowing between his fingers. But the inevitable end to any object in Samson's hand is....

Cake

So much fun at the party! Thanks to everyone for showing up and sharing Samson's special milestone. More pics to come....

Slobber Talk

Samson says....

Samson versus Bee

Bad Rattle

Samson just learned to reach, grab, and hold toys this week, but he has a love/hate relationship with these objects. He's 4 mos, 3 wks preemie adjusted age (6 mos, 2 wks chronological age).

A Visit to See the Swedish Easter Bunny's Model Home

So we made a trip to IKEA to have Samson's picture taken with the Easter Bunny. We bundled Samson up to brave the cold, wet weather (it was 37 degrees Fahrenheit in April!) and trekked out to Round Rock, expecting the possibility of long lines and hordes of unruly children in our path. Fortunately, we arrived at just the right time and were able to stroll straight up to the rabbit without even a minute of wait time. Unfortunately, little did we know that IKEA was simply luring clueless parents into their capitalist clutches with this offer of a free photo with the holiday mascot. The end result has got to be one of the worst Easter bunny pictures ever, clearly designed to feature IKEA merchandise over the beautiful children whose proud parents dressed them up for the occasion. Note the fabulous price tag attached to the sofa. Dag-nabbit, IKEA! I guess you get what you pay for...

We've got video

Mama finally found time to set up a YouTube account so that we can post some videos of Samson online. Uploading takes time, so we only have a couple posted, but this weekend we'll add more. The plan is to post at least one video per week so our long distance relatives can see and hear all of Samson's cool new behaviors and activities.

This week's post features Samson and Daddy engaged in their after 5 playtime. Enjoy!

Next week, we'll figure out how to embed the video into the blog and you'll be able to view from here.