Samantha has accomplished so much this month!
- She is now standing with assistance, holding onto furniture or people to practice using those little legs. Not too long and I think she'll be attempting to keep up with her brother...
- She has started saying words! The very first was "ball" but through the month she has added "uh-oh" (a favorite when we drop something), "hi," "bye," and "night-night." It is so sweet to hear her say words and try to speak to us!
- In not-so-happy news, we had to invest in a crib bumper for her because she kept getting her legs caught between the slats of the crib. I'm still not sure how she managed to do this, but it was happening several times during both naps and bedtime. It was disrupting her sleep and actually caused a blister-like mark on one of her thighs :( So, since we had never needed one for Noah, I had to go and purchase one. I'm happy to report that we have not had an issue since, though, so it seems to be serving it's purpose.
- She also got to celebrate her first 4th of July and went swimming for the first time! She was a little hesitant in the pool at first, but seemed to enjoy the water after seeing how she could splash.
- Sam has learned how to put things on her head. Seems silly, but it's awfully cute to see her respond when you ask, "Sammy, are you wearing a hat? Can you put your hat on?"
- I also feel that I should mention that she loves playing cars with her brother :)
Noah updates:
- He has had potty training success! The first time he succeeded was on July 13th, and we've continued to see success since. It probably helps that when he does go, he gets a single chocolate chip.
Enjoying a chocolate chip:
- He has continued to increase his language skills and adds funny phrases and words to his dialogues. Lately he has been adding "probably" to his sentences, as in, "I probably want to eat some strawberries, mom, probably." Or, "I probably want to go to the store with you."
- Noah will tell you that we wants to "play with my cousins, and play with Eli" (a friend) on a near-daily basis.
Family swim day at our house: the Freys, the LoCocos, The Otentis, most of the Blacketers
- We recently let Noah watch the newest version of The Lorax. A few days later, Matt reported that he heard Noah walking around the living room repeating one of the lines, "I will not cut down any more trees, I promise!" Good to know the lessons of that movie are sinking in ;)
- I've also been attempting to improve my health, and started doing workouts at home (thank you, P90X). Noah thinks this is fantastic and will often tell me that he wants to "workout with mommy!" or he will ask me when we are going to work out. The other day, I actually had to promise him that I wouldn't work out during his nap time so he could workout with me. Sweet, supportive boy.
Here we are doing "prison cell push ups"
And another day, doing the warm up -- cardio (he's running in circles) and downward dog:
- And lastly, Noah has continued his swim lessons and is doing wonderfully! He now swims confidently all around the pool with the assistance of his puddle jumper. He will swim back and forth across the pool and even jump in from the side! Hopefully with continued teaching he will continue to progress and not need the puddle jumper for too long.
More summer fun:
4th of July
Noah *loves* to help in the kitchen, especially during breakfast.
Playing cars together.
Sammy enjoying the mirror I got for her one year pics and her room.
Noah told me he was tired, grabbed his blanket and lovey and this was the result.
Noah wanted to help unload the dishwasher, but then saw a coffee cup and a spoon and decided he needed to "stir the coffee, mommy!"
The family enjoying some coloring books while I finish my workout.
Meal time with these two sillies:
Noah's latest -- he prefers to sit right under the TV, my solution was to back him up and let him lay on his very own "movie blanket." Looks comfy, right?
We also typically have to hold "Green Car and Stickers" while watching, also.
