two years with sam

Today the precious baby of our family is two years old! I can hardly stand it! I have to say, Samuel is forever a baby in my eyes. He is just the sweetest, cuddliest, cheek squeezing-est, melt your heart-est little thing. I love, love, LOVE my Sam-O and I can't imagine this life without him!

What is the world's cutest 2-year-old up to? Thanks for asking...

- Weighs 27 lbs (36%) and is 35 inches tall (66%)
- He wears size 18-24 month in tops & pants, 24m or 2t in one-piece outfits, and size 6.5 shoe. He actually still wears 12-18m in some of his shorts, and this fall he will still be able to wear a lot of the stuff he wore last winter.
-He loves bananas, blueberry waffles, grilled cheese, pretzels, hot dogs, toast, pancakes, pizza, cheese, ice cream, milk, and water. Sometimes he will eat grapes or oranges. I have yet to find a vegetable that he likes. He kind of a terrible eater--eats like a bird and won't try many things. He loves milk and ice water.
-Goes to bed at 8:00 on the dot every night and sleeps til 7:00-ish am. Naps from 12:00 or 12:30 until 3:30 or 4:00. He is the world's easiest kid to put to bed. This won't always be the case, I have learned, so I am enjoying it.
-He sleeps with his paci, his Mickey Mouse, his Duck, his blankie, and his pillow. He looks completely adorable cuddled up with all these things!
-He talks non-stop and can say just about anything imaginable. It's super easy to communicate with him and understand what he wants (for us at least, but other people do seem to say so as well)
-He has started this funny thing lately where he ends almost every word he says by repeating the sound at the end of the word. For instance, "I want more milk-k-k-k" I think it must be because he always hears me & Noah sounding out words?
-He can count to 12 and sing the ABC's. He's learning colors and I guess I should work on him with some stuff like shapes, etc. It's terrible that I don't even think about those things with him! Most of what he learns, he just picks up from us and Noah.
-No "baby" toys for this boy, he wants the Cars, Rescue Heroes etc. that big brother plays with. He has actually started getting into trains though, which Noah is pretty much over at this point. And he loves all kinds of blocks. He knows the name and/or number of almost every Cars car that we own, and is picky about them just like his big bro. He especially loves Lightning McQueen, Mater, and #7.
-He could play by himself all the live-long day. He is perfectly happy to just sit down and build with blocks, race cars, color, play in the sand table, or do anything by himself for long stretches of time.
-Loves being outside, coloring, putting on shoes, watching Mickey Mouse or Cars, going down the slide, sleeping, playing chase, and just being happy!
-In true second-child fashion, I haven't given any thought to potty training, moving him out of his crib, or any of those "big boy" things that were already in the works for his brother at this point. No hurry with this one! I do often think of taking away his precious paci...but then I move on to thinking about other things :)
-I may regret saying this and I'm knocking on some wood as I type, but he is a really obedient kid. When I tell him to stop doing something, 8 times out of 10 he actually stops doing it! This is new territory for me :) And he does have a 2-year-old temper and attitude, but in my opinion it is really mild. He's really a pleaser.
-He is just an easy-going, compliant, happy, content, full-of-life, smart, tender-hearted, fearless, always smiling, SWEET boy.

I just have to post pictures of my sweet boy from throughout his second year. Here is Sam growing up before our very eyes, month to month (actually, I really don't think he has changed all that much since his first birthday! Many of these pictures look like they could have been taken yesterday, to me at least) In the next couple of days I will post some more of the scrumptious 2-year pics I captured of him recently.

Samuel, you are a blessing straight from God! You have taught us that love really does multiply, and that we can love two completely different--opposite, in many ways--children with every single bit of our hearts. God has huge plans for you and I am just thankful to be along for the ride.

We're going to have a great day celebrating you, and we'll celebrate you all over again next weekend with your little buddies!