It's been awhile...

Life sure keeps us busy. I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with everything once I start working again! I'm officially done with classes next week, and then I start student teaching and Sam starts daycare :-( at the end of January. It'll be hard to be away from him, but I think he'll like the new toys and the socializing. We just stopped by there today to drop off some paperwork and meet the other kids. Of course, in our short visit, Sam managed to get pushed down by a bigger kid and ended up with a bloody lip! He's okay though - just needed a little TLC and a kleenex.

Sam is 18 months old now, and so far he says the following words (though I'm sure I'm forgetting a few):

baba (for sippy cup or milk)

cheese

wawa (water)

please (though it there's no "l" so it sounds like "peas")

shoes

door

all da (all done)

baby

puppy

dada

mama

snow

eye

ball

car

tree

hi

bee

He uses this last word not only for pictures of an actual bee but for anything that is tiny - ladybugs, pieces of fuzz, crumbs, a piece of hair. He gives me these things and says "bee" and wants me to do something with them. There are lots of other words he will say when we ask him to repeat after us, but he doesn't necessary use them on his own. For instance, if we ask him to say Uncle Reed, he'll say "uh-oh wee".

We have taught him some baby signs, and he seems to pick up on these right away. He knows signs for milk, more, hungry, all done, please, thank you, and apple. It just melts my heart when he uses these. Especially when he uses the sign for please and says please at the same time - it's just so darn cute! He also likes to help us around the house now, like unloading groceries and putting them away.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my parents house - Sam's favorite things to eat were fudge, cranberries, and pumpkin bars - he refused everything else. The next day, we forced him to have a strict vegetable only diet, so hopefully things are now back to normal, but see how happy he is when filled with Thanksgiving goodies:-)

We got to meet little Emmalyn on Friday - she's so sweet and tiny! Her mom, Lisa, and I have been friends since 7th grade!

We have our Christmas tree up now. My grandmother gives us a Minnesota Zoo ornament each year (she's been a volunteer there since 1979), and they are always made out of wood, so those are the ornaments that are kid-safe and near the bottom of the tree. So far, Sam likes to point at them and talk to them and he's pretty good (most of the time) about not taking them off of the tree, so I think he's on Santa's good list this year:-)