Sam the Man

I just need to brag about Sam for a little bit. He one of the coolest 2 year olds I have ever known but I guess he is also the 2 year old I know the best. Lately I get pretty frustrated with his whining and temper tantrums but when I can sit quietly at the computer at 11:30 at night I realize Sam does a lot of really amazing things and I am so proud to be his Mom. Anyways, here is a list of some of the cool things he does.
- Every morning he wakes up and knocks on his bedroom door so that I know he is awake. This is typically at 8:00 sharp. (He has a very good sense of time and schedule). When I open the door he says, "Morning Mommy" and he usually says it in kind of a British accent. (I think maybe I watched too much BBC on PBS or Monty Python's, "The Holy Grail" when I was pregnant with him). As he proceeds down the hall he says, "George Show?" . Curious George is on at 8am on PBS so we usually watch it together. We both need a slow start in the morning.
- Lately he is on strike when it comes to sitting down for breakfast with me during the week. On the weekend, Mike usually gets up early and lets me sleep in and Sam always eats breakfast for him. So, lately he has some milk and a nutrigrain bar. I gave up my fight of having him sit down and eat a good breakfast but I refuse to let him have what he really wants for breakfast - cheese crackers! In case you don't know, I hate cheez-its and I really don't know why I even buy them for Mike and Sam.
- Right now Sam is pretty geeked up about Christmas. Not so much about the presents on Christmas morning thing but about using the remote that's connected to our tree to turn the "pretty lights" on, his little people nativity set (he thinks it's hilarious to replace the angel with a chicken or camel), snowmen, snow, penguins, and me cutting his art work into snowflakes to hang on the window. Today we got a Christmas card from Matthew, Katie and Zetta. It is a picture of Zetta (my niece) sticking her tongue out. I showed it to Sam and asked him who it was and he got all excited and said, "Oh Mommy, Baby Jesus!" I couldn't help but laugh a little. I laughed even harder when he looked at it again and said, "Oh, Baby Zetta!" in a tone of almost half embarrassed. I'm excited for Christmas morning this year (I normally don't get very geeked up about it; I much prefer thanksgiving). We are having a birthday party for Baby Jesus complete with a cake and party hats. When Sam see's me wrapping presents he doesn't think they are for him he thinks they are all for Baby Jesus or Aunt Maegan, Papa, Nunny, Joe Joe, etc. I think it's pretty mature to be 2 and not expect all the presents to be for you!
- Sam is insanely artistic and smart. He has been able to identify all of his letters for a while now, and most of the numbers from 0 to 9. He remembers things that happen weeks prior and busts them out of nowhere. He names and identifies things that I didn't even know he knew existed. He would be a great contestant on the game, Name That Tune, because he almost always knows what song is on after a second or two. His favorite Cd's are, "Daddy Music, Piano Music, George Music, Elmo Music, or Mommy music". For those of you that don't speak "Sam" that translates to: Mike's CD (Danny and the Lion), Peanuts Christmas Soundtrack, Curious George Soundtrack by Jack Johnson, Elmo music, and Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway (haha). He insists that everyone dance with him which usually just means, "You clap your hands and bop your head while I run in circles like a crazy person!" His favorite songs to sing together are, "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain", "Open Shut Them", "ABC's", and "The Stinky Stinky Spider" (our own rendition of the itsy bitsy spider). Sam loves to color, paint, draw, trace my hands and feet on "big" paper and make balls out of play dough.
- Sam is an amazing big brother. I think he really stops and considers Ray most of the time. He encourages me to go get him the second he starts crying in his crib (even if I want him to cry it out for a few minutes), if Ray is crying he says, "It's okay Ray", he likes to feed Ray with a spoon or bottle, he likes to take a bath with him and wash his toes, he insists that Ray have a binky most of the time, and he usually lets Ray win their wrestling matches. (Although Ray is pretty aggressive - I think he actually wins some of them on his own.)
- Sam has a soft heart. He cuddles when you need it - just ask Papa about how Sam gave him a back rub when he was sad. He takes good care of his lion (including breastfeeding sometimes). He is really receptive to discipline and apologizes without having to be reminded. He says, "please" and "thank you" most of the time too. I think God told Sam that I am one of those people that needs words of encouragement. Sam tells me, "Good job Mommy" or yells, "yeah mommy!" every time I am done vacuuming the floor, and most of the time when I am done putting away laundry, finishing one of his puzzles, unloading groceries... When Sam colors pictures he tells me who they are for and then we have to deliver them. He brings me the phone and tells me who he wants to call that day just to say, "Hi" (but when we call he doesn't talk).

There are lots of amazing things Sam does; I certainly can't name them all here. Everyday he shows me something new and exciting (both boys do but I'll save Ray for another blog). Two year olds have a really interesting perspective on life that we can all learn from. Sam takes every moment for what it is and doesn't give up (unless of course it's nap or bedtime). Speaking of bedtime it's 45 minutes after I told myself I was going to bed...

Good night Lion. Good night Sam. See you in the morning; I love you!