Snips and Snails and Puppydog Tails

It seems that Sam has a little “theme” going on with his month-birthdays. He turned 10 months the same day Daddy ran the Cowtown half marathon, and he turned 11 months the day Daddy and Mommy ran the Dallas Rock N Roll Half Marathon. Don’t worry, there are no plans for races on his actual birthday – other than the usual weekday rat race, of course.

So, for an 11-month update: I have no idea how long he is – he’s not much a fan of laying still to be measured. By my best guess, he’s probably around 22-23 pounds. He’s got some crazy, flyaway hair, and he loves to feel the breeze (or, as we’ve had lately, CRAZY gusts of wind) through it. He also likes when I turn the hair dryer toward him. He loves sitting outside to watch his brothers play baseball or to watch Sadie run around the backyard.

There were lots of firsts this month. He’s walking everywhere. He’ll still drop to a crawl if he’s unsure of his footing or in a big hurry, but he’s really starting to like this walking thing. He’s gotten braver in leaving one room with a parent in it to go find the other parent in another room. For example, if he’s “helping” me get ready in the morning, he will now sometimes leave the bedroom and crawl into the living room or kitchen to “help” Daddy finish his breakfast. (Seriously, I think if Bryan would let him, Sam would eat all Daddy’s oatmeal!) He also had his first night away from Mommy and Daddy the night before his 11-month birthday. He has now stood up on his own–without pulling up on anything–twice (possibly a third time, but that one is still in dispute between his older brothers). He has two new teeth now, for a total of 6. Tooth 5 broke through on his 11-month birthday, and tooth 6 was just a couple days later.

He’s still not talking, really, other than a few words at random, and I’m not sure he’s fully put together the word sound with the meaning. Sometimes I think he gets it, but usually I think he just likes the sound he’s making.  But, some of the ones we can sometimes make out: doggie, Daddy, Bubba, hello (this comes out sounding rather Scooby-Doo-ish, which is totally adorable), and sometimes, bye bye. Sometimes he’ll mimic back to you certain animal sounds – he especially tries hardest with “ruff,” “moo,” and “quack.” One day about two weeks ago, I went to pick him up from school, and after crawling over to me all smiles and giggles, he pulled up on me, gave me slobbery kisses and said what I could’ve sworn was “Where Dada?” I’m sure I’m imagining that, but it sounded enough like it to make me do a double take and ask the teacher if she heard that (she said she did). “Hello” has lately been accompanied by him holding his hand, a phone, or anything he’s pretending is a phone to his ear. He’ll grin and babble, then look at you like like it’s your turn to talk.

Sam has taken a great interest in Sadie lately. He wants to pet her (she tolerates this, as long as Sam is in Mommy’s or Daddy’s lap), he wants to follow her around the house. He wants to play with her food and water dishes (she’s been VERY tolerant of that, too. Good Girl!). He LOVES to try to throw the ball for her, and she’s learning to be patient about that. Tonight, Daddy, Sam, and I were playing on our bed before bedtime, and Sadie hopped up there to join the party. She’s not supposed to get on the bed, so we made her get down. Sam popped up on me, looked over the side of the bed for her and – I kid you not – said, “Sadie!” We couldn’t get him to repeat it, but I am confident that’s what he said, and he KNEW who he was looking for. 🙂

And who does Sam love even more than Sadie? His BROTHERS! He watches every move they make. He tries to mimic what they do. The look on his face when he plays with his brothers is pure adoration. He is all smiles and giggles for them. He gives them love and hugs and kisses. He tries to follow them out the door when it’s time for them to go back to their Mom’s house. And let me tell you, Bubba and Bear EAT. IT. UP. They are JUST as enamored of Sam as Sam is of them. Who do the big boys immediately look for after ball games? Sam! Who do the boys run out the front door to greet as we get home? Sam! Who do the boys drop WHATEVER they are doing to try to comfort when he gets upset? You guessed it. They are, quite possibly, the two best big brothers EVER in the whole world. We also credit Sam’s excellent behavior reports from school with him having such fabulous brothers to model after.

So, now we’re officially in the final countdown to the Big 1. Sam’s first birthday is on a Wednesday (the day after Passover ends, in case anyone was wondering. Bryan is ECSTATIC that he’ll be able to partake of real birthday cake on Sam’s actual birthday). I’m excited that the actual day is a Wednesday, so we can do a small celebration while the big boys are with us – our whole family can really celebrate. We’re doing the birthday party for everyone to come enjoy on the following Saturday, April 30, in the afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Guess are coming up, and hopefully most of the Dallas, Austin and Brownwood families can make it, and we’ll have a grand time. Now, I suppose I need to get crackin’ on some decorations, a cake, and PRESENTS. 🙂