4/7/14: I can put my sock on!

April 7, 2014

After many months of taking her socks off, Samara has learned how to put them back on. The first time she was able to do it today, she let out a big satisfied noise and looked very pleased with herself.

Samara likes to repeat her newfound skills over and over again. I watched her take off her sock and put it back on for the next 5 minutes. Then she crawled over to me and smacked the phone out of my hands.

4/6/14: Orange Leaf

April 6, 2014

We brought Samara to Orange Leaf to try her first frozen yogurt. When I asked Samara if she wanted any yogurt, here was her response:

But she gladly took some from Daddy.

We tried to wipe her face, but Samara chose to wipe her nose instead.

After that, she went back for more Oreo.

After a few bites, Samara didn't want anymore frozen yogurt and just wanted to play with the spoons. Seth tried giving her some piece of waffle cone, and the video below captures her need for having a third hand. You might want to lower your volume - for some reason this video is louder than the last one.

4/4/14: On the counter

April 4, 2014

Seth was eating some nuts and Samara decided she wanted some, too. They are kind of messy, so I put Samara on the counter so the mess stayed somewhat contained. When Seth put the nuts away, Samara became interested in the apples.

4/1/14: Stairs

April 1, 2014

Samara has learned to crawl up the stairs (video courtesy of Seth):

so we need to be careful about locking the gate. Her routine is as follows: she crawls to the gate, opens it, goes up a stair or two, and locks the gate behind her. Then she either goes up the stairs or she hangs out on the steps. Samara is doing the latter in the video below.

3/30/14: Gimme those sesame sticks!

March 30, 2014

Samara still hasn't deliberately used words yet, but she does communicate by pointing. When she is hungry, she will point to her high chair. When she is thirsty, she will point to the counter where her sippy cups are located. In the video below, you will see her point at the sesame sticks that she wants. Unfortunately, the video does not show her having a sesame stick in each hand, wanting a third sesame stick, and being confused about how to hold all three.

3/29/14: Playing with my chair

March 29, 2014

Samara's new thing is climbing into and out of her chair. And then she repeats this about one million times until she gets stuck and/or tired.

3/25/14: This is how I take my pants off

March 25, 2014

Well, the title says it all. The first video is how she starts the process. Then she got distracted by her toys for about a minute, which I cut from the video, and resumed when she realized she needed to finish the process.

3/24/14: Typical afternoon

March 24, 2014

Nowadays, a typical evening looks something like this: Samara plays with her toys, she eats dinner, she plays again, we wait until Seth gets home, he gets her ready for bed and reads her stories, then bedtime.

Samara is coordinated enough that she can manipulate the various activities on her wooden activity easel. Today, she decided to see what the wood tasted like:

Apparently, it did not taste very good.

Then she tried pulling the string that was hanging off the bottom of the couch for about 5 minutes.

When 5 o'clock rolls around, it is dinner time!

Afterwards, she waits for Daddy to get home. When she hears the door open, she begins smiling like crazy and crawls towards him. Then, at the last minute, she veers around Seth and his outstretched arms and starts to play with his shoe horn, or his shoes, or a plastic bag. Wuh wuhhh.

3/21/14: I like taking off my pants and trying to put them back on

March 21, 2014

Samara has always liked taking off her socks so she can try to put them back on. Today, she started taking off her pants!

In the pictures below, you can see her try to put her pants back on and then take them back off.

Samara kept getting both legs in the same leg hole, got frustrated, then moved on to playing with her toys without pants on.

3/19/14: Mmmm milk!

March 19, 2014

Transitioning Samara to a sippy cup has been difficult. Only recently has she been able to drink out of one without crying or smacking it out of my hands.

This picture was a small victory because she is drinking out of a sippy, but she was super thirsty. After that she refused to drink out of it.

I had to change to a hybrid sippy bottle to get her to drink the rest of the milk. But look how happy she is now!

3/17/14: Hi!

March 17, 2014

Samara loves waving now. She knows to wave when you say "Hi" and "Bye."

3/8/14: Hello?

March 8, 2014

Samara was playing around as usual before it was time to go to bed.

Then, she grabbed my phone and put it up to her ear! She doesn't know to talk while it is there, but it is pretty cute that she knows its actual function, and that it is not just a chew toy. The last picture is out of focus, but it shows her whole face, so I kept it.

3/5/14: Snacking

March 5, 2014

Samara likes to be very independent and do everything on her own. This includes snacking. She doesn't want you to get the crackers/puffs/whatever out of the container. She wants to stick her hand in the container and take out the snack herself. Luckily, I have a container where I can aliquot a small amount of snack and not let her sticky/dirty/whatever hands contaminate the original stock supply.

3/2/14: Selfie

March 2, 2014

Samara loves playing with my phone, especially when the camera is on and she can look at herself. Inevitably, she takes 10 selfies that look like this:

or like this:

2/25/14: Chillin' in my high chair

February 25, 2014

My name is Samara and I like to put my feet up while in my high chair. It's even better when I am sucking on a fruit pouch.

2/15/14: Fridge!

February 15, 2014

Samara is really intrigued by the fridge. Whenever it is open, she will make her little excited noise and crawl as fast as she can towards it. Usually it closes before she gets there, but today we left it open to see what she would do. I will let the pictures do the talking.

When Samara started reaching for the alcohol we decided fridge time was over. Seth tried rolling a ball back and forth with Samara.

She did this a few times, but then got distracted by the camera: