One of the main joys in my life right now is rocking that sweet boy to sleep for his naps and at night. He's the best sleeper, which blows my mind to be saying given what he put us through his first year of life! He's super easy to put to bed... read a book or two, say goodnight to Daddy/Bubba/Maya, and then rock him in his room for a few minutes then he happily goes into his crib with his blanket in hand and either falls right asleep or jabbers for a few minutes then falls asleep. Every once in a while he'll fuss, but never for more than a couple minutes. It's dreamy. We dropped his morning nap at around 15 months old and he now naps after lunch for a couple hours and then sleeps from 8pm until around 6am. No complaints here.
Samuel's a great eater and especially loves bananas. And those fruit/veggie squirt pouches. And bread. And just like Beckett we taught him to do "cheers" with us with a bite of food and it works magic getting him to eat things on his plate after he's lost interest. I mostly weaned him after he turned one, which was a little sooner than Beckett, but Sam had this habit of scratching my neck when I nursed him and I'd had about enough of that. But then he had this nursing renaissance where he decided he wasn't ready to give it up and decided to drop his velociraptor ways and be super sweet about it so I still nursed him for a bit first thing in the mornings until recently. So for the first time in more than three years I'm not pregnant or nursing (or both) and it's bittersweet for sure.
Samuel absolutely adores Beckett and copies his every move. Since Beckett is often playing baseball, Samuel has picked up on it too and can throw a ball pretty well (we think he's left handed!) and hit a ball off the tee, and he even taps the plate before swinging. He and Beckett have started playing baseball together in the backyard but other than that they mostly play independently, just in the same room because Sam always wants to be wherever Beckett is.
The two main things I want to remember about him at this age is how incredibly cute and easygoing he is. I think 1-1.5 years old is my favorite baby age. I know Kolby and I are super biased but we just think he's the cutest kid in the world and not a day passes that we're both not making several comments a day about it to each other. Everything he does is cute to us and he's just such a joy to have around. He doesn't like getting into his car seat (although he's totally fine once he's in and the car gets moving) and he gets fussy when he can tell it's lunch or dinner time but the food's not ready yet, but other than that he's happy all the time and is super easygoing and content. He's a little bit more clingy to me than Beckett was when we are in new places or around new people, but he warms up quickly and has a great time whatever we're doing. We're starting to see some of his personality come through and I think he's going to be pretty laid back. He's docile around other kids his own age (he doesn't push or take things from others, and he doesn't freak out if he's pushed or something is taken from him) and plays really well with Beckett and his friends. One part of his personality that we really get a kick out of is he loves to get into trouble. Not as in he gets into trouble often or looks for trouble, but I mean when he does and he's told no--he LOVES it. It energizes him. He runs away at twice the speed of his normal run and has a face that reflects how pleased he is with himself. I'm curious to see how that aspect of his personality plays out over time, but it gives us a glimpse of a little wild streak in him!
Risky Business!
His lack of teeth does not slow him down!
I took him on a one-on-one date to the aquarium--this picture below is really misleading because mostly he was just interested in the stairs and trash cans and any divots in the floor.
Bowling birthday party for William
We play at Liam's a lot and he tries so hard to keep up with the big boys!
With his godparents, Chip & Sherry
Another day, another mall playground to conquer
Garage sale and donut date with my little sleepy buddy
Our friends have a bunny and Samuel was obsessed!
On the way to the ranch we stopped on the side of the road at some bluebonnets
He played for 15 minutes by himself, hallelujah!
His head tilt smile just about kills us
A little tea party with cousin Kirby
For Memorial Day weekend we were down in Wimberley and it was just me and Kolby's parents and all four grandkids, and the kids all came down with the flu. A super mild flu, thankfully, but it made for an interesting time!
On the mend!
We are so thankful for our church community and for friends even our kids view as family. Sammy needed a little snuggle from Chip one Sunday.
Neighborhood pool for the win, again!
