Sambo

I wanted to give you all an update on Sam. He has grown so quickly as I look back - he is already 8 months old. He is always surprising me and doing something I didn't think he should be able to do yet. It has been incredibly fun to watch him grow. I feel like having a second gives me the ability to enjoy every phase. With Steven Edward I often just wanted him to grow quicker....so I could see what the next stage looked like, but with Sam I am able to watch and enjoy with anticipation.

*Sam doesn't really like being a baby. This means he isn't the best napper, he doesn't like baby food (he wants finger food), he wants to jump straight to crawling, and he just overall wants to do everything his brother does.
*He is super smiley. It takes nothing to make him smile, but also as a contrast, he can scream better than most. He goes from hot to cold incredibly quickly and can throw a tantrum to rival Steven Edwards when he doesn't get what he wants. He is almost always on the smiley side...but he has learned that if he wakes up from nap earlier than Steven Edward that he can be as demanding as he wants to be because I don't want him to scream and wake his brother. He definitely takes advantage of that time. It is an hour of sitting beside him and playing....or doing things with a 20 pounder on your hip.
*He loves to stand places and play. He is almost pulling up on his own!
*He can go from all fours to sitting very easily. He moves all over the room in a non-traditional manner (a mix of rocking, sitting, scooting, a couple crawling steps...and at times in anger pushing himself backwards). He truly has been working on crawling for 3 weeks. Now he can take 3-4 good crawling steps forward on all fours. He is not built for the army evidently and the bear bile didn't have the same effect on him that it had on his brother. We always swore that is why he crawling like a gorilla!
*He doesn't really like to be confined. He has pretty much given up the exersaucer and the bouncer, and wants to be on the floor crawling or standing somewhere playing with Steven's toys. He also doesn't really want baby toys. He wants his brother's trains and hotwheels. For the most part Steven Edward is pretty good when dealing with this.
*He is my social bug. He is starting to have some separation mommy anxiety (that phase where if I'm not holding him...I probably shouldn't even walk in the room), but overall he will go to anyone, talk to anyone, and smile at EVERYONE! He is the one people stop and remark at in grocery stores and on the street. I never knew Steven Edward was such an observer and a thinker until I had Sam.

I am excited to watch him grow.