Sam is two! Where in the world has this year gone? I'm serious when I tell you that I blinked and he was two. It has been an amazing year. Sam has grown and changed more than I could have imagined. He is really a little boy now; no baby left in him! I am more in love with him than I was a year ago and I think he is with us, too. He is one sweet little guy. He loves to give hugs and kisses and loves to "duddle"(cuddle". I don't even know where to start in describing him, so I'll just write what comes. He laughs a lot and loud. He makes little boy sounds that no one ever taught him...they are just in him. He loves to observe other kids and things. He could watch tractors for hours. He knows his ABC's and can sing the whole song...there's not much tune to it, but the whole song is there. He is very proud of himself when he sings it...one of our favorite things to do is to listen to Sam in the monitor as he is putting himself to sleep. I really think that he goes through his entire vocabulary every night before he closes his eyes. He also sings a lot while he puts himself to sleep, but he gets so excited when he finishes a song and says "Yay!! singy song" when he's finished, so the sleeping is hard to come by. Speaking of sleep, he does sleep a lot. From about 8:30 p.m. til 7:00 a.m. each night and he usually takes a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. I'm blessed. And, I don't know what I'm going to do when he outgrows that nap. He runs fast. He walks like he owns the world. He talks CONSTANTLY. If his body isn't moving, his brain is going. He never stops. He can't say his "GRs" yet, so "Grammie"(David's mom" is "Dammie" and "Grandpa" (my dad) is "Dampa." We hope he'll get over that one soon. He likes for me to sing about everything. If he sees a truck on the road, he says, "Mama, sing that truck" and I make up a song about the truck. He remembers everything. He'll come up with a story and I have to think so hard about a) what he is saying and b) when did it happen. A few months ago, we went to lunch with my coworkers at La Madeline and he remembered that there was a blue water tower by it. Who remembers things like that? Anyway, he always wants to know everyone's name. If we are at a restaurant and he sees another person, he'll say "Mama, that yady or man"...really loud. I have to make up names sometimes, and I've even asked people their names just to please my boy. He is a clean freak. When he is done playing, he has to put everything away in the appropriate bin. And, the bins have to be in the appropriate cubby. He can throw a good fit. Today, he didn't want me to do something and he just laid on the floor and said "I trow fit." I asked him if fits work and he said "no." He is a handful and there is drama whenever he doesn't get his way, but that's something we're working on. The child is hilarious. He makes up stories and I don't know where they come from! He can count to 15. He recites his books to me that we read before bedtime. He is a joy beyond words and I have to stop now because my pregnancy hormones are kicking in and the tears are flowing. There's a million other things I could say about him. He is truly a gift and I am truly thankful.

Oh, and I should tell you that he had quite a day on his birthday. We went to his Amelia's house and played on her trampoline ,swingset, in her sandbox, on her hammock and in the baby pools. Just about all of our friends were there, so it was a ton of fun! Then, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese with Mimi, Grandpa, Bryan, Amy, Caleb and Sarah for dinner. And, Grammie, Diddy, Mimi and Grandpa gave him a new tractor for his birthday!