Slam Dunk

In the eyes of our little man playing inside is equivalent to being left alone in his crib. He loves it outside, and we now even have to shut the garage before we take Samuel out of the car so he can't even seen the outside. Playing in the garage is almost as good so we now leave one car outside and leave him room to push around his cars, and pull his wagon's.

Last weekend, I was out of town for a friends engagement party and Ben and Samuel stayed in town. The weather in KC wasn't great so the boys were stuck inside. Dad thought it would be a great idea to unpack Samuel's basketball hoop and set it up in the living room (where we have no room, this was still in the box so we could put it in the basement) and from the pictures Ben sent and the stories he told me they had a blast. Sam would dunk the ball, and then chase it laughing, he even tried to throw it in the hoop. If dad tries it Sam has to do it to, its really fun to watch the two of them together and watch Sam imitate his dad. Who knows Samuel may just be the next Kyle Korver!

Samuel has always been a pretty good eater, but lately he only wants to eat what I am eating. If I have something on my fork or on my plate even if he has the same thing on his plate he wants mine. Earlier this week we were having bratwurst and we had cut Sam's up into pieces but he quickly told us he wanted the real deal. Here is our little man trying to fit the entire brat and bun in his mouth!

15 Months

Samuel turned 15 months almost 2 weeks ago, which meant we also had a trip to the doctor. No surprise Samuel continues to grow like a weed both up and out! He weighed over 27lbs and is 33 inches tall! I can't believe our little guy is already over half as tall as me, not that it takes much. This was our 1st appointment with our new pediatrician and she was really nice. Samuel was a little tentative when she got close but he warmed up to her by the end. What he didn't like was that she had beach balls tied from the ceiling that he couldn't reach, he was trying to stand on his

toes and do everything possible to reach them, it was pretty funny.

We have been taking Samuel to the park most weekends and a few weeks ago was the 1st time we let him go down the slide by himself (not sure if we should have tried this months ago.) and he loved it. He would climb up and sit down and go down the slide and each time his smile got bigger and bigger. It was so great to watch, I tried to take some pictures but I never captured it as good as it was to be there. Lauren and Sophia came with us to the park and they chased each other all over. They would try to jump on the shaky bridge to make it move and then giggle really hard, they are so cute to watch together.

Thats some wild hair!

Samuel is such a little boy. He can't get enough of the trucks in the neighborhood, holding some type of ball, making car noises, using technology (ipad, iphone)and playing with dirt, sticks and anything he can find in the yard. He is constantly making piles with sticks, rocks and pinecones (OCD??.) He points only to buses cars and trucks outside and has tried to wear dad's baseball caps around the house lately. He found this dirty baseball in our garage and wouldn't put it down to do anything. Even looks like he may have a pretty good curve ball! He loves to climb on everything inside and outside and is so glued to the windows when we are inside so he doesn't miss a beat watching the men building the house behind us. You would think he had just seen a bowl of blueberries and goldfish, but no the workers have just added a new shingle to the roof, amazing what generates excitement at our house these days.

As much as Samuel loves being around older kids, he is really interested in babies these days and he is very careful with them. He just looks and looks like he is puzzled and then points and giggles (we hope these are signs of a good big brother some day.)

Magoo Mobile and the Outdoors

Two weeks ago I went to Omaha to visit some friends and throw one of our good friends a baby shower. Samuel and dad decided to have guys weekend in Kansas City and they had tons of fun. But when I got home there was a cozy coupe in its box not assembled. Ben quickly told me it was going to take an engineering degree to get this thing together. So of course I put it together (not simple, but no engineering degree needed.) Putting it together before it was warm enough to take outside was one of our biggest mistakes. Samuel loves his cozy coupe, which we have renamed the Magoo Mobile and always wanted to be inside, but when he petaled he would go backwards so was constantly running into the walls. If we took him out of the car he would just get back in and whimper at us to push him around. Ben and I then took turns of doing 10 laps a piece around our house and then forced him to petal backwards. But regardless of what we did he never would get out of his car, so we eventually had to hide it in our bedroom so that we could relax.

We have been really fortunate since that weekend, with the weather in KC and have been able to take the Magoo Mobile outside. Samuel loves the outdoors, and falls to the ground like the world has ended each time we bring him inside. So most days we spend from the minute we get home until dinner and then until he goes to bed. Samuel loves to play in the grass with his football, ride in his Magoo Mobile but most of all he loves playing with all of the kids (they are everywhere) and looking at all of the trucks. Our subdivision is still under construction, and they have broken ground on 4 new homes right by us so Samuel gets to see trucks all the time. He loves cement trucks and trucks with crane's. It is so fun to see how excited he gets when they come or when we go and look at them. We are thrilled that Sam loves to be outside so much, but can't imagine what we will do when next winter comes.

I promised Ben I would share this picture with everyone. This is Ben's favorite picture of our little man.

Thank Goodness for Technology

This weekend Samuel was able to meet his great grandmother via Skype. We all wish that Skype was an added visit in between face to face visits, but with us living so far apart we haven't been able to get together but we hope to make it to France soon. I have tried to get my family there to start using Skype but wasn't very successful until my dad got there this past week. So today Samuel was able to meet his great grandmother. In the past we have had to hold the computer away from him, or he will quickly disconnect the call, but today it was as if he knew this was someone new, and he sat and just babbled, smiled and looked at the screen. Samuel waved and walked to the camera too. This was a great moment for me to see, but was wonderful to see the smile on my grandmothers face. We hope this is just the start of many Skype sessions to come.

We had a fun weekend here, Samuel was able to play with his friend Ella on Saturday and they went to the pool and had a great time. My friend Sarah and I were watching the kids shivering and purple lips but they were determined to swim as long as we would let them. Samuel learned how to jump into the pool from the side, he would stand on the edge and get to excited/nervous and then finally jump off the side.Then Sam got to try pizza for the 1st time and I think he wondered why Ben and I had held out for so long. Ella pitched in and feed him the pizza and it was really cute to watch her feed him, he loved it.

Then today he was able to get to go and see Lauren and Sophia the twin girls down the block. Samuel was excited that they smiled for the 1st time when he arrived, he thinks they are remembering him so it was a great play date. Samuel used to love brushing his teeth, but these days we can try everything and he is like a steel trap. Here's a picture of me trying to get the toothbrush in for even a second.

Samuel also wants to wish his Jiji a Happy Birthday!!

The men of my life that I love more each day!

Double the Fun

Samuel has been having a lot of fun lately with his two new friends. Our neighbors down the block have twin girls just a month older than Sam and he can't get enough of them. Its funny, she dresses them the same and so the first time he would go to one and then turn around and see the other one and smile. We have been trying to have weekly play dates so I can watch Samuel and see if he tries to bite anyone (which he hasn't, YEAH!) and for her girls to start spending time with more kids since they stay home and its hard for her to get out with twins, can you imagine its tough enough with one that wants to get out and go everywhere I can't imagine two 14 month olds. Sophia and Lauren have a basement of toys just for them, its like an activity center, and Sam gets so excited to see all of their toys, and when we come home he looks at his toys like old shoes, its so sad - one reason we are so excited to have our basement done and space for Samuel to run around and put up his big toys we have kept in boxes since his birthday.

With Valentines Day being this week Samuel had to make some tough decisions, he decided it wouldn't be nice to pick just one of them to be his valentine, so he asked them both (what a ladies man.) Samuel had a good Valentines day, he still doesn't get it, but that didn't stop him from opening all of his packages on his own and even got his cards out and gave them to us to read to him it was really cute.

Also, this past weekend his Papster (Ben's dad) came to visit. This is a great age for them to interact. They really bonded on this trip. Samuel sat next to him and let Papster read him stories, which he never does for us. Samuel even went to the window when he left, to tell him not to go (or so it seemed) we really wish they lived closer, and look forward to their next visit.

Some of Samuel's favorite things these days are moving the chairs around the house, pulling toilet paper off and carrying it around the house, turning the lights on and off, saying uh-oh, being outside and taking Sunday morning trips to WalMart and running around the store.

Bitting cause we love??

Over the past few weeks Samuel has turned himself into a world class bitter. Samuel never bites while he is at home so we were surprised when daycare started calling. It is now rare for Ben or I to not get a call during the day from them telling us Samuel has bit another child. Samuel hit his climax last Friday when the school sent him home because he wouldn't stop biting the other children.

This has really been stressing me out, so I have contacted our pediatrician and a daycare specialist about things we can do, as well as visit every google identified search on the web. We are now realizing that Samuel may be biting because he thinks he is giving kisses/love to the other kids. We started observing him at home and realized if we asked for a kiss and let him sit there for a while he would open his mouth like he was going to bite. So is Sam bitting because he loves? We aren't sure, but we feel horrible if we are perpetuating it.

Looks like this kiss could have turned to a bite really quick!

Needless to say we are not asking for kisses at this point to try and avoid any issues. In addition, Sam is getting his molars and we think this may be causing some of the pain, and so are trying to offer him teething rings during the day to sooth his teeth if they are hurting him. We have shared this and other ideas our pediatrician gave us with our daycare and we are so lucky that they are wiling to work with us on them and try to help Sam. Daycare never shares who Sam bit and they don't tell the parents of the bitee which child they were bitten by. Even though I know this, I still find myself dropping him off a little later or getting him a little earlier in the chance that a parent may find out that we are the biting family. What they are doing seems to be working and the last two days at daycare we have been bite free, which has caused for much celebration at our house. Please keep your fingers crossed that we are through the worst of it.

When he's not biting he has become a little helper around the house. Every day when we get home from daycare I tell him to go let his dogs out and he walks right up to their cage and opens it so they can get it. The dogs almost tip him over but he thinks it is really funny. After they get out sometimes he crawls in. He loves his dogs and wants to do whatever they do, its cute.

Smiling and so proud of himself each time he opens their cage.

Sam has also found the plunger in our house and now carries it around and walks into the bathroom shower with it and tries to use it on the walls.

Then he has also started trying to use the vacuum and the broom around the house. Its amazing to us on how quick kids pick up on things like that and want to try it on there own. Finally he loves to put Ben or my shoes (no high heals) on and our jackets, hats etc. and walk around the house, until he stumbles or gets bored which usually isn't longer than 30 seconds these days.

Happy Valentines day to everyone!!

Toddler Pictures

I thought I would share the link here of Samuel's 1 year picture. I have promised family and friends to put this out and have done a bad job of it in the past.

www.jlinephotography.com/viewing

Select the 2nd page and then select the Levy Pictures

Password is Samuel.

Enjoy, they turned out pretty cute, its amazing how our little man has changed in just one year!!