Samuel: 17 Months

Hey Little Buddy,

Today you are seventeen months old, nearly a year and a half! You are such a big boy! People kept asking us all week, "How close are your kids?" When you are next to Maddie you appear to be closer in age than your two years and two months difference, what with your big noggin and solid body.

These days we call you Mr. Mayhem and Destruction. You are crrrazy: opening drawers, uncapping bottles, unscrewing caps. One day this week you opened my hairspray and sprayed it into your mouth! You think of getting into things Maddie completely overlooked.

You still aren't talking much, but have an entire slew of sound effects, most of them transportation related. When a motorcycle sounds in the distance, you raise your right hand, bend at the wrist as if to rev your imaginary engine, and blow out your bottom lip with a "brmmm, brmmm, brmmm." Any train is met with "Ooo Ooo!" Fire engines: "OOOooooOOOOoooo," and planes "OOOOOOOooooooo." You are tuned into an entirely different world of noises and entertain us with your ongoing narration of transportation events.

You have quite a personality, making your desires and distastes known with gusto. No longer does Maddie rule the roost but you are a full, expressing participant. You love to give hugs and snuggles, but on your own terms. You do NOT like to have toys removed from your hands. If someone else is eating something yummy, you WILL have a taste. When you don't get your way, you will run quickly away, turn around and throw yourself down in protest. If I try to pick you up in order to provide emotional comfort and consolation, you run in the opposite direction, crying louder.

You are strong and capable of many things, the first worth mentioning being the ability to climb out of your crib. You have done it twice now, noiselessly, sneakily, until you find yourself trapped behind your closed bedroom door. I have planned many, many more months of you sleeping in that crib, in those circumstances, and I am quite afraid of what said months may look like.

You love to run, climb, throw, kick, dance and spin in circles. You can also grip a crayon or paintbrush and love to join in family craft time. You love to listen to music, play on the piano or keyboard, bang on drums and sing as we meander the aisles of Trader Joe's (I understand completely. TJ's makes me want to sing most of the time, too, with their affordability and range of delicious items).

You are funny and charming and quite delightful. Old ladies love you because you are constantly flirting, batting your eyelashes and smiling at any silly joke. Young girls love you because you are easy and friendly and go to just about anyone.

You love peekaboo and especially love to be scared. Sometimes we will chase each other around upstairs for long periods of time, you never ceasing to belly laugh when I jump out, scare you, tickle you and tackle you to the ground.

You have a sneaky side that enjoys rifling through bathroom drawers, purses, tampon boxes, makeup bags and the like. You have a knack for making a mess of whatever room or area I just finished picking up. An uncanny knack. It's as if you follow me around waiting for a toy to be put away just so you can pick it up and toss it to the ground.

You love to get dirty, to play outside, to dig and create and fill your clothing with just about any type of fine dirt, sand or the like. Just your two shoes alone might hold more dirt than the typical mole hill. You will climb a large hill, mound or pile and then slide down, bootie first, grunting and sliding and gliding your way back to solid ground, filling each pocket, crevice and crack with good, fine earth.

You continue to be sweet, loving and affectionate. Your childcare worker at Family Camp told us with great joy and passion about the time you walked up to her and kissed her cheek. You make friends wherever you go, your cheeky, toothy grin winning over people immediately and your precious, engaging personality making them fans for life. I've spent hours this past week just staring at your sweet face, admiring your long eyelashes, pink lips and rounded cheeks, amazed at your incredible cuteness.

Thanks for continuing to surprise, amaze, and delight us with the sweet boy you are.

Love,

Mama