Sam, I am TWO!

A photo posted by Mindy Moreland (@mdmoreland) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:40pm PST

Our Sam is 2!

In some ways he seems much younger than this because of the language delay, but even without his words he's becoming such an independent little man with his own clear personality. He can be determined and persistent, he can be sweet and lovey, he can be rough and tumble, he can be one of the crowd or go off on his own.

Right after his birthday he started throwing impressive fits -- the whole dramatic throw-himself-on-the-floor-and-writhe-around routine that I just found fascinating! We put a stop to that quickly but, really, it was quite a sight from our calm little man!

And since he's turned 2 I feel like I approach him differently, like less of a baby and more of a toddler.

So here's the latest from Sam:

• He knows his numbers and letters, can identify animals and sounds, has quite the vocabulary. We are working on counting, colors and shapes. It's important that we continue to teach him things even though he is not speaking at the moment.
• Knows his tongue, head, belly, eyes, ears, mouth, knees, toes, hands. One fun trick is to ask him where his hand is, and he'll pull his long-sleeved shirt over his hand and then "reveal" his hand.
• Consistent sounds -- nananana, mamamamama, d-Uhhh!, tatatata, hotttt (whispered), occasionally a dada dada, ada-ada, oooo, bababa, and ssssss
• Most of his communication is through sounds made in his throat, something I refer to as a Tarzan sound. My Dad is convinced that this is his own special language, and it may be. He has definite sounds that mean yes and no. Adam can now identify them and will say, "I think that he said Yes." His No is a definitely grunt noise and quite clear. 
• He has 20-30 signs, including eat, please, more, dog, bath, bed, shoes, mom, dad, all done, fan, thank you, car, bear, book, airplane, milk, cookie, cracker, moon, cold, bike, excited, go, tree and apple. He only uses a few of the signs with any real intention; he mostly just shows you them when asked.
• Guess who loves baths now! Not sure what changed but he now runs to the tub when you tell him it's time. He'll tip his head up to wash his hair and also happily allows you to brush his teeth without complaint.
• We switched him to a toddler bed because twice he leaned over his crib and fell out. Many nights he climbs in to bed but as soon as the door closes he hops back out to play a little in the dark room before going back to bed (or falling asleep on the floor, usually). In the mornings he wakes and plays in his room until we get him. (However, he is mastering turning the door knob...)
• Sam is now pointing at things he wants. This is a milestone and a nice progression to his language development. We added some pictures to the pantry door, and he has started pointing to, say, raisins, and we'll give him raisins.
• Doing well with his spoon and fork manipulation. Need to work more on open cup drinking.
• New favorite toy is a battery-powered 4-wheeler that he can ride. This was given to Adam at the same age and he was terrified of it. Sam jumps on it and rides it around the basement. Steering could use some practice. He also loves anything with balls or marbles. And playing with phones or iPads. In fact, is quite insistent about having them when he sees them.
• He shakes is head No, another developmental milestone
• He still loves physical activities, especially wrestling with us or Adam. He recently learned how to do somersaults.
• Most nonverbal communication involves grabbing our hand and pulling us to what he wants/needs. He can be strong and pushy when he tries to get you to move somewhere.
• Really enjoys books (and really likes bending the spines backwards on them). He'll just stare at the sight word books in fascination. He's getting better at sitting with us and reading books, too.
• We've started to encourage more pretend play, like feeding a teddy bear or pretending to drink from a cup.
• 2-year stats:  Head 49.9 cm, Length 34.25" (56%), Weight 25.2 lbs (16%). Our 9-lb newborn is really not that far off from Adam at the same age -- less than a pound heavier, less than an inch shorter, head slightly bigger.

We are just enjoying him so much! We had a Mickey Mouse birthday party for him with family to celebrate. He was not a fan of the lit candle and proceeded to backhand it, which sent it rolling across the table. Suffice it to say, there was no blowing out the candles this year. That's ok, we have enough wishes for this little boy.

Happy 2nd Birthday, little one. We love you oodles!