Don't Get Too Comfy

Things have been good with Sam. Really good. He can do so many things. Like jump. He can jump!! Like lift both feet off the ground jump! But not very high of course. We went to the library read group today and he had so much fun. He was front and center for so much of it. A huge shift from the first visit, where he was very timid and reserved -- and this is only our third time. He likes the teacher and wants to see all the books, play with all the sound makers. He wants to tell her when to change the music or turn the music on or put things away. He is nice with other kids. Sometimes he tries to take other kids' toys of course, but he also likes to give toys to the kids. It's so fun to watch him in the group. Oh, and one of the books today had lots of animals and noises and Sam made all the noises! He rarely will make a cat noise for us, but in group -- it comes out with ease! I think he has a whole bag of tricks that he chooses not to bring out for Mom and Dad.

And he sleeps! Multiple times a week he sleeps for like 6 or more hours in his own bed!! Of course, the other nights he may only sleep like four hours in his crib. But not too long ago he was waking after just one hour. We haven't done things differently. He's just getting older. I think pain from teeth may have been a factor too.

We have very few tantrums and meltdowns. Usually we can expect them when they occur and are prepared to subside them with shifting attention.

Today, I was really thinking about all this, and commenting on it. That he sleeps now. I could feel comfortable going out at night with a friend, or going over to Meg's to watch a movie...stuff like that. Stuff I didn't always feel comfortable doing because I didn't know how hard it would be to get Sam to sleep, and I didn't want to burden Aaron with all of it. Now we have our night time routine which is simply pajamas and story time, and we put him to bed awake in his crib and he goes to sleep. And tonight after bath time we were having a good time playing and getting dry, lotioned, and dressed and I was thinking about how so much of our time together is just fun time now. And then BOOM. Total melt down. He was tired. It was just a run-of-the-mill tantrum really, about a wall decal sticker that he just wanted to keep moving and placing and moving again (I had to say that we'd moved the sticker enough and it was going to stay right there, and he was not pleased). But it just goes to show me, I should never tempt the fates.

He also cried going to sleep. I was prepared to let him cry for a bit, then go get him and cuddle while watching a cartoon or something, but he went right to sleep after just a few tired tears.

He's growing up so fast!

(Oh, and you can tell I'm settling into my new routine and have actual DOWN TIME hence the increase in blog entries. Yipee)

Sam: problem solver

Thank you Stephanie for the super cute, incredibly well-made hat!!

Now, could I please have more cookie? (that is what Sam is signing here)

Things are very fun in Sam land. Still efforts to talk, but not a lot, and it is still sporadic. I have been feeling less concerned though.

I'm so impressed with his thought process, logic, and problem-solving ability. He just amazes me. A story...

Sam loves ladybugs. We get a lot of them in our house, so that's extra cool, for Sam anyway. So he and his dad found one in the bathroom yesterday. Aaron ended up getting the lady bug to crawl onto this rubber duck bath traction thing we have for the bathtub, and then the bug crawled from that to Sam's hand. With the ladybug on his hand, Sam ran to the kitchen to show me. But, on his way, the bug fell onto the floor. Sam and his dad were having trouble convincing the lady bug to crawl onto their fingers. While Aaron was trying to pick up the little bug, Sam ran off with a determined air about him. He came back with the duck bath thing!

THEN

After they got the bug again and it was crawling on Sam's arms and he was giggling, the lady bug flew up to the ceiling. Sam really wanted it back and kept trying to jump up to get it. We told him that the bug was ok up there. But he was determined. He got a yard stick and held it up towards the ceiling, hoping that he could reach the bug and convince it to crawl onto the stick.

I dunno. Seems pretty cool that a 19 month old can problem solve like that. He's amazing.

Library Fun

We went to the library lap-sit for the second time! Sam remembered right away about the sleeping puppy puppet, hidden under the blanket in the basket. And he ran right over and tried to bring him out right away. He was much more outgoing this time and had a really good time. Some highlights included him lying on his back in the middle of the mat after everyone had cleaned up the toys. He's a goofball. I'm glad we've started going to these. He did throw some blocks, but also shared instruments. He's a nice guy.

Feeling Better

So today at the store Sam pointed at a ball and shouted "Bow!" for ball, instead of signing! And then he heard a baby cry and said "bee!" So I think our efforts to encourage him to use his voice to communicate are working! And he really has said these things before, it's just very sporadically. So we're trying to make a big deal when he does, trying to encourage him to talk more.

He really is such a bright boy, I don't *really* think there's a learning disability here. I might still contact the doc to get the referral to the speech therapist for more info, but we'll see how the next few weeks play out.

Also, I forgot to say in the last post, when he drops doing signs, it's because he finds a better way to get what he wants. He stopped signing help because now he just pushes and pulls us to where he wants to go.

Other fun things I want to mention so that I can keep the memories...

He loves playing hide and seek. He covers his eyes (learned this from his grandma) and we count to ten and then go find Meg or Dad or Mom -- whoever is hiding. He loves looking for things. If you find a really good hiding spot, he'll make you hide there again and pretend to look for you FOREVER. It gets a little tiresome, but it's super cute. He will hide too, but it's harder to play a real game of hide and seek that way.

He gives super good hugs, even without being asked. And kisses too.

We got him one of those kids guitars at the store today. He's taking a nap. Can't wait to see him play it when he wakes up.

19 months old

Sam is now 19 months old. Whenever I stop to acknowledge his age, I'm struck with how fast the time moves.

Sam is a toddler. A full-blown toddler. He runs, he jumps (maybe an inch off the floor), he throws, he sometimes catches, he climbs on furniture, he draws, he is demanding and particular and throws tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. Tonight he begged to play guitar. He wants to play the real acoustic guitar, not play things that he used to accept as guitars. And he doesn't want me to hold it. Or even prop it up. He wants to hold it like the real guitar players do. And he likes to use a pick. And He won't even let me prop it up or adjust it. He pushes my hands away if I brace it for him. And he cries if he can't hold it right or if it slips down and isn't upright enough. And he was devastated when we (mom & dad) decided that was enough guitar and had to put it away. Maybe we will just have to get him one of those little kid guitars after all. Or a ukulele. Rockin' the ukulele.

So I'm officially in worry mode about the talking stuff. I don't necessarily think I probably should be, but I am. I started doing some Internet searching about it (always foolish) and Sam is probably totally fine, but...what if he isn't? See, I just don't know that much about speech development. We (those who are around Sam a lot) have been trying to convince him to talk more. The thing is, he really hasn't had to learn to talk. He signs up a storm and communicates so well without it that there hasn't been much incentive. So we are now trying to get him to say things before we give them to him -- stuff like that. We are having moderate success. Not a ton. He sometimes says ball, kinda like bow (like bow-wow). And I think he tried to say banana. Let me see if I can make a list of the "words" Sam uses (this will be redundant) ... he has sounds to signify Mom, a sound/sign to signify Meg, a sound for Clyde, The Who, the song Barbara Ann, Nemo...he sort of has said inconsistently: bubbles, banana, rainbow, ball (that's fairly consistent). He still has lots of signs, though some (like "help") seem to have gone out of fashion: thirsty/water, hungry, sleep (doesn't do anymore), ball, fort (he made it up), dog, bubbles, guitar (made up), apple, cookie, more, cake, orange, play, book, throw it away/put that down (made up)...

Anecdotally, it seems Sam is fine. I feel like most parents I talk to say that their son didn't talk until he was 2 or older, and then he didn't stop! So he's probably fine, but then I read stuff like this:

13 to 18 months
Now your child is using one or more words, and he knows what they mean. He'll even practice inflection, raising his tone when asking a question, saying "Up-py?" when he wants to be carried, for example. He's realizing the importance of language as he taps into the power of communicating his needs.

19 to 24 months
Though he probably says about 50 to 70 words now, your child may understand as many as 200 words, many of which are nouns. Between 18 and 20 months, he'll learn words at the rate of 10 or more a day (so watch your language!). He'll even string two words together, making basic sentences such as "Carry me."

By the time he's 2, your child will use three-word sentences and sing simple tunes. His sense of self will mature, and he'll start talking about what he likes and doesn't like, what he thinks and feels. Pronouns may confuse him, which is why he might say "Baby throw" instead of "I throw."

And Sam doesn't really match these descriptions. But maybe he does, because of the signing. And maybe the 50-70 word count of 19-24 months is just intimidating because there is so much development in that time span.

Bah.

I just always start worrying that I'm doing something wrong. Am I not playing with him in the right way? Do I not devote enough attention to him?

So maybe I will call to get the referral to the speech therapy people. At least then I'll have some more credible information. Even if all I find out is that Sam is doing fine.

In closing, a funny Sam thing: He now is picky about what he wears! He has favorite clothes (including: pistons sweatshirt, hulk t shirt, mr. t shirt, purple monster shirt...) he will pick his favorites out of the drawer and if you suggest something else, he'll throw it down. So funny. I didn't know kids this age began to have preferences about what they wore! I guess I'll have to start letting him do the shopping...


After posting, I read this about when to be concerned:

13 to 18 months
Your child isn't saying any words by 15 months (including "mama" or "dada"), didn't babble before his first birthday, is unable to point to any body parts, or you still can't understand a word he's saying by 18 months.

19 to 24 months
Your child rarely attempts to speak or imitate others, drops consonants from words (saying "ea-ut" for "peanut," for example), doesn't seem to get frustrated when you can't understand what he wants, or only uses single words — no combinations.

And I guess he doesn't meet any of these criteria either...he knows lots and lots of body parts (hair, head, eye, nose, ear, mouth, teeth, tongue, neck, tummy, arm, hand, fingers, toes, feet, legs, bottom...) and is babbling and we understand somethings he's saying and he gets frustrated when we can't understand what he wants, but usually he can convey it through sign or body language...

hmm....

Sam socializes!

So Monday Sam and I went to the "lap sit" at the public library. For those of you, like me, who did not know what a "lap sit" is, it is story time for those too young to really sit and listen to story time. The woman who leads it does a great job. She has a puppy puppet ("Rascal") who starts and ends each session. She does little activities throughout the half hour to get the kids involved and playing. It was really great.

The most fun, of course, is watching Sam with other kids. The age range was maybe 6 months to 2 or so years. There were lots of kids and mostly moms (I did spot one dad!). I sure don't know how to do this group play time stuff. I don't know when to get in there and assist Sam or when to let him figure stuff out on his own. I don't know what to do if he throws a toy -- I mean, he's just learning about that stuff, so it's not like it's always wrong to throw, you know? But what if the toy hits someone and stuff. Anyway, it was fun to watch Sam because first he started off all reserved and quiet. And I could tell if he got nervous he blushed and turned all red. He's truly his mother's child! But after an activity of marching around in a circle (one of Sam's favorite activities), the woman leading the session brought out a bunch of musical instruments. Sam's shyness faded and he ran for the maracas. Fun times! Then after that, when they were winding up the session, she brought the puppy puppet back out. Sam clapped to show his approval and ran over to get a hug from the puppet. I was so proud and laughing rather loudly. It was so neat! I will try to make this a regular event.

Also, seeing Sam in the crowds is funny. He really is a big boy.

Delayed haircut pics. Before, during, and after.