Samantha at 46 Weeks

I know I've mentioned this before, but Samantha loves taking walks in her new stroller that Grandma and Grandpa Toll got her for Christmas.  We try to go on family walks every night after dinner with Roscoe.  She really enjoys them, and it gets us out in the fresh air for awhile.  Here is Samantha in her stroller and also wearing her new outfit she got for Christmas.  It's twelve months, so it's a little big for her, but we wanted to make sure she had a chance to wear it before the weather gets too warm.

Now that the weather is getting so much nicer, we have been trying to spend more time outside.  One night we stopped at the swings at our apartment complex and pushed Samantha in a baby swing for awhile and we even let her experience how the prickly grass feels on her bare feet.

We love to just watch Samantha play in the evenings and try to give her lots of unstructured playtime.  It's amazing how she is learning the meaning of no, and things we don't want her to get into (like the cabinets on our entertainment center or side tables, or even the trash cans) she seems to just leave them alone because we have said no and redirected her so many times, it's almost as if she's listening and following directions.


This past week Samantha got her first real bruise.  She was pulling herself up on the side table by our couch, lost her balance, and fell into the knob on the door of the table.  She turned her face and knob got her square on the cheek, making it turn bright red and a very upset little girl.  Later on, after the redness faded away, she had quite a good sized bruise left on her cheek.

We think Samantha is cute in most everything she wears; however, this past week a parent from my school got her a new skirt and shirt, so we had to try it on her right away.  She kept trying to eat the shirt, so we took it off and it resulted in a shirtless girl in a skirt, quite the funny sight.

I think I forgot to write about this a week or so ago, but Samantha has started clapping now.  She went through a stint for a few days where she would clap all the time, when her diaper was being changed, when we clapped ourselves, in her carseat, or just random times when she feels like it.  Here is a video we got of her clapping.

Other new updates of the week are Samantha eating a lot more than usual and climbing the stairs!  Ever since her nine month appointment we have been feeding her breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and she would maybe eat around three jars a day.  Now, she eating around four and a half jars a day.  She'll eat a jar of fruit mixed with three tablespoons of baby cereal for breakfast, plus sometimes she'll even start another jar of food.  At lunch, she'll usually finish that jar she started of vegetables, plus eat a jar of meat or another vegetable.  Then, for dinner she'll finish anything from lunch and eat another jar, depending on what she's eaten throughout the day.  We were so surprised by this increase in her appetite.  It'll be interesting to see this continues.  We are also giving her a lot more of our food, if we can, like small pieces of bread, bananas, grapes, peas, plain noodles, anything we think she may like.  Also, like I mentioned above Samantha is now climbing the stairs.  She has climbed all the way up several times now, of course always with us spotting her from behind.  We have to watch her a lot more carefully now because the stairs are very intriguing to her.  She loves to explore!


A couple of cute things about Samantha are how she sleeps with her legs pulled up under her and how she moves around her hands.  Every once in a while I get the privilege of peeking in on her while she's sleeping or sneaking into her room in the morning (past the loud noise her bedroom door makes when opened) without her waking up first, and seeing what position she is sleeping in.  Of course she's always on her tummy, but lately I have seen her sleeping with her butt up in the air and her knees pulled up under her, as well as her arms tucked under her chest.  It is extremely cute, but of course, it's always too dark in her room to be able to take any pictures.  Also, almost everyone that sees Samantha notices how she moves her hands around.  She holds her arms out to the sides and almost rotates her wrists around.  It's hard to describe.  She does it most when she is excited about something, but she was also do it when she gets overly frustrated.  This little character trait of hers is very endearing.