Samantha: 12 Months, Week 2

Once people find out that Samantha is a year old, the next question they always seem to ask is if she is walking or not yet.  She has taken a few steps around the house and is getting sturdier on her feet every day, but she still isn't "walking" on her own yet.  She pulls up on everything and can transfer between one object and another.  She even does some things that look like yoga moves!

She loves to point at objects to show what she wants, and she is very expressive now.  It's a good thing and a bad thing, because now she gets upset if we don't give her what she wants.

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Ben's parents' house in Upland for a double birthday party for Alaina and Samantha.  We had been looking forward to this for quite some time now.  My parents came down on Saturday and stayed the night to Sunday, so they could join in the festivities.

The girls just really enjoyed playing together.  They are beginning to notice each other more and more.  Especially since Alaina is walking and Samantha isn't yet, Samantha would follow Alaina around house.

After lunch, we gave the girls their birthday cake.  They weren't so sure about it at first, but once they realized it was food and it was sugary, they dug right in.  Samantha started by picking off the yellow icing stars on top and eating them one by one, but it was no time at all before she dug both hands into the icing and cake, getting it all over her face and also on Alaina.  There was even one point in time when Samantha ate some of the icing off Alaina's arm!  Ben took an almost ten minute video of them eating their cake, here is just a snippet of the best part.

Here are some close up shots of the birthday girls and one of the both families.

Later in the afternoon, after cake, we let the girls play in the pool for awhile.  It was a warm weekend, so I'm sure the cool water felt good.  (Plus it helped wash the cake out out Samantha's hair.)  Samantha was a little unsure about the water at first, but adjusted to it quickly, enjoying splashing around in the water and, in particular, playing with the cup.  She seems to really love being in water and would have been satisfied staying in longer if we would have let her. We are looking forward to letting her experience more time in pools this summer, both in Bloomington and on vacation.

Then at night, before bed, the girls also got to take their first bath together.  It was pretty cute.  They just kind of looked at each other like, "Hey, what are you doing in my bath with me?"  It's going to be so fun seeing them grow up together.

After bath time, the girls had time to play more together and to open birthday presents.  They mostly got clothes (which wasn't too exciting for the girls), but we also got Samantha a Taggies caterpillar (covered in little tags) and a touch and feel book.  (Tags and touch and feel books are two of her favorites things right now.)

At Grandma and Grandpa Toll's house, Samantha sleeps really well now.  Even if we are in the same room with her, she will sleep all through the night like normal, without a problem.  She normally naps pretty well too, but for some reason she had really good, long naps on Saturday, but on Sunday and Monday, she hardly napped at all.  She would just be up in her pack n' play playing and talking to herself, until we finally just went and got her out.  Not napping made Samantha a rather crabby, overtired girl for our trip home on Monday, making it not the most pleasant two hour car trip.


Despite this small napping issue, we had a great Memorial Day celebrating the birthdays of these two sweet, beautiful, fun-loving girls.  Happy Birthday Alaina and Samantha!