Merry Christmas!

Well, Sam's first Christmas certainly was a big one! He had a great time watching everyone open his presents, but once again he was mostly interested in the paper and bows. It was a wonderful day for all of us. We had so much time to sit back and relax, to eat a wonderful Christmas dinner, to play with Sam, to give him lots of hugs and kisses, and to soak up and enjoy every detail of Sam's first Christmas.



He got some circus-themed Peek-a-Blocks, Touch and Tickle Roll-a-Rounds, Laugh & Learn Nursery Rhymes CD Player, and a teddy bear that plays Lullaby from Yiayia and Papou. Some friends of the family, got Sam the Learning Friends Phonics Bus, some clothes, a play flip phone, and a baby chick with a Santa hat that lights up, walks around and plays "Chicken Dance."



He loved all of the activity and sat in the middle of his toys playing for hours (not consecutively). He loves for us to stack the blocks so he can knock them over. He likes to chase the balls around the floor (he's crawling a bit better now - still the combat crawl though). He also likes the lights and spinning "CD" on the "CD player." His favorite toy while we've been here has been Taki, a teddy bear that says the alphabet and numbers in Greek. Yiayia bought that about two or three years ago. We actually have one at home too, but he hasn't been interested in it until now.



Here is Yiayia holding Sam on Christmas day. I was actually standing behind Daddy holding Taki so Sam would give us a big smile.



Now that the presents are all opened, Sam has easy access to the tree. We can't turn our backs for a minute or he'll be under the tree trying to get the ornaments.



We went to go see Chris's grandmother at the nursing home on Christmas Eve. It was the first time that she had seen Sam. Sam was very sweet. He patted her on the face and laid his head down on her pillow. Chris's grandmother is about 94. Everyone at the nursing home calls her Yiayia.



Here is Sam "playing baseball" with Papou. It's really a squeaky toy, and Sam smiles when we squeak it. He's gotten a lot of play time in this week. We've had a lot of fun getting down on the floor with him. His fine motor skills are improving -- he can really grab things, but he's not at the point where he can pickup something with his index finger and thumb.



Since we are on vacation and have plenty of time to relax, Sam has gotten to take a long bath every night. He is actually starting to grab the faucets to try to stand up! Boy are we in trouble! He'll be up and running any day now.

Here is a video of Sam playing on the bed after taking a bath and getting ready for bed. We took this video with Papou's new digital camera that he got for Christmas.

-- Emily