Big Boy Bedroom

We moved Sam into his big boy bedroom about a month ago. He's been doing great! He had a tough time the first night, but he's done fine ever since. He actually staid in bed the first week or so until we would come get him, just like with his crib. Now he gets up and knocks on the door when he's ready for us to come get him. "Mommy! Dee-Dah! Come get me!"

We got all of the furniture and most of the decorations from Ikea. The theme is bugs. It's not very obvious because we don't have the art on the walls yet. We have a cute set of bug sheets, too, but all these pictures are with the striped ones.



This is what the room looked like when we started. Like most Ikea furniture, we had to build everything.




This is the bed, dresser, bookcase, and bench. That's the mattress rolled up in the corner.



Sam had a blast helping Chris build the furniture. Sam handed Chris all the pieces and even helped with some of the tools.



He loved his bed right away, especially this little cubby hole. The bed can flip over to be a loft bed when he gets older.



Sam loved climbing in and out of the furniture as it was being built. We took our time putting everything together. It took us about three weeks to build everything



Of course Sam had to jump on the bed as soon as it was put together!



Helping with the instructions.



Helping build the furniture.



Chris hanging the leaf canopies.



Messy room before we organized everything.



Finished room.



Sam's artwork for decoration and a light in the shape of a bug on the left.



Leaf canopy and a tent on the bed.

Storytime.



Bedtime.



Sam loves the independence of his room. He loves to turn his own lights on and off. He can even get a glass of water from the sink in his bathroom by himself. He's also starting to try to get dressed by himself in the morning before we come to get him. We are so proud of him and of how well he is doing.

Halloween Carnival

I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures from the Halloween carnival at Sam's day care.  It was a lot more fun this year.  We didn't fight with Sam to wear a costume, so he was already starting off in a better mood.

He was a little scared when we first got there, but that didn't last very long.  He started playing all the games as soon as he found out he was going to get candy.

We went to the carnival with the Johnsons.  Jackson was a motorcycle dude.  Check out the cool custom T-shirt that Brad made.

Sofia went as Pebbles.  Jennifer made the costume and it was just adorable!

We took lots of pictures of Sam playing the games.

Pin the nose on the pumpkin.

Does it count if you don't actually try to toss the beanbags?

Cake walk.

Andrea went with us to the carnival.  Here is Sam is telling her about the ducky.  This was Sam's favorite game.  He probably went back to play it three times.  It was like the ducky game that he played at the fair.  That's his teacher Mrs. April in the background.  He kept talking about her funny hat.

Mister

Andrea came to visit a few weeks ago.  Melanie calls Andrea, "Sister."  Sam turned that into Mister.  I tried to correct him, but Andrea liked Mister.  Sam wasn't shy around Andrea at all.  He wanted her to hold him and sat in her lap a lot.  He especially liked having someone new to play trains and play-doh.

We always take the opportunity to take a photo when the three of us are together.  The candid shots are always some of my favorites.

We went to eat lunch at the P.F. Chang's at Watters Creek one day.  We walked around all the green spaces and Andrea stopped for a picture with the bronze horses.

Ahhhh play-doh .... what could be more fun?

We were sad to see Andrea go.  Sam is still asking, "Where's Mister?"

Things Sam Says

Sam has been speaking in complete sentences for a while. You still can't understand him sometimes, but he's started coming up with stuff that makes us laugh.

I'm stuck! - Imagine Sam in his car seat, arms and legs sticking straight out, struggling against the seat belt. We tell him, we know he's stuck, he's supposed to be.

Mimi no get my nose! - Mimi started the "I got your nose" game with Sam. The first couple of times it completely freaked him out. He would even run away from her because he was scared she was going to get his nose. The one day he decided it was funny, and now he gets our noses and his own nose too, and his ear, etc.

Please, Thank You, You're Welcome and Bless You - Yes, he actually has manners. We still have to remind him sometimes, but it's so cute when he does it on his own.

Run, DeeDah, Run! - Sam loves to run. All the time. In circles. Around the house. It's not enough to run on his own though. He either wants someone to chase or someone to chase him.

I scare you! - Sam loves to scare us with his best monster rraaarrghhh. He loves to scare Cleo too. But he really loves combining running and scaring!

Who he is? Who is he? Who is him? - He's started asking us what things are called. It started with his trains. They have their names printed on the bottom, so he would come up and put the train in our face, and ask who is he? Then he started asking about other objects, like pieces of his shape puzzle or alphabet letters.

I minding. - I think this one is my favorite yet. It's usually at least a small fight to do anything: get dressed, eat dinner, take a bath, etc. We're constantly reminding him that he should mind us when we ask him to do something. One morning I got Sam up and he took off running. I called after him to come back and get dressed. And he actually did it. And announced, "I minding, Mommy."

Five more minutes. - So usually when we ask him to do something, he gives us that simple two-year-old answer: No! But, this morning when I told him that he needed to stop playing trains so we could go to school he asked, "Five more minutes, Mommy!" which stopped me in my tracks. Seriously? Where did this little boy come from, and where did my baby go?