Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to Cordele, GA (2 hours south of Atlanta) to a good friend's family farm with several of our friends. It was an amazing weekend of relaxing and fun just hanging out. Sam had the time of his life down on the farm. We are unsure of what his favorite moment was this weekend (he didn't answer when we asked him) but we are pretty sure it was between learning to jump into the pool (with a little help of course), swimming in a lake, riding on a boat, steering a golf cart, or seeing many, many dogs (his new favorite animal). Here are some pictures of the weekend to recap:

Playground Firsts

Sam has really been enjoying going to the neighborhood YMCA playground as of late (especially after we successfully lobbied to have the pedestrian gate open so we can walk to it). Normally he enjoys playing in the tunnel, on the fire engine, or eating wood chips. But today he had two firsts.

1) He successfully climbed up the slide all by himself. For a extremely cautious kid, I could have not been more proud watching him calculate and complete each step of the way. Both Dad and Sam were so proud of him when he reached the top the first time (after a few mishaps of course).

2) He was able to play on the see-saw with other children. Sam and I have played on the see-saw together but it hasn't been too much fun because I don't trust him to hold on by himself yet. But today was the first time there were other children at the playground and so he wanted to get on. By all outside observations, and hearing many squeals, Sam loved it.

Sign Language

For the past six months Katie and I have been trying to teach Sam some simple words in sign language. We have been trying and trying to get him to say: food, water, more, please, thank you, all done, and a few others. Up until this past weekend, he used the all done sign which he mastered a few months ago for everything. However, this weekend Sam decided out of the blue to start signing. He now is proficient in everything that we had taught him for the past six months. I had assumed that it would have been a gradual learning process, but it seems that as when he started to learn to walk, a switch all of a sudden turns on, and Sam gets it. We have been enjoying communicating more with Sam. As for words that Sam can say, he has now added "dog" and a sound that we know means "where." This of course is added to his expansive vocabulary of "dad", "mom", and "ball" of which ball is definitely his favorite to say.

Socks and Sandals

Thanks to everyone that posted about the socks and sandals argument. While I appreciate the overwhelming support for Katie's cause, I am still holding firm to my believe that socks and sandals are perfectly OK to where as long as you are comfortable in them (and willing to deal with all of the comments!!). As for Sam, I guess we'll have to let him make his own choices.

Trip to Mountains

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to the North Georgia mountains with Katie's parents. We had a very relaxing time and the last day we were there, the skies finally cleared and it was gorgeous. One of my highlights of the cabin was that there was an old-school stand up arcade machine that had 9 all-time favorites in their original form: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong, Jr., Centipede, Mr. Do, Frogger, Galatica, and a few others. Sam's favorite game was playing with the pool balls on top of the pool table with Grandpa, it was definitely the highlight of the trip for him! Here are some pictures of Sam and us in the mountains.

A Day in the life of Sam

Here is another video of Sam playing and doing the things that Sam likes to do: playing with balls, dancing, hugging and kissing, and of course, his favorite, playing peek-a-boo. Enjoy!