Sammie's newest tricks

Staying at home with Samantha has to be one of the most rewarding, satisfying experiences of my life! We have so much fun together, and she is just so wonderful and amazing to me. Everyone always reminds me, enjoy her while she's little, she'll grow so fast. Yes, I am enjoying her. And yes, I'm very aware how fast she's growing. Just last week Brian and I spent time looking at her newborn pictures and videos. She's already changed soooo much -- almost a completely different little person. I just wish I could capture these moments forever. Here are just a few pictures and paragraphs to share some of the latest greatest from our little ten-and-a-half-month-old Baby Little (one of her many nicknames)....

Here Sammie is displaying her TWO little teeth, both on the bottom row. I don't know if you can see them really well, but if there's a way to zoom, you definitely will notice them. We think she may be cutting a third, this time on top. She's chewing on anything and everything she can find... clothes, couches, the fireplace, the coffee table, etc. Most recently, she's taken a liking to her baby food jars. She's not so great about eating what's in them (mom gets lots of spits and raspberries), but she loves to suck/chew the outside of the bottle and lid. Funny girl.



On par for her age, Samantha is quite adept at getting into every drawer, closet, or cupboard she can find. Just this week she emptied her bottom dresser drawer, my sock drawer, and the tupperware cupboard all in one day. Here she sits with the tupperware. Our kitchen space is limited, so we also store potatoes with the tupperware (odd, I know). Sam had bitten little bites in two or three potatoes before I got the bag from her... In this picture, I think there's still a potato sitting right behind her. (Aside: tonight, Brian and I distinctly heard her say "tato" -- of course we knew that was short for potato, as any good Idahoan/Londoner baby would say, even though there were no potatoes around when she said it, hmmm.)

Cute as a button! Since seeing her little cousin, Ashton, all dressed up in ribbons and bows, we decided Sammie might enjoy a few hairpieces of her own. As long as I can distract her immediately after getting it tied in her hair, she's pretty good about leaving it in, at least for a little while. Today she wore a bright pink bow that matched the trim on her little green jumper. She got several compliments at church. We think she's cute, bow or no bow -- just for the record.

Samantha's latest new trick is that she can wave bye-bye! She doesn't just move her arm up and down, she waves those little fingers open and closed. It has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen. She waves at Brian in the mornings when he goes to work, sometimes. And tonight we had dinner with friends and she waved as they left. What's just a little bit funny is that she waves most often when she's in her high chair eating a meal. I don't know if it's just because I'm sitting right across from her at eye level, and she has an audience -- or if maybe she thinks it's somehow related to food. Whatever it is, I'm encouraging it because I just love to see how excited she is every time she moves those little fingers, open shut open shut. This picture below is NOT the best of either me or her, but it's the only one of the wave I've managed to catch on film. (She usually freezes up and smiles for the camera.) Wave bye bye, Sammie!