Missing church

Church is always during nap time for Samuel. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he don't.

Snowstorm

Samuel is watching his first big snow storm with his big brother.

 

Joshua's Flashdance

The first time we've seen Samuel with these moves.

Babbling

Nothing earth shattering, but it's just a lot of fun to listen to him. He's not saying a lot that is comprehensible, but he's got a lot to say and with attitude sometimes.

Brushing teeth

Samuel's smiles are captivating.

Library time

Samuel saw this little girl at the library and started to follow her around. He really enjoys sitting at tables and drawing with crayons.

Sleep changes

Yipee! We moved Joshua's firetruck bed to Samuel's room, and moved the crib into Joshua's room and voila, we are now back to sleeping bliss. Samuel can wake up in the middle of the night or at 5am in the morning, and I don't need to rush over to Samuel's room and get him before he wakes up Joshua. This morning was the first time I've slept in in months.

Reading again

Samuel will see a book about fire trucks or construction vehicles, pick it up, and run over to sit in our laps to read to him, or sit down and look at the book himself.

Me as a pumpkin

Samuel was a pumpkin for Halloween this year.

 

I like reading!

Samuel loves to read books, especially books about trucks. When he sees a firetruck, he makes a "wooo-wooo-wooo" sound.

I like to recycle!

Playing Together

Sometimes the boys will sit together and play, without fighting for the same toys. Samuel is busy trying to shake tape off his finger.

The prankster et al.

As I type, Samuel is having a lot of fun taking his own saliva and wiping it on my leg. At first, I thought he was just experiencing different textures, i.e., my leg. But then I noticed he was walking back and forth between a puddle of drool and my leg, deliberately slabbing on the web stuff and giving me mischievous looks and smiling. He knows what he's doing. A prankster at age 13 months.

Also when we tell him something is a no-no, he just smiles at us and waves his finger back and forth in front of his face.

His favorite foods these days: broccoli and peas. If we are trying to feed him something he doesn't like, we try to hide it in broccoli.

When he sees a vehicle of any sort, he points and tries to say, "truck!"

When he sees a dog, he also points as shouts something that sounds like "Bah!"

He is good at some imitations: a growl, "shh" sounds, and basically copying his brother.

He really enjoys getting objects together and banging together in his hands.

He goes directly to the tinkertoy container and likes to open the lid and take out different color sticks. He's also very neat sometimes, and will help us point things back in the container.

The other day I was surprised at bedtime when I asked him to pick out the caterpillar book from the bookshelf, and he did.

Our babysitter said that the other day at the library, he walked around and hugged the other children, and gently stroked them on the arm. He's a real sociable dude.

I like balls

Fall with Momma

 

Learning from Big Bro

First he watches

Then he does

Day with Samuel

6:45am: Samuel wakes up, feed him milk with lactulose.
7:00am: breakfast--doesn't want cantaloupe, has Cheerios and some toast
9:15am: carry Samuel in backpack to school with Joshua on his bike
10:00am: naps for 1 hr and poops, then meanders around the dorm hall locking for electronic device buttons to push and people to wave to
noon: eats lunch, has Annette made meat cube with cereal, loves peas. I make flashcards for him to teach him: cup/clap/hand/foot/spoon
1:30pm: arrives at Science museum via shuttle, Red line, and Green line. Samuel enjoys seeing the eggs/chicks, monkeys, train set, model hearts, walking around the lobby, and admiring the view from the bridge. Samuel enjoys riding public transportation, smiling at passengers, but mostly sits quietly while holding on
3:00pm: back home for milk and another nap 1:15 long
4:15pm: read some books to him, Samuel likes sitting on Joshua's little green chair and playing with a wiffle ball and 3 black plastic containers
4:30pm: has cantaloupe and teething biscuit and few Ritz for snack
5:00pm: return to Joshua's school via backpack to pick up big brother
5:45pm: Samuel enjoys wandering from playroom to kitchen, picking up toys like legos to bang
6:30pm: Samuel eats a wonderful meal of broccoli, jia jen mian (Korean noodles), and tofu. He smears sauce all over his face. Looks adorable.
7:15pm: bath in Joshua's tub, and falls asleep at 7:30 after drinking milk

Apple picking

Sameul went apple picking for the first time today. We went to Tougas Farms and discovered that Samuel loves apples!

 

 

 

 

Happy Walker

I can walk!

I came home tonight and saw this:

It almost brought tears to my eyes. We've been watching him creep, and then crawl, and then stand, and then cruise around on furniture, holding our hands, and then just one hand. And now, he can do it all by himself. It's amazing to see what a baby learns to do in just a day!

More 1st Birthday Pictures

 

 

 

Samuel turns 1

 

 

 

 

Samuel's Dohl

Samuel turned 1 today and we celebrated with a Korean dohl with 40 of his grad student friends here at MIT.

 

First Self feeding with spoon

Our little boy is really growing up. He started feeding himself with a spoon yesterday.

Flume Gorge

 

 

Storyland

Samuel didn't get to do much on his first trip to an amusement park. Mainly hung out on the stroller and watched Joshua ride the train.

 

Samuel & Cayden

Samuel and Joshua both had a great time with Mia and Cayden, who were visiting from California. Cayden is just a few weeks older than Samuel, and here they display simultaneously both affection and as well as competitiveness.

I can stand

Today on a lazy Sunday afternoon, Samuel amazed us all with his newest skill: standing!

Holding on

Samuel just turned 11 months old, and his favorite thing is holding onto our fingertips as he strolls around the house. He will protest loudly if we let go.

Clapping and turning pages

As Samuel get close to turning 11 months old next week, it's been a delight to see him follow some commands like "clap" and "turn the page." Sometimes at night when I am rocking him in my arms and singing him a lullaby, instead of falling asleep, he starts clapping.

Samuel laughing 10 months old

Samuel was the unofficial mascot at our camp: Toah Nipi. He was constantly passed around from person to person. I discovered how he is a true extrovert. At gatherings, he would become super hyper, smiling, shouting, waving at everyone. But as soon as we left the party, he would calm down and be silent.

Samuel's first day at the beach

It was a glorious end to the 4th of July, with the first real days of summer we've seen this year. We celebrated by going to one of our favorites: Crane Beach, in Ipswich, MA. I was a little worried how our little crawler would do on the sand, but he did great.

Samue's first steps assisted

It's been a little more challenging watching Samuel these days because he likes to go all over the house. He likes to crawl over to bathtubs and pull himself up, and heads straight to Joshua's room when his brother is at school, so he can play with all the toys.

Crawling and self feeding

Samuel crawled for the first time on June 18. He also started eating little Gerber cheerios.

This was day #5 of crawling. He's made a lot of progress already.

Shopping with Yeh-yeh

Samuel and us at 9 months

Samuel's got rhythm

My crewcut

Fans of Samuel's blog may be disappointed that I took Samuel for his first official haircut. He was looking so much like a little girl with a bouffant, and with the summer here--I thought a shorter haircut would keep him cooler and help him look more boyish.

Before I knew it, the deed was done and all of Samuel's beautiful locks were chopped off. I felt immediate regret, and I already miss my little baby with his baby hair. He's got a "big boy haircut" as his barber would say. Well, it'll grow back.

Ah-mah and Yeh-yeh

Do I look like my dad?

We dug out these old baby photos of me to make side by side comparisions with Samuel. What do you think?

Learning to Crawl

Samuel just started to make some crawling steps yesterday. Here he is practicing some more.

Giving Hickeys

Samuel got into a routine of needing to suck on my arm before going to bed. Then he started to bite as well. Fortunately, we've been able to substitute the sucking with back rubs. It was interesting to get a taste of what nursing might feel like.

Before

After

Mom's new camera

We've had fun using mom's new SLR camera to try and capture the life and joy these boys bring to us.