To My Sammy, On Your Half-Birthday

My Dearest Samuel,

My how quickly the last six months have gone by! I hadn't planned on writing you a birthday letter on your half-birthday, but I just can't help myself! Six months is such a milestone and I can't gloss over it! And speaking of milestones, you've been hitting them left and right! I'm so proud of my amazing little Sam-I-Am and I am so incredibly blessed to be your mommy and get to witness your path of discovery as you move from small little baby things, like discovering how your little body works, to bigger baby things, like figuring out how the people and things around you work. You're moving right along on your little path, and here are some of the things you've discovered along the way:

• You smiled at me your very first day in my arms. I, of course, melted and have never recovered! You've been a momma's boy (in the good way!) since day one, and that works just fine for me! However, we know that its important that you are well-adjusted, and we are working on getting you to accept other people more and more. You adore Jack Jack and get so excited to see him, you blush when you see daddy and you like to grab his cheeks and bite his nose, but you gush when mommy comes into the room and you cover me in slobbery kisses when I pick you up! I am quite often covered in Sammy-slime, and I don't mind one bit!
• You have a swirl. Right at the front of your hairline, it swirls in a circle! I think it's absolutely adorable and have taken photos in order to properly document the swirlage. Daddy thinks that it will bother and annoy you when you get older and hopes that you'll outgrow that, but I love it and I hope it stays!
  
• You stand! Ever since you were a teeny tiny baby you have had such strong leg muscles, and you have the desire to use them! If you we were holding you on our laps, you wanted to stand up- those legs were held so straight and tight that there was just no negotiating on the subject! So many people would always comment on how they'd never seen such a tiny little baby stand- and stand so well! At 4 months old, though, you discovered that jumping is much more fun than just standing, and I often find bruises on my lap from where you jump on me!
  
• You first rolled when you were 7 weeks old, from your back to your belly! That's the hard way! Since then you've only occasionally found something that was worth repeating this feat -usually when we lay McKenna next to you... you are fascinated by her- but when you do decide to go for it you have no trouble at all. You never have! You're a rolling maniac from your belly to your back- you most often do this with a glance at me and a quirk of your eyebrows as if to say "Oh yeah? Put me on my tummy, huh? Nice try, lady!"
  
• You have always excelled at tummy time- both your pediatrician and your physical therapist are very impressed at how well you've always done! You pop your head up like it's no big deal at all, and were scooting all around at by 4.5 months old! You army crawl on-and-off (more off than on), and at 5.5 months you started pushing up onto your knees. I'm not expecting that you'll be a full-fledged crawler very soon, but I definitely have to keep my eye on you when I put you on the floor with your toys!
• You have a lot of nicknames for someone so small! You're called Samuel, but your brother introduces you as Sammy Wammy, as that's what he calls you and what you're called most often. Of course, we call you Sam and Sammy, and occasionally The Samster. Sam-I-Am comes out sometimes as well, and I even call you by things are are sort-of-but-not-at-all your name... like Sampson or Samsonite!
  
• Your first word was "Ah-Boo!" (on the day you turned 4 months old) and that is your absolute favorite game! You crack up when we play it, and you like to prompt me by saying the word yourself. I adore watching you enjoy this! So much, in fact, that I wasn't even insulted that your first word wasn't Ma Ma, like it should have been!
• Your second word was Ma Ma! You were a little over 5 months old when you started saying "MUAH-meh" and I knew that you meant me! You say that more often than "Ah-Boo" now (Yesssss!). Just in the last week it has sounded more like "Ma Ma," and our new favorite game is you yelling "MA MA!" to get my attention. I turn and say "Sammy Wammy!" and you laugh so hard! Then I turn away and you yell "MA MA!" again. We do this over and over and over! It never gets old... for either of us!
• You know where your tongue is! Another 5 month milestone... I ask you "Where's your tongue?" and you stick it out at me! You laugh when I say "There's your tongue!" and stick mine out back at you!
• You're getting quite adept at grasping things with your hands! I can't say when you started this... you must have been practicing when I wasn't looking (which isn't often!), because one day you suddenly had it mastered!
• You devour food. You've only had solid food four times, but you love it. You caught on so quickly to eating from a spoon that feeding you really doesn't take any time at all! Of course, your favorite form of eating is still nursing, but I think your enjoyment of that has more to do with mommy-and-Sam time than it does deliciousness-of-breastmilk. You have gone through a lot of phases where you have a hard time nursing, but I don't think you're quite as stubborn as myself or your brother, and we manage to pull through each time.
  
• You are my peanut! It's so fun having a regular sized baby! I still can't get over it, and I can't wait to see how much you weigh and how tall you are at your appointment on Friday! You are the size that Jack was at 3 months, and at your age Jack was the size of an average one-year-old... this is a whole new experience for me and I am loving it.
• You are doing great with sitting! You enjoy having a new perspective on things, and you caught on to the coolness of it right away- you've been able to sit assisted since you were 4.5 months old, and keep getting better and better. As much as you enjoy sitting, though, you also enjoy the I'll-fall-and-momma-will-catch-me-and-I'll-laugh-so-hard game! The look you give me right before you go down on purpose is priceless, as are the giggles that follow!
  
• You are really not a great sleeper. At all. I mean, you are pretty good about going to sleep- I can rock you til you're drowsy and lay you in your crib and you'll fall asleep pretty much on your own. The problem comes when you wake back up! As you edge near consciousness you fight to wake up, even if you're really not done sleeping, and once you're awake you are mad! You nap for only 45 minutes at a time (something I am not complaining about because I remember what it was like to have a 5-20 minute napper!) with 2 hours of awake time in between, and are up a lot at night. Eating twice, usually.
• You had your first and second vacations this summer- to Shaver Lake and to Las Vegas! You are not a huge fan of wearing your life jacket, but you know when you don't really have a choice in the matter so you don't protest (very long) when we put it on you. If it weren't for that, I think you'd really like the boat as you tend to sleep pretty well on it! You'll wake up and cry for a few seconds when you realize you're still on the boat, but then you decide it's a good thing and you go back to sleep. I am trying to figure out how to get you to do that on dry land (and in your crib)!
  
• You got your first tootha few days ago! I think your second one will come in tomorrow, but as of 4 days shy of 6 months, you have one tooth! The bottom left middle tooth. It is sharp. You bit me a few times before the tooth actually came in, but after being corrected you so far seem to realize that biting mommy is not okay. You do like to tease me, however, as when you decide you're done nursing, you'll hum to get my attention, and then you smile with your eyes and pretend to bite me! You laugh when I tell you that's not funny! I can't imagine that you actually understand this entire exchange between us, but it's happened so often that I'm almost convinced that you are wise beyond your, um, months!

You are such a blessing to us! Oh my little Samster we love you so much! You've done so much for our family just being here with us, and I am so grateful that God gave you to us! I am so enjoying seeing you make new discoveries and watching that personality develop and come out, and I can't wait to see what the next six months will bring! We all adore you!

So much Love forever and ever,
Mommy