Fourteen-month update

In the course of the insanity surrounding the move and getting settled into the new house, Sammy's fourteen-month birthday complete passed me by, so I'm about two weeks behind on this one.  Here are his current stats from what I can gather: he weighs in at around twenty-five pounds or so and has shot up at least another inch in the last month.  All of a sudden things that used to be safely out of his reach are now totally within his grasp--time to baby-proof again!  Sammy also gained three new molars, which all came in during our time on the road (yay), bringing his total tooth count to eleven.  He's getting pretty good at brushing his teeth--he opens his mouth and says "aaaah" whenever he sees a toothbrush.

I know it's been said time and time again, but I still can't get over just how much of a sponge kids are at this age.  Sammy is a frighteningly accurate mimic of sounds and actions; Captain Husband and I are really going to have to start watching not only what we say, but how we say it.  Sammy now stretches and yawns just like CH does, grabs at his belly when he's asked where it is, and has picked up a few other things, like barking back at the dogs in our neighborhood.  He's also added a few new words and sounds to his repertoire, like juice, banana, ball, moo and ow.  Sammy often uses the latter in a lame attempt to distract us from disciplining him. 

I'll never forget something that my mom once told me about kids: "Imagine your worst personality trait and that of your partner.  Those are the traits your children will have in spades."  For me and CH, I'd have to say that our worst personality trait is stubbornness, and boy, oh boy, is our kid pig-headed.  Once he gets an idea into his head, Sammy is relentless in its pursuit.  Tell him "no," and he'll just shake his head at you, grin, and keep on doing whatever you just told him not to.  If you actually attempt to intervene, you'll get an all-out tantrum, which often includes the following: crying, throwing toys, and/or throwing himself on the floor and rolling around in frustration.  Fortunately these end pretty quickly, but I wasn't expecting to have to deal with these sort of outbursts for at least a few more months.

Random tantrums aside, Sammy's actually a pretty easy-going kid; he loves to be read to and will often bring over a book or two for us to read.  He loves playing with anything that resembles a car and makes "vrrrrroooom" noises whenever he sees one in real life.  Sammy continues in his obsession over anything and everything cat-related, including Sandy, much to her chagrin.  He's also started playing games with us, like chase, "throwing" a ball back and forth, and hide-and-seek; he loves to hide behind the curtains in our living room--it really is a lot of fun hanging out with him all day.