Two firsts for me with Samantha this morning. When we get up together at 7 am, I usually change her, feed her, then put her down to roam around while I do my exercises. This morning I started by playing with the puzzle with Sam. She put the circle back in the slot several times all by herself. She did a wonderful job! I told her I was very proud of her. It was fun.

While I am on the floor exercising, Sam obliges by crawling all over me and providing extra weights to make the exercises more productive. Very thoughtful of her, wouldn't you say? She is especially helpful when I am stretching as far as I can, and Sam comes along to push me just a little further. She is used to me yelping by now and like any good trainer just keeps me going.

Anyway, today she did some workouts of her own. She pushed up from my hips, stood, put her hands above her head and waved them a bit, slowly put her hands back on my hips, and then sat down. She was rock steady with it. She has done that several times this morning now. I've noticed that when she starts doing a new thing, she does it with a vengeance. Like climbing stairs. She climbed them again this morning, giggling all the while.