Sam’s language skills have just taken off. She communicates everything very well. My biggest challenge is directing her attention to safe things and keeping her from getting bored. She loves her Hamlet and Tucker very much. Hamlet is very patient with her and will endure the petting for a few minutes if she is gentle and quiet. Sam is learning.

Her favorite expressions right now are “that would be fine” “are you okay?” “indeed I do!” Yep, she is a pip!

We jsut got back from our vacation in way Northern NH, Coos County. We saw a few moose, but Sam really wanted to find some animals to hug. Thank goodness none volunteered. She loved picking raspberries outside the cabin and playing 'fetch' with the ball. She also was adamant that I get another frog for her to hold in her hand. I never did find another one. She threw rocks in the water and went in to examine it more closely. She loved the ducks that we fed in the morning, complete with 6 ducklings. I pulled out the bait traps to show her the crawfish inside. Loved those too, although she wouldn't touch them. She keeps asking me to go back to the cabin. I think that means she liked it.

Did I mention that Sam is still fascinated with Harold and the Purple Crayon? Particularly the episode with all the animals: lions, cheetahs, penguins, camels, monkeys and giraffes. She loves her animals. She loves her little train, Salty, that she holds in her little hand all through the night. We play with her train tracks too. I have to restrain myself from putting them together without her. It is fun for all of us! I am so glad that Uncle Jon gave Sam a second Cat in the Hat t-shirt. I don't have to do laundry every day now, just every other day. Books are a great diversion, and she is demanding that we teach her how to read. Well, okay, sure! Let's see, what else? Hamlet makes her giggle when he tries to clean her, and she really wants Tucker to sleep with her. Daddy bought her a hula hoop that she loves. Such a simple thing, and still has the same old magic. She still plays with the music cube that Leslie gave her when she was a few months old. Actually, we all play with that. She loves to draw all the time. We are on our third roll of paper now. These are big rolls. Physical challenges are very enticing. She will follow the bog kids everywhere and try to do everything they do. She went to the top level of the playground structure, twenty feet up, and was up there for a half hour before she realized she couldn't get down and asked me to come and get her. I caught her climbing the jungle gym and I helped her hang from her knees upside down. She had to do that for quite a while because a ten year old was doing it too. Sam talks to most other kids, and I have learned to respect her choices of whom to play with. She knows who is fun.

Sam sits at the table for lunch and plays with her umbrella. I open it for her so she can hold it over her head while she eats. It is pretend raining, I guess. “Tut, Tut, looks like rain,” I hear from under the bright red cloth. She says it several more times. I am laughing pretty hard at this and have to give her a kiss for being so dang cute.

We just came back from a walk in the woods, two adults, two dogs and one toddler. Sam still loves to take off into the woods and has now added a fascination for mushrooms to the mix. Whoooeee! Life on the edge can be a bit scary. She doesn’t eat them, just squats down and examines them minutely. Pretty good for a toddler, I say. It was very hot, but she still managed to walk most of the way, especially if she held Ella’s leash. She loves walking and holding Ella’s leash.

We leave for the wilds of NH tomorrow, way, way up North. Matt thinks I am crazy to want to go up there. He could be right, but it will be different from here, and that is what I want right now. Funny thing is, rain is forecast for every single day that we are up there. Every single one of them. Keeping a toddler amused through 6 days of rain will be interesting. Maybe we’ll have to put on our bathing suits and go for a hike anyway. She’d love that. It will involve lots of bug spray, I am sure. And Matt can keep the fire going and read a book. We’ll all have a great time.