Samuel's latest hits

He's growing so fast that I can't keep up informing you of what is going on!

Samuel is teething. He has one bottom tooth with its next door neighbor coming in. He's never inconsolably cried quite like when he was getting his first tooth. Poor guy! I'm sure thankful for Orajel!

Samuel is eating solids and loves it! He is a hungry boy!

Samuel is sitting up on his own, crawling, grabbing, and putting everything in his mouth. He is very determined. Leah never could get herself from crawling to a sitting position or from sitting to crawling, and she could hardly sit up unassisted until nine months or so. Samuel had it mastered at 7 months.

Samuel is already trying to pull himself up on stuff. He does this crawling "move" where he sticks his bum up in the air with his legs extended below him, like he's a camel, and it looks like he's trying to stand up. He has already tried lifting himself up into a cabinet or onto a toy. I can see the wheels turning--he keeps lifting one leg hesitantly trying to figure out how to get it over the edge of the cabinet, and then he chickens out and does something else. It is so cute, because he's not quite there yet, but I can tell that he really wants to be.

Here's some more evidence that Samuel is more of an independent thinker and a problem solver than Leah. Leah never held her own bottle--she made me hold it for her, and Samuel figured out how to hold a bottle the very first time I handed him one. Nowadays, Leah will complain that she is stuck on something, or she'll climb into his crib and not be able to get herself out, and she'll whine and wait for me to come rescue her. I show her how to get herself unstuck, like "put your leg over the edge and reach down," or "push the chair away from the table and you'll be able to get out." She still doesn't get it. I can already tell that Samuel will be the kid who gets himself unstuck on his own. He also recovers faster after bonking his head. Maybe it only takes a few months of minor older-sibling "abuse" to toughen up a younger sibling. It is so increasingly amazing to me how different my children's personalities are at such young ages. And it is so much fun!