Happy New Year!

Hallelujah! After almost a week of getting error messages from Blogger, I am now able to sign in.

It is 2008, and soon Sam will be two years old. If I could make his New Year's resolutions for him, it would be for him to show an interest in potty training and learning to write his name.

I can hardly believe that at this time last year, I still had a baby in the house. He was walking, but still toddling, and still had a bottle. He slept in a crib and took two naps a day. He had absolutely nothing to say and was carted around in a car seat.

What a difference a year makes! Sam is showing signs of being truly athletic (he can thank his dad for that - it certainly didn't come from me). He can throw and catch a ball like a pro and even jumps - with both feet off the ground - while shooting a ball. That is awesome for a one-year-old!

The bottles are history, and so are sippy cups. He seems to find them degrading. I can still get him to drink out of a cup with a cover and a straw. I am going to make that last as long as I can. His cups land on their sides all day long.

Sam has been in his big-boy bed for months now. If memory serves, since April. No more gently laying a swaddled baby into his crib. Sam heaves himself into his bed and puts himself to sleep. Believe me, that never stops being thrilling to me.

He still isn't the most verbal kid in the world but is adding about five words or phrases to his vocabulary every day. I hear "Go red car, go!" and "All done!" at least 20 times a day. I make him say "please" all the time. Not just because it's polite, but because every time he says it he scrunches up his nose, smiles, and hunches his shoulders. It's really, really cute.

If he continues to grow and learn at this rate, by next year he'll have a job and his own apartment.