Sammie Sue

This baby:

Is killing me lately. She is getting so big! I simultaneously love and hate it. Mostly love though because she's freakin' adorable. I took a series of pictures of her the other day and I love them all so I'm posting them. Ha! It's my blog and I'll post a zillion pictures of my baby if I want to. So there.

 It's hard to get a picture of Sammie lately because when she says cheese she insists on squeezing her eyes shut. It's really cute, but really difficult. I have to try to trick her. It's either eye squeezing or her running around to the back of the camera so she can "see" before I've actually taken the picture. Curse this digital age!
Exhibit A:

 Exhibit B:

 Top three Sammie phrases:
"Inna go dere!" (this is the #1 phrase associated with Sam right now. She says it anytime anyone leaves the house, whenever she gets out of the tub and doesn't want to go to bed, when she finishes lunch and doesn't want to take a nap, basically it's an all encompassing phrase meaning - very literally - "she wants to go THERE!"
"Inna wat memo" (translation: "I want to watch Elmo". She loves Elmo, Sesame Street, and anything Elmo related. She will even sing the "Elmo's World" theme song on request.)
"Mine!" (she's 2. this one explains itself.)

 A few of our favorite things about our girl:
-She is big into animals and animal sounds. In fact, she calls cats "mow mow"s, dogs "wuf wuf"s, monkeys "ooh ooh aah aah"s, and Cookie Monster "nom nom nom". We love it and will never in a million years correct her.
-On a related note, if you ask her what a fox says, she dances and (I think) says, "jchow, jchow, jchow, jchow, jchow, jchow, jchow". If you don't understand why that's awesome, watch this and educate yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE
-She loves Josie. She follows her around all day and tries to play with her always. Josie is surprisingly tolerant of this (mostly). They do have some knock down, drag out fights, but mostly they play together really well. Makes this momma happy.
-She LOVES to eat. Every time I announce meal time she is always the first (and often only) one who comes running to the table screaming with delight. She doesn't even care what we're eating, she's just happy to be there.
-She fake laughs. It's adorable. It began when we were reading the book, The Twits together as a family. The kids would laugh at the pictures and Sam would copy them. Now it doesn't matter what book we read or if the pictures are funny or not, she fake laughs every time. The kids (and me and Justin) think it's hilarious.
-She loves to stand by me when I fold the kid's laundry and yell out which article of clothing belongs to which kid. I think she thinks it's a game. I think it's funny (unless she's trying to unfold stuff - then it's game over).

A few things that are cute and frustrating at the same time:
-She wants to dress herself. From choosing her own clothes to putting them on by herself. It's a little hard. I let her help with the things that she can do, but there are other things (like putting on boots and buttoning coats) that she just can't do alone. It's a fight.
-She totally plays up the cute when she's trying to be sneaky. She will get a stool and raid the pantry (because, yeah, homegirl can open doors now). When I catch her she will look at me with a big cheesy grin and it's oh so hard to reprimand her!
-If I catch her doing something wrong, I'll ask her if she's being naughty. Without fail, she smiles, nods, and says "yeth"! It's kryptonite I tell you, kryptonite!!!
-She will tell me when she's pooped her diaper. She will then pretend to be helpful by getting me a diaper and wipes. She will then run away from me grinning.
-When Justin is home she's relentless. If he sits down for even a second, she will try to sneak up on him and try to get him to chase and wrestle her. He tries so hard to stay strong and resist her, but we all know he can't and she gets her way more often than not. There's something about this kid that is so hard to say no to!!

Her favorite things:
-Elmo
-Josie
-her daddy
-Disco
-Clayton
-Noah
-Me (she's a pretty clingy toddler. I've never had one before and it's a little rough on me sometimes, I'll admit.)
-Animals
-Music (she will ask me to turn on the radio in the car if we're out driving and it's off or turned down.)
-Socks
-Princesses
-Balls
-Talking, taking, messing with, hiding, locking any electrical device I own (namely: my phone and my iPad)
-Anything that Josie has in her hand

I don't know if I'd call her a girly girl (because I'm pretty sure Josie owns the rights to that phrase and anything associated with girly-ness) but she does love the girly stuff. I haven't decided if it's because of Josie or if it's just because she really likes it. She loves necklaces, dresses, skirts, headbands, princesses, things that are sparkly and shiny, pink, purple, and makeup. That said, she also loves to throw balls and play "catch" (I use the term loosely because she's not that great at it), put stuffed animals into the Batmobile and drive them around the house, and wrestle with anyone who'll have her. I think she's got a pretty good mix going.

She's mostly a really mellow kid (compared to some of the other kids we have around here). Her two year oldness isn't terrible at all really. Sure, we have the occasional day where I can't get anything done because she physically won't let me (for real, have you ever tried cooking a meal with a toddler standing between you and the counter - screaming and pushing you away from said counter? it should be an Olympic event). Overall though, I find her delightful and really love and adore her at this stage. It's my favorite so far.

Sure, she's naughty and rough sometimes. Sure, I have to watch her like a hawk because silence with this little lady is a sure sign of trouble. However, I wouldn't trade it for anything. In this season of thankfulness, I'm very thankful for my little Sammie. I can't imagine what my life would be like without her and I never want to. She's basically the most awesome two year old ever.

Love you Sam. So glad you're mine!