There are lots of little things I want to remember about each stage of my son’s development, and each stage seems better than the last. I love the person who he is becoming. He’s so good-humored and has some rather adorable traits.

You know how some kids develop an attachment to a blanket or stuffed animal? The object Sam is most attached to is somewhat….unusual. He’s become very attached to his winter coat. The two times we’ve taken him to the babysitter’s recently, he refused to let her take the coat off. I guess it made him feel secure in that unfamiliar environment. The coat has come in handy when we need comfort him for some reason. When he’s feeling sad, the people at his daycare let him snuggle with his coat. I think the coat also signifies “fun time” to him, since we put it on him before we go outside where he always has a ball. If he’s feeling bored, he’ll go in search of the coat and then drag it around the house. I’m not sure if he’s trying to give us a hint that he wants to go outside, or if it just makes him feel better to have the treasured item in his grasp. Whatever his reason for liking the coat, it produces some comical situations: last night, he ran around the house with his coat on over his jammies.

Sam’s vocabulary is starting to grow more rapidly. He uses a combination of signs and words. He’s got the sign for hat down, but confuses the words for hot, what, that and cat with hat. I’ll say something like, “Watch out, Sammy, that’s hot,” and he’ll respond by patting his head. He says ba for ball and ca for car. The latter is his favorite word of the week. He points to cars and repeats the word over and over and over again. I smile and encourage him. Two new words we heard from him this weekend were no and book. Sam also has an all-purpose word which he uses when his limited vocabulary fails him: muh means mine, gimme, I want, I’m interested in that, look, help me, etc. He’s become proficient at a number of animal sounds as well. I can’t get him to meow like a cat. The best he does is an ear-splitting squeak. Nevertheless, he can bark, moo and growl.

This weekend, we also discovered that he knows what his tummy is. Apparently, they’ve been teaching the kids about body parts at daycare. We’d ask him where his tummy is and he’d lift up his shirt all the way to his chin and pat his puffed out belly. It’s so cute! We think he knows what his nose and tongue are, but he’s not as interested in pointing them out because you don’t have to do a strip-tease act to show them off

I knew I had forgotten to mention a couple of important things that have happened recently. I’m such an airhead!

First off, I received my socks from Debbie for the Sock Exchange. My favorite pair has monkeys and bananas on them. The other pair has stylized fruit on them. They’re wunderbar! Thanks Debbie. :giving:

The second thing I forgot to mention was that my alien set was awarded the “Well Dressed Site Award” from Graphic Goo. Lizzy described the set as cute, original and funny. That made me beam with pride

I really need to update Quixotic Pixels with the award banner, ring code for Give Credit, a couple of new sets which are almost done (nothing spectacular), and some PS brushes I’ve had sitting around on my hard drive for some time now. I’ve been reluctant to do so because QP just hasn’t been fun for me lately. The need to update it almost feels like a job. I want it to be a site I work on more for fun rather than out of obligation. For that reason, I’m going to give it a makeover–make it more fun and less “business-like.” I need a fresh, clean slate!

Sometimes you’ve just gotta toot your own horn. I made THE ABSOLUTE CUTEST design ever today. I tried something new and drew it myself. I had no idea vector graphics were so much fun!!! :cloud9: I can’t wait to send it off to my Design Trade buddy. I’ve got my fingers crossed that she’ll like it–but if she doesn’t, I’ll gladly take it back

Becky let the cat out of the bag early and sent me the design she created for this month’s Design Trade. It’s really awesome. She used my rubber ducky photo and came up with the loveliest color scheme. I don’t know how she does it. Makes me J.E.A.L.O.U.S. But then again, I created something pretty durn awesome myself today. hehe

OH YEAH!!!! I’m really excited to see my twinstress is blogging once again. It’s been way too long–five months or something like that. Sheesh! She went off and got married and has been having a lovely time