Our sweet little Samuel John is in his 20th month now and just as hearty and active as ever.  He’s such a fun, active guy who is always-always busy, always-always doing something and almost-always smiling.  A few bullet points about our little dude:

• He’s speaking more and more and combining two words together into short sentences.  “Dada sleeping” “Dada shower” “Bye-bye Mama” “Clare drink” etc.  Grandma describes Sammy’s words as “declarations,” which is accurate since he usually speaks with loud statements.  He nods and shakes his head a lot instead of talking (already a man of few words) and lately has started saying “uh-huh” and “hmm-mmm” instead of “no” and “yes.”
• Today he put on a pair of dress-up glasses and then looked up at me and say “Mama glasses.”  He was telling me that he looked like me!
• He throws anything that he can put his hands on – especially balls, but it includes toys, rocks, food and anything else.  He throws things across a room, down the stairs and off the deck.  We try to redirect him but he can be pretty stubborn.
• We visited the dinosaur exhibit at the Children’s Museum a few weeks ago, which started a serious dinosaur obsession.  He has three little dinos and a big dino now that he totes around with him everywhere, roaring frequently. 
• He’s an independent little explorer.  If we’re on a hike or at a park I have to keep a close eye on Sammy.  He’ll just take off with his eyes on the horizon and not look back.  I’ve followed him to see how far he’ll go without turning around and finally, a quarter mile down the trail, I stopped him since I realized he didn’t plan on turning around.  Someday I won’t be surprised if we get an email from him saying “Greetings from Vietnam” when we thought he was on a trip to New York. 
• He continues to be incredibly sweet and loving, and shows a very soft spot for babies.  If he’s not toting a ferocious dinosaur, he’s gently carrying a baby doll.