Sammy had her 18-month check up today. She loved climbing on the chairs in the waiting room. Loved the fish tank. Hated the nurse, the scale, and the examination table. At her 15-month checkup, she cried in my lap and signed for “music” while we waited for the doctor. Today, she kept saying “door? door? door?” as in …

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Monday morning, in the car, driving away from the local shopping center. Sam: Alb Alb Alb Me: Albertsons? (one of the stores we went to) Sam: Ya! Me: Yes, we did the grocery shopping at Albertsons. Sam: Alb… aw dun [signing “all done”] Me: Yes, we’re all done with Albertsons. Sam: Djo djo djo djo djo Me: ??? Sam: Djo …

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A couple of weeks ago, Sammy started to utter what I call “proto sentences”– two or more words strung together, usually nouns, but that when interpreted correctly, comprise a complete thought. She’s been combining words with “more” for a while now, as in “more music,” “more cars,” and “more kitty cats” (“mo kee cat?”) …

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There’s an early episode of “The Simpsons” in which Bart realizes that Sideshow Bob has framed Krusty the Klown for robbery, when he notices that Sideshow Bob has enormous feet. The line “Big shoes to fill” rings through Bart’s head as he figures it out. I was thinking of this line myself a couple of weeks ago when …

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We just returned from a quick trip to Los Angeles where Sam attended her first wedding (she slept through part of it), met one of her Capehart cousins, and generally had a ball playing in our hotel room. One of the best things about living with a toddler is that mundane things are so extraordinary to her. So while we …

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Sammy is definitely a bookworm, or as the French might say, “un rat de bibliothèque” (a library rat). While she loves to be read to, she also loves to pull books off the shelves, dump them in her red wagon, and cart them around– her version of the bookmobile. In this clip, we interrupt her busy book-sorting schedule …

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The latest newsletter, written by yours truly, is now up at: http://www.choicywhiteboy.com/2007/02/monthly-newsletter-month-16

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Mom-mom inspired me to finally edit and post my own videos of dancing Sam. The music she plays comes from the Farm Fridge Set she received for Christmas from some of her Philadelphia cousins. You’ll see that Sam really gets a kick out of Farmer Tad’s musical farm. You’ll also see her mix up the ASL signs for “music” …

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Courtesy of Sam’s Mom-Mom: I just showed this to Sam while I was giving her breakfast and she repeatedly signed for “more music,” so we’ve now watched this video about 20 times. It’s Sammy approved!

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(With apologies to Balzac. And to my readers.) We’re back from the far side of the continent, and yes there are loads of stories to tell. But in the meantime, I have a backlog of Sam videos to share. The following is a sampler of scenes from our house in California in December. In the first scene, Sam and her father …

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