Sam's 18 month doctor's appointment

This cutie had his 18 month check-up today.  Sure, he climbs up on tables, jumps off chairs, and is generally a handful, but he sure is adorable.  And, per the doctor, Sammy is in great physical health and is hitting all his milestones.  

The only thing we talked about is his apparent dairy allergy.  Or maybe not full on allergy but intolerance.  I guess they usually do the full dairy allergy test at 2 years so, until then, we've switched to almond milk.  We tried Lactaid but he threw that up too leading the doc to believe it may be a real dairy (milk protein) allergy rather than a lactose intolerance.  

Anyways, it's not that fun avoiding cheese and all dairy but we are making do.  Sammy certainly doesn't seem to mind though.  He's as happy as can be.  

And now, his stats:

Weight - 26 pounds, 9 ounces (60th percentile)

Height - 34 inches (90th percentile!)

It's crazy because he seems so much heavier and bigger than Jack was but it turns out he's only about 1/2 pound heavier and 1/2 inch taller.  Crazy.

And, for good measure, a little video of Sam saying hi to you.  (Sorry about the vertical alignment!)

Sam is 18 months old today!

Sammy is 1 1/2 years old today!  Such a big milestone.  So big and yet I almost forgot that today was his 18 month birthday.  The poor kid…stinks being the second child.  But look at him!  Does he look like he's suffering?  Definitely not.  

He continues to be a fairly happy-go-lucky little guy.  He does get frustrated but he generally is quick to smile.  Except in the mornings when he is grumpy because he's up at 4:30 or 5.  When will the early mornings end?!  I can't wait.  But he gets up that early every single day and it's just exhausting to wait for the sun to rise.  Luckily we have our little routine down which I'm sad to say includes some episodes of "Curious George".  Oh well.  Second child.

I love making this kid laugh because his giggles are adorable.  He understands everything I say now which is so fun.  I tell him to throw away a piece of trash and he goes right for the trash can.  He loves to eat with silverware (with some success) and try to blow his nose himself.  He's starting to say some words which I'm not sure everyone would understand but I definitely hear bubbles, bottle, inside, outside, up, down, again, TV, cheese, and more.  

That's his serious face.  Do you like it?  Makes him look more like his older brother.  :)

He's constantly moving and exploring.  It's exhausting but he's a hoot.  Sam's a curious guy…like he was curious what it would feel like to smash his face against this clipboard.  I gather it was pretty cool.  

His relationship with Jack remains the same.  Sam adores him and when we drop Jack to preschool he cries and screams and I have to drag him away.  Why, I don't know since 90 percent of the time Jack just hits him or pushes him or yells that he doesn't want Sam to play with us.  It's kind of sad and I get so upset when Jack hits him for no reason.  But there is that 10 percent when Jack is great with him and is showing him how to do things and proclaims "I think he likes fountains because I like fountains!"  Pretty cute.

This hug though was totally for show.  Don't be fooled.  Because it turned from a hug to a pretty hard headlock that ended with this tears.  

Sigh.  Happy birthday Sam.  We love you so much…even the crazy older brother.