The Lutz Family Blog

Dancing Sam... This morning, he stopped in the middle of the aisle at Walmart to do a little dance :)

This is why we watch Baby Einstein...

Waiting in line to see Santa... could barely take his eyes off of Santa for a second while I clicked this pic.
No smile, but a pic none the less...

Samuel hosted his first Christmas party yesterday. He was a great host... he sharred all his toys (whether his friends wanted them or not) and he giggled and he thought the big kids had hung the moon! He laughed with them and followed them around the entire time (even without a morning nap!). The kids made snowman ornaments, colored a picture, ate lunch, watched Veggie Tales Christmas (well, it was on, I don't think anyone really watched it), posed for our second ever play group picture, and decorated cookies. It was so fun, I think we will make it an annual event!!

Thanks everyone for coming!!

On Saturday, we headed up for the MU v. KU game in Kansas City! It was a GREAT game!! So exciting the whole time, and WE WON! This was Sam's first MU game and he didn't really care :). He fussed and cried the whole first quarter (it started at nap time), but then settled in to a routine of eating, snuggling with blankie, taking things in and out of his diaper bag, playing on the seats, and climbing on the railings. I think he would have done better had he had more room to roam around. But we were on the third row(!!!), so it was kind of crowded. He LOVED Truman the Tiger and wanted to go down on the field with him, but I don't think that would have gone over very well. He also enjoyed giving high fives and knuckles to everyone around us. He also would put his hands up whenever we said "touchdown" or "go tigers." Here's some pictures of our time at the game and at the Steffens' home after. They are in reverse order because it's a pain to switch them after I loaded them incorrectly... sorry!

Our view!!!!

Sam crawled under Jeremy's crib chasing the cat ("ga"... since a dog is "gaga" a cat must be "ga," right? :))...
Taking the computer from Jeremy...

This is the first year we didn't travel for Thanksgiving since I was 18! It was so nice and relaxing to not be gone all week. We missed being with family, but I loved just hanging out with my boys. We woke up leisurely and watched the parade and read the newspaper (didn't shower till noon!). Then headed over to Roy and Leona's home for dinner (a couple from our church)... I didn't even have to cook! Lastly, we had our own family "Turkey Trot" (five mile run/walk) to walk off all the good food! I didn't take many pics becasue there wasn't much to take pictures of, but here's what I got...

Mr. Westman and Samuel reading books...
The clan eating dinner... Samuel looks so big looking at the camera and smiling!!

I couldn't decide what picture to use this month, so you get to see them all.
- Samuel's language has really exploded this month... FINALLY! He went from saying nothing at 12 months, two word at 15 months (bubu (bubble) and gaga (dog)), and now he says gu (good), be (bear), mama, papa (or actually, papapapa in a whisper voice), Bible, ba (ball), mi (milk). He will also repeat some words when you ask him to say something. It might not sound anything like the word, but he's trying.
- He loves to have me label things for him. He points to everything around him over and over again while I say what it is. This is an especially fun game at the dinner table as he'd rather do this than eat his food for the time being :).
- I've heard that toddler's appetites decrease at this age and that has definitely been the case. Many of his former favorite foods he will no longer touch and he says all done after two bites at many meals. He eats a lot of pickles and cheese, but I'm just waiting for him to reject these too as he has pizza, chicken nuggets (even with ketchup on them!), sweet potatoes, etc. Of course it all depends on his mood, there are times he'll completely clean his plate... like this morning he ate a huge bowl of yogurt (by himself, with a spoon (not fingers), and very little mess I might add). I never know what to expect when I sit him down at the table.
- He throws lots of temper tantrums. It's hilarious. He'll be walking around, get frustrated for some reason, throw himself down on the ground and fuss, then get up and go do something else. I can't help but laugh at him :).
- He makes animal sounds, well a few of them... at first every animal says, "bvv" (moo). Then I say, no that's a sheep, so he says "a-a-a-a" (like baaing but without the b). A horse also says "a-a-a-a" and a dog says "bvv," then "a-a-a-a", then, finally, "oof" after I say "say woof." Bud got him to chatter like a monkey last night, but he wouldn't do it for me this morning.
- He loves to climb! He climbs onto the ottomon (which sits next to the chair), then over the armrest on the chair, sits there for a second, then climbs down and starts over again. He's not so sure about this new arrangement we have set up for the Christmas tree because the ottomon is moved. This morning he climbed in and out of his baby carseat and baby bathtub while playing in his closet.
- The morning nap has returned! We're in transition, so some days he only takes one nap, but most often he still takes two. Last week he just wouldn't go to sleep for a nap two days in a row (one day the morning, the next day the afternoon), he jabbered and talked and played, but never went to sleep. So, the next day I tried one... it lasted one hour! AHHH, not enough sleep for little Sama-Lama makes for a very fussy afternoon!!! So, if we have stuff to keep us busy or if he sleeps in late (like 8:15 yesterday morning! woo-hoo!!), he takes one. If not, it's two. Any advice on dropping naps is appreciated! :)

I think this post is long enough... I guess I'm in a "talkative" mood today :). I'm just glad to not be typing about school law, as I turned in my 20 page paper yesterday!! YEAH!! One more test, a HUGE portfolio and I will be done with my masters!! Hope I didn't bore you too much!

Now, for the pics...

Pouty Sam... he didn't like being told "no" when he tried to get down from the chair :)
Fascinated by the snow globe...

Samuel got his first haircut today and he looks so grown up now! He did great, as long as he had a lollipop in hand.