18 Months!

Somehow, Sam is 18 months old today.  I'm not sure how that happened.

 At 18 months, Sam:

•  loves spending time outside.  We walk circles around the house each day and Sam spends a lot of time exploring Mabel's doggy door and wishing that his parents would let him crawl through.  He still likes going for walks in his stroller, but also likes to walk around on his own and go visit/pet the dog statue that lives up the street in our neighbor's driveway.  
• loves animals of all kinds.  We have made LOTS of trips to the zoo this summer and he is proficient at making all of the various animal sounds.  He still calls Mabel "good girl" a lot of the time, but also calls her "Beeee" sometimes, too.  I'm not really sure where that came from, but he says it in the same tone of voice that we say "Mabe." 
• is very affectionate.  Sammer is a snuggler and hugger and has started to give kisses, too.  
• loves his books and spends lots of time each day reading with Mama and Dad and also flipping through books on his own.  
• can say about 20 words, although some of them require interpretation. 
• goes through phases of laughing at strange things.  For example, a couple weeks ago, he would laugh every time we would say, "A baby cow is called a calf."  
• is working on giving up his binky.  We've just recently started using it for nap and bed times only.  
• is a  healthy boy.  He's only been slightly sick a few times and has yet to need any antibiotics. 
• loves to brush his teeth.  
• loves his cousins. 
• likes to spend time rearranging the refrigerator and cupboards.  
• eats really well and almost anything. 
• is a big boy.  He is 35" tall (98th percentile), 27 pounds (80th-85th percentile) and his head is 20" around (>98th percentile).   
• usually sleeps about 10 hours each night and two to three hours each afternoon.  
• really loves his stuffed monkey.  
• is so, so loved!