Sam turns FOUR

Our sweet little Sam turned four years old in September! We were so very thankful to celebrate his birthday with him. Having missed his first three birthdays was heartbreaking. But we look forward to many, many more years of celebrations together with our baby boy. That cheeseball grin of his is perfection.

We had a busy day full of appointments, but we snuck in some fun activities for the birthday boy. There was lots of swinging...

Some bouncing in the trampoline...

And opening gifts...

I had whipped up a pan of gluten-free, dairy-free brownies just for the occasion.

In typical Sami form, he gobbled his brownie all up.

The following weekend, we celebrated our Samilito (a.k.a. Little Sami) once again with his very first birthday party with us. Sami is a huge Blippi fan and just happened to receive a Blippi outfit for the big day.

He was not at all happy when silly Mom put the hat on his head and he couldn't quite pull it off.

The party guests arrived for the big shindig promptly after nap time. We started off with lunch from Noodles and Co. Sam loves their gluten free pasta.

After lunch, it was time to open gifts. Rose was Sam's assistant helping him as needed. They were quite the team.

After opening each item, Sam would throw it off his tray and onto the floor. One time, Rose happened to intercept the process and boy, oh boy! The birthday boy sure let her know that she was way out of line. 

Sam snagged some fun toys to keep him entertained.

Kate thought she'd dress up as Blippi - it was a Blippi birthday party after all!

She then proceeded to take each item off of her and put it onto Sam. After our initial trial run earlier that morning, I thought there'd be no way Sam would wear it, but he did! I guess Kate has the magic touch. He was sure one adorable Blippi!

Our #1 Blippi fan of course had to have a Blippi cake for the special event. We ordered it from Something Sweet along with a gluten-free smash cake just for the birthday boy. 

Sam didn't dig into his smash cake quite how I had imagined. He poked a bit at the frosting and gingerly licked it off his finger. So we instead opted for the more traditional utensil method. With cake on fork, Sam was more than excited to give his cake a try, opening up his mouth as wide as possible for his Uncle Jason.

It happened to be a lovely September day, so after the cake, we ventured off outside for some fun. Sam took a spin in the wheelchair he's borrowing for school.

Then Aria and Sam went for a short walk down our road with Rose biking along.

On the way home, we made a pit stop in the backyard to give Sam's new swing a try. He loved it! Now both Sam and Aria have matching swings. 

Sam - What a fun filled day we had celebrating YOU! Our adorable double dimpled 4 year old! We are so very happy to be celebrating with you this year. Thankfully you are now home and will have many, many more birthdays to celebrate surrounded by your adoring family. We all think you are just the cutest! Even your biggest brother Owen can't seem to walk past you without planting a giant smooch on your face. 

You have amazed us with your vocabulary skills. Having only heard English for just over 6 months, you seem to have mastered an understanding of it. And not only do you understand, but you can speak some words too. We never expected you to be able to talk, but you came into our lives with your favorite word of "no". Fortunately for you, "no" is the same in both Spanish and English. While you only had one word when we met, we never imagined how quickly you'd pick up more words including help, please, hi, and yes. You are even combining two words together to say phrases like "Help please". But your most often spoken words are definitely the names of your family. While you can say Papa, you seem to utter Aria, Rosie and Mom on repeat. You often ask me, "Rosie?" as in "Where is Rosie?" And if I don't respond, you yell, "Mom! Mom!" until I answer your question. You are very obsessed with your big sisters Rosie and Aria. And when neither are with us, you will ask for them over, and over, and over again.

When you want to eat, you open your mouth wide like a little bird and repeat "Ahh, ahh" over and over until we ask you if you're hungry. To which you reply, "YES!" You eat like a champ! In all my years, I've never witnessed a 4 year old with such an appetite for foods like salads, avocados, and tomatoes. Of course, you also love the not-so-good-for-you-options. While you don't have much of a sweet tooth, salty is your fav! I have to whisper when offering things like chips or fries to your sister Aria, and even then you hear me whisper, "Aria, would you like a chip?" and you shout out with enthusiasm, "YES, YES!!" You sure do love your salty treats.

You are officially on the move! You have recently learned how to roll. You can only go one way so far, but I have no doubt you will soon master rolling in both directions. But your favorite and most effective way to get around is to lay on the floor on your back and push with both your legs. You do it over and over and soon you've scooted yourself all the way across the room! You are quite determined to explore your surroundings. You love being in your gait trainer, but it's still very hard for you to move on your own. And without help, you become quite frustrated. But that determination motivates you and will definitely be useful as you continue to learn and master new skills.

You've become quite the crazy driver in our Explorer Mini. You have nearly outgrown it, but we can still squeeze you in for some independent moving. It's the only lightweight power wheel chair made for kids and has an easy to use joystick so you can move in any direction you like.

Your favorite playtime activity is putting things into a container and then proceeding to taking all the things back out. No need to have a large assortment of toys when any small household item will do. I've started counting as you work on your task to put the random items back into their container, and you've started mimicking along with each number I say. It's more of an "uh, uh, uh" sound, than a "one, two, three" at the moment. Your oral skills are some of your strongest so I wouldn't be surprised if sometime soon you start saying the numbers along with me. 

Sam, you are such a smiley, goofy, fun-loving little boy. We are so very thankful to celebrate this special day with you. A very happy 4th birthday to you, Samilito! Our sweet baby boy. Our missing piece. We love you to the moon and back!