The monthly photo shoots are clearly going down hill. On the day Samantha turned 22 months we forgot to snap any photos of her, but Andrew did happen to get these photos of us reading together so they will have to do.
These pictures are apt because Samantha is loving reading more and more. She will sit with us for long stretches of time reading book after book. She likes a variety of books now and won't just read the tried and true few (although she definitely still has her favorites). She likes to fill in words now and is so expressive when different emotions are being expressed in stories.
Her development of language continues to astound us. She must learn anew word every day. She now strings three words together for instance "Daddy blue towel." Her favorite observations seem to be about colors (she says blue, black, white, red, yellow, pink, and purple now) and belonging. She really likes to make sure that everyone knows those purple shoes belong "Mah-mah" (her name for herself) or that those black pants are for mommy. She also starting noticing when things match now, and she cutely says "Say-ma" when she and I are wearing anything remotely similar. If you're in a place S feels comfortable she literally doesn't stop talking. We LOVE watching this process!
Lastly Samantha continues to love music class, and she now knows how to ask for numerous songs by name (which she requires daddy to play on his "tar" almost nightly). She also is truly starting to run, which is a little unfortunate since the colder weather is starting to keep us inside.
The first weekend in November, Andrew and a bunch of his friends ran the Princeton Half Marathon. It's the second year Princeton has held the race, and Andrew decided it was time to try his first half. Before the race we hosted a big pasta party dinner complete with wives and toddlers. I forgot to take a shot of all of us eating but here's the men and kiddos in the family room after dinner. Andrew ran the race with his Princeton roomies Andrew and Erik and also our friend from here Joe.
Here's the boys all bundled up before they left for the race. It was in the 30s when they ran!
The toddler spectators and a peeking Anna and I got part of Melanie! Not the best pic but my hands were cold!
"Daddy!" Note the cold in the first week of November snuck up on me, and I didn't have a real winter coat bought for Samantha yet. So that morning I had to turn to the 3T coat that my mom had given me with a bunch of my old outfits. Can you tell this coat is from 1985??
There they are! Looking good at the halfway point at the corner of Nassau and Vandeventer.
After the women and toddlers warmed up at Panera for a little while- we headed down towards the Princeton public library to watch them pass the 12.5 mile mark.
Caleb and Samantha kept themselves entertained by walking along the stone wall.
One daddy sighted! He finished the race in 1 hour and 47 minutes.
And not too much further behind another daddy and Uncle Andrew. They finished just eight minutes later.
We warmed up after the race at Andrew's office. The toddlers enjoyed some chair spinning.
And then we headed out to a delicious brunch to refuel.
And randomly Dennis and Jinhee were in town that weekend too and joined us for brunch.
What a fun and exhausting event. Now if Andrew's sprained foot would just heal already. I'm pretty sure I never have to run a half myself!
I have been a Halloween Scrooge as long as I can remember- I don't like candy, dressing up, or anything scary. But for the first time in a while, I really enjoyed Halloween- I guess seeing it through a little one's eyes can really do that :) Samantha was Super girl and she wore her costume all day.
At Market Fair for boot camp and at music class.
At home for some Halloween pics with her ghost pail (good thing we took some pics because I forgot to bring it trick-or-treating later!)
And then of course to Melanie's Halloween play date. Here's our weak attempt at getting six toddlers and three babies in costume in one picture. Samantha is only standing that still because I bribed her with goldfish.
Classic- Logan and Samantha mooching each other's snacks.
And trick-or-treating with Logan (or as S calls him "Lolo").
We only went to three houses in Melanie's neighborhood- which was the perfect amount!
And then Samantha was so excited for the trick-or-treaters to come to our house she watched out the window. And every time the door bell rang, she yelled "run" and ran down our hallway to get the bowl. She was a little hesitant to say hello to all the kids, but she did wave bye bye when each group left.
And I let her have one bag of M & M's when all the fun was done.
Samantha has gotten good at using forks and spoons in October (as not really evidenced by this picture).
Okay better job!
And she's still wanting to read tons of books.
She loves eating apples!
And she has LOVED picking raspberries at our farm share!
We've gone on lots of walks around the neighborhood!
And oftentimes we end up at the little playground!
S is also obsessed with carrying leaves around (notice the last two pictures as well). But don't suggest she jump or lay in a pile of leaves- that's not good.
The third weekend in October we headed back to Long Island- this time for a wedding! But we crammed in some fun times with Nana, Granddad, and some other friends as well!
On Friday we had a play date with Emily and Piper. Fun to see these girls starting to really play together. Now if only Piper would teach Samantha to leave bows in her hair.
Samantha discovered my vast American girl doll collection. While we're not yet ready to pass on the whole Samantha doll collection to this not so careful almost two year old, she decided to adopt the "Meet Samantha" hat as her own and we were okay with that.
Not really understanding that the hat isn't exactly her size.
And when Baba got home they hurried to the train station to watch the rush hour trains come in. Kerri and I used to do this with my Dad all the time when we were little, and it was fun to see Samantha get excited about the "choo choos."
And there was, of course, some fun singing and dancing while we waited for the trains to arrive.
Also Samantha has become obsessed with looking at pictures of herself and people she recognizes. Baba took advantage of her relative stillness for some pictures snuggles.
Then she found one of my dad's hats and decided to wear it around the house. and then we realized she was striking a pose. Love this little one! On Sunday afternoon we headed to a wedding at DeSeverksy Mansion. It was one of my high school bffs (Alissa)'s little brother, Michael. I grew up with Michael being my surrogate little brother, considering how much time I spent at Alissa's house and doing things away with her family, and I can't believe Michael got married! So fun to see him all grown up! Forgot to snap a pic of me and Andrew or of the bride and groom but here's one of me and Liss! And this is basically how every night in the Citterbart house ends- Mom or Dad cuddling with Lanie.
I hung around for Monday again since my mom doesn't work Mondays, and Nana, Samantha and I visited Main Street Nursery to check out the Halloween maze.
And the little petting zoo.
Thanks for another fun weekend on Long Island, Nana and Granddad! And congrats Michael and Amanda!
