Chatterbox

Sammy LOVES to talk -- whether it be with someone, or in her own little monologues. As soon as she wakes up in the morning (sometime between 6:12 and 6:18 AM, give or take a couple minutes and regardless of how late she was up the night before...), she shouts out to us from her room, usually some variation of the following:

"Mommy, Daddy, I've got to ask you something....Is it wake up time yet?"

or

"Daddy, I can't find my penguin, and I want some miiiiillllkkk..."

She also loves to sing. Some may like to sing in the shower, but for Sam, it's her carseat that really gets her going. She's like our very own little toddler iPod in the backseat, taking requests: "Mama, what song you want now?" "Um, how about Baa Baa?" "Okay -- "BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP...".

When she was quite sick a few weeks ago, we knew it was really bad when she sat silently in the back seat on the way to the doctor's office, and suddenly I realized that I actually missed hearing her usual rousing medley of "Down by the Station," "Wheels on the Bus" and "Old MacDonald"....

Probably the most amusing thing is when Sammy comes out with words or phrases we'd never taught her, nor expect her to say. She recently reprimanded me -- "Stay Focused Mama!" Wow, okay. And the best was the other day, when we were at the Ballard Farmer's Market. She was enjoying a delicious hotdog lunch, and had already eaten all of the hotdog, leaving just a bun and ketchup. I commented that she was now having a ketchup sandwich. She looked at me quietly for a minute, clearly thinking about something, then got a big grin --

"I'll give you a KNUCKLE sandwich, mom!" she said, even making the right gesture with her fist cocked as she giggled.

Yep, that's our girl.