Samuel = genius (or are we just proud parents?)

Tonight I was setting the table and I noticed that Julia's placemat and napkin were missing.  Obviously Samuel had taken them and hidden them somewhere on the first floor.  I did not say anything to Samuel but when I walked back to the kitchen to stir the soup that I was making for dinner Samuel appeared with the placemat and napkin in his hands.

With Samuel being our first we do not have the experience to know if this type of behavior is normal  but Samuel does seem to be ahead of his peers in understanding what is said to him. Now, he is behind in responding and talking as he does not yet speak a single word clearly and often but he is obviously very intelligent, curious and happy which is all that we can ask.

Samuel has learned to turn on the lights in most of our rooms.  He is not quite tall enough to turn the lights off yet but that will come soon.  We do ask him to turn the lights off and he tries but he just cannot reach the top of the switch just yet.

Took a trip to Carrefour today(similar to Wal-mart, but the store is actually bigger than any Wal-mart that I have been in).  Primarily went to look for supplies for a Halloween party that we are throwing on the 31st and was pleasantly surprised that they have a full aisle dedicated to halloween.  Granted one side of the aisle was exclusively candy but the other side has costumes, decorations, hair coloring(they dedicated too much shelf space to this but maybe it is popular in France) and various gadgets.  for Halloween we have invited some of our English speaking friends and we have also invited all of our neighbors and asked them to open their homes to trick-or-treaters so we should have some good pictures and video of Samuel trick-or-treating for his first halloween that he can walk.

When we got home today I was busy bringing the groceries into the house and Samuel walked into the back yard unsupervised.  When I noticed this I immediately went after him but I was too late to prevent him from attempting to chase Molson down the little hill(about a 3 foot drop) in the yard.  Samuel made it about half way down the hill before gravity took over.  He rolled twice.  Stopped, then rolled and a half times and ended up on his back looking at me.  He did not know quite what to do.  He looked as if he was going to cry but I laughed at him and told him to get up and chase the cat and he laughed and got up and looked around for Molson, who was long gone into the shrubs, not to be seen for awhile.

Was disappointed in that we had received a mailer from Carrefour which advertised a stand alone work bench(This is Samuel's favorite thing to play with at the HG) for little boys.  Was looking forward to getting this for Samuel for Christmas but they did not have any displayed at the store.  May have to buy it online.  No, Samuel is not spoiled!!!  If I type it enough it may be true.

You tube videos

For those of you who follow us on you tube we have posted new videos today.

Samuel helps with the laundry

We are boring.  Sunday and Thursday are our laundry days.  Samuel's usual assistance is to carry dirty clothes all over the house.  He also places clothes in the empty laundry basket and pushes the basket throughout the ground floor(we have tiled floors).

Today I was doing laundry.  I had taken the clothes out of the dryer and was in the process of moving clothes from the washer to the dryer when Samuel entered the laundry room and proceeded to place the papers he had been holding into the dryer.  I asked him to take the papers out and he did.  I then, for the first time, asked him to take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer.  Much to my surprise he started to do so.  He did not get the clothes completely into the dryer but the effort was superb and he was laughing through the entire process.

It is amazing how much he is understanding what we say to him.  He tries to help us put our shoes and socks on.  He tries to put on his own shoes and socks but is not quite able to complete the process.

Last night(Sunday) we went out to dinner and were shocked to find that almost all of the local restaurants in Chatou and Le Vesinet(the nearest village) are closed on Sunday evenings.  We ended up going to the Indian restaurant that we normally have delivered to our home.  It was by far our cheapest meal out as it cost only 60 euros.  The food is much better when it is hot and not just warm.

Samuel will be 18 months in only 4 days.  Very, very hard to believe.  He is such a little man.