She gets it

Samantha's sense of humor is starting to come through loud and clear. She is in on the joke. She gets 'it'. I love seeing her have fun and can't help but laugh with her -- even when we are in the midst of telling her no.

Samantha is no longer in her high chair and has been sitting at the dining room table with us for the past 2 months. She has a booster seat that is strapped onto one of the chairs; it gives her the same height as the rest of the family. Her latest thing is to take one of her feet and put it on top of the table while we are eating. She will look around and see who is watching her do this. In under 30 seconds, Jeff or I will tell her "Sam, please take your foot off the table". She instantly obeys and down goes her leg back under the table.
Then, as soon as we turn our head, she not only takes one leg back up, she'll take both her legs. And this time, she won't put them on the table, she'll just shoot them straight up in the air, near her head. It is an amazing feat of acrobatics and flexibility, but more so, it is hilarious how in her own way she is defying us, but also doing as she was told. Her feet aren't on the table. Legitimately, they are no where near the table. And, when we look at her doing this, she cracks herself up laughing. You can't help but also start laughing with her. It is truly funny. We will go through this back and forth several times during many, many dinners.

Some evenings when it is nearing her bedtime, I'll take Sam and cuddle with her in my bed. We just hang out watching either that day's General Hospital, Oprah or Sesame Street. It is some great one-on-one time and one that I treasure. As we get closer to the witching hour of putting her down, I'll say, "Sam, time to go to bed." She instantly takes her body and nose dives straight into the bed. She'll lay there face first in the mattress, completely still, for like 30 seconds. Then she'll lift her head, with a big smile on her face and look at me. Once we make eye contact, she'll start giggling. I wait about 5 minutes and we do this all over again. It is seriously cute. In fact, her actions actually get her a delayed bedtime because I enjoy it so and she knows it.

I am loving her personality and sense of humor. She gets 'it'. At 18 months old she knows what funny is. I can't wait for her to get older so we can have two way conversations with words other than "doggy", "more", "book" and "whoa".