More milestones than you can shake a stick at.

This has been an incredible week!  Who would've thought that Jeff starting his job on Monday, would've quickly got overshadowed by a few MAJOR milestones by Sam?  Wow is all we can say.

Sam is growing up!  We've been working on her being able to take a shower on her own.  She does pretty well, but always needed a little assistance getting her hair rinsed completely free of the shampoo and conditioner.  Something magically clicked on Tuesday, when we returned from her gymnastics class. We walked in the door and she asked if she could take a shower.  I said, "Yes, I will come help you."  She went in the bathroom and as she was slamming the door yelling, "NO, I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!!", she took the shower completely on her own, unassisted.  Setting aside the fact that I got treated with disrespect, it was pretty awesome that she did it.  When she came out of the bathroom in her pajamas and a big smile on her face, I told her I was very proud of her but didn't deserve to be yelled at.  She said she was "Sorry".  Then I explained how I was only trying to help her and she yelled back at me, "I TOLD YOU I WAS SORRY!!".  Lovely, right?  Anyway, I try to focus on the good in this story.  Sam is now showering on her own and she is doing a great job.  Woo-hoo!!

But the milestones just keep coming.  Each morning Sam has been working on tying her shoes.  This is a full year before Ian was able to master this skill at his age.  Something just magically clicked on Thursday morning and the next thing you know, Sam is now tying her shoes.  She can actually tie each sneaker in under 20 seconds.  It's very impressive. 

Sam is getting to be a big girl.  Jeff and I have noticed that her behavior is starting to get better.  I still notice many episodes of her yelling/demanding/whining/exploding at us for no reason, but it appears to be a little less frequent.  I've observed the more she is able to do on her own, the better behaved she is. She likes her independence and to be able to make decisions on her own.