What has Samantha been doing?

I had a moment here and I thought I would share with you what Samantha has been doing. A little update. I gave up on the monthly updates because she was changing so fast, so here are just a few new things she does.
- Talking, talking, talking. She is a chatter box like her Daddy. My favorite new phrase is, "Where'd it go?" She does this when she has lost something. For example, this weekend I was doing laundry and she loves to help. She took out the vent and put her purple plastic phone inside the vent. I heard it clink all the way down to the bottom and I said, "Oh, nooo." Samantha looked up at me and put her hands out and said, "Where'd it go?" It took us 10 minutes to retrieve it.
- "It's okay." Samantha pats me and says this when she is scared. Last night we had some thunder and she would run as fast as she could to me, hug me, then pat me and say, "It's okay."
- Today at play group she was a "terrible toddler." No seriously, two time-outs and two I'm sorry hugs. At one point one of her friends had a toy she wanted and in a high pitched shrill voice she started saying, "Share! Share! Share! Share!'
-She can sign and say please but it comes out, "Peas!" And if she gets frustrated because I'm taking too long to get whatever, she then signs please on me.
- Right now we are obviously learning to share but also delayed gratification. Meaning, I don't jump when she says jump and that I first finish what I'm doing before getting what she wants. It's a hard lesson to learn, but I worked with a lot of teenagers who never learned this lesson.
- She knows her animals, most of her body parts (her favorite is her bellybutton), many of the colors, she also loves to color, working on her friend's names, knows her dog's name, can tell you if something hurts, or what she wants to eat or drink, and she loves to say help and to help. She is just my little person now.
- And, of course, she is still the strong-willed passionate little girl she has always been. She is determined to do all the big kid slides by herself and that about kills me but I let her do it. She likes to sit at the table in our chairs and eat her snacks,  she goes up and down stairs by herself, and basically just very Miss Independent.
- She keeps me on my toes for sure but is a lot of fun. This summer we are going to the Denver Zoo, maybe Dallas at some point maybe, and of course down to see my Dad. I'm also hoping to do swim lessons with her again. She is actually really cautious and mild in the water.

I know I forgot a whole lot of stuff but the fun thing about Samantha is that every day is new and different. She learns something new everyday, challenges me in a new way everyday (not as much fun), but is kind and loving. I just remember, "It's okay, it's okay."