Books: Samantha's memory has increased significantly over the last couple of months. Previously, after 2-3 days she would be able to recall all the names of objects/animals within the book. Now, she is able to recall the general storyline based on the various images on the page, especially when there is only 1 - 2 sentences per page. Using her new found skill she's been reading some of her books to Teddy - how cute!.

Language Development: Samantha knows the alphabet (she's very close to saying the alphabet song word for word). She knows her colours and can count to twelve - although she sometimes love to torment us by not counting properly. She's also starting to recognize the numbers to nine (as opposed to counting), although she still gets confused by some of them.

She is experimenting a lot with her vocal chords and enjoys singing as she's learnt a number of songs.

Samantha is now is able to respond to a number of commands given at the same time rather than just one.

Play Time: Samantha now loves the swing - the higher the better. Something which she resisted in the past. She's confident with climbing ladders at various playgrounds. She's had a few tumbles resulting from older kids knocking her over so she's learnt to watch out for them. At the same time she has become more assertive and if she's playing with a toy she won't give it without a fight - previously she would move over as soon as another child arrived on the scene.

Samantha loves puzzles and is very quick to learn how all the pieces fit together. We've found that wooden puzzles with half a dozen pieces no longer challenge her.

Misc: Whenever we go anywhere, Dad asks Samantha "What do we need?" Quick as a flash, she'll respond "keys...phone...wallet". She'll put on her shoes all by herself (the one's with the velcrose buckle) as well as her hat before she goes outside.

Dad has also been teaching Samantha a few other sayings. When asked "What do you think this is?", she'll respond with "Picnic". And, when we are waiting at a red traffic light for a while she'll say "Come on, people!"

We've managed to pass onto Samantha our love of the outdoors. She loves going for walks and spotting the animals and has very quickly learnt to recognize the local birds "Mynah", "Spotted Turtle Dove", "Black Bird", "Cockatoo". We'll walk past some flowers and she'll quick pipe up "pretty yellow flower".