Well, technically yesterday. I can hardly believe it. I still even this week got a comment about how he is too small to be walking. Ha ha ha – he’s only been walking for 10 months! He is a teeny tiny things though.
So, let’s see … Physically – I don’t think Seth has gained any weight. He got sick this month – with a 104 degree fever and just totally lethargic for like 3 days. Poor kiddo. And of course, it was the one really nice week here where it was like 50-60 every day. Oh, well. He is still a little monkey – just all over the place. He climbs into places I don’t even know how gets there.
He is finally starting to move his one nap later – of course, like 11:30, now. So, it’s still kind of challenging.
He is pretty handy with utensils now and feeds himself very well with a spoon. He wolfed down the Jello we gave him today.
He peed in the potty for the first time this month. But now shows no real interest, so we’ll wait. He thinks if he presses his finger against the potty it helps him pee.
Emotionally – Seth is really emotionally / tantrummy lately. He gets very angry and then he throws things or hits things or bites things. Usually throwing. Then he’ll get really upset and leave and go to a room and cool down. But he mostly has tantrums when he is tired or Andrew is bothering him. The rest of the time, he is very loving and loves to cuddle and check back in with me and give hugs and kisses. He plays pretty independently – people always comment on it – but wants us in the room. His favorite is to say “Hand” “Hand” and then wait until I will take his hand and go wherever he wants.
Mentally – Seth is pretty smart, I think. But it is probably due to wanting to do everything that Andrew can. He is trying to learn all his letters and numbers, too. I was so impressed when I thought he knew that we were in Apartment 8 b/c it says it on our door, but I think that was luck. He can totally do shape shorting completely and knows the names of some of the shapes and maybe some colors, too. He is starting to count – consistently 1 and 2, but I know he knows most of the names to 10. He loves puzzles but always wants to do jigsaw puzzles – he likes putting the pieces together, but, of course, he has a little bit of a hard time knowing which piece goes where.
Seth is talking more. He has a HUGE vocabulary. I think it is way more than Andrew had at this age. On the other hand, his speech is still pretty unclear (the kid needs to learn to enunciate and pronounce end syllables) and I still sometimes have no idea what he wants. I usually eventually figure it out, though. He is starting to combine words and phrases – I don’t know if I would quite call it a sentence. I love how he answers questions – When I ask how something was, he will usually say “Good”. And today he asked for “Jello please”. Pretty darn cute. Oh, and the word “Mine” has surfaced loud and clear this month. He definitely knows that word well.
Seth will repeat phrases for prayers and fold his arms and clearly say “Amen”. He also loves to sing Primary songs and will even try to sing along to the Wise Men and the Foolish Men. When we sing “Follow the Prophet” he will go and get the LDS board books. he likes nursery – as long as Katsu is there the whole time. Of course, he is only there about half the time because he is sick the rest of the time.
Seth still loves trains and cars. First thing when he stumbles out of bed, he goes straight to the trains. “Train track” is like his favorite phrase. He also likes to make his cars “wreck” which means they are upside down and then he turns them right side up. He likes to dance and gallop around, especially when he is excited. He LOVES to read, especially Dora and SkippyJon Jones books. He loves to do jigsaw puzzles and shuns ones with too few or too large pieces. He likes TV too much (I finally have a weekly chart with 5 30 min slots with 2 being for our movie night – it is working pretty well). He loves to play with play dough, but mostly playing with the jars. He loves to throw balls. He likes to play pretend with Andrew – wearing a cape and being Super Why – or pretending to go off and fight giants “Giants, giants”. He likes to turn on faucets whenever I turn my back. He likes to do play dates. He loves Japanese characters – An Pan Man and Doraemon – and any American character, really. He is a really big helper and if he sees me doing a chore, he rushes to help. He has a good sense of direction and gets upset if I am not going the way he thinks I should be (like when we took a different way to the zoo).
I love his cheesy grin. They are such cute boys and brothers.
Fun Things this month:
- Setsubun – a Japanese holiday where you throw beans at a goblin. Seth was terrified whenever Katsu wore the mask, even when he knew that Katsu was underneath. The whole next day he would go to the back door and say “Monster. Beans”.
- Watching movies at History Museum. Also story time. Seth loves the snacks! And seeing the replica of the plane, the Spirit of St. Louis.
- Zoo. Always a treat. We’ve been 2 or 3 times this month.
- Cahokia Mounds. Seth was moderately interested.
- Watching any sports with Katsu. He is especially interested in soccer and must point out soccer balls wherever he sees them.
- Valentine’s Day diner visit and also chocolate. Seth loved the chocolate and playing with Andrew’s valentines. Also, the cool octopus balloons that Katsu brought home for them.
- Play dates with kids in the ward.
- A really fun puppet show with two fun books – Bark George Bark and the Daddy Mountain – at the library. Seth was so excited about it, at dinner he kept trying to tell Katsu “Pupp, pupp, pupp” – it took us a little bit but then he said yes when we asked him how much he enjoyed it. So cute that he wanted to add to the dinner conversation.
