We went to Branson with my parents a week ago. We stayed at a condo there and then went to Silver Dollar City on three different days. The boys had a great time. We had fun, too. We did most of the typical stuff – all the rides the boys can go on, the three shows that were running, seeing all the crafts, the cave, eating food, and just enjoying ourselves.
The best pics:
At the condo:
Silver Dollar City:
Another month older and I still can’t believe how fast he is growing. They just seem to grow faster and faster. (Well, maybe Seth isn’t growing physically that much … but, you know).
It’s funny – Seth had an assessment this month with our Parents as Teachers person and while he did well, we were noting some concern on his speech – he almost never makes the end sounds of words and just enunciates so poorly that I only understand him about half the time. But then, within a week, he has just starting babbling away. I would think he heard what we were talking about, but he was pretty busy playing with the trains.
So, Seth has a lot to say. He is starting to really talk in sentences, albeit short ones. He said “Andrew did it”, the other day, which Katsu believes was his first real sentence. But the big part is he is finally using verbs. And a lot. And all of a sudden. And his speech is becoming more clear/deliberate, though there still needs to be work. His best words: firetruck! dump truck! And he is sure trying to make ambulance, police car, and helicopter as clear, as well. He is obsessed with emergency vehicles of all kinds. Luckily, we live on a major street and see many of the vehicles all the time.
Seth is still a small eater. Huge lover of eggs. And drinking milk (and spilling everywhere because he is too reckless). And strawberries and blueberries and bananas and grapes – almost goes into hysterics if we don’t buy some every time he sees them.
Seth is still a wild climbing monkey. His other favorite word – jump! He climbs up everything and all the other parents just stare. I don’t know what to do – he is off before I can get him.
Andrew and Seth have a hit or miss relationship. They love each other and hug a lot. But they fight. A lot. But Seth also wants to be exactly like Andrew. They play well together, too. They love to egg each other not – to burp excessively, to do naughty things, etc. etc. Seth has been going through a big biting phase this month. But he is so hard to discipline. When he does something bad, he smiles/laughs about it, but I can tell that he feels bad and just doesn’t know what to do about it. He also likes to hit. I am trying to discipline best I can, but I hope the phase passes quickly.
They play some with their toys, but Seth (and Andrew) loves to wear a cape, a mask, and have a wand (for at least a week, this is also what he wore out of the house every day). Hats are great – but Seth’s favorite – a Pull-Up! Add on enough Mardi Gras beads that you are almost tilting over. Activity 1: Get on the “stage” – i.e. the bed – and jump off and dance. Repeat. With the piano playing music full blast. Activity 2: Pull out chairs or couch cushions or futons or whatever and create an obstacle course to climb on / jump off and circle and repeat. Activity 3: Find every book that features an emergency vehicle. Read. Say “Again”. Repeat. Activity 4: When mom is not paying attention, run to bathroom. Turn on water. What can I put in water? What can I put in toilet? How much water can I spill on floor? Etc. Etc. Etc. Two boys create so much trouble.
We went to Branson this month with my parents for a long long weekend. Seth, surprise surprise, was completely warmed up to my parents from day one. True, he called them both “Grandpa”, but he wanted to be with them! I loved it. So, he is SLOWLY getting over separation anxiety. I have been working my buns off on my dissertation and every morning I go with the boys to a family in our ward and I work in the basement for a couple hours. Seth stays and plays in the basement quietly by himself almost the whole time. But a few days, he has gotten over his mommy attachment enough to go up the stairs and play with Andrew and his other buddy. Maybe we’ll eventually be able to leave him in nursery (if he ever goes for two consecutive weeks without getting sick …. unlikely).
Branson was a hit. Seth could only ride on like 2 rides. He burst into really big tears when he learned he couldn’t ride dumbo. So, we got to the little kids rides early one day and let him ride them over and over and over. He was in paradise. I felt dizzy.
Seth is finally done with teething for a long while, and, just as I predicted, he is back to sleeping well. He sleeps on the futon all night and wakes up once, maybe like 4-6 am and then will go to sleep if we go in there. Not bad at all, in my opinion, especially considering he hasn’t been in a crib since like 6 months.
Seth might be developing a (late) comfort object – a soccer sweatshirt. He is obsessed with wearing anything that has firetrucks or balls and practically throws a fit when we are out of his “ball” socks. Funny boy.
Seth is a cute, fun boy. It’s fun to watch him grow up.
Fun things this month:
- BRANSON!!!
- Mardi Gras parade. And Mardi Gras beads. It’s all about the bling.
- St Patrick’s day parade with daddy.
-Jambalaya and King Cake for Fat Tuesday.
- A visit to the Botanical Gardens.
- Lots of trips to the park. In between snow this week and last week, we had some gorgeous 80 degree days!
I’m working my butt off, so on Saturday’s it’s Daddy day. The boys were with Katsu from 9-5 today (fun for them, not so much for me … work, work work). So, today the boys went to the St Patrick’s Day Parade. The big one in downtown. (Believe it or not, there is another parade on actual St Patrick’s Day here, but we won’t be able to make it to that one this year). Of course, a big highlight is the train ride over there. (They love train rides so much, that last week when they were supposed to go the Science Center, they wanted to take the train to Katsu’s work instead). And of course, the Pringles Katsu brought for a snack. Katsu got them there by 10 for a parade that didn’t start till 12, and then – get this – the parade was 3 HOURS!!! (A little different than the St Charles Mardi Gras one … ha ha ha …). Seth even took a little nap in the middle. The boys told me the have tons of fun. Seth loved the fire trucks the most, of course. And Andrew loved the balloons, the floats, the fire trucks … it all. Of course, he loved everything. Pictures:
Mardi Gras is a pretty big deal in St. Louis. I had no idea. The festivities start in January with Epiphany Day (if that’s what it’s called) and they have lots of parades and events. We didn’t get to any of the official parades in St. Louis – a lot of them aren’t very family friendly. So, I read about a family friendly one in St. Charles and we decided to go. We love St. Charles and we thought it would be fun.
We got there and parked by the cute old downtown like we usually do. It was a cold day, but we were going to get lunch and then watch the parade. But it was in the Frenchtown district. Which was a bit further away. Katsu went back for the car and me and the boys kept walking, quite a bit further. We figured there would be some great restaurants in Frenchtown. So, we kept walking. and there was nothing … no people, no businesses … it looked like the time we went to Sault Ste. Marie, but worse. It was deserted and at this point we were very hungry and tired. We kept thinking we saw a place to eat – one looked promising until we got close enough to realize that it was a taxidermy place! Finally, we found an itsy bitsy restaurant that was a bike shop / café and got a bite to eat.
Then, the parade started. It was definitely for kids, but very small. Notice in the pictures, there is like no one else there. It had like 5 floats maybe. It took like 5 minutes and the kids got lots of beads and candy (almost exclusively twizzlers, which they don’t like). Then, the long walk back to the car. but the kids really had fun. It was an adventure.
For Fat Tuesday, I made some jambalaya. It was really really good. We’ll have to make it a tradition – it really felt like a feast. And ended with a king cake. The kids were drooling over it. I don’t know why they left the baby on top and didn’t bake it into the cake, though.
Only a couple days late this time. Another fun and busy month.
As you can tell, Andrew has become thick as theives with Seth this month, getting into so much trouble. More than I could even tell. His new favorite is playing with my makeup and painting his face blue (why I have this eye shadow, I am not sure). I always tell him, “You can’t play with this” and he says, “I’m not playing – I need this. I am working”.
He LOVES church stuff. He plays with his board set almost every day. He makes sure we say prayers every day and wants to have family home evening every night. He has Katsu tell a Jesus story every night before he goes to bed. He talks about Jesus all the time and tells people about him – the library, everywhere. He told me that “Jesus knows everything” and I asked him where he learned that. He said, “Jesus told me during my prayers”. I can’t believe how religious he is.
Andrew is really into using time and number words, but he hasn’t quite figured it out. So cute.
He is finally getting the knack of undressing and dressing himself. Hooray. Of course, when he puts things on the wrong way, he refuses to change it around. The other day, his pants and his underwear were both backwards. Oh, well.
He still wakes up like every 3 hours unless one of us is sleeping next to him and he wants to hold our hand to go to sleep and sometimes at night, too. He really wants to sleep by himself all night so he can get stickers and go to Chuck E Cheese, but then he’ll tell us each not, that tonight he’s “not ready yet”. Sigh …
Another fun month with Andrew. I can’t believe he is almost 4. He has an assessment tomorrow through Parents As Teachers. It will be interesting to see what they have to say.
Fun things this month -
- Play dates with kids in the ward.
- Really fun puppet show with “Bark George Bark” and “Daddy Mountain” at the library. Andrew loved it. We watched it with a friend from our Washington University group, who Andrew really likes. But he wouldn’t sit next to her because he was “too shy” and wanted to be by me. Don’t know where that came from.
- Getting valentines and candy from the kids at his preschool … a week late, but he still loved them. I think some are still littering their bedroom/playroom.
- Princess and the Frog at the History museum. Another big hit – the kids loved it and Andrew kept wanting to get more and more snacks. Too bad the series will be done for the year.
- Storytime with our Washington University group at the History Museum. The boys made cowboy costumes.
- Mardi Gras parade in St. Charles. Post to follow, but let’s say it was an adventure! Andrew had a lot of fun and then worn his Mardi Gras beads for the next week ALL the time (except during preschool).
- Dr. Seuss two weeks at preschool. Andrew had so much fun – they dressed up a different thing each day, they made Dr. Seuss hats, ate green eggs and ham, and painted their feet on two different days! Now, every time we go to the library, he finds lots of new Dr. Seuss books.
- Another filling for Andrew. Poor boy. I hope it’s the last one forever … or at least for a long time. It did NOT go well at all. He was completely heartbroken by the time they were done. But he cheered up with a milkshake from McDonalds and new shoes from the mall (he grew 2 full sizes since the last pair … whoops).
- Jambalaya and King Cake for Fat Tuesday. Andrew was SO excited and couldn’t wait to eat the cake all day and was so excited about the beads and baby Jesus on top.
- A cold visit to the Botanical Gardens. And finally, lots of visit to the park, which thanks to the new park is CRAWLING with kids. Lots of kids for Andrew to play with … he always seems to gravitate to the girls.
- St. Patrick’s Day parade with Daddy today! Andrew LOVED it. St. Louis is a GREAT place for parades! I missed it, but he told me that he loved “everything”. Of course, he says that about everything. “What was your favorite part?” “Everything”. Always.
I am so exasperated with the boys lately. I can not believe how much they get into and how many messes they make. I think they just how busy/tired I am these last few weeks (trying to finish up this stupid PhD) and are pulling out all the stops.
Yesterday, while I was cooking dinner, I heard what I thought was Seth playing with Mardi gras beads, throwing them against something and hearing the clinking sound. Um … no. That sound I heard was instead Seth getting into the cat food tupperware (holding pounds and pounds of cat food). He was getting handfuls and throwing them – EVERYWHERE. The floor of the closet were we keep it was so covered in food I couldn’t see the carpet. But not just there – in the dining room, the kitchen, the living room (okay, these are rooms in a relative sense in our apartment but you get the picture). On the couch, on the window sill. In the couch. I think I finally finished vacumming it up this afternoon.
Then, I decided I needed to marinate the tofu for dinner. This takes all of 5 minutes, tops. As I go to put the couch cushions back in the couch after the boys have built some sort of sliding playground, and I see crumbs. And pieces of bread. Oh, yes – the boys had taken the entire half loaf of bread left and stuff bits in there mouth and then littered the rest all over the floor.
Besides the usual messes of taking all the movies out of the rack, constantly taking my muffin tins and baking sheets all over the house, playing with my makeup, the list never ends.
On Sunday, the boys were playing in their bedroom … a little too quietly. Andrew had been in time out for trying to choke Seth with a bath robe tie. Katsu had told him to “think about how Seth could have died” – pretty typical for Katsu and his parenting (ha ha ha). Seth must have joined him in time-out. We peek in and they found my cross-stitch box and had started to undo all the skeins. Sigh … The best part – we asked Andrew what they were doing (before we saw the wreckage) and he said, “Thinking about when Seth is going to die”. At least he was listening …
