Seth is 18 months

This won't be a long post because we are in Texas right now and I don't have any pictures with me. Poor Seth just came down with a bad fever and croup last night. I swear, he gets croup more than anyone I know. This on top of some tough teething of his molars. Poor kid. I think he is having a fun time here, though. He still prefers if me or Katsu is around all the time or he will cry and try to find us.

Not too much new with Seth this month. He is talking a lot more, but I don't keep track of his words, so I don't know how many. Of course, most of them are just the first syllable, so he is still hard to understand. But he does have quite a bit to say. Between that and his vigorous "yes" head nods, he is pretty easy to understand. He still doesn't say no - how lucky am I that my kids don't learn that word for a LONG time.

Seth is still obsessed with cars, but that is somewhat being overpowered by trains. He LOVES to play with trains at home and it causes lots of fights. THe boys in general seem to be fighting over toys A LOT because they have the exact same interests and want to play with the same toys. Also, Seth wants to be just like Andrew and tries to do everything he does. I think the boys will be excited tomorrow morning!

Seth plays pretty independently, as long as Andrew isn't in the way. He also loves to be read to and is finally beyond board books. He still likes board books, but he can last through several picture books. He loves everything trucks/cars/trains, Richard Scarry, Boynton's Going to Bed book, Eric Carle's from Head to Toe, and Dora books. He even will say "Map" and tries to say "Swiper no swiping". So cute!

Seth is still a huge monkey. He will do everything on all the big kid playgrounds. He loves to play chase. He loves to throw things, especially balls. Katsu is even teaching him to kick - maybe he will be a ball player. He really really loves sticks. His favorite thing is to run away from us or go jumping and sliding off the couch. He is tough and hardly cries and is always covered in cuts and bruises. Sometimes he will be bleeding and won't even sit still long enough for me to figure out where the blood is coming from. So "all boy", whatever that means.

Seth is a sensitive soul. He gets his feelings hurt when we scold him and he runs and hides to calm down (total opposite of Andrew needed to cuddle). He also needs a schedule. He tells us when he is ready for a nap and is very upset if we deviate from the dinner-bath-bed routine.

Fun things for Seth this month:
-Christmas light displays (in Belleville and Rhema in Oklahom
-Seeing Santa at the mall (from afar ... we never quite got to visiting him this year)
-Last times at "zoo school"
-Transportation museum
-First trip to the zoo all by himself (i.e. without mommy)
-Creche exhibit (Seth LOVES looking for baby Jesus)
-Precious Moments chapel in Missouri
-GRANDMA AND GRANDPA's!

A Flowchart: Should I send you a Christmas Card

Made by Katsu, recommended for everyone.

Andrew's preschool Christmas presentation

Andrew's preschool presentation

Andrew is another month older

I’m not sure what to post about this month.  Nothing very exciting in the last month.  Andrew is pretty much doing the same things as last month.  He seems to kind of be in an onery sort of mood, in general.  More fits than usual – I had almost forgot about those, but now he has fits regularly.  Little ones, though, so he recovers quickly. 

He doesn’t like to play with toys much anymore, or at least not ours.  He much prefers to turn the house into some sort of jungle gym (drives me nuts!) or play pretend, sort of things.  I think he would like some sort of boy Barbie sort of toy – like how my brother had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a kind, but I’m not quite sure what to get him.  I feel like he just mopes around the house half the day when we aren’t reading and he isn’t constructing something.  I feel like he keeps getting into trouble.  I think he is probably lonely too and really needs to hang out with other kids, but I am just a total loss about what to do about that. 

Otherwise … let’s see.  Andrew still says funny things all the time.  Still obsessed with when/who he will marry and when he will die.  He also compulsively asks “What’s your name?”, all the time.  Drives me nuts.  He still likes to talk with all kinds of pretend words, too, which similarly drives me nuts.  He is such a talker and has a huge vocab, though.  I can never believe the words he will say – I have no idea where he learns them.

Andrew is sweet with Seth when they aren’t beating up on each other.  He likes to say how they are going to be dancers when they grow up because they like to hold hands.  I am not sure the exact logic, but its cute.

He is really really looking forward to going to Texas for Christmas and talks about his relatives ALL the time.  He wants to call and talk on Skype with them all the time.  It’s cute, I wish that we had some sort of family that lived closer.  Or heck, even friends.  Oh, well.

Fun things this month:

- Thanksgiving, just us.  Andrew kept talking about how he didn’t like pie all month, but then a couple days before he said he wanted pie, so I decided to make one.  Which, of course, he didn’t eat.  The boys mostly just wanted to eat cranberry sauce.

- Black Friday shopping – which Andrew did not enjoy.  Oh, well.

- Walking through the Christmas lights at Tilles Park.

- Seeing the Christmas lights at Belleville.

- Seeing the Transportation museum for the first time.  It was fun to climb on trains and see how they work, just like Thomas.

- Visiting the zoo.

- Play dates with a little boy in the ward.  They love to play trains together.

- Fireworks watching from our apartment for Clayton’s winter festival.

- Seeing the creche at the ward building.  Andrew and Seth were pretty much NOT impressed with this at all.  By the end, they were totally acting out, so we left.  Andrew liked dressing up for the creche picture.

Funny Things

Andrew says so many things, but this is pretty part and parcel for how Andrew is lately ...

Andrew: Mom - I missed you so much today. I was going to call you but there wasn't a phone .
Me: Why did you miss me so much?
Andrew: Because I love you very much. And I love Peyton very much. And she loves me very much.

Ha ha ha ... when do cooties start? Seriously, this boy is intense. For his girl with the little hair bow.