Seth is 2 years old!

I can’t believe it’s been two years since he was born (well, last week), but Seth does seem like a little man.  And in fact, his recent increase in appetite seems to have made him a little bigger of a man – he was 24.6 lbs today at his appt! (20%) and also 33 3/4 in (25%) – so thank heavens, no more weight checks. 

Seth’s language has really taken off the last few months and he just has so much to say.  It’s always so hilarious to hear little kids say adult things – he loves to say “Told you, Mom” and “at all”, “Like I can not sleep at all, not at all”.  I’m sure there are lots more – it is so funny.  His favorite word nowadays is “dangerous” – he loves to talk about things that are dangerous and all the dangerous things he does.  Which pretty well explains his personality.

Seth is all about doing everything himself (way more than Andrew ever was).  He throws a fit every time we try to finish brushing his teeth or do his sunscreen (“I can do it”) and we have to sort of con him into it.

Seth never slows down.  As soon as it is bedtime he goes into hyperdrive.  He runs around, tries to shoot baskets, kick his soccer ball, and generally go nuts.  We generally have to hold him down and shove his pajamas on while he cries in protest.  Otherwise, he runs around the house yelling naked and then cries an hour later because he is not wearing his pajamas.  He takes an hour to finally drop off to sleep.

Seth is really into trying to be like Andrew and learn his ABCs and numbers.  He now knows the entire ABC song and counts so cute – “1 – 2 – 3 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 18 – 19”.  He recognizes a few of his letters and probably the number 0.  Of course, maybe this is just because he really loves the number/letter cookies from Trader Joes.

Seth got a basketball hoop from us for his birthday.  We got the bigger one for kids 3-up and it is 4 ft high (at its lowest setting).  I thought it would be a little too high, but he can make baskets a lot of the time.  He really is becoming a good little athlete.  He even has this cute little posture he always uses when he is doing his athletic stuff.  He knows every single type of ball and now tells me he wants to play tennis every time we go past the tennis courts.  And as usual – only runs.  Never walks.  At Silver Dollar City with my parents, he was always running off in front of us with all of the people just staring at him.

Seth is not a huggy person, but he loves to cuddle.  He sleeps in his own bed all night long (still a huge novelty to us), but wakes up between 5:45 and 6:30 and comes in our room and then wants to cuddle and sometimes goes back to sleep.  He is really starting to love Katsu too and cuddle with him.  He also tells us that he loves us and we love him.  So cute.

Seth really loves anything related to fire trucks and fire engines.  He steals any cord he can find and pretends it is a fire hose and shoots anyone and everyone with water.  He also is more the kind of kid to make anything weapons.  I can’t tell whether he is just spraying water at everyone or something a little more violent.  Today, he and Andrew spent at least half an hour running around and attacking each other.

Fun Things This Month:

- Strawberry picking.  Seth and Andrew were crazy and kept running off to other rows.  Seth mostly picked ones to eat and made sure to tell everyone he talked to later that he didn’t pick the “yucky ones”.

- Lots of activities with our ward play group which I started for the summer.  Tilles Park, Botanical Gardens, and the park by the temple.  Seth always has lots of fun.  He especially loves the older girls.

- Shakespeare in the Park – Taming of the Shrew, sort of set in the 1950s.  Seth was not so interested in the play, but he LOVED the juggling and just the novelty of the whole thing.

- Second visit to the dentist.  Needless to say, he hated it, but with me holding him in my lap, he “allowed” them to brush his teeth and also put on the fluoride.

- Summer reading program at the library.  Seth already finished his baby program (read 20 whole books … we read that in like 1 day).  We have enjoyed the summer programs.

- Hiking at Mastodon State Park for fossil day.  Seth tried his hand at getting out fossils, but I was so scared he was going to hit himself in the head with the hammer.  They were pretty tired by the time we finished with our hike at the other park, but perked up when we went and got ice cream at the historic Kimmswick.  Then, crazy me, after getting a little lost, we went and registered at Babies R Us (for the free gift card).  I guess I should check the registry sometime because the boys wanted to register for anything with cars on them and lots of toys.

- Enjoying lots of movie nights watching America’s Got Talent.  Seth loves the “dangerous” routines.

- Seeing a really fun local musician Babaloo – Seth loved it!

- Swim birthday party for a new kid in the ward.  Seth loved it, but kept sneaking off to try to play basketball with a real hoop and to play on the tricycle.

- Eating at the favorite Chinese Buffet.  Seth put up a fuss at where we were seated, so we got them to switch us to a table by the fish.  Seth was so excited about the chocolate fountain, but then didn’t want to eat any of it.

- Silver Dollar City with Grandpa and Grandma.  Seth loves spending time with them and had a really fun time at the amusement park.  He loved the rides and the dog show, but fell asleep during the circus show.  He was so tired because he struggled to get sleep there he was so excited to see everyone.

- Celebrating his birthday.  Cupcakes a week early from our neighbor Martha.  Then, getting his basketball hoop a few days early.  Then, cupcakes and a few presents while in Branson.

What a fun month!!!

Andrew is 4 years 1 month old!

Another month has gone by.  What to say …

Andrew has been going through kind of an annoying stage.  He throws fits almost at the drop of the hat.  It is quite frustrating – and he is really into throwing things and knocking things over.  Thankfully, I think it has been getting a little bit better than when we first started him on his allergy/asthma medication.  He also drags his feet any time we have to leave the house.  I think he is finally on top of the all the self-care stuff and he can get dressed all by himself, but actually getting him to do that in a timely manner … that is a different story.  We’ll have to think of something to make it through 5-day preschool next school year.

Andrew is pretty excited about having a new baby in the house.  He really wants a girl – twin girls actually (one for him, one for Seth) – but he’ll settle for one girl which he wants to call Tallulah.  He is convinced that no matter, it will be a girl.  After all, he told me, the ultrasound could be wrong, and it could be a girl no matter what.   Good luck, Andrew.  He is already starting to mother Seth more and is constantly checking Seth’s diaper.  Seth surprisingly goes along with it about half the time.  Of course, still not much interested in his doll who remains naked most of the time.

Andrew is so sad that preschool is over.  He cried that day and the next because he misses his friends so much.  In fact, he has not promoted everyone to being his friend except for one poor girl.  I don’t know why she isn’t his friend.  The preschool was supposed to have an event at the Magic House (Children’s museum), but it was cancelled when there was a tornado just over our house.  So sad.  So, his class got together at the park.  Andrew fell and got a HUGE goose-egg.  It’s been a week and he still has a big bump on his head and the bruising has now gone down to his eyes, so he looks like he has two big black eyes, too.  Poor kid.  He looks pretty awful.

Speaking of tornados, Andrew is TERRIFIED.  He constantly watches the weather (he wants to watch it like 30 minutes a day at least … how nice that digital TV has weather channels – at least, he believes me that the channel is mostly on a loop, so we don’t watch it forever).  Every afternoon, Andrew tells me he can hear the sirens.  He makes me look up whether there is a tornado.  One day, there was a tornado siren (I heard it), and I turned on the TV and it was right above our house, basically, and he freaked out and started practically crying and trying to run down to our neighbor’s basement.

Andrew had Vacation Bible school this week.  It was cheap and I thought he would have fun.  But every day he told me it was so LONG.  I think the boys in his group were not very nice, because VBS seemed so fun.  We came and picked him up every day and watched them go over what they learned and sing and dance.  I think he did have some fun, though.

Andrew has learned all his ABCs now (at least in uppercase) and knows some of their sounds and can recognize the numerals.  He is very interested in letters and numbers.  I have been trying to get him to at least read a digital clock so he knows not to wake us up before 7 am because is waking up when the sun rises (like 5:30 – eeks!).  Still not too interested in writing, but he loves to cut, glue, and paint.  And I think he has finally mostly figured out his colors!!!  He is really into the summer reading program and is trying to get all the prizes as fast as possible – which isn’t hard when we read to the boys like an hour a day!  He is playing ball with Katsu and is improving I think.  He can ride his bike with training wheels.

Andrew is a sweet loving boy!  He is cute.  He is not afraid to tell me that everyone loves him.  A discussion with his primary leader – “Why are you sitting with the sunbeams?”  “Oh, I just thought I would sit with you guys.”  “No, I think it is because you love me and wanted to sit by me.”  I guess he isn’t lacking in self-confidence.

Fun Things This Month:

- Playdates and parties with friends in the ward.

- Hiking in Queeny park.  Someone was missing their dog and Andrew still sometimes asks if they found it.  Eating at a great Chinese buffet afterwards – Andrew loved it.  The best way to explain money to Andrew:  We can do X or we can go to a chinese buffet for Y number of times.

- Small circus at Barnes and Noble.  Andrew loves juggling – who knew!

- Fun story times at the library, including Clifford day!

-Climbing through a forest at our friend’s house to go to their little river and throwing rocks there and watching the fish and setting bamboo on fire in their grill!  And there was Chinese food and their cat to chase.  Could the day get any better.  Andrew loved playing their sitar.

- Hiking at Lone Elk Park.  Andrew LOVED seeing the elk, but was pretty disappointed that we didn’t see any Bison.  He liked seeing the birds at the World Bird Sanctuary, too.  We sure wore him out.  Then, we went to the ward picnic – Andrew loved the games and said he won everything – I’m not sure about that, as a friend was watching him, but he seemed to love it, even the flag burning (I mean, retirement, or whatever it is called).

- Strawberry picking.  Andrew did a pretty good job of picking but refused to be in the same row as me and wanted to keep trying new rows.

- Dentist appointment with no cavities!  I guess flossing every day might have helped a little bit.

- Party day at Tilles Park and the black-eye/goose-egg incident at Tilles Park with his preschool.

- Vacation Bible School – the theme was “PandaMania” and they learned that – God created them – God watches them – God listens to them – God saves them (not sure about that one) – and God gives good gifts.  Funny to hear Andrew singing along to all the songs and coaching Seth to say “Thank you God”.  I think he had some fun.

- Going to see Shakespeare in the Park – Taming of the Shrew, sort of set in the 1950’s.  Andrew was pretty tired … but he seemed to enjoy it.