Seth is 3 years 9 months old!

I think things that have been better this month and Seth has been having an easier time.  And this has been a tough month for Seth, too.  We went away for the first time and left Andrew and Seth with a neighbor/friend from the ward for three days.  Katsu and I needed to go visit North Carolina and see if we liked it.  I was very apprehensive about leaving Seth.  He was very nervous and anytime we mentioned it, he would cry and cry and cry.  He said that I wasn’t allowed to choose and that he got to choose who got on the trip (because he’s the oldest, but I’ll go into that later).  He said that he would go on the plane with me.  But ultimately, it seemed to turn out fine.  I talked to Seth on the phone every day, but it was mostly one word “Yes” or “No” in his high little voice.  He played with his friend Miles the first two days.  The neighbor who was watching him doesn’t have any small children anymore, so that way he would have more fun.  The third day, they all went to the zoo, also along with Miles and a few more friends from church.  He seemed to have a really good time!  He didn’t even seem too excited to see me when I came back.  I think he thought we were moving to North Carolina right then and was very upset on the way home that we weren’t driving to our new house!

Seth even went to the Magic House (the children’s museum) with a friend and his mother without me and seemed to have a fabulous time.  It’s good to see him opening up and enjoying himself.

Seth is deep into his fantasy world.  He is a superhero who is infinity years old, so he is the oldest one around.  He can be a superhero because he is a half age.  At night, while we are sleeping, Seth goes on adventures all over the world by himself and can fly.  He has all kinds of super powers.  It is so cute to hear him talk about them.  He really has a vivid imagination.

His imagination gets him into trouble, though.  I thought it was just Santa Claus he was afraid of, but we have to add leprechauns and the Easter Bunny to the list.  His school had leprechauns “break in” to their preschool room.  He got into their pudding the first day and made it green and Seth came home somewhat perturbed.  By the morning, he was hysterical that leprechauns were real, that they were going to get into his room at school and maybe his house and cause all kind of trouble.  I told him they are pretend, but he doesn’t believe me.  He was crying and crying and I practically had to drag him to preschool and then had to walk him in to alert the teachers that he was scared.  His teachers and classmates were all in the hall waiting because the leprechaun had locked them out!  Amazingly, Seth took it mostly in stride and let me leave.  And when I picked him up, he was happy because the leprechauns are actually real and good and they had left him gifts (some trinkets and a leprechaun hat).  I think these good feelings are dissipating though and he refused to wear the leprechaun hat to the St. Patrick’s day parade. 

He seems to show similar fear of the Easter Bunny and is very skeptical about him coming into our house.  He told me he hates the Easter Bunny.  He was a little scared (but maybe a little excited) when we saw the bunny arrive via helicopter this morning at an Easter Egg hunt.  Ignoring the Easter bunny, though, he loves Easter.  Today he told me, “I love Easter and Halloween best because you get candy.  I don’t like Christmas”.  It’s true, though – Seth asks about when Easter and Halloween are all the time, even when Christmas is just a day or two away.  Silly boys.  He has been helping me buy things at the store for our upcoming Easter celebration and is very excited.  He hid all the Easter things in the cabinet and keeps showing them to everyone.  He can’t wait to drink the grape juice and eat marshmallows especially.

Seth seems to really be into hiding and secrets.  He and Logan and I play hide and seek a lot every day.  He is playing better with Logan, too, on a side note.  He also is always telling me “Don’t tell that to ____ – it’s a secret” about everything.

Seth has finally gotten much better about obedience and picking things up.  He listens the first time and goes and does it.  And then I look over and it is already done and I am shocked because it is so different than it was even a few months ago.  I am so proud of him.

Seth is excited about moving and loves to talk about what he wants in a house – a driveway, an upstairs.  He is very keen on the driveway and mentions it often.

Seth is quite good about playing with himself.  When I put Logan down for a nap, Seth will go and play by himself in his room and is pretty good about it.  He has made it his job to close the curtains in Logan’s room and always rushes to do it and is mad if I do it first.  He mostly plays good and bad with his cars and army people.  It bores me to tears, especially since my team is always about 1/10 the size of his and has no super powers while his is basically immortal – so I am not sure what I am even supposed to be doing!

Seth is VERY interested in super heros.  He loves reading almost anything, but he especially loves reading super hero books.  I think we have every Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Green Lantern, Incredible Hulk, etc. etc. book out from the library.  And we read them over and over.  He really wants to live in “the real Gotham City” and asks to go there all the time.  His new thing is that he wants to live in a city with lots of bad guys.  I try to tell him that there are lots of bad guys in St. Louis, but he is not interested.

Seth has been wandering over to our bed almost every night.  It’s been driving me crazy.  He says he has bad dreams if he sleeps in his bed, but none if he sleeps out here.  I never wake up when he comes in bed, he’s so quiet, so I usually don’t notice until I wake up with Logan crying and realize I have feet in my face.  Otherwise, he really is a good sleeper and I can’t complain.  He goes to sleep easily most nights, although some nights for some reason, he can’t sleep until we finally let him lay on the couch, and then he like instantly falls asleep.  Silly boy.

Seth is a little sweetheart.  Sometimes he is a little whiny and he seems to be in a very loud age.  But overall, he is a very good little boy, just a little anxious.

FUN THINGS THIS MONTH:

• Reading night at Seth’s school.  It was so fun to go to an event at Seth’s school and focus on him.  But Andrew was so excited to see his old teachers and Seth introduced himself (as if they didn’t already know him!) as “Andrew’s brother”.  Poor kid.  He showed us his teacher, picked out some books at the bookfair and really seemed to enjoy himself.
• A new set of swim lessons has begun.  Seth is in a different class with a different teacher (the right level this time) and misses his old teacher.  He is very enthusiastic and tries very hard, but seems to not want to try to breathe – he always thinks his abilities are far greater than they really are.
• History museum for the Lorax movie.  Seth loves to book so we thought he would enjoy the movie, but he really loves the snacks.
• Seth finished his Dr. Seuss unit and loved the Green eggs and ham especially.  He ate it all!
• Seth celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at school and was mostly terrified.  At home, we had green eggs, green milk and green pancakes for breakfast, which he loved.  The Corned beef at dinner he didn’t love quite so much.  The St. Patrick’s day parade was quite long and after awhile, he was too tired to be at the front getting candy with Andrew and came back with us.  True to form, the parade was about 2.5 hours, but it’s probably our last St. Louis one and we couldn’t let it go to waste.
• Seth is on Spring Break and loves to tell everyone that he gets more than 2 weeks off.  He was lucky and went to Magic House this week with a friend.  We also have played at the park a lot.
• Staying at a neighbor’s house.  He did so well and Andrew really helped to take care of him and do things so he wouldn’t be scared.  I am so glad that we kept them together.
• Fish fry.
• 2 easter egg hunts back to back.  We were planning on skipping the first one since we had swim lessons.  But someone apparently had an accident in the swimming pool after Seth’s lesson, so Andrew’s was cancelled and we ran and barely made the first hunt, one we have always enjoyed in Richmond Heights.  Then, we went to a new-to-us hunt in Forest Park.  It was cold, but the boys had fun.  It was in the huge field (where the Balloons for the Balloon race start) and we got to see booths, the Bunny arrive by Helicopter and each of the boys had their own egg hunt.  There was TONS of eggs (55,000) so the boys got lots.  And some even had good candy.  We had a lot of fun.  At the first hunt, the boys even shared eggs with a boy who got there late and missed the whole thing.  I was proud.

Andrew is 5 years 10 months old!

Andrew seems to be getting taller and skinnier.  I couldn’t believe how skinny his arms were when I saw him the other day.  He weighed himself today and he weighed about 41 lbs.  We definitely should switch him into a booster seat; I think he has outgrown his 5 pt harness.  He is definitely starting to look more like an elementary schooler now, so much older.

Andrew loves kindergarten.  He seems to really enjoy everything.  I was able to volunteer in his class this month and stayed for recess and lunch, which Andrew was excited about.  In his Writer’s Workshop, he has started to really crank out books.  Instead of being very detailed and perfectionistic, he is starting to “write to get out his ideas” as his teacher put it.  He is doing a series of “How to” books – How to make paper airplanes, how to make paper snowflakes, How to play soccer, etc.  They are pretty cute.  His last book that I was looking at ended like this “Can you do it?  Will you do it?”  I thought it was hilarious.  They are starting to learn about punctuation right now.

Andrew seems to be his own man at recess.  He followed the teacher around telling her where to get all the balls that went behind fences, played with the girls for awhile, and then played soccer for awhile.  I think putting him in soccer in the fall would good, if only to make him more confident in playing with the other boys.  Soccer is huge – I swear, every single birthday party is at Vetta Sports, playing soccer and in bounce house things.  I was happy to see that he played a little soccer at a birthday party yesterday.  He doesn’t previously.

Lunch was pretty short – they have 20 minutes total, but Andrew has really “focused on eating” as he told me, so he is actually starting to finish most of his food now.  Andrew’s favorite food for lunches are:  Gyoza (pot stickers), fried rice, chicken noodle soup, ramen, anything Asian.  He usually won’t eat sandwiches if I send them.  As he told me, he doesn’t like anything dough.  He is pretty good about eating fruit and vegetables and loves to eat pudding.

Andrew is learning about animals in Science class.  They go to Science Lab to learn lots of the lessons.  It’s called animals 2x2 and they study two animals at a time that are similar.  They have learned about worms, pill bugs, guppies, goldfish, etc. 

They have been studying games in Math class.  He is always bringing home different game boards that he has been working on.  They practice counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s.

Andrew’s favorite thing is centers.  Sometimes, he is so excited about his writing that he works on it extra then (according to his teacher), or he does crafts.  He often brings home snowflakes or paper airplanes.  He also loves computer time – he figured out how to get PBS kids and watch his favorite shows (Kraut brothers or something like that … it’s about animals).  Great – I am sending him to school to watch TV!

Andrew’s class read Mr. Popper’s Penguins out loud this month.  Andrew loved it.  He would come home and ask me questions like, “I know you read this a long time ago, but you can tell me what happens at the end of Chapter 18?”.  They celebrated the end by eating ice cream sandwiches.

Andrew worked so hard at his swim class and passed Level 1!  I can see so much improvement over this session.  We were so excited we took him out for donuts.  He really persevered to make it through that class.  It doesn’t come super naturally to him.

At home, Andrew and Seth spend a lot of time playing army and doing crafts.  They also enjoy looking at books and reading.  Andrew always wants me to read him chapter books off my Kindle.  He was trying to read to himself on the Kindle, but then he accidentally bought a book – they make that way too easy.  Andrew also likes to make guns out of the Lincoln Logs or build things with Trio.  He still refuses to play with his Legos.  Oh, well.

Andrew’s personality seems to be getting more difficult again.  Trying to get him to go to sleep tonight with the time change was a nightmare.  He screamed and threw fits and woke Logan up twice!  And he has been waking up at night again sometimes.  Seriously – the fun never ends.

He is really sweet, though.  He loves Logan and Seth and shares and tries to do good things for each of them.  He is a really good brother and a sensitive soul.  Boy, is that kid stubborn, though?

Fun Things This Month

• Valentine’s Day – Andrew had a really fun day while he was sick writing all the names and picking out the valentines.  He really had a lot of fun getting the valentines at school and bringing them home (not as much fun as Seth, though, I think) and sharing the candy he got – not as much as when he was in preschool thankfully.  He made a bird feeder at the valentine’s party (cheerios on pipe cleaners made into hearts) and that has been a pretty big deal around our house.
• Magic House – with just me and the boys.  Andrew really knows his way around the place and loves it.  He especially wanted to check out the new Magic School Bus exhibit that kids at school had been talking about.
• Zoo – we went on one of Andrew’s days’ off of school.  Andrew’s favorite part was riding the carousel, the Children’s Zoo and the gift shop.  He spent like 40 minutes looking at every toy and figuring which ones he could afford with his allowance (not many).  He finally picked out a little bird whistle for a dollar.  You fill it with water and when you blow, it kind of warbles.  I thought it would be a play and then throw away kind of toy, but the boys LOVE it.
• Chinese New Year Party – we went to our friends party again and it was fun.  Andrew LOVED the food, of course.  He ate an unbelievable amount.  I think that kid could live on rice and shrimp.  He enjoyed the fireworks, but got a little scared I think.  He also loved running around with the other kids, but they always seem to gravitate to video games and movies.
• Snow – Andrew has loved it.  He loves making snow balls and snow forts and snow men and sledding.  He was very sad we didn’t make a snowman the last snowfall, but it was just too icy.  2 snow days from school and missing a school field trip!  
• Passport – Andrew renewed his passport.
• Reading night at Seth’s school.
• Movie at the History Museum.
• Black History Month at Andrew’s school – Andrew loved it. There was some performances by the 5th grade and then a play based off The Three Little Pigs. They even brought home little pumpkin pies.  Andrew was very upset about this because he was sure they would have cake and he does not like pie.  Oh, the agony!
• Chinese buffet – to celebrate for Katsu.  Andrew loved it, of course.
• Birthday party.

Logan is 16 months old!

And the temper tantrums have hit.  I don’t know why I thought they should hit more like 18 months, but we are well into them.  Logan just throws a fit whenever something doesn’t go quite his way.  Or when you don’t understand what he wants.  They aren’t too long and sometimes he can be distracted, but boy, by the end of the day I am worn out! 

Logan has a pretty strong opinion about things.  He especially wants to be able to do everything that Andrew and Seth can do.  He pays a lot of attention to everyone else and tries to mimic everything they do.  He also likes to help do chores and things like that, too.  Whenever we brush our teeth, he rushes to the bathroom, climbs on top of the toilet, turns on the water and cries for his toothbrush.  When we start getting ready to go out, he runs and gets shoes out and starts handing them to the right people.  When he decides its time to make bread, he gets out the bread machine pan or the bread pan.  So cute!

Logan is pretty athletic.  He can throw and kick really well for his age.  He loves to throw.  His favorite game the last few days is throwing baskets in a basketball hoop.  He has his own little one, but now he loves the big boy one.  He wants me to lift him up over and over so he can dunk it.  He also loves to play soccer.  He usually wants to throw the ball rather than kick it, though.

Logan is starting to really enjoy story time.  He loves to bring me books and read to him.  It is also usually the first thing he does if he wakes up in a good mood.  His favorites are “1 2 3 in the sea” and “Freight Train” and “Little duck”.  He tries to mimic the choo choo sound I make when we read Freight Train and he said “truck” this week when he brought over a truck book.

Logan seems like he’s really expanding his speech.  He is jargoning a lot – making lots of noises that sound like speech but aren’t.  He also is saying more words.  Consistently, he will say hug, hat, hot, Mom, Dad, hi, and hey.  I think he has also said Andrew, kitty, and truck.

Logan LOVES to eat.  He eats so much it is unbelievable sometimes.  I guess that is why he is so big.  He loves eggs for breakfast, but will also eat cereal.  He loves berries to the point where he screams until he gets some and his fair share.  He also likes bananas, apples, oranges, pears.  He LOVES raisins and canned oranges and will constantly bring them out of the pantry (when’s he not hungry, he’s mostly content to build towers of cans in the pantry).  He loves all things dough – especially when I am cooking them.  But he likes muffins and bagels and bread and crackers.  He is my first kid that likes to dip – he LOVES hummus and salad dressing and loves to dip in them.  He likes vegetables, especially corn, peans, mushrooms, edamame, beans, green beans, asparagus, roasted peppers.  He will try pretty much anything.  He loves string cheese and yogurt.  He still is very skeptical of ice cream – too cold and he does not like that.  He instantly recognizes anything snacky or sweet and wants it.  Basically, he loves food.

He still is loving his shape sorter.  He can get any shape in, but usually needs help figuring out the right hole.  He can stack three blocks and loves to do it.  He has been enjoying playing race track and Trio with the boys.  He loves to play cars and even tries to play army.  He likes to make noises with his Little People toys.  He likes to make music and especially to dance with me.  He is always game to try the drums, piano, or harmonica.  He mostly just likes to climb on everything and spends 50% of the time, climbing onto the kitchen table or screaming to get down from the kitchen table.  He loves playing chase, tag, or hide and seek.  He loves being outside, playing at parks, throwing snowballs.  He is pretty good at keeping himself occupied if the room has enough things to distract him.  He is not so keen on the stroller, because he would rather walk himself and wants to do everything himself – especially stairs and pushing buttons in the elevator.

Logan’s sleep has been pretty poor this last week or two.  He is still struggling between 1 and 2 naps and trying to get on a good nap routine.  I think he is just so busy having fun in life, he doesn’t want to sleep.

Logan does the cutest little things.  He raises both arms up high when he is excited.  He also loves to laugh and laughs a lot.  He gets very excited when he sees Katsu walking home out the window and then gives him a long hug when he gets home.  He always gives me a fond greeting when I’ve been gone – even if it is just a short stop at the bathroom.

Logan is just growing up so fast I can’t believe it.  He is our little toddler now.

Fun Things This Month

• Valentine’s Day – Pretty low key for Logan.  He got a chocolate bear which he loved and otherwise just tried to get into the boys’ valentines.
• Magic House – with just me and the boys.  Logan had a lot of fun.
• Zoo – two or three times.  Logan is starting to really love the zoo.  He gets so excited when he sees all the animals.  He is a little scared when we go on the carousel, but he loves the Children’s Zoo and likes being up close to all the animals.
• Chinese New Year Party – we went to our friends party again and it was fun.  Logan was wandering around and getting into everything.  He didn’t eat much food and he was scared of the fireworks, but seemed to have fun otherwise. 
• Snow – Logan hasn’t got to play in it as much as the other boys, but he LOVES to throw snowballs and just walk around in it.  He thinks it is so exciting when it is snowing outside and loves to stand at the window and watch.
• Passport – Logan applied for his first passport.  He was teary-eyed in the pictures.  It is so hard to get those!
• Reading night at Seth’s school.  Logan loved playing around in the preschool room during story time and also LOVED the beanbag toss.  He worked so hard to throw his bean bags in … granted, he was pretty close.
• Movie at the History Museum – Logan enjoyed the snacks, flirting with all the people there, and running around, but we spent most of the movie time running around the museum.  He really enjoyed the historical exhibits.