Seth is 11 months old!

Seth is 11 months old - it is crazy how fast time is flying. I feel like Seth should only be 4 or 6 months old. He can't have been born almost a year ago!

Seth is growing up so fast. And he is everywhere.
Seth's favorite things to do:
- pull all the books off the shelf
- look through all books
- pull at the DVDs off the shelf
- try to put the DVDs back on the shelf (yeah! maybe, he'll be a clean kid)
- splash in the toilet
- unroll the toilet paper as fast as possible
- eat the toilet plunger
- play with and eat the cat litter
- splash the cat water on the floor
- eat the cat's food
- pull Tabasco sauce out of the fridge while Mom is trying to get something else out of the fridge & he is in my arms
- pull Brita filter out on the floor and get water everywhere (when he is on the floor)
- play in water where ever he can find it
- propel self off of couch
- climb through all jerry-rigged baby gates made from kitchen table chairs
- pull all the toys out of containers
- propel and/or crawl away as diaper and clothes are being changed
- be in baby swing at the park
- crawl up the stairs or the slide at the park

Seth has learned some new things this month. Most notably: standing on own for a few seconds at a time, letting go and taking steps (still very occasionally), and going down backwards to get off of something. He will even do this to go down the slide by himself. In fact, he navigates the playground pretty well - climbing up the stairs himself, crawling over the structure (of course, I am right next to him), and then sliding down the slide on the belly feet first himself. Of course, he wants to do everything that Andrew does.

He babbles all the time. Not a lot of words, mainly just Mom and Dad (and usually it's just Dad for everything). He might say the word "Cat" and maybe cracker. I am not sure about those. Oh, and he says "Bye" at least sometimes. He also whines. And throws tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants (usually reserved for when I put away a toy he wants to play with (today, the sidewalk chalk) or close the bathroom door (oh, the horror! What a mean mom I am!). He cries when someone hurts him or hurts his feelings, but if you apologize, he will stop crying. He actually is pretty easy to understand most of the time, even though he doesn't talk.

He refuses to have anything to do with baby food, and will only consent to being spoon fed a couple things, like yogurt and curry. He could live on curry - well, he practically does. He also loves strawberries - he is a Funai after all. We can go through 2 lbs of strawberries in like a day. He really likes Japanese noodles and crackers and string cheese and fruit. No rice, so he's no Andrew.

He really likes baths. And Mom. Katsu thinks he is getting a comfort object - we'll see. My kids seem to have one or two comfort "objects" - Mom & Dad. He loves Joe - the feeling is not reciprocal. He loves touch books and lift-the-flap and insists on lifting all the flaps himself. He cries whenever someone leaves because he wants to go somewhere too. He is practically hysterical some days when Katsu leaves. He wants to watch TV, but I try to forbid it when he is awake. The couple times he has seen Sesame Street he is enthralled with Elmo. He doesn't want to sit still to hear a story anymore. He cruises as much as possible, but when crawl if needed. Even in pavement. He loves his older brother. They love to wrestle and crawl all over each other and play together. He knows when Andrew really likes a song and gets really excited when it is played and looks around for Andrew. He loves music and instruments. He is getting two teeth - one of the top middle and one of the bottom on the side. Weird.

It's been a fun month. Now, we just need to get a bruise-free head for 1 year pictures and also plan a 1st birthday party. Too bad we don't have any friends here, it will probably be a small affair.

Tomorrow Andrew is 3!

I can't believe Andrew is already 3 and this is my 4th Mother's Day. He is my little Mother's Day baby, as his birthday is always right around the holiday.

Andrew:
- Sleeps 12 hrs at night and sometimes takes a nap ... Katsu lays with him till he falls asleep and also migrates into Andrew's room sometime in the night, but this is a really big improvement from how it used to be. I think he mostly dreams about cars.
- Is starting to be a picky eater. Would like to live on fried rice, chicken nuggets, meatballs, yogurt with blueberries, strawberries, clementines, hummus, goldfish, chips, soup, Japanese noodles, and maybe broccoli. Eats fried rice with soy sauce at least 1 meal a day (from Trader Joes ... we got tired of cooking it so often).
- Loves watching TV, which we try to limit to Sesame Street. He loves Abby's Flying Fairy School and gets upset if we don't turn on Sesame Street on in time to watch it.
- Has very involved pretend play with his cars and trucks, sometimes with the dinosaurs and bugs joining in. Hates when Seth takes away his cars, but tries to be kind and share.
- Loves to be read to. For hours. Lately, he prefers books from the library to ones from home, with favorites being Dora books, Thomas the Train books, Berenstein Bear books, and Curious George. Loves Daddy reading to him in Japanese, especially this comic book series they are reading together. Does not believe I should read to him in Japanese anymore.
- Loves playing games. If Sesame Street isn't enticing him, when Seth takes a nap, he wants to play Hi-Ho Cherry-o, and sometimes Chutes and Ladders and Memory. He likes to keep spinning till he gets a high number (or at least, so he doesn't get the bird or the dog). Rules are still a bit murky.
- Wants to go outside on an adventure at least once a day. Would prefer to go to story time and the zoo and the science center and the park every day.
- Loves to play with other kids. His interest at the park really wanes if there are no other kids there. Too bad we don't have any friends here. He misses his friends a lot and wants to move back to "Arbor".
- Andrew now has 2 "works" - my room where he practices dance moves to the keyboard and his room, where he has to play with his cars.
- Loves calling people on the phone and especially using Skype, although he doesn't usually have a lot to say. But is definitely not shy about these sorts of things. I dial and just hand him the phone.
- Potty trained completely at home. Loves to describe his poop in great detail as he yells from the bathroom, much to the amusement of house visitors. Usually reminds us when we are out and about for #2 and sometimes #1.
- Is a total negotiator. Everything is a negotiation in the house. The parenting "trick" of giving two choices does not work with him at all. He refuses to pick one and always makes up his own third choice.
- Has a hard time with impulse control with Seth. Constantly pushing him out of the way because Seth is getting into his stuff - not so much meanly, as to keep him from the toys. As soon as he does something naughty, he runs away and hides. He also runs away from time outs several times before finally settling down.
- Loves to scream and yell. He is always telling me (when I discipline him, especially) that he doesn't like me. He comes up with elaborate descriptions of what he wants to do to me, like "I'm going to kick you out of the window and into the sky and you are going to fall down in poop and then the crocodiles are still going to eat you and then you are going to die". I try to focus on the bright side - he has a good imagination!
- Is fascinated with death.
- Loves nursery and nursery songs. He likes saying long elaborate prayers sometimes, but usually just wants us to pray. He likes reading scriptures and LOVES family home evening. He loves talking about Jesus.
- Loves to sing. He sings the ABC song and the Eensey Weensy spider and the wheels on the bus A LOT.
- Really loves Seth (when he doesn't hate him) and brings him toys, and is so excited when he wakes up. He tries hard to be a good brother (when he's not beating up on him).
- Loves to help. He helps put the futons away in the morning, put the silverware away, and pick things up. He loves to tell me when the house is a mess (I am not the best housekeeper) and helps to put things away sometimes.
- Really is a big daddy's boy lately. Wants to be with Dad.
- Sticks his tongue out and tries to talk like that. Completely unintelligible, completely obnoxious, does it like 50% of the time. Yikes.
- Stops and smells the roses. Literally. And admires the blossoms. Recognizes tulips very well. He loves nature.
- Very observant. Can spot a truck, a letter "S" or "P", or a park from seemingly miles away.

He finally got his Chuck E. Cheese party since we don't have any friends or family here and weren't sure what else to do. We ended up inviting Katsu's coworkers, since they have little kids, too. They ended up all coming and Andrew got several presents which we weren't expecting at all. Andrew had a blast, though he wasn't sure about the other kids (oddly, enough). He has been kind of sick for the last couple weeks, so that might have influenced it. He was falling asleep over there but perked up completely when he saw the Chuck E. Cheese sign and was very worried we were going to miss it. Cute kid. I think it is an obnoxious place, but he had fun and so, I guess it was all worth it.

The Rest of Our Ann Arbor Trip

The rest of the trip was all about Andrew playing with his friends. He misses them so much! Now, he keeps asking to "go home" and to move back to "Arbor". Poor little boy. He does really like the zoo and science center here. So, maybe that is good enough for now.

So, we had a joint birthday party for Andrew and Jonas. I didn't do much to help (sorry, Sarah), so I can only claim a little of the credit. But we made a guitar cake and also guitars for everyone to decorate. The party was a smashing success and everyone had fun. Andrew's favorite part - the cake (really, mostly just the frosting).











Finally, we tried to get a few cute pictures of our family before leaving. Trying being the operative word. We had a lot of fun in Ann Arbor.

Katsu's graduation in Ann Arbor

We had a fun, hurried trip to Ann Arbor for Katsu's graduation. The boys and I were all kind of sick, but we did our best to have fun. Katsu had lots of fun - going out with the guys from his lab Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night! Lucky guys.

We got in on Thursday and our friend was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. We settled in while Katsu picked up his gowns and roamed the town with friends. Andrew was just really really happy to see his best buddy Jonas again.

Friday the fun really started. I met with my advisor in the morning (with Seth) and left with a hopeful defense date of December 1 (yeah! Now, I just need to work really hard). We met up with Katsu and Andrew at his old lab and then we dropped Katsu off at the auditorium before graduation.



The boys and I played outside before making our way into Hill for the Rackham graduate school graduation.




Boy - what an adventure to have two active boys during a 2 hour long graduation by myself. We sat in at least 4 different seats in both the mezzanine and the balcony and spent most of the ceremony in the hall, jumping off the pillars with other kids. The one time I tried to read the program, I looked over to see Andrew with his shirt up and himself ... exposed (arggggh). Thankfully, we were sitting high up, so I don't think anyone saw us. At another point, I lent wipes to a poor soul without them and then another woman stole them from us when he tried to give it back. Really.





We did get to see Katsu get hooded (this required a near constant stream of clandestine Chex mix ... shhh - don't tell Hill auditorium). I almost got emotional, which is a big deal for me. Unfortunately, trying to capture this on film was virtually impossible while also trying to corral two young children on a very steep balcony. You can pretend you can see the details of Katsu's great moment.



We met up at the reception with Katsu's advisor Greg, munched on goodies, and took pictures.





We met up with my advisor and went to a party at his stunning house. The party was in honor of one of his graduates, from Iceland, whose parents had made it here to celebrate. Afterwards, we needed some congratulatory handshakes.



The boys both feel asleep on the way home (yeah for me!), while Katsu attended yet another graduation - the Kinesiology one. I wish I could have gone, but it started at 8 pm!!! not good for little sick kids. I supposed I could have left the sleeping kids with our friends, but good thing I didn't, because Andrew was waking up and throwing up with croup cough a lot that night, poor thing.

This graduation was really special. They told all about his dissertation and gave him lovely flowers. It was also long (3 hours!!!) and didn't have enough good food, so the guys went out for more food afterwards.







We had planned on going on Saturday morning to hear President Obama at the main graduation. But .... we didn't. The graduation began at 11:00, you had to be in line by 9:00, so we probably would have had to leave at like 7:30 to grab a shuttle, to get tickets at will call. No bags of any kind (what about diapers?) or umbrellas. And it was raining. But we did enjoy watching it at home. Congratulations, Katsu!!!!

Now, we delight in putting PhD or Dr on Katsu's name for everything possible. Don't you wish you had gotten a PhD, too!

First Steps

Seth took his first steps today and stood on his own for a little bit, too. He is really excited about trying to walk, but most of the time, he just lets go and falls face first. Funny guy.

Seth is 10 months old!

This post is a little delayed, first because I wanted to finish Netherlands post first, and second, because we are all a little frazzled here. Between jet lag (i.e., Seth waking up at 3 am every morning) and illnesses (Seth got croup over the weekend and now, me and the boys have colds), we have just been worn out. Oh, and our babysitter quit (sigh ...) But since we leave to Ann Arbor tomorrow for Katsu's graduation (yes, we have to fly again already), the time has come. But it'll be a short update.

Seth is everywhere. Basically, he wants to crawl, cruise, climb all the time. Today, he discovered he can walk holding on to his push toy and he is in love! It's so cute to watch and he has really great control over it already. Plus, it keeps him occupied. He is busy, short-attention spanned, and into everything. I think there is only one agenda item for him each day: get everything off or out. Out of the book shelves, out of the cabinets, off the tables, out of the toy baskets, etc. So, I spend the day trying to keep him from getting into Andrew's toys, trying to keep Andrew from hurting Seth, trying to keep him out of important stuff, putting everything away he just got out, and keeping him from pulling the cat's tail or fur. I kind of forgot about this age ... but it's all coming back to me.

Seth still hasn't gotten any more teeth - just the bottom 2. No sign the top ones will come in any time soon. He is looking a little chubbier this month, but he still doesn't weigh a whole lot - just 19 lbs as far as I can gauge. He is a very distracted nurser (frustrating for traveling) and is getting tired with baby food. He likes to feed himself, but still doesn't have a huge repertoire (or appetite or patience). I tried getting him to spoon feed himself, but that was kind of a joke. He hates sitting still, but if he's strapped in with something that goes through his legs and around his belly, he will stay there.

Seth throws a ball! I am pretty impressed. I will play the rolling the ball back and forth, but he will pick it up and throw it to me. He has pretty good aim, too. This seems pretty advanced to me. It's so cute to watch.

Seth is also really good with waving. He is trying to do high five and clap. He babbles a lot and says "Oh", "Mom" and "Dadda" a lot. He might say "Bye" some of the time. He even tried to say amen a few times. Too cute.

He's been pretty happy, though the trip was pretty trying for him. We're having a lot of fun.