Amanda is 29.5 years old!

I guess I missed my half birthday and didn’t even think about it.  Oh, well.  I feel like the last few weeks have been kind of a brain fog since Logan hasn’t been sleeping as well.  Katsu lets me sleep in pretty much every morning so I get enough hours almost every day but the breaks are hard for me.  I also gets tons of insomnia in the night if I wake up, so that doesn’t help.  I am just a bad sleeper – probably the worst in the house!

Well, I totally jumped off the healthy eating bandwagon this month, but I think I will try it again next month.  I did pretty good for a couple weeks with working out, but not so well this week.  I need to get back to working out in the morning – it really makes the rest of my day feel SO much better.

I got a new calling – YW secretary.  Initially I have been pretty excited because I have always wanted to serve in YW and never have.  I think I can easily do the secretary stuff and it will be fun to get to know the girls.  I am not so sure about activity every week and a presidency meeting every week in the evening – that takes two whole evenings where I will basically get 0 time with Katsu and I am not excited about that at all.  Maybe we’ll be so super efficient we won’t need a meeting every week!

I didn’t try too many new recipes this month.  But, I am back into the cheese making – Katsu bought me some new rennet and spices for Valentine’s Day and so we tried our hand at mozzarella – did not work at all, so we ended up making it into ricotta and having lasagna (which the boys wouldn’t eat – they never want to eat anything … I swear, we could beans and rice for dinner every night and the boys would be in heaven).  I tried again and I got curds using powdered milk, but the flavor and texture were blech.  On the other hand, I finally broke out the yogurt maker I bought and have been making yogurt all month and with powdered milk it still seems to turn out well.  I am really enjoying making yogurt and Seth loves eating it out of the little cups since we usually get the big containers.  Andrew is not impressed.  I am excited to try it out with Logan, too.  I am also day dreaming about making hard cheeses with a press once we have a house.  Something to save my fun cash for (yes, Katsu and I get an allowance every month).

We finally got Katsu’s raise this month (yay!) and also with the tax return, it is super exciting to be able to add to our house payment savings account.  Our goal is 20% down plus closing costs (but I would love to put even more down … though that is unlikely).  Let’s hope we ultimately move somewhere not too expensive (i.e., East Coast or California) because I am super pumped to buy a house.  Surprisingly, I have not been spending every spare minute looking at houses in Madison, even though Katsu interviewed there this month (like I did when he interviewed in NC).  I don’t really know if we will move there.  I guess I have other things to occupy my time.

I haven’t been to much into reading books and have been wasting my time reading blogs when I’ve been nursing.  But books I’ve read or skimmed this month:  Bringing up Bebe – not too impressed with this book – I found some of the ideas about parenting from the French interesting, but the lady seemed way too pessimistic about American parenting and seemed to much idealize the French.  Also, it seems like the French don’t actually spend too much time with their children and delegate their child-rearing to others.  I did like the idea of the cadre, however, and also some of the food stuff and would like to implement.  I am trying to get the kids to like the idea of a vegetable course first … hmmm.  You Believers – I read about 75 pages of this book and then decided it wasn’t worth my time.  Peas and Thank You  - hoping for veggies recipes the kids would like, but was none too impressed with the carb heavy, fake soy stuff.  Yuck.  I am interested in vegetable-dishes not just vegetarian pretend meat dishes.  It probably had some good stuff, but the lady looked a little too Utah-mormony and kind of scary to me.  Hard to explain.  The Sibling Effect – still reading, just okay, we’ll see how much more I read.  Reassuring to read that kids ages 2-4 generally fight every 9.6 minutes – I think ours is less than that, but at least I am not the only one who feels like she is referring all day long.  Eat to Live – somewhere recommended this diet book, but sorry, I think I would die on this plan and the weight recommendations are scary thin, in my opinion.  They recommend a weight that when I was at as a teenager people though I had become anorexic.  No thanks.  Making fine cheeses – a fantasy book for me, but oh, a girl can dream, right.  How Eskimos keep their babies warm – the book was okay.  Not greatly written, and I have to admit, I am getting a bit tired of this new parenting genre book, but I thought some of things were interesting.  I still don’t understand how Argentinan babies stay up so late.  Attachments – this was kind of a fun chick lit book.  A little fluffy, but a little fun.  Reminds me of You’ve Got Mail.  The Reading Promise – This looked promising but I couldn’t get past the first couple chapters.  I just found it boring and unremarkable – or at least not as remarkable as they think.  However, I do love the idea of reading to children all the way through high school.  I would love to make that happen.  Hmmm … just thinking about that makes me want to try the book again.  I just didn’t like the style.  Sigh.  Stiff – okay, I was so excited about the premise.  I have always wanted to donate my body to science and found the beginning interesting.  But the author was somewhat crude and just way too … casual … unprofessional … gross?  I mean, obviously a book about cadavers has to be a bit of that, but this was still further than I expected.  She just seemed immature to me.  I am not even sure if I finished the last chapter or so.  Raising Cain – I didn’t get to finish this book because I had to take it back to the library before I was done.  I found it quite interesting and it made me really think about how important it is to connect to boys and their inner thoughts and not just blow it off.  This is kind of hard for me because Andrew is SOO verbose and always going on and on about his feelings, but it is really important to not shut that off.  I should pick this up again sometime, maybe when he is a bit older.  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – I really really enjoyed this book.  Maybe it was the Japanese aspect.  Maybe it was the easy-to-read-but-enjoyable fiction.  Or just the thinking about family relationships, about heart and soul.  But I really liked it.  Highly recommend.  Boys Should Be Boys – a bit similar to raising cain, but I liked it.  Not too much to say. 

Seth is 2 years 8 months old!

Seth is another month older.  What to report.  Well, this month seems like it has gotten a lot smoother than last.  Seth is sweeter to Logan and enjoys holding him, talking to him, getting toys out for him, and playing with him.  Sometimes, he even shows his stories.  He likes telling Logan how much he loves him.  So sweet.

Also, potty training is big.  Seth is doing pretty well.  He is dry most days, though some days he has more trouble than others.  He no longer wants to use little potty or even the insert that goes on the toilet.  He has to be a big boy, just like us.  Whenever he has an accident, he strips himself and puts on new underwear all by himself.  I’m lucky if he even tells me.  Or as often as not, he just runs around without anything on bottom.  I think he was actually like that when the UPS guy came by this week.  Whoops.

And Seth isn’t quite done with naps.  He still takes one or two a week.  But it is starting to affect his night time sleep, so I’m not sure.  We’ll see.

Seth has started running around and running off everywhere.  It’s like he’s little again.  One minute he is with you and the next he is off.  I can not keep up with him.  He even ran across the street this month without me along and it scared me half to death.  I’m going to have to keep a tighter leash on him (metaphorically, of course).

Seth is the most well-behaved kid in nursery, according to his teachers (or at least so Katsu says).  He loves nursery and tells me when he sees nursery kids that they “go to his school”.  He is very excited to go to Andrew’s preschool next year.

Seth is a little violent boy.  He is always beating up on Andrew.  Time outs have been pretty ineffective on him, and we have been focusing more on “cool down” times and natural consequences.  But boy, that boys loves to throw and hit!  Only to Andrew, though, thank heavens.

Seth has also been throwing some tantrums lately.  The other day, I was near the Nature Center, so I drove him there, but he thought we were going to the Science Center and threw a HUGE fit.  HUGE.  HUGE!  We ended up just leaving and he slept in the car.  He also threw a huge fit today because he wouldn’t pick up, but I think he was just feeling kind of sick, too, and he ended up falling asleep on the couch without eating dinner.

The most likely way to see Seth – sitting at the bookshelf with a pile of books surrounding him, looking through picture books.  He loves book.

Fun Things Seth Did This Month

• Another movie at the History Museum – This time it was Dinosaur.  We tried to get the kids to look around the museum, too, but Seth just kept running away from us.
• Lots of days at the park – it has been a super mild winter, so we try to take advantage of every good day and walk over to the park in the double stroller.
• Celebrating Setsubun and throwing jelly beans at goblin Daddy.  Seth thought this was fascinating and fun.
• Watching the Super Bowl with Daddy and eating leftover jelly beans.  Seth loves to watch sports with Katsu and always asks if there is football or baseball or something on the TV.
• Voting with Mom.
• Watching a really awesome Anansi puppet show at the library.  Seth loved sitting next to Andrew the whole time and watching the show and laughing his head off.
• Watching airplanes at the airport when we took Katsu there.  Seth sure missed his dad while he was gone.
• Valentine’s Day – Katsu was gone, but we started the day with a box of chocolates each (Seth was SO excited for weeks before for the chocolate), we had heart-shaped sandwiches for lunch, and had fun looking through Andrew’s valentines.
• Magic House – poor Seth – his very favorite part is the giant slide that he goes down with Andrew.  This time, the guy at the top asked for his age and Seth said 2.5 and he wasn’t allowed to go.  He was crying the whole way down the stairs and was heartbroken.  The poor boy.  I think he had fun with the rest of the night, though.
• Jambalaya for Mardi Gras.
• Making cheese with Mom.
• Baby story time at the library.  Seth is a little old, but he still enjoys it.

Funny Things Seth has Said:

Seth to Andrew:  Do you love me?  Am I your friend?

Andrew:  Well, you're not my friend right now, but almost.  You will be my friend this week.  You will be my friend on Valentine's Day.

Seth:  Well, do you love me a little?

Andrew:  You will be my friend soon.

Andrew is 4 years, 9 months old

Pictures:

Monthly Update:

Oh, it has been a hard month – well, more like a hard week for Andrew, poor guy.  The girls at preschool decided they don’t really want Andrew to be part of their group and it also sounds like they are having all-girl playdates and he is heartbroken.  I feel so bad for him.  He keeps telling me how they are so mean (and then Seth chimes right in … I was mortified when we saw one of the mom’s and Seth said that her daughter was mean).  And he keeps telling me how he has no idea who he is going to marry, even though I reassure him that he has plenty of time.

Otherwise, I think we’ve all adjusted to having Logan around, Andrew included.  His stomach aches are gone (I think having a bagel on the way to preschool every morning helps, too).  And we are at least getting some one-on-one time every day (or at least I am trying).  He even is starting to internalize how far he needs to be away from Logan so he isn’t right up in his face.  He has had a little frustration when I am spending lots of time feeding Logan and has hit Logan a couple times (but really gently), but overall, I think he is just an adoring big brother.

Andrew’s writing and spelling keep getting better.  He can usually identify beginning and ending sounds of words.  He is very creative at finding words to put in his letter bags, like he though he could put a “cube” in his Q bag.  How cute.  He is working so hard at his writing and is learning how to hold a pencil properly.  He addressed all his valentines himself (and could read all the names from his class list himself, too) and they are mostly legible.

Andrew has really gotten more creative at building with his Trio blocks, blocks, and Lincoln logs.  He makes this elaborate cars and structures and is peeved whenever anyone messes with them.  No matter what he builds, it is almost always used to play bad and good cars, roughly based on the movie Cars 2.

Andrew has his annual assessment through the school district.  He is doing quite well, but a little below average on some gross motor skills (like hopping on one foot) and also on replicating block towers.  He is above average in verbal abilities (no surprise there).  I do notice he still doesn’t say the sound “u” like in “use” right.  I think he is starting to get excited about going to Kindergarten.  As soon as our plans for next year are a little more firmed up, we will register him.

We love Andrew!

Fun Things He Did:

• Movies at the history museum – we saw Ice Age 3 and Dinosaur.  Andrew LOVES all the snacks they provide and seemed to enjoy both movies.  Free and with snacks – even better than the theater.
• We went to a Chinese new year party that someone in our stake threw for this group of people that meet for Chinese Sunday School.  Somehow, we always get invited along and we’ve been a couple times.  Anyways, after getting pretty lost going there, we made it.  The boys had a blast.  The adults all made loads of dumplings together and then we ate lots and lots of Chinese food.  Then, they had a presentation about the Chinese new year and the host had made a Chinese dragon out of paper which all the kids held up with sticks and ran around and around the house.  It was pretty fun!  Andrew was the smallest one running around with it and he had to reach pretty high, but he loved it.
• On Martin Luther King Day, Katsu took the day off and we went to go look for Bald Eagles near the Confluence where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers meet (about 20 mins from our house).  Andrew tired of hiking pretty quickly, but seemed to have fun.  We first went to Chain of Rocks bridge and walked part way before they closed it.  Then, we went hiking around the Confluence and had a picnic lunch there (the weather was lovely!) and then we went to West Alton to the Audubon center.  Andrew and Katsu finally spotted a real bald eagle using their binoculars.  Then, we went out for dinner at Dickey’s BBQ.  They even have free ice cream cones.  A beautiful January day.
• Making snow man and having a snow ball fight with Katsu.
• Lots of days at the park.  It has been a super mild winter.
• Donuts with Dad at preschool.  Katsu went to preschool with Andrew and they dined on donut holes and did a presentation.  Andrew always has a lot of fun on those days.
• Having our friend George from Ann Arbor and his wife over.  Andrew’s favorite old babysitter.
• Celebrating Setsubun by throwing beans at daddy-goblin.
• Watching the Super Bowl with Dad and having lots of yummy snacks and leftover jellybeans.
• Voting with Mom.
• Watching a really awesome Anansi puppet show at the library.  Andrew was laughing his head off during one part of it.

Funny Things He Said:

Today:  A: “I think I need to start shaving now.”  Mom:  “You are not old enough.”  A: “But my beard is growing.”

Setsubun & Cute Logan

We celebrated Setsubun on Saturday.  This is a Japanese holiday where you scare away some winter goblin – okay, Katsu just corrected me and says that you scare away the goblin to get rid of unhappiness, or something.  Anyways, you throw beans at him.  This year, we decided to make it a more fun holiday by throwing jelly beans at him.  The kids loved it and were not fooled – they knew it was Katsu.  But it was still fun.

On Sunday, we watched the Super Bowl and had lots of snacks, which the boys loved.  They only watched the first half.  This morning, Andrew asked me how many touchdowns or “underdowns” there were.  So cute.

And here in the really cute one in the house.  Logan.

Family Home Evening

We’ve been having a lot of fun with family home evening lately.  We’ve been teaching the boys the Old Testament.  At first, we were relying a lot on the new Old Testament Visual Resource DVD the church put out, but I’ve expanded a lot and found SO much material from different churchs’ Sunday School classes.  I thought I would share some fun lessons we have done.

Baby Moses

Read book from library “Miriam and her brother Moses: a bible story”. 

Craft – we weaved paper strips together (or at least that was the idea) and made baskets and then glued a baby moses in the basket.

Moses and the Burning Bush

Story from http://www.dltk-bible.com/exodus/moses_the_shepherd-cv.htm

Puppet show (an application of how God calls us to do different things and he will help us do it) http://www.dltk-bible.com/exodus/moses_the_shepherd-cv.htm

Craft – painting burning bushes

Ten Plagues and Parting of Red Sea

This lesson was so fun.  For the story, we read “The Miracles of Passover” by Josh Hanft from the library.  The kids still want to hear the story every day.  For each of the plagues we had a little activity.

1 – turned water into blood (red Kool-aid)

2 – had frogs hop around and in our clothes

3 – threw bugs at the kids

4 – had toy wild animals attack us

5 – had play animals fall over dead

6 – drew boils on our bodies with washable markers

7 – threw hail at each other (giant marshmallows work perfect and even hurt some)

8 – threw bugs at each other again

9 – went into the dark bathroom without the lights on

10 – nothing for this one.

Song – plague song from here http://www.kidssundayschool.com/Gradeschool/Songs/1song01.php and listened to the classic “Let My People Go”

We also watched part of the video Prince of Egypt where the plagues are

Then for a treat we had red jello and recreated the miracle of the water parting (see here http://www.dltk-bible.com/recipes/moses_crossing_the_red_sea_snack.htm).

Manna

Tomorrow, we are talking about wandering in the wilderness, water coming out of the rock, and manna.  I am excited.

First, we will read from the library “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and then we will talk about manna (based somewhat on this: http://ministry-to-children.com/not-meatballs-but-manna/)

I like the idea of active participation, but like the way they tell the story better in here http://www.missionarlington.org/d/OT-2YR-27-Manna.pdf

If I can keep their attention (or maybe later in the week, I’ll tell it), I found this story from the friend really interesting: http://www.lds.org/friend/2007/07/manna-for-mother?lang=eng&query=manna

And I think our snack will be a snacky-kind of dinner (it is the Super bowl after all) found all over our floor that we will need to gather and then we will have  picnic.  And maybe make manna cookies … I don’t know.

And for the Ten commandments, we already got the book “Ten Good Rules” from the library which I really like and the kids already like.

Logan is 3 months old!

Logan is still getting bigger but I can not believe that he is 3 months already.  On the other hand, this kid is HUGE – I took him to the doctor on Friday (he has a lump on his bum that he’s had since December that is just not getting better) and he weighs 18 lbs!!!  He hit it a whole month earlier than chubby Andrew.  He is starting to outgrow 3-6 month clothes and will probably grow out of size 3 diapers soon.  Big boy.  I swear, his head looks the same size as Seth!  And his hair is really long … like an inch past his neck.  Yikes – he needs a haircut.  His head is flat, but at least it is symmetrical, but I am hoping we can avoid a helmet, though our doctor already told us she could give us a recommendation (sigh).

Logan is going through a bit of a growth spurt the last day or two and is eating a lot more frequently, but he was settling into a 3 hour or so stretch at a time.  He is still a pretty good nurser.  At night, he usually wakes up at 3ish and 6ish to eat and sleeps roughly 7ish to 8ish.  So, pretty good, I think.  He has slept till 5 a few days, but I think 7-3 is probably best for his age anyways.  He sleeps in his crib pretty well and still likes being swaddled, though he pokes his hand out so he can chew on it, though he is figuring out how to suck him thumb, too.  I think he might be a thumb sucker.  He is getting closer to a nap routine, usually a nap in the am while Andrew is at preschool, another in the afternoon and then a catnap early evening before dinner.  But, especially with running errands or going to the park and driving to preschool he is a little erratic.  He still takes some naps in his car seat or in the stroller, but I would prefer to do it all in the crib, if only the schedule were a little better.

Logan is getting very smiley and very chatty.  He loves to coo and have little conversations.  His face lights up and smiles tons with me and Katsu.  It was so sad – he had a bad cold this last week or so.  He was coughing, sneezing, nose running, and he wouldn’t even smile.  It was so sad.  But he is smiling again now.  I can start to tell that he really prefers me and he gets excited when he sees me or Katsu or the kids.  He really lights up for Andrew, especially, because Andrew loves to spend time and talk to him.

Logan has pretty good head control.  He loves to kick his legs and try to support his body on his legs.  He also likes to sit on my lap and practice sitting a little bit.  He hates tummy time, but he is getting good about pushing up a bit on his arms and looking around.  He’ll do it for a few minutes, but then he gets upset and crying and will just lay with his face down and suck on his hand.  I am trying to teach him to roll over, because at least it makes him tolerate tummy time a little bit better.

Logan can track really well and loves to watch the fish on his mobile on the swing.  He’s not a huge fan of the swinging, itself, but loves to sit and watch the fish.  When they stop moving, he cries, because he is sad.  Logan also likes to try and grab and kick things when he is in his baby gym.  He loves to do this and is pretty happy doing this for quite a while while we cook dinner.

It has been beautiful weather here (especially for January) and we’ve been able to spend some nice time outside – and Logan seems to enjoy spending time in the double stroller going to the park.

Fun Things This Month:

- Zoo and science center.  Movie at the history museum (the highlight for Logan, of course, was nursing in the bathroom).

- Chinese new year celebration.  It was a little intense for Logan because it was very loud.  I had him in a sling and he fell asleep for a while, but I think the paper dragon that all the kids and adults were running around the house was just a little too loud and he woke up, poor thing.

- Hiking on Martin Luther King Day on the old Chain of Rocks bridge and then at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.  Logan slept a lot, but it was nice to get out and get some fresh air.  He missed seeing the bald eagles because he was sleeping, but somehow I don’t think he would have seen it anyway.

Amanda is 29 years 5 months!

Whoo-hoo!  I get a post!  Why not, right?  So, here is an update on me, my favorite topic.

I feel like I am finally getting into a good routine with Logan, but I am still a little surprised at how much having three kids (especially since the older two are both home and neither nap or do quite time) sucks up all available time.  I am not tired, thanks to sleeping in until 8 am almost every morning (and Logan sleeps well, just waking up once or twice).  But gosh, those 2 hours at night after the kids are asleep and before I go to bed are precious.  So, I’m still struggling how to do those – spend all my time washing dishes, exercising, and reading scriptures?  But if I do that every night I go crazy, because I need something for me.  That is just fun.  We’ll see …

I have been trying out a few new recipes, mostly from a vegetarian cookbook I got for my birthday.  I tried one I really like – Bulgur and green lentil salad with chickpeas.  I think that might become a lunch time staple at least once a month.  And it lasts like a full week almost.  The roasted parsnips were good, but not worth the price.  Homemade spaghetti sauce is pretty darn good – the kids won’t eat it (except Andrew who only wants to eat the carrots in it, silly boy).  I really need to try out the mandoline and yogurt maker I got for Christmas but haven’t had time.

Otherwise, highlights of the month were “hiking” (which really isn’t with two slow-poke kiddos) around the Confluence area (but at least I got to try out my new hiking boots) and getting to finally go on a date with Katsu.  It’s been since like my birthday.

I have been going positively crazy this month from living in this tiny apartment.  Sometimes, I feel totally claustrophobic and like there isn’t a single square inch of our house that I can walk on without stepping on something, a door that I can open without having to move something, or something that is generally driving me crazy.  I try not to complain (well, I try at least a little bit), but the lack of a garage, back yard, washer, dryer, bed, own room, own bathroom, table with enough chairs for everyone, etc. etc. just drives me nuts sometime.  I CAN NOT wait until we live in a house! 

I have been trying to give up most sugar (and some white flour, though I am going to work more on this later).  It feels so much better not eating the massive amount of sugar I feel like I was eating before, especially so after Christmas in over.  I really am bad at moderating sweet things, so this is good for me.  And I have lost 5 pounds in the last 3ish weeks, which puts my weight back to pre-Logan-pregnancy.  I would still like to lose more weight though.  My body is still very very flabby – I feel like I have a bowl full of jelly.  Sigh …

My new years resolutions are somewhat amorphous, but I think I have done a good job of being on my computer less, spending more time playing and talking with kids, and working on the sugar.  Scripture reading is okay.  And Katsu and I went on a date, so that one is good for the month!

I have read some this month or so.  The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks – I liked this because it was interesting and it made me feel a little closer to knowing more about science and Katsu’s work (he works with Hela cells sometimes).    Good calories, bad calories – So, so.  This was recommended in some lectures I am watching on food from Yale.  I loved the first part with the history about the science, but once he got into what he believed, I thought his analysis of the science was less thorough and believable.  A better criticizer than promoter, perhaps.  The mission of motherhood – I enjoyed this and loved the thoughts it gave me about being a mother.   Mommy’s locked in the bathroom – I didn’t think this book was that useful, but a fun read while nursing.  Micro – I enjoyed this for a fun fluff book, but definitely not as good as most of Crichton or Preston’s books.  Flourish – I mostly skimmed this books; some interesting ideas, but a little too wordy. How children raise parents – I really enjoyed this book, especially the beginning because I feel like that is really what parenting is about for me – changing me and making me a different person.  A life that says welcome – I really want to do more entertaining and basically haven’t because our apartment is so small, but this was somewhat encouraging (now, if we actually had more than 3 chairs for the table …). For women only – I thought this would be a dumb book, but I actually thought that some of the things it uncovered were really really useful, especially her analogy about how men are so visual.

Oh, and I wanted to post a picture of the completed three boy’s stockings since they are my life’s work … well, just slightly after the actual raising of the three boys.

Seth is 2 years 7 months old

ABOUT SETH THIS MONTH:

Two, especially since Logan was born, seems to be tough on Seth.  I do see a little light at the end of the tunnel.  Logan is starting to get into a better routine and when Andrew is at preschool, I usually have at least an hour of just Seth time.  I think that is helping a whole lot!

Seth is two.  What can I say.  He is really trying to assert his independence, figure out what he can do, and push everyone’s buttons.  A few examples.  Seth always takes his shoes and often his socks off in the car.  Once, while nervous waiting to see the doctor this month, as I tried to find the socks and shoes he had thrown off, he took off his pants, too!  Seth refuses to do most things we tell him, but mostly just to see if he can get away from it.  He really really hates time out and I don’t have a really good place to do it (we are crammed into our apartment like sardines).  So, he has to sit on a time-out chair.  Either I chase him around the apartment every time he gets up (which ends up taking an hour to do a 2 minute time-out), or I just put him between my legs and force him to sit for 2 minutes.  Not very effective, but I have to do something. 

Because of his 2-year-old-ness, I have let him have complete control of potty training.  I told him, when he is ready, we will switch to underwear.  And that he has to be potty trained for preschool.  Some afternoons he wants to wear underwear, but usually he says that he will start on Thursday.  We’ll see about that.

Seth has been more emotionally needy because of Logan and was waking up a lot at night and needing Katsu.  He still is, but it feels like it is getting a little better.  He also has been giving me a lot of spontaneous hugs which is definitely new.  He still wishes Logan wasn’t around.  He tells me that he wishes “Logan was back in my tummy” and wants him in the crib or lying down when he is awake.  But sometimes, he will try to play with or smile at or talk to Logan.

Seth is really really into Cars 2, fighting, wrestling, and good guys (or cars) and bad guy (or cars).  We are really trying to teach him to use his words and I can see it helping a bit, but he throws A LOT.  Now, at least, he says, “I want to throw this toy at Andrew” and sometimes he doesn’t do it.  Kill is still one of his favorite words.  And poopy.  It’s lovely.

Seth has had this weird “rash” for the last few months that was growing in a curvy line from his chest through his arm pit and to his back.  The pediatrician had no idea what it was (thought maybe shingles??) and so we took him to the pediatric dermatologist this month to have it checked out.  So, they knew right what it was – a birthmark!  Not what I expected.  And it will probably keep growing.  So weird.

Something I don’t think I’ve ever written about.  Seth always says the exact same prayer no matter what.  It is “Father, thank you, Amen”.  No matter the occasion.  We were having some bad weather the other day and he was concerned, so I said to say a prayer, and that was it.  So cute.

Seth still likes train tracks, but is really into games right now.  Especially the new Cars 2 game, but also Candy Land and Hi Ho Cherrio and Memory – all of which he wants to play every day.  That and building guns and dinosaurs out of Trio blocks.  He likes to play more on his own.  During our time, he’ll play a little, but he gets mad whenever I play with him, because invariably I will do it wrong, so we usually end up playing games, reading books, or doing crafts.

Seth is a perfectionist in some ways.  He really wants to do things the right way, and usually to the level of Andrew’s ability or better.  He gets frustrated when he can’t do athletic things like he thinks he should be able.  He is really starting to get frustrated that he can’t write.  Andrew is always telling him that he didn’t make letters and that those are just scribbles.  Seth is trying really hard to make letters and I think he is doing a good job, but he gets frustrated because it doesn’t look as good as he thinks it should.

Academically, Seth is doing really well – mostly osmosis from Andrew, because I don’t really work with him on those things.  He knows most of his ABCS and even knows the sounds for some of the letters.  He knows all his colors and shapes and can count at least to 20.  He counts to 10 in Spanish pretty well, too (that is from reading millions of Dora books which are his absolute favorite).  He also speaks really well and is drawing pretty well (his rocket ships look pretty much like rocket ships to me).  He is great at circles, but is still working on straight lines and triangles.  He absorbs a lot – he knows all about Andrew’s preschool and is very excited to go.  He even knows the names of almost all of the kids in Andrew’s class.

Oh, I think Seth is mostly done with naps.  I this point, I don’t think he’s taken one for almost 2 weeks!

I am loving Seth and his sweet hugs and kisses this month!

FUN THINGS SETH DID THIS MONTH:

CHRISTMAS!!!  We watched the Muppets movie the night before.  And left cookies out for Santa.  (Though the boys refused to ever see Santa and tell him what they wanted in case he changed his mind).  Seth loved all the presents he got – a firehouse Trio set (now usually used to make guns) from Santa, new Play-Doh set from Santa, dress up hats from Mom, dress up clothes from Sarah and Danny, books from Michael and Meghan and also from Martha, Lincoln logs from Grandma and Grandpa, a new outfit from Grandma Clo and Grandpa Dick (that Seth was SO excited about he started unzipping his pajamas immediately to wear them) and some toy people from the Book of Mormon, and a big slide and horse from Ji and Ba.

- Rest of Texas.  Grandpa took Seth on outings everywhere – feeding the ducks, to the park, around town – he had SO much fun.  He also loved playing with the toys at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  And spending time with the relatives.  Also, he got to experience playing old school video games (sigh!) – Mario and Duck Hunt.  Of course, Seth was very frustrated because he wasn’t as good as he wanted (or as good at Andrew at duck hunt).  And dancing along with us to Just Dance 3 (though he was too shy to do it for long).  And going out for ice cream!

- New Years!  We threw a little party with everyone and the boys at 6:30ish before the boys went to bed after having yummy appetizers.  The boys loved making so much noise!!!  The next day, Katsu gave the boys traditional new years money (otoshidama).  Seth is still a little young, but thinks it is fun to play with.

- Trip to the zoo and the science center (finally getting out after having Logan).

- Going with Katsu to the consolate (they were visiting at a hotel near the airport) and then sitting in the car in the cell-phone lot and watching planes for half an hour.  They got ice cream, too, which is always a thrill.

- Watch the movie Ice Age 3 at the History museum.  Seth enjoyed it and loves all the snacks.  He fell asleep near the end of the movie (while sitting up!), though, poor thing.

- We went to a Chinese new year party that someone in our stake threw for this group of people that meet for Chinese Sunday School.  Somehow, we always get invited along and we’ve been a couple times.  Anyways, after getting pretty lost going there, we made it.  The boys had a blast.  The adults all made loads of dumplings together and then we ate lots and lots of Chinese food (Seth was in heaven).  Then, they had a presentation about the Chinese new year and the host had made a Chinese dragon out of paper which all the kids held up with sticks and ran around and around the house.  It was pretty fun!

- On Martin Luther King Day, Katsu took the day off and we went to go look for Bald Eagles near the Confluence where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers meet (about 20 mins from our house).  Seth was kind of having a rotten day – he wanted to hike, but as soon as we walked a bit, he started throwing a fit and wanting to be carried and saying he was tired.  We first went to Chain of Rocks bridge and walked part way before they closed it.  Then, we went hiking around the Confluence and had a picnic lunch there (the weather was lovely!) and then we went to West Alton to the Audubon center, but Seth fell asleep and so he had a nice nap in the car while Andrew and Katsu finally spotted a real bald eagle.  Then, we went out for dinner at Dickey’s BBQ which Seth loved.  They even have free ice cream cones.  A beautiful January day.

- Making snow man and having a snow ball fight with Katsu.

FUNNY THINGS SETH SAID THIS MONTH: (note – I really should keep better track of this)

Katsu: "You are my favorite 2 yr old, give me a hug"
Seth: "I gave you a hug yesterday, I can give you another one some other time"
Andrew: "Aww, I can give you a hu~g, I give you a kiss, too"
Seth: "I give you kiss tomorrow"

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Dress up Clothes

My sister made super cute dress up clothes for the kids for Christmas which went great with the hats that I bought them for Christmas.  I always wanted dress up clothes as a kid, and so I have been dying to get them for the kids for a while.  Anyways, the kids being kids were non-plussed originally when they got the clothes and would not try them all on and so my sister never got to see all the fruit of her labors.  Of course, the kids love them now.  They always seem to take awhile to warm up to new things.  So, since it was my sister’s birthday today, I finally remembered to take pictures.  The boys, of course, didn’t want to match clothes with hats and had their own ideas about how things go together.  Thankfully, they are pictures not videos so you don’t hear the comments that go along with the pictures – most of which are along of the lines of “I am a bad <fill in correct title here>.  I am going to kill you”.  Sigh.  Where do kids (boys) get this from?

The pictures:

And Logan being his cute chubby self: