More of Seth's Words

I'm in the too-many-things-I-want-to-post-so-I-won't-post-at-all mode. I keep thinking of topics I want to write about, and they pile up until they fall over in a big heapin' mess. So I'll tackle what first comes to mind when I sit down at the computer.

So first up is Seth's vocabulary. He is picking up so many new words, but darn if I know what he's saying most of the time! All of his words kind of sound the same.

• Gok is Clark (our cat), but it's also truck.
• Buh is bus. (But when he first sees a bus, he says Gok.)
  
• Cop is helicopter, but it's also airplane.
• His pacifier is his "muh-nay."
• Nuk is milk. But it's also any other beverage. But when I say the actual beverage's name (like water, apple juice, orange juice), he'll repeat it (wa-wa, app ju, are-an ju).
• Wee-yuh or Way-yuh is William.
• Ide is outside.
• Seh is Seth
• Day-goo is thank you.
• Apple is apple. :-)
• Wa-wa is water.
• Wok-wok means rock-rock, when he wants me to rock with him in the glider in his room.
  

He's also mastered the fine art of pointing and grunting or whining. If he points to our dresser and whines, "Da-dee, da-dee," that means he wants Ed's blackberry. If he points to the top of the refrigerator and says repeatedly, "Gok teet,' that means he wants to give Clark a treat. (And Ed's been wondering why Clark has been getting sick lately!) If he pulls on the chair in the kitchen and whines something unintelligible, that means he wants to play at the kitchen sink or he wants me to put the chair up to the counter.

He's at the stage where he can follow simple directions, and he likes to do things for me. He helps me unload the dishwasher by handing me the utensils one at a time, and the plastic plates and bowls. He likes to throw away trash. He likes to help me put the wet clothes into the dryer. He brings me things. He likes books, but he will not sit in my lap while I read. And he loses interest quickly. Hopefully this will not always be the case. He loves to drink from a regular cup, but he knows he has to sit down when he does it. So I ask him where he wants to sit, and he'll pick a spot and then sit right down. And then drink happily from his cup.

He is still my little devil child--he loves to be naughty and has no fear. But he's steadier on his feet these days, so I find I don't have to hover quite as much. I have also learned to let him have his tantrums. Once he's done, he moves on.

He watches William all the time and often mimics him, which is pretty cute. He loves to dance. He likes to play Ring-around-the-rosie. He loves playdough, his magna-doodle, and drawing with pens. He's also been playing with blocks lately. He mostly plays with non-toys, though. Stuff in the kitchen cabinets and in the pantry.

So that's Seth. My little blonde-headed, blue-eyed boy. He's so independent, but so needy at the same time. I can't believe he'll be 18 months in October. It's bittersweet, because while I miss the littleness, I love watching him learn and grow. I can't wait to hear him start to make sentences, and to watch his relationship with William develop. How is it that we can't want to see what's ahead, and at the same time, we want to stop the clock, and even go back. I guess that's parenthood in a nutshell.

Morning Bliss

This morning, William came into our room at 5:45 a.m., wanting to get in bed with us. This has actually become a routine, and since I get up at 6:00 (or a little after) anyway, I don't mind. He usually falls back asleep for a little while, at least while I shower.

This morning, however, something must have been in the air. Maybe it was the chill from the cool fall weather we're having. (We had the upstairs windows open.) Who knows. But whatever it was, both boys slept until past 7:00 a.m. I showered, brushed my teeth, got dressed, blow dried my hair, put on makeup, went downstairs, made my lunch, made cinnamon toast for the boys, cut up grapes for the boys, made OJ for William and milk for Seth, made apple juice sippy cups for the ride home, and got everything all in one place, ready to walk out the door, COMPLETELY BY MYSELF. No kids pulling on me, pulling things out of drawers, getting into things they shouldn't, whining for this or that, fighting. It was so peaceful and civilized. I normally would have woken them up by 6:45 because I try to get out the door by 7:15. But there was no way I was about to interrupt the most peaceful morning I've had in 3 and 1/2 years.

Eventually they woke up on their own, Seth first and then William. They both wanted to be held, William didn't want to get dressed, he wanted to watch a movie, Seth wanted my iPhone. They cried and whined and fought. But it didn't matter. I spent an hour BY MYSELF, getting ready this morning. And I still managed to get them dressed and out the door by 7:25. Nothing could get me off this high!

Phone Photo Friday

I saved a few pictures from last weekend to post today. These were taken on the way home from our adventures both Saturday and Sunday. Nothing like a little peace and quiet for the car ride home!

No Good Title for this Post

I'm in a treading water phase. I have lots I want to blog about, but no time to organize my thoughts, much less write them out in a coherent and somewhat entertaining fashion. Things are not bad--I'm not feeling overly stressed or disappointed. There's just a lot of "stuff" that needs to get done, and beyond that, there are books to read and TV shows to watch, and then, of course, there's sleep. But I hate looking back at my blog and seeing big gaps, so I figured I'd better just sit down and let the stream of consciousness flow.

I've gotten sucked into The Biggest Loser this season. O.M.G. Both episodes so far have had me sobbing--literally bawling my eyes out. One of the contestants lost her husband, her 3 year old, and her 2-week-old baby in a car crash. I can't even think about that without tearing up. And when the contestants got to call home to talk to their families. *Sniff sniff!* That's the only show I've gotten sucked into, thank goodness. But I started catching up on Lost episodes again. And it's been soo soo tempting to stay up late and watch LOST and neglect everything I want and need to do.

What else . . . I was going to make this its own post, but I managed to read 8 books this summer. That's right peoples--8 books! In 3 months! Not too shabby, considering I don't think I've read 8 books in the three years since William was born. My favorite book of the summer was The Book Thief. Go read it. Seriously.

William has been quite the 3 year old lately. The other day I was getting upset about something and he said, "Chill out, Mom!" And then later, he told Seth to chill. He's also picked up on my frustration levels, and he's started apologizing in anticipation of me blowing my lid. Tonight, for example, he and Seth were helping me make muffins, and they kept trying to stir the bowl and I told them to stop and then the bowl tipped over, spilling some of the contents on the counter. I felt a burst of anger, but I stayed calm and didn't get upset. Obviously, William was expecting me to blow up, because he quickly said, "Sorry, Mommy. Sorry." It makes me feel bad that I've been overreacting lately, so much so that he's trying to calm me down. And then I start to think about how my behavior and reactions serve as a model for him, and then I start to feel really bad. So, as always, I'm working on it. There's so much pressure not to screw up your kids, you know? My brother says that all kids have to grow up suffering from their parents' inadequacies. I think there's a lot of truth to that.

Anyway, he's also been showing lots of independence lately. A couple of times he's tried to get the milk or juice out of the fridge to fix himself a drink. (I've caught him just as he managed to lug the carton to the kitchen table.) We have the ice and water dispenser on the freezer door, and he's tall enough now to fix his own cup of water. He gets a sippy cup and lid out of the drawer (been trying to wean him off the sippy cup, but he's a little stubborn) and fills it with ice and water (been trying to get him to put the ice in first, but it's a work in progress) and puts the lid on. He's so proud of himself when he does stuff on his own, so I think it's time to get serious about "chores" around the house--to start giving him some small responsibilities.

Seth, meanwhile, is a little pistol, as usual. I have become his "worthiest adversary" and he saves most of his tantrums and clawing and biting fits for me. I have scratches and claw marks on my arms to prove it. His communication skills are growing by leaps and bounds. Last night after bath, I didn't get the diaper on him fast enough, and he peed on the chair and carpet in front of the computer. As I cleaned it up, he kept pointing to his privates and to the chair and the floor, and repeating "pee-pee." He's also been paying a lot of attention to William using the toilet, and tonight after bath, he stood up on the step stool in front of the toilet and actually peed in the toilet. I don't think he knew that he actually did it. His tummy is so big, he can't even see his privates unless he bends all the way over. But he clearly knows what the toilet is for and he likes to flush. So who knows where that will take us.

His 7th tooth finally broke through--the bottom lateral incisor. And his molars are definitely coming in. Compared to William, his teeth are coming in so slowly. And it definitely bothers him more than it did William. He's stopped napping in the car on the way to and from daycare now. And he's still eating way more than William eats. Tonight he ate four chicken nuggets, a big serving of corn, about 3 broccoli florets, and a piece of string cheese. And he also ate two golden oreos, and then followed that up with on of William's broccoli florets.

So I guess that's a good update for now. I have laundry to fold and a book that's calling to me. Maybe I'll just forget about the laundry. And hopefully I'll start feeling more inclined to blog in the not-too-distant future!

Fall Weekend Fun

The weather was gorgeous this weekend! Sunny and in the mid-high 70s. The perfect summer-to-fall transition. We wanted to soak up as much of the weekend as we could, so we took the boys downtown on Saturday and did some sight-seeing, and today, we met some friends at the Anne Arundel County Fair. We are all exhausted, but it was very much worth it. I didn't get any housework done, but I don't feel bad. Weekends like this are a gift, meant to be enjoyed.

I took some pictures, which I'm posting. But I'm getting very frustrated with the whole photo situation. Blogger's photo quality stinks, but I can't figure Flickr out, so now I'm trying Photobucket. But for some reason, even though I resized all the images on Photobucket, some of them don't appear to be resized. Whatever. I'm too tired to figure it out.

Anyway, here are the photos. We drove into DC and parked by the Tidal Basin. Ed and William rented a paddle boat for an hour, but the ride lasted all of 20 minutes before William wanted to go back. He said his legs were tired, which is funny, because Ed did all of the paddling.

Meanwhile, Seth played with the water bottle and waved to passersby, while I took pictures.

Then we headed to the Washington Monument (William is dying to go inside and take the elevator to the top, but you have to get tickets well in advance. One of these days!), and to the World War II Memorial, and then to the reflecting pond between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

At the fair, we visited the animals first, including the pigs, which both boys seemed to enjoy.

William went on several rides, which he loved. We tried to put Seth in this car with William, but he freaked at the last minute, so we took him out.

The Ferris wheel was a big hit. (iPhone pictures now--William with my God daughter, Hannah)


And the dragon "roller coaster" was fun, too.


Both boys fell asleep on the way home both days, and were grumpy for the rest of the night. But it was all worth it. I can't wait for apple picking and pumpkin festivals!

Phone Photo Friday

Since I missed last week, and the week before, I included three pics. The first is William with the school's ginormous teddy bear:

This was Seth at Subway, insisting on eating his yogurt and his sandwich by himself. Mind you, this was also when he had HFM, with huge blisters all over his tongue. The boy loves to eat!


And finally, a beach shot from Sunday morning, when it was cloudy and overcast. The boys (including Ed) dug a big hole, and then they dug a tunnel through the sand and took turns pouring water through the tunnel. The only toys we really needed on the beach were shovels and buckets.

For more Phone Photo Friday, see Laura's Mommy Journal!

Back from the Beach

We are back from the beach, back to school, back to work, back to the grind. We had a great vacation--tiring, but great. The boys loved the beach, and even though it was a little cool, we still spent lots of time digging in the sand, splashing in the waves, and running around. When we got there on Saturday, it was cloudy and cool, but as soon as we got situated in our condo, we put on shorts and long-sleeved shirts and headed to the beach. On Sunday morning, the weather was the same, but we stayed on the beach for over two hours. I packed a few extra t-shirts in our beach bag, and just changed the boys when they started getting cold. We went inside for lunch (and a nap for Seth) and by 2:00 p.m., the sun had come out and it turned gorgeous. We spent several more hours on the beach that afternoon. And Monday was a repeat of the same--beach in the morning, nap mid-day, and beach in the late afternoon.

In the mornings, the low tide created a great tidal pool that stretched down the beach, so the boys played in the water quite a bit. In the afternoons, the boys dug in the sand and ran around, letting the waves chase them back and forth. It was fun to see them having so much fun, and to see William not wanting to leave the beach. He would beg and plead for just "five more minutes" to play in the sand. I grew up vacationing at the beach every summer. We would rent a house for two weeks and it seems like we spent the entire day, every day, on the beach. I loved it, and I hope that we can make summer vacation at the beach one of our family traditions, too.

Although we had a great time, and I have some great memories from our weekend, I failed to get great pictures. The boys are in uncooperative mode when it comes to pictures. They keep their heads down, Seth won't lose the pacifier, and they won't pose together to save their lives. I got a few, though, so I'll post the ones I like.



(Notice the goldfish in the water bottle in this next shot. I think Seth spent a good 30 minutes playing with the water bottle!)













I'm a little sad that summer is over, but I'm looking forward to the cooler weather. A beach vacation is definitely a great way to close out the season, though. And now it's on to fall clothes and Halloween and costumes and fall festivals and apple picking. We'll see how much we can pack into our fall weekends before Thanksgiving is on our doorstep, and then *gasp* Christmas! But for now, we'll just take things one day at a time!

Catching Up

It's been a crazy week. I went to my aunt's funeral. I left for Jacksonville (FL) Monday afternoon and got back late Tuesday night. (The funeral was Tuesday. Sorry for not calling you, MJ. I wasn't sure if I'd have time to see you and it turned out that I didn't. I was definitely disappointed!) Actually I got back in the wee early hours of Wednesday, but more about that later. It was good to see my family at the funeral, and to see people I haven't seen in a long time. The service was nice--a very fitting tribute to my aunt. The boys stayed home with Ed and he took them to school on Tuesday and picked them up. They did fine, except for the part where Seth got Hand Foot Mouth Disease.

He had started getting a runny nose on Saturday, and had a full-on cold by Sunday. But he didn't have a temperature and wasn't acting out of sorts. But on Tuesday at school, he was clingy and seemed uncomfortable all day. He took a four-hour nap, and his teachers noticed a few spots on his tongue. I got home from the airport at 1:30 in the morning, and he woke up at 1:45, just miserable. He had huge red blisters all over his tongue. I gave him Motrin and he finally fell asleep around 2:30 a.m., and slept until about 5:15 a.m. So I stayed home with the boys on Wednesday. Ed stayed home with Seth today, and I'll stay home again tomorrow. His tongue looks a little better today. And fortunately, he hasn't had a fever, and he's been eating and drinking, so I guess it could be worse. William, meanwhile, has a cold, but he seems okay otherwise. Let's hope he stays that way.

Before I left for the funeral, we managed to enjoy the Labor Day weekend. On Saturday morning, we drove to Capitol Hill and walked around for a little while. We visited a big fountain,

and the U.S. Botanic Gardens, and the Taft Carillon.

I work on Capitol Hill and Seth and William go there every day, but we never take time to be tourists and enjoy the city. So that was fun. On Sunday, we went to a Washington Nationals baseball game with Ed's family. The boys had a blast and did so well! I was worried about Seth--that he would never want to sit down and we'd be walking up and down the steps to our seats. Our seats were pretty high up, on the first base side, in the outfield. They were actually great seats for the price ($10), and the Nats' new stadium is really nice. The steps aren't steep like other stadiums, so it wasn't quite so harrying carrying Seth and watching William walk.

During the 3rd inning, we went down to the kids' play area and the boys had a blast. Seth and another one year old ran around screeching and laughing at each other. William climbed up through an obstacle course and went down some slides over and over. The climbing part was physically challenging for him. He could barely haul himself up to the next step. But he was determined to do it and he eventually figured out how to pull himself up. He used to be so intimidated by playgrounds that are swarmed by other kids. He'd always hang back and watch from the sidelines. But now he's much more confident and engaged. It makes me so proud of him! After a few innings, we got kicked out to make way for kids waiting in line, so we went back to our seats. By the 8th inning, William was getting antsy again. Ed had taken him for a walk around the stadium, and they bought cotton candy. But get this--neither of the boys would eat it! William tried it, but wasn't a big fan. And we couldn't even get Seth to try it! Go figure. Since the Nats were losing by the top of the 8th, Ed's mom and I took the boys back to the play area, figuring the game would be over soon. Unfortunately the play area was closed, so we let the boys run around while we waited for the game to end. Of course, the Nats rallied in the bottom of the 9th for a come-from-behind victory, thanks to Ryan Zimmerman's home run. I was bummed we missed it, but Ed's father was thrilled. The game tickets were his birthday gift, so we were glad we could deliver him a win! (And on a gorgeous day, no less!) More pictures:

So that was last weekend (and almost half of this week). This weekend, we leave on Saturday for a quick, 3-day trip to the beach. We've rented a condo on the ocean in Delaware, and I can't wait. I hope Seth is better by Saturday. The weather will be a little on the cool side, but it should be sunny. As long as we can dig in the sand, William will be happy. Who knows how Seth will like it. Hopefully it will be at least a little relaxing. The boys have been so funny lately, in their own ways. William has been quite content to play by himself lately, getting lost deep inside his imagination. He never stops talking while he plays, keeping up a running conversation and commentary almost the whole time. Seth, meanwhile, has become ever more demanding, and his fits of frustration are downright hysterical. If he doesn't get what he wants, he throws things down, runs away, throws himself to the ground, cries, and then calms himself down by lying face down, with his arms under him. He has such a temper! And he has also developed an intense independent streak. Yesterday, I ran a few errands with the boys and we stopped at Subway for lunch. I didn't think Seth would really want to eat, figuring he would just sit on my lap. But he insisted on sitting in his own seat (not the high chair, but a regular chair, mind you), eating his yogurt completely by himself (I couldn't even hold the cup), and eating his sandwich completely by himself. Tonight after dinner, he wanted a cup of milk, but not a sippy cup, but a regular cup. I told him he had to sit on his bum if he wanted to drink from the cup, and he threw a fit. We went back and forth for 20 minutes with him insisting on having the cup, and me insisting on him sitting down, and him throwing a fit. He finally sat down and I gave him the cup. But man--that was a long 20 minutes!

I also got a lesson on how I really need to watch what I say around William. Yesterday morning, as Seth threw one of his many fits for the day, William looked over and said, "Jesus, Seth. What is wrong with you?" I cracked up as I tried to explain that we shouldn't say that, and I was mortified that I've obviously said it often enough in front of him for him to have picked up on it. Bad Mommy!

Finally, I finished an awesome book during my flights to and from Jacksonville. It's the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's incredible--the characters and the story line and the way it is both humbling and inspiring. I highly recommend it. It doesn't move fast, and it's not a light read, but it is compelling and thought-provoking. I managed to read eight books this summer, and that one was by far my favorite! If you do a book group, it would make a great book group read.

So that's it for now. I think we're caught up. Mostly, anyway. Hopefully I'll post tomorrow for Phone Photo Friday, but I doubt I'll post while we're at the beach. (Unless I get bored and figure out how to post from my iPhone.) So expect lots more "catching up" and pictures when we get back!

Sadness

I meant to post more this week, but time got away from me. I started a post on how Dinner is the bane of my existence. But that one might take a while. Seriously--dinner is the one thing I can't seem to get a grasp on. It's the one thing that makes it suck to work full time! But like I said, that's for another post.

The main reason I haven't posted is that my aunt died yesterday. She was my dad's sister--the last surviving sibling. She was in her 80s, and was a steel magnolia, to be sure. Petite and charming, but you knew she ruled with an iron fist. She was gracious and kind and generous, quick to laugh, great sense of humor. But she had a way of letting you know when she disapproved of something. She held to some pretty strict Southern values. She had five children between 1950 and 1960, and then my dad picked up where she left off, having five of his own between 1962 and 1972. I loved those cousins, and saw them every Christmas when we went to their house for Christmas dinner. They all got married and started having kids of their own during my high school and college years, and I ended up babysitting for a couple of them. In fact, I moved to Virginia to be a nanny for one of my cousins--the youngest of the five--when her son was born.

Yesterday, I called some of my dad's first cousin's to let them know about my aunt's passing. I only ended up talking to one of them, but it started me down the path of family genealogy again. I had to find my box with all of our family records and old photographs. Instead of doing laundry or blogging or making lunch and sippy cups for the next day, I looked at my family history again, and reconnected all the dots, and remembered some questions that I never got answered. And it made me sad that my dad and his brothers and sisters are gone. Fortunately there are cousins--my own and my dad's--and we can recreate the stories and share our own perspectives. But with every generation, part of the story gets lost.

I will miss my aunt because she was a wonderful person. And although you can say that she lived a full, rich, and fulfilling life, as evidenced by her children, grandchildren, and the many many friends and families whose lives she enriched. But she really didn't live long enough, if you ask me. But of course, she will live on in her children and in her grandchildren, and in the many stories that we all will tell of her--stories that I will be sure to record.

The Day is Done, and Product Reviews

It's 10:00 p.m. and I'm finally done working for the day. The weather has been gorgeous this week, and we got to play outside for about an hour after work today. (Since Congress is in recess, I've been getting off work at 4:00 p.m., and we've been getting home before 5:00. Wow--what a difference!) We went inside around 6:00 p.m. and I made chicken quesadillas for dinner. Ed got home around 6:30 and we ate dinner on the deck. After nebulizer, bath, and books, both boys were asleep by 8:00. Ed cleaned up the kitchen and I cleaned out the cat's litter box. I emptied the whole thing and took it outside and pressure-washed it with the hose. Gross job, but long overdue. After that, I made the lime sauce for tomorrow night's pork chops (lime juice, garlic, olive oil, and cilantro), and then went to work on the six pounds of ground beef that I had gotten on sale at the grocery store on Sunday ($.99/lb--seriously!). I made 12 hamburger patties, 1 lb. of taco-seasoned ground beef, and froze two pounds for later use. I thought about making a meatloaf, but William and Ed don't like meatloaf, so what's the use? I also made my sandwich for lunch tomorrow. And got sippy cups ready. So the good news is, I have dinner for tomorrow night and Thursday night ready to go. And Friday night will either be pizza or pesto pasta. It's been a good week for menu planning! (Meaning I've stuck to the plan, and the boys have eaten what I've made, for the most part.)

So on to the second part of my post. I have two product reviews--and no, I haven't been solicited or paid for either one. The first is Pandora Internet Radio. I have the iPhone app for Pandora, and I LOVE it! Basically, Pandora creates a personalized "radio station" for you, based on songs or artists that you choose. You can start by choosing a song or an artist, and then Pandora will start playing songs based on your choice. You can indicate whether you like the song, or don't like the song, and Pandora will use that info to keep adding songs or artists. Pandora's selections are based on something called the Music Genome Project, where they're mapping the "genetic makeup" of thousands (hundreds of thousands? millions?) of songs and artists. They give an explanation of why they select songs for your "station." You can also create as many stations as you want. You could have a classical station, a "Billy Joel" station, a "Van Halen" station, whatever floats your boat. The service is free, and you can listen to up to 40 hours a month, I think, and there are advertisements that you have to listen to from time to time. If you pay a small premium, you can get unlimited listening and no advertisements.

For our commute to and from work, I created a "Laurie Berkner" station for the boys. I don't have any Laurie Berkner CDs, so I thought it would be cool to listen to some of her songs and see if the boys like it. I've heard some really good music, and William likes it a lot, too. The only downside is that they don't seem to "map" a children's music genre. So there's a lot of "adult" music that gets mixed in. For example, they played some of Jack Johnson's songs from the Curious George soundtrack, but then started playing all of Jack Johnson's music. I like Jack Johnson, so it's not really a problem. But I wish I could limit it to music specifically for kids. I also tried adding Ella Jenkins, but then I started getting gospel and blues songs, so I had to remove her. So, it's kind of a work in progress as far as the kids' music goes, but overall, I highly recommend it!

My second product review is for something I've already mentioned--the Roku Digital Video Player. It's a device that lets you play movies and TV shows from Netflix and Amazon.com instantly on your TV. It's awesome! It works through your wireless Internet connection, and was super easy to set up. For Netflix movies, you add whatever videos you want to your "Instant Watch" queue and you can watch them whenever you want. Not all DVDs are available for instant watch, but there are plenty to choose from (including all episodes of LOST! Much better watching it on TV than on my PC!). And lots of kids' videos, too. William has been watching Caillou videos (Ed and I have issues with Caillou, but that's for another post!), and I added some classic Disney movies for future movie nights. (Herbie the Love Bug is on tap for Friday night!) And it's all part of my regular Netflix subscription. Amazon.com also offers a whole library of videos that you can view for $1.99, so it's sort of like On Demand. So if you're like us, and you don't have cable and don't do Tivo or have a DVR, ROKU is an awesome option.

So there you go--an evening wrap-up and product reviews. Anyone else have any iPhone apps they love?