Seth 17 months

Dear Seth,

My goal had been to take some recent pictures to go with this post, but I didn't. But I don't want to put it off any longer or else you'll be 18 months before I get to it. You are definitely no longer a baby, you're my little boy. You are doing so many things these days I can't keep up. One of your favorite things is waving. You wave to everyone when we're out and about, strangers on the street, in the grocery store, at the park. This weekend you were waving at your grandpa's neighbors out at the river. You also wave bye bye to people when prompted, but usually it's after they've already walked out the door.

You've got some new teeth making their grand entrance. They've been clearly hurting you a bit off and on but you are taking it like a champ. I am thinking your bottom left molar is poking through, the bottom right is right behind it, and there are two more on the top that are showing now as well. I have a feeling this was a factor in your picky eating habits of the last month or so but recently you seem to be eating anything and everything so maybe they are not hurting so bad now.

You just finished your first set of swimming lessons. They weren't so much lessons as they were hanging out and singing songs in the pool, but by week 4 you seemed to be getting into it. You definitely enjoyed splashing your hands and feet and you are attempting to blow bubbles every chance you get. In the bathtub you lean down and make a good little blub blub sound and come up giggling every time. And the other day we caught you trying to blow bubbles in the dog's water at your auntie's house. It must be pretty confusing when we're so pleased about it one day and scolding you the next. But ewww!!

You can throw a ball (and other things) really well now. You are really close to being able to catch, too. You will throw a ball up in the air slightly and catch it yourself, which is really amazing I think. You also will spin things in your hands, like I'm sure you've seen your daddy doing. One of our favorite games is playing "catch" which involves me throwing balls up to the top of the stairs and you throwing them back down to me. Another athletic ability of yours is climbing. You are a climbing fool and have to be told about 100 times a day not to stand up on the couch. You definitely know you're not supposed to but that doesn't stop you from getting up there when we turn our backs and running around giggling like the little monkey you are. Occasionally though, you climb up and sit down like a good little boy and it makes me so proud. You can also climb up on chairs and turn around and sit down. Lately you've also been trying to jump. You got some practice "jumping" into the pool during swimming lessons and by the end you would step off the edge into our arms without being pulled. There's no doubt in my mind you will be jumping off the dock before the end of summer. Indoors if I show you how to jump, you will laugh, squat down and up in a jumping motion and then stomp your foot. It is completely cute and hilarious. Last week at the park you also went down the slide by yourself, backwards on your tummy. I wasn't there to witness this but I'm told it was amazing. You can also now truly run, like the wind, and sometimes you do this with your arms sticking out behind you like you're flying.

You still don't seem to have much interest in speaking. You still sign "more" when you are hungry, and will mimic other signs if you're captive (in the high chair or car seat). I'm still not very consistent working with you though and I know you'd pick up on them quickly if I tried harder. But you've signed "shoes", and "eat", and "please" here and there in appropriate situations. You definitely understand most of what we say to you and will follow directions like "bring me your shoes" or "go in your room." As for actual words coming out of your mouth, well, we're still lucky if you say "mama" and "daddy," and that's only if you feel like it. You will occasionally mimic some animal sounds, your meow is the funniest sounding kind of like "ow." When you hear a dog bark you "bark" back in your own little way. I think "moo" is the only other recognizable one. Also, just in the last week or so when you narrowly avoid disaster, like if you almost fall down or you almost pull a laundry basket on top of yourself, you get this big exaggerated shocked look on your face and go "OHHHHHH!!!" I'm pretty sure you got that one from your daddy watching sports.

My favorite new thing you do is hug. For a long time now you have been running into my arms to get a hug. But lately you also are giving them out, which is about the best thing in the world. You also blow kisses which consists of putting your hand over your wide open mouth and then flinging it out emphatically and saying "ahhh." You also very affectionately "hug" Max who is still amazingly tolerant of your attention.

A couple of housekeeping items... you're still sleeping very well. Your internal alarm clock is set very firmly at about 6:30am, no matter what time you went to bed, or how much you ate for dinner, or how well you napped the day before. You're still generally taking two naps a day although I'm starting to suspect you could get by with one (and you often do). You haven't shown any interest in potty training which doesn't surprise me at all. We might give it a try this summer when we're outside a lot, but who knows. I'm not in as much of a hurry as I thought I would be at this point.

So that's about all I can think of for now my little one. Love you bunches!

~Mama