Weekend recap

Seth went to his first ever birthday party (besides his) on Sunday. He had such a good time and played very well with all of the other kids. There were kids of all ages there and Seth fit right in. There was another little girl named Lauren who lives 3 doors down and who he also went to daycare with for a little while. She was outside walking on the sidewalk and when he saw her he took off running towards her with his arms wide open. She didn't really want much to do with him but when she had to go, she waved, blew a kiss and said "bye bye" to him. To my suprise, he then blew a kiss back to her. I couldn't believe my eyes and I don't think Lauren's dad was thrilled with the whole thing! :) Then this morning at daycare when I dropped him off, one of his little girl friends, Athena, was already there. They both got very excited to see each other and when i set him down he walked up to her, put his arms around her and gave her a kiss right on the mouth. I say it all the time, but he is truly the sweetest little boy and is so nice to others! Today was also the first day that Seth cried when I left him at daycare. Usually he is so happy to be there and could care less that we leave him, but today when I told him bye he started crying and kept holding his arms out for me. It was so sad and i felt myself start to tear up a bit. I felt it was best for both me and Seth to just say a quick goodbye and leave.

14 months old today!

I can't believe our baby is 14 months old! It is going waaaaayyy too fast. He's not even a baby anymore, he's acting like a complete and total little boy. We just recently bought him these dinosaurs that walk and roar and whenever he plays with them he says "oooohhhh" and claps and rocks back and forth. Such a boy! What else? Oh yes, he is now officially giving "fives" when you ask for one. He said "orange" last night when I was feeding him his favorite fruit, mandarin oranges. He also repeated about 5 words that I said to him last night and this morning I was tickling him by moving my fingers all around his belly and neck and saying "tickle tickle tickle". He was giggling and then started to try and tickle himself and say "tickly tickle". It was hilarious! He loves playing with his friend Zach across the street who is turning 1 this coming weekend. Yesterday Zach came over to our house to play and when it was time for him to go Seth started crying and reaching for him. I just have to say, Seth is the most awesome little boy ever! Jerry and I are having soooo much fun with him. He loves to play chase all around the house and would probably play it for hours on end if mommy and daddy had the energy to do that! He is so loving and not once has he tried to bite or hit yet! More than anything he just likes to hug and kiss everything and everyone! Even yesterday he gave Zach and kiss and a hug. Even though he has such a sweet and gentle personality, he is one tough little boy. I can't even begin to tell you how many times he has fallen or hit his head...HARD, and he doesn't even cry. He looks for our reaction first, and if we act like it's not a big deal then he just goes about playing. I have noticed that he also isn't "mouthing" things as much anymore. I have heard once they are weaned off the bottle that this will help with the oral fixation that babies have. It must be true because I have definitely noticed he is not doing it as much. It used to be that when I took him outside and held his hand while we walked down the sidewalk, he would put everything and anything in his mouth. He tried putting rocks, dirt, leaves and even dead worms in his mouth. It was quite a chore to constantly pull his hand away from his mouth or prevent him from picking up worms and bugs! Now, when I take him out, he still likes to pick up leaves but he hasn't been trying to put them in his mouth anymore. That is one stage I won't miss! I can't wait to see what he'll be doing and learning by next month!
Here is a picture of Seth and Zach wrestling...Seth won! :)

Here is Seth in his hat at the park:

Here is Seth discovering the toilet paper:

And here is Seth with Simon:

A few things...

I just recently wrote a post about how Seth will cooperate very nicely when I brush his teeth, well now he wants to do it himself and doesn't like me to do it for him. He actually does a very good job and will let me help him a little. The thing is now whenever he sees his toothbrush, he whines for it and wants to brush his teeth all the time. I guess that's not such a bad thing!
Also, he has begun to understand when I ask him where his nose, eyes and mouth are. The other day I pointed at my eyes and said "eyes" and then he pointed at his eyes and as plain as day said "eyes". He also likes to brush mommy's and daddy's hair. Whenever I get out the hairbrush he likes to grab it from us and brush our hair and he will even brush his hair when we ask him to.

Sign Language

Jerry and I have been using sign language with Seth ever since he was probably 3 or 4 months old. Just now we are starting to see our efforts paying off. So far Seth has done the sign for "milk", "all done" and "more". I have pictures of the signs for "milk" and "more", but not "all done". Basically when he did the "all done" sign, he just lifted his arms above his head and open and closed his hands. At this point I know he understands the signs when I sign to him, but he is really just mimicking (sp?) us right now. I know it won't be long before he actually uses them to tell us something. Also, here is a link to a pretty cool baby sign chart that we have on our refridgerator:
http://signwithme.com/images/SWM_cheat_sheet.jpg

Teeth Time

Ever since Seth was an itty bitty baby I have been "brushing" his teeth. Really all I did was use a washcloth to clean his gums. It got to where I would say "let me brush your teeth Seth" and he would open his mouth wide and let me wipe his gums. Well now that he has 8 front teeth and is working on 4 molars, I have begun using a real toothbrush. He has really taken to it and I truly believe it is because I started it at such an early age. Oh, kind of a side note for you mommas, but I also heard that it is a good idea anyway to teach your child at an early age to open his mouth on command. This way if they put something in their mouth that they shouldn't you can just get them to open up so you can take it out. So, when i say "let me brush your teeth Seth", I also say "ahhhhh" and that is when he will open his mouth and also say "ahhhh". It has been working very well so far and doesn't seem to mind getting his teeth brushed. I also think he likes the flavor of his flouride free tooth paste! I must thank Lauren, my soon to be sis-in-law, (yes, Seth is going to have 2 Aunt Laurens) for this picture!

The cow says...

Seth has recently really been into this farm animal book, and so far he can repeat what a sheep and a cow say. Hahaha...it's so cute. He says "ba ba ba" for sheep and "oooooo" for cow.

Blowing Kisses

I have been working with Seth for the past few months on blowing kisses, but he has never even tried to do it. (at least not in front of me!) Well this morning he just started doing it out of the blue and even made the kissing sound. It was so cute!!!

Stranger/Separation Anxiety

I had it in my head that if Seth were to have Stranger or Separation anxiety then he would have already had it, well yesterday I read that it actually peaks around 18 months. I think Seth may be entering this stage! He has become a lot more clingy to me especially around new people or people he hasn't seen in a while. Yesterday when my mother in law arrived from Atlanta (Seth's Nona), he acted more shy than usual and kept coming over to me and holding on to my leg or wanting me to hold him. The good thing is he really just acts shy and doesn't freak out and he also warms up to people very fast!

Jon and Kate plus 8

I LOVE that show. I am now addicted and honestly it makes me feel better about my wild and crazy nonstop life. I mean 8 kids??? It makes raising 1 kid look like a breeze!

Seth's new "lovey"

No, it's not a bear or a monkey or a blankie. It's his pajamas!!! He is so in love with his pajamas and wants to carry them around everywhere. If they are in his crib and he can't reach them, he will cry until one of us gets them for him. He will carry them around and then curl up with them on the floor and suck his thumb. It really is adorable. I guess once he outgrows them they will become his blankie!

New pics and videos!!

Below is a picture that will send you to our picassa website that has some new pics and videos of Seth. Many of the new videos are of things that I have recently blogged about. All of the new stuff is at the very end and the stuff at the beginning you have probably seen before. If you click directly on the picture below, it will take you to the site.

Seth Eric Steindler

It must be Monday!

On my lunch break today as I was driving down Interstate 64, I heard a loud "POP" and then a loud humming noise. Well, i knew immediately that I blew a tire. So instead of getting upset, I tried to find all the good things that came about and suprisingly, there were quite a few:
1. Seth was NOT with me. This would have been BAD, very BAD. He wouldn't have found any good about sitting in a car for 2 hours!
2. 4 police men pulled over within 30 minutes to make sure I was okay.
3. Since i am absolutely TERRIBLE at directions, luckily where I was forced to pull over was at a mile marker that stated I was going west on 64 and at mile marker 17. Which was all nice because i was asked where i was located many times and with me being so flustered that I couldn't even remember my home phone number I'm glad my location was right in front of me so I didn't have to think about it! :)
4. I didn't have to pee and I really wasn't that hungry or thirsty! :)
5. And lastly, I learned from all of this that MODOT (Mo. dept of transportation) provides roadside assistance absolutely free of charge.

4th of July weekend update

We had such a wonderful 4th of July weekend with Seth. We went to a friends house to celebrate and had a blast. I was very impressed that Seth actually slept through 7 screaming kids and an amazing fireworks display. He never even made a peep and when we brought him back home around midnight, he went right back to bed!
Seth also said 3 more words to add to the list. He said "hi", "bye bye", and "dog". Whenever we go for a walk now and Seth sees a dog, he points at it and yells out "doy doy" but we know he means "dog". :) Also, Seth has mastered a few toys that we have at home. Jerry really worked with him this weekend and taught him how to sort shapes and put them in their correct hole. He also taught him how to work a pop up animal toy where Seth has to push, pull and turn knobs so that animals pop up. And lastly, Seth has learned how to use his stacking ring toy. He is really into stacking his toys and putting objects inside things. I have also noticed that when he plays with toy cars he makes a "vrrrrrmmmm" sound. Very cute.
Seth is also very into books lately. That is the very first thing he wants to do when he wakes up in the morning and the last thing he wants to do at night! He especially loves this animal sound book that we have and when we got to the part where the sheep says "baaaa baaaa" he repeated it and said "ba ba".
I used to say that when Seth was 7-8 months that that was my favorite stage, but now i will definitely have to say that this is my favorite stage. He really does amaze me everyday at all the new things he does and how quickly he catches on. I hated sending him off to daycare this morning because i just don't want to miss anything!Jerry and I were just discussing how much fun we are having with Seth. He is such a blast and when we have play time, the whole family really plays and gets into to it. It doesn't get much better than this!

TEETH!!

As most of you know, Seth has his top 2 and bottom 2 teeth. Well now, the 2 teeth on either side of these on both the top and bottom have poked through and I know they don't bother him anymore, but lately he has really been acting like his mouth is bothering him. After doing some investigation tonight, I felt 2 top molars trying to make their appearance. Poor little guy! Cutting 6 teeth at once can NOT be fun, but our little man is taking it like a champ!

and some more words

I might as well start a running list for all of Seth's words lately. He just keeps spewing out a new word or 2 everyday. I can't wait to hear what he is going to say next. Although he has been saying "dada" for a little while, I thought it was cute yesterday when I picked him up from daycare and as we pulled into our garage, he yelled out "dada". He knew that we were home and he would get to see daddy. Also, when I was at his daycare, the teacher said that she asked another baby if they had a dirty diaper. She swears that Seth then said "dirty diaper". Both teachers in the class looked at each other and laughed. And lastly, when it was time for Seth's bath last night I said "bathtime". He looked at me, smiled and said "bath".

So here is our running list of words that Seth can say although he understands so much more:
1. "oink, oink" (hahaha, this is kind of a joke--to make a long story short, Seth was only a few months old at the time, but Me, Jerry, Eric and Seth were all at the table eating dinner and out of the blue Seth said "oink oink". Now I know it was just a sound that came out and not real words, but it sounded exactly like "oink oink", so we joke that those were his first words.
2. "Dada"
3. "Mama"
4. "momomomo" for more
5. "Uh Oh"
6. "ca" for cat, but now he says "dat"
7. "all done"
8. "dight" for light
9. "toys"
10. "bath"
11. "duck"
12. "good"
13. and possibly "dirty diaper" hahaha

More words...

So yesterday I wrote that when I woke Seth up he said 2 new words: "dat" for cat and toys. Well when I picked him up from daycare yesterday, I put him in the car and he always points at the light on the car ceiling while I buckle him in. This time, he pointed and said "dight". And then he said it again and again. He was so proud of himself. THEN, at bathtime, he pointed at his favorite musical duck and said "duck". Again, he was so proud and so were mommy and daddy!

Words

I really feel like Seth understands just about EVERYTHING that Jerry and I say. If I say "Seth, lets go for a walk", he goes over to the door and bangs on it. If I say "Seth, lets get a bath", he runs to the bathroom. This morning when I got him out of his crib I said "Seth, bring me a book". He looked over at his table and grabbed a book and brought it to me. I also asked him where the cat was and he started chasing Simon around yelling "dat" for cat. And I swear this morning I told him to come over to his playroom to play with his toys and he looked over there and said "toys". It's just so exciting to hear these new words from him. Also, at meals I will ask him if i can have a bite of his food and he feeds it to me. He's so smart! :)