Love these Kids

Seth

It is so fun to watch Seth toddle around.  He is such a silly boy.  Such a delight.  So fun.  So happy.  

He loves to say, "Uh.........ohhhhhhhhhhh.  Uh..........ohhhhh."  He says it often as he throws his

food on the floor and then looks to us - maybe because he knows we are then going to take him

out of the chair.  Sometimes it seems like this discipline method isn't working right now :)  

Seth has 4 teeth and is getting 4 more in.

Seth found a binkie in the couch while driving his train.
Yeah it's upside down.

Seth loves to play outside.  Swinging, eating snow, and riding in his push car are probably his preferred activities right now.  Yesterday I had barely gotten him out of bed, his diaper was poopy, and he hadn't nursed yet (which is the only thing he wants to do right when he wakes up).  As I was carrying him downstairs he tried to dive out of my arms for the door.  He often brings us his hat or sometimes his shoes with a little grunt that means he wants to go outside.

Seth's other favorite activity is throwing things down the stairs.  At least daily he throws our shoes, hats, gloves, etc. down the lower section of stairs.  He also loves to find random objects from any of our bedrooms (nightlight, socks, toys, etc.), head over to the stairs, and throw it down.  Sometimes I will get out the bouncy balls and we will throw them all down the stairs.  He could do that all day, but I can't leave them out because he puts them in his mouth.

As you can see in the picture Seth likes to put on any necklaces or scarfs he comes across, but especially scarfs.  We have a fluffy green scarf that Grandma Hardman let the kids keep, and he has that on all the time.  The library has some little hooks on the wall by the board books.  They rotate different dress-ups for kids to play with.  A couple of months ago they had capes, but lately it has been scarfs.  He will go and pull one or two down and put them on and wander around contentedly.

Thanks to some inspiration from the Bennetts and Lindstroms we tried elimination communication with Seth. The number of times we put him on the potty each day, his success, and everything else related to this has fluctuated significantly.  At times we were rarely putting him on the potty.  Despite this inconsistency, he has been really consistent at going potty before his bath.  Lately we've remembered to put him on more often at other times during the day.  He has also gotten his potty and will sit on it (sometimes with a diaper or clothes on), or will bring it over to us.  Every time he has brought it to me and I put him on, he has gone potty!  It is crazy.  I'm sure we will have more ups and downs with this, but it is fun to see him understand what is going on and be pleased with himself.

I took this picture after writing this post.
Anika was supposed to go upstairs and get
some underwear...

Anika

Anika has recently gotten into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  When any of us encounter a problem she will often suggest, "Maybe a mouseketool could help us."  Sometimes when I am not in a good position to help her (often when she climbs behind the chair in our front room and pretends to be stuck), she is totally satisfied when I throw her some random object and say, "Here's a mouseketool."

Anika loves when we pretend that she is our pillow or our teddy bear.  She still just loves to pretend in general.  She often suggests that we go to the cabin or to Grandma and Grandpa's (both).

Anika prefers to wear pajamas.  Sometimes in the morning she will change from one pair to another.  The other day she came out of her room wearing pajamas and told me, "In quiet time I decided which pajamas to wear."

She often says cute things like, "When I woke up I realized that I had my pony tail in all night!"  I love hearing her sing songs or recite nursery rhymes.  She is figuring out how to count past 20 but still gets confused counting to 20.  Yesterday I started counting down from 10 and was surprised when she joined in.  She loves to say the prayer at meals but has lately also started saying, "Mom/Dad, would you like to say the prayer?"

Anika has an amazing memory.  She is funny, loves to be loved, and is so friendly - even to random people.  She'll say, "Hi.  How are YOU today?" or "Happy Valentine's Day."

Here is Anika emerging from, "The best hiding place in the world."

My kids love to play on the couch and with the cushions.  Good thing we decided to keep our trusty $20 couch when we moved instead of getting something nicer or more expensive.