King of Mountain Seth

I'm surprised at how natural I can be at creating dinosaur and train characters and renactments using Seth's plastic dinosaurs and various Thomas the Train engines. Take Seth's bath time tonight, for instance. Seth is surrounded by a tub full of bubbles, an engine in each hand and dinosaurs floating around him. He remembers a scene that I created in his last bath time called, "King of Mountain Seth", and hands me his dinosaurs with a questioning look to me. I know what he's asking for and so I begin. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. I stomp the dinosaur up the side of the tub until it sits with a penetrating glare at Seth with water separting them. In a most serious dinosaur growl, I say, "I must climb and conquer Mountain Seth. But first, I will jump into the sea between us!" Seth is captivated with a huge, serious smile. He knows what's coming. I splash the dinosaur into the tub water in front of Seth's belly. "Now, I will swim to the mountain!!" I make the dinosaur splash and flap around until I make the dinosaur land on Seth's arm and proceed to march the dinosaur up his arm until it sits on his head. "I have conquered the mountain!! I am King of Mountain Seth!". Seth erupts into giggles and he send the dinosaur sailing from his head to the water. And then we repeat the scene a few more times. I love it! My inner drama goddess is coming out. Thank goodness I watched such male classic movies like Braveheart and Last of the Mohicans to understand the manly nature that boys so often draw into at such young ages. I like to think I'm kind of cultivating this aspect of Seth's male nature. :) After getting Seth into his PJ's, we played with his hair. There was a bit of a concern in his eyes as I squealed over how adorable he looked with his hair messed up. I don't think he liked it and thought I might have been laughing at him. But then I took the camera out and exclaimed how handsome he was, giving him hugs and kissed. Don't you agree?

After the usual bedtime routine - a few books, prayers and a glass of milk - I rocked Seth to sleep in his chair. He was so relaxed, which made me so relaxed that I almost fell asleep. I took in the reality of the moment: rocking my little boy who is not a baby anymore, but still likes to be cuddled by his mama at night. Seth will keep getting bigger and older until there is a day where we won't do this any longer. So, I cherish every night that I put Seth to bed.

Living in the moment

Living in the moment is not a new thing to me. I'm not talking about the kind of "living in the moment" perspective that throws caution to the wind and cause more harm. I'm talking about a different kind of living that was again brought to my mind when reading an email from Jill Savage of "Hearts at Home". Jill said, "We focus on what's next instead of what's now. We get caught up in the chaos, instead of the beauty. We long for what we don't have, instead of seeing all that we do have. "In the MOMent" is all about being fully present in the motherhood season that you are in. So rather than "wishing she would sleep through the night," thank God for the precious moments of quiet you have as you feed her each night. Pray for her future spouse. Notice her little nose. Moments like this won't last forever." I have an index card on my bathroom mirror that says not to wish away these young years because someday I will miss them. So, when I wonder what Seth is going to be like as a 10 year old or wistfully think about what it will be like to wake up in the morning without having to beckoned to the room next door to change a diaper or take a little one out of their crib, I think about all the things I will miss: - Spending 20 minutes every morning cuddling with Seth in his chair. Someday that chair will be moved out of his room to accomodate different furniture. - Changing the 5th diaper of the day and playing the Itsy Bitsy Spider up Seth's legs. Someday Seth will be too busy playing outside and totally self-sufficient where he doesn't need help. He will find other things that will make him laugh and he will think his Mama's humor is out of date. - Seth's innocent wide-eyed surprise at a ball that he is able to catch. Or a tower of blocks that he knocks over that makes a ton of noise. Or an "Uh-oh!" when the ball unexpectedly rolls right through his legs. - Seth's imagination and simple belief that Pooh Bear (on his toothbrush) and Thomas the Train (on his toothpaste) are so excited for him to come brush his teeth. I hope I never forget the wide-eyed look of surprise and open-mouthed "Oh!" when something catches him off-guard, delights him or surprises him. Can I brag a little bit that he recognizes words like "Mama", "Papa", and "Seth" when they are written out? He is learning his letters! It's amazing to see him digest these new things. It's hard not for me to wonder and imagine what this little boy is going to be like when he grows up - as a child, as a pre-teen and as a teen. Seth is so easy-going, delighted, compliant (for the most part) and full of happy fun. But I don't want to spend too much time and emotional energy wondering. I need to use this energy and time cuddling and hugging Seth, making him laugh, showing him new things and bringing new experiences to him. Oh, I love this little boy so much! Thank you, God, for letting me be Seth's Mama.

22 months old

Seth, you are 22 months old! I can hardly believe that in 2 months, you will be 2 years old. What can I say about the vibrant, confident, excited, curious and happy little boy that you are? At 22 months: -You wear 18 month size pants (you have short legs like your mama) -You wear 24 month size tops, jackets, and shirts -You wear size 7 shoes Your blonde hair, long eye lashes and blue eyes kind of make you a magnet. You are friendly to people when we're out and about, waving "hi!" and "buh-bye!" at people that pass us at the grocery store. You flirt and are friendly to anyone who will make eyes with you. Morning time is your favorite and you'd stay in your crib for an hour if I let you. I come in to your room, say good morning, open the shades and turn your Kindermusik CD on. You point to the books that you want to look at. I put the books in your crib and you'll sit in your crib for an hour (if I let you!) just flipping through the books. I've been encouraging you to call "Mama!" when you need something and you're starting to do that more. You are such a fun little boy. Smiles on your face most of the time, with an occasional pensive look that you've been known for since you were an infant. You like to run around, do a happy dance with your feet moving really fast. You like to run, so we have many games of running up and down the hallway. You like to be chased and tickled. You are smart little boy too! I ask what color are your pants (or other clothing) and you can tell me if they're blue, green, orange or yellow. What do you like to play with right now? Balls, the yellow Fisher Price bus and airplane, your Melissa & Doug puzzles (especially the sound puzzle with the ambulance, car, train, etc), your car ramp, a music box and some blocks. You are getting into coloring, but we're still working on not munching on the crayons. :) In fact, your playing has changed. You are starting to sit longer and play with a toy, instead of hopping up and bouncing from toy to toy. You are a little helper around the house. You sense that Papa and Mama like to have the house in somewhat of an order, so if you're playing with the pots and pans, you will even put them away! Your verbal expression is increasing and now you always call for us, "Mama!" or "Papa!" You have the sweetest little voice. You are always saying "Uh-oh!" when something breaks, falls, gets hurt or isn't right. You are learning your colors and are saying the color of an object - blue, orange, purple and green are your favorites. You are doing well with listening to Mama tell you to put your hand on the car when I take you out of the carseat. You're walking when we're out and about, more so than the stroller. You finally bonded with Uncle Kyle. He is quite entertaining to you now. You just hadn't quite warmed up to Kyle's expressions and high-energy. But now Uncle Kyle gets just about as much attention and love from you as your Grandpa does. Here are some fun pictgures from your 22-month birthday:

Video of Seth getting into this birthday cake

I know Seth is nearing his 2nd birthday, but I just ran across the video of Seth at his 1st birthday party touching his first birthday cake. It was so adorable and I just don't want to forget how little my little boy was.

Seth's 1 year old Birthday from Kyle Teichroew on Vimeo.

October weekend re-cap

The weekend got started with a birthday dinner and celebration for Jenni at my parent's house. We had many laughs and a delicious dinner. Speaking of dinner - Mom made her now-famous french fries, which is the birthday girl's (and my brother's) favorite. We tease that it was really Kyle pushing for the french fries. We had a special dessert for the birthday girl and then presented her with gifts. That's the fun part!!! Saturday was completely random. We decided at 9:30am that we would take Seth to the Minnesota Zoo. Yeah - the big one about 45 minutes away. After breakfast and a little cleaning up, we hit the road to the zoo. What can I say but Seth LOVED the zoo. We went into several exhibits. The exhibits are great because they have little tunnels just for small kids where they can get a different view of the animals. Seth loved exploring the tunnels and caves. He got really excited over the penguins, birds, flamingos, beaver, and otter. But his favorite? The goats at the Farm. They have a little goat pen for the kids to pet and feed the goats. Seth went up to each animal and hugged them, squealing in the process. He tried to sit on the old goat sitting in the corner. He liked looking at the pigs too. Seth squealed with happiness when he was able to pet the cow's head in the barn. A polka band played music in the farm area, so given that we all know Seth loves music and dancing to music, is it any wonder he dropped a boogie anytime he got near the band? It was such a delight to see how Seth responded to the animals when he saw them for the first time. It was like seeing these animals for the first time. I love to watch Seth get excited over the things that I have taken for granted. I repeat. It was so fun to take Seth to the zoo! Seth missed his afternoon nap, but he was such a trooper and was totally content sitting in the stroller with a bag of popcorn when he was a little tired. At the end of the day as we walked out of the zoo, Seth just rested his head on Jason's shoulder and just hugged him all the way to the car. On Sunday, we visited a particular church in MG for the second Sunday in a row. After church and some relaxing in the afternoon, I had a fun photo shoot with a friend from work and her 3 daughters in downtown Anoka. We had a lot of fun! The weekend was complete with our small group coming over to discuss Crazy Love. It was a good weekend! I'm not ready for another week.:(

August week re-cap

I know these posts are blog-world worthy, but I just had to jot all these fun summer times down so I can come back and read them later!

Every day I get so tickled that I actually got to stay home this summer. I don't know what the future holds, but I'm so thankful Jason worked it out for me to do this.

Our Mondays always begin with the roar and slam of the commercial size lawn mowers at our neighbor's house across the street. At 7am in the morning. That's fine for me because I get up at 5am, but not so great when Seth usually gets up at 8. Oh, well. Sometimes Seth sleeps through it, sometimes he doesn't. I've been tempted to go across the street and ask if they'll do our yard for free since they've woken my sleeping child. :)

After breakfast, blanket time and playroom time, we took a field trip to the store to pick up some baking supplies to make cupcakes for my Grandpa and Grandma. We stopped at one of our favorite playgrounds in MG where there were a ton of kids playing. It was so interesting to watch how Seth interacted with the boys and girls, who are at least 2-3 years older than him. There were a few instances from a few boys that did not like when Seth tried to play with them. My heart squeezed at my son's attempt to play with them and then getting pushed away. I saw an image of my son a few years older going through the tribulations of playground play.

After naptime, we went to Jason's softball game. What a gorgeous night. Seth got his fix of fresh air and running. And so did I! He had to touch each bat lined up against the fence. We counted and named the color of each bat. I just let him run down the path, to which I ran right after him. Seth constantly moves and so do I when we're at things like this. You need to keep an eye on the little ones so they don't run out onto the field. Seth is learning how to obey and listen - toddler steps!

On Wednesday, we hit the ground running and were out the door by 8:30am. After picking up some Melissa & Doug puzzles via a CraigsList posting, we brought coconut cupcakes to Great Grandpa and Grandma. They absolutely LOVE seeing Seth. Seth always gives them hugs when we get there and when we leave. He sat on the chair next to Great Grandpa while GG explained how he needed to sit still for a little bit because if he doesn't, he's going to loose all the energy he needs for later on. It was SO precious. Seth just kind of looked up at him with this awe of authority. Great Grandma took us to see the aquarium fish - actually, Seth spied them first with a huge squeal. He ran up to the aquarium and squealed and said his fish word, "Fee!". It's been good to see Great Grandpa and Grandma. It's important that Seth spend time with them. Hopefully he'll remember them later on when he's older.

After that, we had a little Mommy and Seth date at Caribou Coffee. Oh my word! We had such fun and it was so pleasant. I brought snacks for both us and sat in the back near the little kids table and chalkboard. Seth sat on all the chairs and played with the chalkboard. We found an awesome park on the way home. While it had two little play areas - one for the toddlers and one for the bigger kids, Seth gravitated towards the big kid play set. Seth had to climb all the way to the top, while I was one foot behind him the whole way. The slides were a little steeper, but he got a kick of the slides and squealed as he went down. There were a few where I had Seth sit on my lap on the way down.

Wednesday was a fun day for us. I took Seth to downtown St. Paul to have lunch with his daddy in the "big city". We talked about the big city all the way across town. I got totally lost downtown when we were trying to find the place to meet Jason. It was funny because we were in the car at a street corner and Seth saw Jason standing at the same corner and just squealed, "Pa!". He is so observant. We had a great lunch at an outside cafe. Seth got a special treat of a PB&J sandwich and french fries. Lucky him. :) Jason is really lucky to work at such a cool place like downtown!

On Thursday, after a very trying blanket time, we ran errands to pick up new library books, get some toddler supplies and on a whim, went to the towne green for a kids program. Seth did really well sitting in my lap during the program (for the most part) and squealed with excitement over the red-tailed hawk he got to see at the program.

We had Jamie, Paul and their new baby girl over for dinner last night. They're in town from CO and we HAD to see them! Seth was enthralled with the baby, but he got SO jealous when I was holding the baby. He also tried all sorts of tac tics to draw attention to himself when he realized the baby was getting more attention. Uh, oh! But he was a hoot and really loved Jamie and Paul. He ran up and gave them hugs.

Week Re-cap

Try saying "week re-cap" three times in a row and it begins to sound like "reek re-cap", "reek re-crap" and "week wee-cap". I don't know what my week re-caps are going to come out like, but it will sure give me a way to remember these busy summer days! Monday was supposed to have a get-together with my Made to Crave book club girls and their kiddos. Seth had developed a little cold the day before, so on the safe side, we decided not to go. We picked up and dropped off Joyce at the car place and then went home for the rest of the day. This was the first day of huge thunderstorms. Seth was tired from his cold and he slept right through the huge thunder boomers! So....I started this post with the intention of posting a recap of each day, but as you can see, I never finished and it's kind of comical just to leave it that way.:)