We can hardly believe that Saturday will be Seth's second birthday. The time has gone by so quickly! He has grown so much and learned to do so many new things since he was born that it is hard to keep track. We like to have these blog entries to help us look back and remember his growth and development.

We've been busy since we got back from Hawaii! We have only five weeks left of school, and it will be fun for me to have the summer off to spend even more time with Seth. We have some fun vacations coming up, too, which we are all looking forward to. Let's see, since we've been back at school, we spent Easter weekend in Rhode Island with Grandpa Joe and Grandma Nancy. Aunt Emily and Uncle Stefan were visiting from California, so it was a great reason for us all to get together. Before we left Suffield, we went to a fun Easter egg hunt at Seth's friend's grandmother's house, and Seth had a blast. In Rhode Island, he had a great time playing with his grandparents, who had made him a special Easter basket and helped him dye and decorate Easter eggs for the first time. He was surprisingly adept at spooning up the egg with the little metal dipper - he has really good hand-eye coordination! Seth also had so much fun playing hide and seek with Nana - she is amazing and loves to play with Seth. It is so wonderful to see them together! The next day, we all joined Aunt Sandi, Tom, Zack, Danielle, Lindsay, Jeremy, and Lila for a fun brunch and Easter Egg Hunt at Lindsay's country club. Seth had so much fun playing with Lila and seeing his family. He got some stuffed bunny rabbits, and told Grandma Nancy that the bunnies were named Brownie and Kekoa (Seth's middle name).

We also celebrated Passover - Seth attended some of our school seder, though he was a little more interested in running around outside the dining hall, which is just about his favorite thing to do. After we eat dinner in the dining hall, he likes to either run around the big foyer (he can run around the "track," which is the the white border around the room) or to run around outside with all his friends from school. We are very lucky that he has so many playmates around.

We've visited with the "real Baby Douglas" (the namesake for Seth's baby doll) and Auntie Carolyn. We've been continuing our swimming lessons, and Seth is getting even more comfortable in the water. We've visited with Aunt Charlotte, and we took Seth to the shoe store to get new shoes, which went pretty well. We also got Seth a helmet for a little tractor he was given. He hasn't agreed to wear the helmet yet, but it is non-negotiable with the tractor, so I think eventually he will agree to wear the helmet so he can ride the tractor! (Update since I wrote this last night before posting it tonight - he finally let us put the helmet on! Though there were many tears, he did have a great time riding on the tractor!)

We have really been doing a lot of traveling! Towards the end of April, we flew out with Grams and Seth's second cousin Owen to visit Grams' family in Omaha. We had a blast! Seth got to visit with Daddy's Aunt Betsy and Uncle Jerry (who gave Seth a toy stethoscope that he loved!), Daddy's cousin Jeff and his wife Becky, and his cousin Jon and his wife Deb. Best of all, Seth got to meet all six of his second cousins on that side of the family - Grace, Gabe, Gloria, Grant, Andrew and Owen. We all had so much fun getting to spend time with the family, and Seth had a blast. Grace (age 11) doted on Seth, and Grant (age 3.5) was right in there playing with Seth all the time. We went to the zoo, went on a safari drive, and walked on a bridge where we could have one foot in Nebraska and one foot in Iowa. Iowa became the 10th state that Seth has visited. Seth also got to fly a kite for the first time, which was reallly fun.

The next weekend, we went out to the farm to visit Papa, and also saw Grams, Aunt Bunny, Uncle Jay, Aunt Cynthia, and Uncle Peter. Seth had a great time playing at the farm - he loves running in the green grass on Papa's lawn, kicking balls around the lawn, and swinging on the big swing. Papa took us to a friend's farm, and Seth got to see cows and throw rocks from a huge stack of gravel. He also got to plant flowers for the first time - Papa helped him plant pansies, which he loved.

We spent lots of time with Geema, and went up to Northhampton to celebrate Michael's birthday and meet his children. It was fun! Finally, our Williams friends came to visit last weekend, and Seth had a blast with Uncle Chris, Auntie Cathy, Uncle Chuck, Auntie Jenn, Katie, and baby Sam. Seth had so much fun playing with his toys with Katie, and showing her his daycare playground. Baby Sam is as cute as ever! We are so lucky to have such good friends to share our son with!

Seth has learned some funny sayings. When we visited Aunt Charlotte, they were playing hide and seek with a stuffed bunny, and Aunt Charlotte would say "Blah" when the bunny went under her food dish. Then, later, I ate a bite of salad with some bitter salad dressing and went "blah." Now, Seth likes to recount these stories and make up his own occasions to say "Blah!!!"

He also likes to walk around with his stethoscope and talk about going to see his pediatrician, Dr. H. He knows if he falls down and get a big boo-boo, he will have to see Dr. H. I am not sure if he thinks this is a good or a bad thing! She gave him a tongue depressor, which he calls his knife. Whenever he gets a little boo-boo, he says he needs his boo-boo buddy, or he will say "my knee/foot/arm okay."

We're teaching Seth to cough into his arm, which he remembers sometimes. He's getting much better at going up and down stairs with our help, which makes his mommy nervous, but we know is an age-appropriate skill. He loves playing with balls, and we talk about how you bounce a basketball, kick a soccer ball, etc. He likes to ask permission, like "Can I kick the ball?" So cute! He loves his new Music Together songs, especially "Betty Martin" and "See the Ponies Galloping."

Seth saw the dentist for the first time - a pediatric dentist in town that came highly recommended. He did a great job - he let her look in his mouth and showed her how he brushed his teeth. He even got to pick a prize! We will go back in a few weeks so she can remove some plaque build-up from his teeth so his mouth will be sparkling clean.

He also had his two year check-up today, with Dr. S. He did a great job, and was well on target (or ahead with his language) for his developmental milestones. He weighed 25 pounds 13 oz. (up to the 25%ile) and was 35 inches tall (shot up to the 75%ile), so he is moving right along!

These are some other new things Seth has been saying:

• "Thank you, Mommy/Daddy for the kiss and hug"
• When we ask Seth what he dreamt about, he always says "turtles"
• "Great job, Mommy/Daddy!"
• "No thank you" (when he doesn't want something, or when he doesn't want to do something in general, like eat lunch)
• "Here you go Mommy/Daddy"
• P-pants, P-shirt (joke when we say P-jamas)
• "I did" (in response to "did you do that?")
• "Sure" or "Um...sure" (in response to "would you like...?")
• MY mommy, MY daddy, "we're a family"
• "I can do it myself"
• "I'm not sure" (if he doesn't know an answer)
• "Hi howaya" (sounds like Hawaii)
• "My way or the highway"
• "Oopsie Daisy"
• "I'm hungry,"..."my tummy hurts/is hungry"
• "Not" (at daycare when they asked him if he wanted more or not)
• "Snak-ES" (for snakes, which he calls the toy nails on his toolbench)
• "My favorite"
• "Gappoling" (for galloping, from a Music Together song)
• "Stammup!" (for stand up)
• "Yogrit" (for yogurt)
• "How about my day?" (when we put him to bed, he wants to talk about his day)
• "Mommy, close the door" (when I am dawdling saying goodnight and he wants to go to bed)
• "I'm hot" (waking up from sleeping on these past hot days)

At daycare, they have started giving Seth and others his age an occasional time-out or break if they don't follow the rules. Now at home, when he climbs on the gate at the bottom of the stairs, which he knows is a no-no, he says he needs a time-out, or a break, and runs to sit down!

Seth loves loves loves guitars right now - he likes to pass out the little musical instrument puzzle pieces to everyone, and the guitar is his favorite. We must put it "on our tummy and strum it." He also loves pudding. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said "cake, pudding, and a guitar!" We are looking forward to his second birthday party next weekend - we can't believe he is going to be 2!