A Half-Dozen Healys

The Adventures of Amy, Jason, Seth, Evan, Nora, and Maya

Blog Masthead: A Half-Dozen Healys

Seth's Greatest Hits at Three Years (and Four Months) Old

by Amy

After writing a post on Evan's current milestones, I wanted to be sure to record Seth's funny actions and saying from the past few months. These boys keep us laughing!

  • Several months ago, we were explaining what the word "dangerous" meant to Seth. We gave him a couple examples, and then asked if he understood. He went on to give us elaborate examples of the word, including being eaten by sharks, so we figured he had understood!

  • He likes to play the "stealing your nose" game, and extended it to eyes, ears, etc. Then, to take it further, he would pretend to "eat your nose" until he was ready to give it back.

  • We had been encouraging Seth to use the potty for some time, but had left it up to him when he wanted to start wearing big boy underwear. We know you can't force potty training, and we were waiting for him to be ready. When we went to his three year check-up, his pediatrician told him it was time for him to start wearing big boy undies, and lo and behold, he did that very day! It only took a couple weeks for Seth to be able to tell us when he needed to use the potty (with frequent reminders from us) without having accidents. He is so proud of himself that he is toilet trained, and we feel lucky it turned out to be true that he would be ready when he was ready. He still wears diapers at naps and bedtime, but otherwise is in undies all the time!

  • Seth has recently gotten interested in playing games - matching games, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, "Thomas the Train" Uno, etc. He likes to take turns and will play along with the rules to an extent, but likes to make up his own rules as we go along. We try to walk the line between letting him have creativity while explaining that when he plays games with his friends, he has to follow the real rules of the game!

  • We've also made up some family games, like a guessing game. We started using Sesame Street characters (I'm big and yellow and I'm a bird) and Seth got to be really good at it. He can give clues and guess. It began to evolve into him choosing the topic, such as the farm guessing game, and now he chooses VERY specific things like the water guessing game and the train guessing game. We also play the rhyming game and the story game, where we each tell part of a story.

  • He has been telling us such long stories lately! He'll start talking about a topic, and just go on for a while, mixing in things we've told him, things he's made up, etc. It is very cute!

  • Seth is still napping on most days, but sometimes doesn't fall asleep right away. On those days, it is not uncommon to hear "Mommy, Daddy, I'm done with my nap" through the monitor, and he tries to convince us that he actually fell asleep for a very short period of time. Usually he will eventually go to sleep for real, if we're lucky!

  • Lately Seth is really into the characters from Cars (Lightning McQueen and Mater), Dinosaur Train (Buddy and the Pteranodons). He has the little figurines, and he will play with them and make up stories with them. We also have this joke where every time we see a red car, we say "There's Lightning!"

  • As long as we are nearby, Seth has really started being able to play by himself, especially with cars, trucks and trains. He will lie on the floor and zoom the cars around, talking to them and making up stories.

  • Lately, he likes to pretend to be a baby alongside Evan. He will lie next to him and they will both put their feet in their mouth, or chew on things, or kick their legs. Since Seth didn't really have the regression that can be typical of older siblings, we find this little game to be funny.

  • Seth has taken after me when I was a child and likes to sing dramatic songs. He'll play his guitar or just sing a capella, and make up funny lyrics about everyday things, usually to the same tune.

  • He recently made up a song called "Tweet Tweet Go," which starts out in a whisper and evolves into a scream!

  • Seth is our little parrot - anytime we are explaining something to him, he repeats us. Us: "Seth, it is time to take a bath." Seth: "Take a bath?" Us: "Yes, take a bath." Seth: "Take a bath?" And so on...

  • We like to have "Book Parties" where we take out a bunch of books and spread them on the couch and read them all.

  • Recently, I was explaining to Seth about Mommy and Daddy's families. It's hard for him to understand that Geema was my mother, etc. I told him that I grew up in a house and Geema and Grandpa were my parents and Uncle Brian was my brother, and explained about Daddy's family. Seth took all this in, and made up his own family tree. Seth: "When I grew up, Uncle Than was my mommy, and Auntie Lissa was my brother and Geema was my sister", etc. Very funny!

  • I've noticed lately that if there is a part coming in a book or on a tv show that could be funny, silly, or scary (basically unexpected), Seth will cover his eyes with his hands.

  • When Seth does something that we have to speak to him about, or if he earns a time-out, he will think about it, trying to process it, and say "Why did I do that?" We talk about it until he figures it out!

  • Seth frequently appends "ie" to words to create a nickname: "sharkie", "froggie", even "Elizabethie".

  • Seth is currently into Richard Scary books, wanting to read at least one every day. He even created and illustrated his own book with Grandma and Mommy, "Ma Pig Gets Stuck In the Road". It's a retelling of a short story in one of the books.

Funny sayings:

  • "When I wear my pajamas, I'm a little guy, but when I wear my clothes, I'm a big boy!"

    • "Daddy, let's take care of business!" (quote from Caillou). This lead to an impromptu Bachman-Turner Overdrive session.

    • "That's rough!" (quote from Caillou)

    • "Honey, you're killing me!" (repeating something Daddy said to Mommy)

    • "Not that I'm aware of" (when asked if any of his friends were at an event)

    • "That's exactly right!"

    • "Sure do!" (When asked if he wants to do something)

    • "Life is good!" (quote from Dinosaur Train)

    • "Because you don't know how?" (if we ask him to go first when we play a game)

    • "Did you already know that?" (when telling us something) "Now do you know it?"

    • "Did you remember that?"

    • "Hey, I have a good idea!"

    • "Hey, Baby Evan do you want some pizza? That would be a funny trick!" (after doing different funny tricks with a friend)

    • "That woke me up!"

    • Uses words like easily, luckily, etc. correctly.

    • "Thanks for telling me!"

    Words/Sayings Seth still says incorrectly that are so cute:

    • Babing suit ("bathing suit")

    • Yogrit ("yogurt")

    • Momitor ("monitor")

    • with Bee Chother ("each other")

    • Creditors ("predators", from Dinosaur Train)