Lately, Seth has been focused on sounding out words, especially trying to figure out the first letter of words. He is pretty accurate at it (although there are those confusing similarities like K/C/S and G/J - why is the English language so confusing!), and it is lots of fun to hear him sounding out his words. "S-s-Seth starts with S...p-p-people starts with p," and so on.

Seth has been having a blast at Tiger School, and we have really noticed his learning starting to take off! We had a conference with his teachers back in December, and we were so proud of their comments. They told us about many of Seth's accomplishments:

• He can cut safely with regular scissors.
• He can trace a stencil and cut out the resulting picture.
• He is flexible and easygoing, and doesn't get into confrontations with his peers.
• He uses a proper pencil grip.
• He can write a pretty good approximation of his own name with a model (doesn't have to trace the dots anymore). We were so surprised and proud to hear that he could do this - we didn't realize it! Here is the sample we were given at the conference:

And since the conference, we have discovered lately that he can write his name without a model at all. He likes to practice writing his letters, and one day he asked me to spell out his whole name - Seth Kekoa Healy - and he was able to make his version of all the letters! The other big leap that he has made recently is being able to draw a person and a face. He wasn't able to do this as recently as December, and now, all of a sudden, he can draw a recognizable face:

Seth has been learning about many different topics in Tiger School since the last time we posted. We are so lucky to have such wonderful teachers for him who are so excited and dedicated to these kids! Seth is always so happy to come home from Tiger School and show us what is in his backpack, and tell us what he has learned about. Different lessons and projects have included fall and winter crafts, Thanksgiving and family, making an "Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," gingerbread men, penguins (complete with a Penguin dance), fairy tales and nursery rhymes, and dinosaurs! Seth and his entire class were particularly excited about dinosaurs, and did things like hatched toy dinosaurs from eggs, made fossils, and exploded baking soda volcanoes. We just took Seth to the Children's Museum in West Hartford to see the dinosaur exhibit, and he loved it!

A big accomplishment for Seth in the last month or so is that he doesn't wear diapers at all anymore, even at night! We were surprised, as we expected he might wear diapers at night for a while. However, he had stayed dry at night for a couple weeks, and we asked him if he was willing to try to sleep in his underwear, and he was! He very rarely has an accident, and is very proud of himself. And we are happy to save some money on diapers! Seth has also discovered that he can get himself dressed and undressed relatively well, which is very helpful for us when he is willing. We didn't realize he could do this until we asked him!

He's working on developing his sense of humor, and he's trying to understand the nuances of telling a joke with a punch line or a knock knock joke. He likes to play this funny version of Hot/Cold when hiding something that he learned at daycare called Gobble Gobble/Stuffing, and laughs so much he struggles to remember which one means close and which one means far away.

He's recently been proud to start keeping a list of all the new foods he has discovered he likes, including brisket, lasagna, quesadilla, turkey, onion rings, and broccoli. We have also discovered that reverse psychology works well on Seth, like "There's no way you can eat that broccoli," or "I don't think you can change your clothes very quickly." He has recently shown an interest in "chores" - today he got out the dustpan and swept crumbs from the kitchen floor, even putting them in the garbage!

Seth and Evan are starting to get into lots of hijinks together. Seth loves to make Evan laugh, and he is a good helper, often getting toys or other things we ask for. We know we are in for trouble already, as the two boys will giggle hysterically and chase each other. Seth has to be reminded to be gentle with Evan, especially now that Evan is more active, but his intentions are always loving.

Seth really enjoyed the Christmas/Chanukah holiday season, and had fun sledding the one weekend we had snow. He is hoping for more soon! We are just starting to get excited for Valentine's Day, and I see lots of crafting projects on the horizon.

Recent Seth-isms:

• "If you break that crown, you will break my heart."
• "I don't want to be on schedule, I want to be off schedule!"
• "You're a great mom!" (to me, melting my heart when I put him to bed one night)
• "Mommy, you have decaf shoes!" (light brown)
• From Tiger School, he's said "llama" for "lava" and "grandhog" for "groundhog"
• "Outspace" for "outer space"
• "If I wore a lot of mittens, I could touch the sun!"
• "Does the sun roll?" (very interested in looking at the night sky with Jason, especially after watching a planetarium show)
• "How do you get to the north pole?"
• "I'm so exhausted!"
• "I had a good sleep" or "I didn't sleep for very long"
• "I'm telling the truth!" (we've been talking lately about the importance of telling the truth)
• "I'm a good winker!" (he has been practicing this a lot):