Today while Sebastien and Daddy were playing at the park, Sebastien accidentally dropped one of his spoons (which he says as "poon") down the sewer grate. It seemed to be the saddest moment of his life. He got on his hands and knees, put his face right up to the grate to peer down and see his spoon, and kept saying "poon gone" and looking up at Pablo. He'd reach his arm as far as he could down the grate to reach it, and with an almost bewildered, searching voice kept muttering to himself "poon gone, poon gone."

This has to be the 5th spoon, not to mention a shovel and a measuring cup, that he has lost down that grate, but for some reason this particular spoon had special significance for him.

Pablo sat him down on his knee to talk with him about losing his spoon, and for awhile he was okay after that. But then 10 minutes later he was back at the grate on his hands and knees, looking down, calling for his spoon - "poon gone, poon gone."

When they got home, the first thing Sebastien said to me was "poon gone," and then Pablo told me the story. All evening he'd just be playing, and out of nowhere he'd look at one of us, shrug his shoulders, and sadly say "poon gone."

The only other time we've seen him that sad was when he finished his cake for dessert and realized the cake was all gone. He put his elbows on the table, his chin in his hands, and seemed to ruminate over his realization for some time. In between whatever thoughts he'd be having, he'd hold his bowl up and say, with great hope in his voice, "More?" And when I'd tell him there was no more, back into his hands went his head, and he'd sit there sadly thinking about his situation.

Also, when he can't sleep now, he sits in the rocking chair in his room, sometimes for quite some time, and just thinks. No toys. No blanket. No noise. He just sits there, in the dark, thinking.

Success!! Sebastien has slept all night in his toddler bed every night this past week. He doesn't even want in his crib anymore. We're taking the crib down today. Then we're dropping him off at the special Kid's Night Out at his daycare so Mom and Dad can go celebrate with a nice, relaxing non-Sebastien dinner.

And just a few little things that I want to remember as his Mom:

When he's being affectionate, he calls me Momma-Hun.
He says bye-bye to the bath water as it goes down the drain.
He loves to play in puddles.
He says the word "truck" backwards - he says "cut" instead.
The word "Daddy" is the same as the word "Doggy" - he says "Daddy" for both. Pablo loves this.
He calls his blanket "Nonnie."
He learned the difference between "bus" and "on a bus." Now he always yells "On A Bus!" so we'll take him for a bus ride to the bookstore.

Tonight, Sebastien offered Lucian a drink of water from his sippy cup. I asked him where his baby brother is, and he put the lid of the cup to my tummy like he was sharing his drink. Such a wonderful moment.

Two major events in the life of Sebastien:

1) Seb went on his first bus ride last weekend. He's a bit obsessed with buses at the moment. It started when he began sitting at the top of the "twisty slide" at the park for a minute or two before he slid down. He'd sit up there where he had a clear view of the street, and every time a city bus would pass, he'd yell "Bus! Bus!" Then he started looking for buses all over the place - from the car while we're driving, out on walks, at the grocery store - everywhere. He yells "Bus! Bus! Bus!" all the time, and then when he actually sees a bus, he'll crane his head as far as he can to watch until the bus is out of sight. And then he'll say "Bye Bye Bus." And it's cute because his "s" sounds like a Daffy Duck "s".

So we decided to take him on a bus ride for fun. It was like he was in a dream the whole time - wide-eyed and amused by everyone and everything on the bus. We rode it to the bookstore, bought him a book about buses, and then rode it back. It was wonderful, but it did seem to reinforce his bus obsession.


2) The second event was not so fun. Seb had a severe allergic reaction to something (we're not sure what, but think it was the antibiotics he had been on for an ear infection). He had horrible looking hives all over his little body. We took him to the doctor in the morning, and they told us just to give him Benadryl. The Benadryl didn't work, and by 1:00 am his feet started to swell and he had hives all over his body and face, some of them as big as the palm of my hand. So we went to the ER, where they gave him epi, steroids, and more Benadryl. It was scary, but by the next morning he was feeling great and back to his old self. Now he just has all these (still kind of horrible-looking) remnants of hives all over him. Poor little Seb. Now we just need to be on the lookout for reactions all the time since we really aren't sure what caused it.


As for other news, we're still working on getting him to sleep in his toddler bed. Some nights are great and he sleeps there all night. But many nights we find him out of his bed, curled up asleep on various part of his bedroom floor. And one night, we found him sound asleep with his torso on the bed, but his legs hanging down onto the floor. We can't quite figure out how he even slept like that, but it sure was cute. So now he mostly does half the night in the bed, then half in the crib. He's getting there, though.

And finally, we think he really does know he has a baby brother coming. If we ask him where his baby brother is, he'll pat my tummy. Or, if Baby the cat is around, he'll run over to that "Baby" instead.

Tonight will be Sebastien's first night sleeping in his new toddler bed. He's made a jungle gym out of the mattress and the big box the bed came in. And last night the mattress was laying on his bedroom floor (we hadn't gotten the bed put together yet). At bedtime, he grabbed his blanket and lay down on the mattress like he was ready to sleep there. I think he's feeling like a big boy. I felt bad putting him in his crib. But we'll see how it goes when he can actually get out of bed and run out the door if he wants. Wish us luck!

Oh, and potty training has officially begun. He looks so cute in his Elmo underwear. But he thinks his little potty is some sort of treasure chest. He keeps opening it and putting his toys in there.

Sebastien loves to say "Uh Oh." Except it sounds more like "Huh Hohww." If he drops something. "Huh Hohww." Or if we drop something. "Huh Hohww." Or if he dribbles food on his chest or tummy. "Huh Hohww." He also likes to put his toy cars on their sides so they can't drive on all four wheels. And he says "Huh Hohww" every time.

He also now says "Open" (puh poh), "More" (mine), "Apple" (bappow), "Door" (dough), and "Popper" (paw pa), which refers to that little push toy that makes the really loud popping sound.

Also, though it pains me to admit it, Sebastien now throws full-on toddler temper tantrums. He throws himself on the ground and kicks his feet, crying as if the world is ending. He's doing it more and more often these days, so I suppose that means he's developing a healthy sense of independence. Sometimes it's so cute that we can't help but turn our heads and laugh a little. Sometimes it's not so cute.

And all of a sudden he hates getting dressed. He used to love "helping" us dress him, but now he just runs away and finds the furthest corner in the room to hide in, as if we can't see him there. Then while we're dressing him, he tries to take the clothes off that we just put on him. Again, sometimes cute. Sometimes not so cute.

A Christmas picture and a couple of pictures taken during our visit to see Grandma Jill in Idaho.