Sebastian has some new dance moves to show everyone. (Sean isn’t quite satisfied with his editing of this particular video, but you can’t win ‘em all.)

Many topics in one today!

Sebastian got his first stitches already! He was running around like usual and ran into the corner of Sean's desk, tearing a gash in his forehead. We used to have corner guards on the corners, but Sebs would take the guards off and eat them, which was probably more dangerous than smacking his head. So now we have washcloths duct-tapped to the corners instead.

Here is a photo of his two stitches. (Sean was also playing with depth of field with the brand new camera, can you tell?)

He got his first popsicle while in the hospital (yep, this is his 3^rd hospital visit already; twice for what we now know is sickness-induced asthma and once for the stitches).

And he had so many toys to play with, too!

While Sebastian is obviously 100% on table food, we still don't feed him exactly what we eat ourselves. We eat generally healthy, but also somewhat unique, so we assume baby won't want to eat what we do, so we are in the horrible habit of preparing a separate meal for him most of the time. Well, this practice must stop as soon as possible, so a few days ago we fed him his very first taco. Tacos aren't unusual by any means, but it's not his staple black beans, chicken, bread, applesauce, cheese, corn, and green bean buffet that we normally feed him.

He simply didn't know what to do with it, but he ate most of it and tried to feed the rest to the cat, who shockingly doesn't like any table food except Balsamic vinegar.

On Wednesday, we attended the "Trunk or Treat" event at the church we have been attending. The kids get together to play games and then trick or treat out of people's trunks in the parking lot. There was a huge turn-out as usual and Sebastian didn't know what to do with all the commotion. He enjoyed having the whole church to himself to run around at the end, though, as we are usually the last people to leave anything we go to.

He started the night by fishing. He won candy, but he won't eat any of it, of course. (Neither will the parents, most likely.)

Here he is posing with mommy and tired already. Sebastian is a kangaroo this year with a baby in his pouch, implying he is a female kangaroo. But if no one explains that part to him, I don't think he will notice.

He actually understood the concept of bowling; and then wanted to bring the pins around the church with him.

Then heading outside for some fun. These girls cut in line in front of Sebastian, so the lady on her trunk lectured them and made them wait a long time for candy.

Collecting as many Milk Duds as possible (for daddy).

More coming soon, including a video!

We've been bad about posting to our 'blog. We apologize. We've just been too busy with other projects to have time to edit and post video. Oh, but we are still taking video—about one hour-long tape per week or so! In fact, our video camera and digital camera both broke last weekend!

The video camera broke because some wires that go to the LCD screen and playback controls let loose, so while we can still technically record, we can't see what we are recording and we can't playback or rewind the tape, etc. There is nothing left to break, so Sean is going to take the screen apart and see if he can work some magic (he recently fixed some unfixable toys for Sebastian, so you never know).

The digital camera was simply worn out. We took 17,480 photos with it, so it's had a good life. (We got this number by putting all the photos we have taken with the camera into a folder and letting the computer count the files. Actually, we didn't save nearly all the photos taken, so you can probably add another 1,000 or more to that!) We have already ordered a replacement digital camera, the Kodak Z950. Sean never would have considered a Kodak digital camera before, but this one seems special, and it was on sale online for $50 off in-store prices. That gave us plenty of room for necessary accessories (extra battery, SD card, and home/travel chargers). It does have HD video mode but that doesn't replace a real camcorder, and Sean's computer is much too old to process HD video, and his software while expensive doesn't render in HD anyway.

Despite all this, we have a video update of some of Sebastian's latest tricks for you today. How did we get a video if everything is broken? Well, we got the broken digital camera to take a series of short videos in video mode by some chance of miracle. The video below has no special effects added—it's simply a broken camera, even though it looks kinda cool.

Not all of Seb's tricks are capture here, though, since he stops what he is doing once the camera starts rolling. For example, when we ask him where his nose is, he sticks his finger into his nostril about 2 inches and keeps it there and smiles, which he won't do on tape (probably too embarrassing for him), but at least you get the idea, as well as some other tricks, below:

So, instead of crawling up stairs, Sebastian decided to just go ahead and start stepping up them like a big person.

Sebastian spent a very long day in the hospital the other day, and came home with a nebulizer. The video below provides all the details (no need to write them out and read them when you can hear Ruth speak them instead):

Sebastian seemed to enjoy his stay, and his grandmother took some photos so he could always remember the occasion. Clearly, many kids are in the hospital for far worse reasons, so we consider ourselves lucky.

Here is he getting poked by the doctors. He better appreciate that pacifier while it lasts because he is going to lose it soon (and he is suddenly off the bottle already):

The hospital even has toys! Despite the circumstances, he does look cute in his little baby hospital gown:

At the hospital and during the video, Sebs liked the nebulizer since he knows it makes him feel better. But at home, now, he hates it; interesting how that happens (same thing happens with food, too).

More updates coming soon about the bottle, pacifiers, biking, food, and more…!

Sebastian has a natural knack for rhythm and dancing. He also seems to be able to keep a steady beat when pounding on things, and he reacts to changes in music!

While some of this is natural, daddy also likes to think that he has something to do with it. After all, daddy’s name as a kid was “noise pollution” from all the tapping, pounding, and singing he did himself, and it doesn’t seem as though he has grown out of it.

Sebastian has several distinct dance moves now, and he seems to prefer percussive sounds over anything else.

So, Sean grabbed a drum and started playing some rhythms and Sebastian decided on the spot to do a little improvisational rain dance.

(Poor Ruth, as this is just the beginning!)

Last month, we took a one-week vacation around northern Minnesota. We visited Fargo (ND), Roseau, Itasca State Park, and Bemidji.

We took over 400 photos of the event and Sean posted 34 of the most exciting photos on his Facebook page, so head on over there to see them! (There are some other new random photos, also.)

If you aren’t already Sean’s friend on Facebook, go ahead and ask him so you can view the photos and read about the trip. The photos should show up if you are Ruth’s friend, also. (No, Sebastian doesn’t have a Facebook page yet, but we do know other parents who have Facebook pages for their babies!)

Even though we took Sebastian somewhere on his actual birthday (July 22^nd), we also had a huge birthday bash a few weeks later. We borrowed a room from Davanni's, invited all of Sebastian's closest friends and relatives, and had a blast.

Here is a 2-minute video highlight of the event (edited down from 28 minutes):

Fast-forwarding to the current moment, Sebastian visited his first farmer's market the other day in Richfield. We cycled there for the exciting event. We even took photos!

We needed a water break after the whopping 2.7 mile trip:

And we even had time to play at the park!

On the way home, we found a tree down over the trail from the tornado last week:

We feel like maybe we are a bit behind with Sebastian in the self-feeding department—or maybe we are just a little impatient.

Anyway, Sebastian doesn’t really like to feed himself a whole lot, yet; he would prefer if we still fed him.

At this point, he has had entire meals without jarred food only a few times, but after the other day, this might be changing.

While he loves chicken, he won’t eat anything else himself. But then he surprised us by eating an entire eggroll all on his own.

So, we just need to be patient and let him go at his own pace, eh?