fivemonths

Christmas Duets!

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:42:42 GMT

Sebastian begged daddy to break out the Christmas music early this year so they could get started on practicing their duets. Here is a clip from their first sight-reading session:

Ballroom Dance Moves!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:18:55 GMT

We aren�t sure where Sebastian is learning to dance, but he is picking up a few new moves a week. A few days ago, he learned how to twirl or spin. He also adjusts his dance style to the type of music he hears (no joke). He also seems to react more strongly to rhythmic sounds rather than melodic ones. His favorite songs to dance to are �Amish Paradise� and �White and Nerdy,� which are both Weird Al hip-hop parodies. Sebs also likes oldies (easier on the ears) and doesn�t know what to think when the Xenakis comes out (modern classical music). He also screams when Sean plays Beethoven on the piano. So, Weird Al and Tommy Roe it is, then!

So far his dance moves include:

--the head-bob (up & down and back & forth)

--the bounce-at-the-knee

--the side-to-side hip-dance

--the baby-butt-wiggle

--the hands-in-the-air-waving-up-and-down

--the holding-hands-arm-snake-from-1986

--NEW: spinning

--NEW: twirling

Of course he performs these moves completely at random so we don�t have video proof at this time, but we do have a video of the spinning. He does get dizzy and daddy admits he feels bad for chuckling a bit, but it�s adorable and no one got hurt (except maybe the cat at the end; you�ll see).

Fork.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:46:31 GMT

Sebastian can suddenly eat with a fork. This came out of nowhere and it is pretty exciting. It seems that most everything he can do is sudden and we wonder where it comes from (duh, imitation of course). It also makes us think for a second about all the things he could do that we haven't been trying to convince him to do yet. Are we holding him back? Nah; there are things he can do that other kids his age can't, like balance perfectly on a truck rolling down the floor like a skateboard and not cracking his head open when his parents aren't looking!

He hasn't started talking yet, but we aren't too nervous. He can do other things that are way ahead of schedule, so his brain is just developing in its own way. It probably doesn't help that we know what his made up gestures, signs, and grunts mean, so he can communicate well to us without having to speak, which may be making him lazy regarding words, so we need to make him try harder to communicate with us rather than giving in to his demands simply because we know what he is trying to say.

He also tries to talk in complete sentences rather than just words, which might have something to do with it. If we could get a video of this, it would make sense, but it's the hardest thing to capture right now since it's so random. But to describe it further: he will rattle off a whole paragraph of "words", then chuckle at the end. He also understands conversation extremely well. You can have a dialogue with him back and forth seamlessly, albeit without English. It's really amazing.

Enjoy this video:

Our Trick-or-Treater

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:57:45 GMT

Here is a fast-paced video of our little Trick-or-Treater. It took him only one house to figure out what was going on, although he spent most of his time trying to put candy back in to others� buckets.

(There are plenty of Halloween photos on Sean�s Facebook page, and a summer/fall photo update, too! Just ask to be Sean or Ruth�s friend on Facebook to view the photos!)

New Dance Moves

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:35:03 GMT

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.)

Videos! Hockey Player and a Costume

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:08:57 GMT

Even though the camcorder is on its last leg, Sean has managed to figure out how to use it in a way that works well enough to keep us from spending even more money on electronics this month!

Who knew that Sebastian could already figure out how to play hockey? He isn't even a year and a half old yet!

Sebastian also doesn't mind when mommy makes him wear his Halloween costume to show it off for people. Does he speak his first three-syllable word in this video? Decide amongst yourselves.

Stitches, Treats, and a Taco

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:06:02 GMT

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!

New Tricks and Excuses!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:06:51 GMT

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:

One Step at a Time!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:13:15 GMT

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

Hospital Stay!

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:51:38 GMT

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�!