Finn and Sean

Finn is walking pretty well, though he is still a little awkward, and small obstacles can trip him up, obstacles like an edge of a rug or a hose. His feet don't go up very high off the ground. And he has an off gait. His legs are spread out like he's a defensive lineman ready to push someone out of the way. So his legs are far apart when he walks. I remember when Sean was at this point in walking. He had far more bruises on his forhead. Finn amazingly has none, though he is more determined to do things beyond his level.

But he loves playing with Sean! They play chase, wrestle, and tear the pillows off the couch to roll around on and under.

Finn likes swinging in the baby swing, but he also likes to ride in the "big boy" swing as well. He often winds up falling out of it when I turn my back, but that does not bother him.

He also likes sitting on the high stools at the kitchen counter. This is where Sean sits. Finn used to sit in his high chair nearby, but about a week ago he insisted that we put him on a stool and now he does not want anything to do with the high chair!

Finn has also has bad poops recently, along with a butt rash that has combined to make diaper changing unpleasant for everyone involved, and too frequent as well. Blech.

He still loves getting stories at night. Heather generally reads to Sean, and I read to Finn. Or I watch TV and let Finn crawl around. It's generally the only time I can watch TV, so when he's not interested I let him play a bit. The great thing about Finn is that after a few minutes of downtime I can put him in the crib, and he just quietly goes to sleep.

But he likes books, and will often bring me or Heather a book to read to him. He does not like to look at any page for very long, but rather wants to turn to the next page. Some things excite him, like pictures of lions. He sees these and growls. He'll moo when he sees a cow, but definitely prefers growling. Probably because Sean often growls at him when Sean thinks that Finn wants one of his toys.

Sean is of course still a great kid. We put his swing set back together today after having dismantles it in March while we grew in the new grass. So now his "trampeeze" is back up. This is what he calls the two rings. He can pull himself up and likes to show me how big his muscles are getting when he does his exercises.

Sean is still a picky eater. Not much we can do about that, just hope he grows out of it (at least) once he's a ravenous teenager.

He's enjoying his new pre-school Green Acres. He goes Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It's very close by, so Heather and I don't mind taking him - much easier than the 10+mile trip to his old preschool. They are growing radishes and doing art projects. Mostly he tells me about finding bugs with the other boys on the playground. He has a good appreciation of nature, and knows a bit about bugs, though sometimes the other kids tell him things that he takes for true, which are not. He recently told me about some "killer wasp" that anotherr kid told him about. I tried to explain that there were killer bees, but not here, and definitely no killer wasps in the area. But what good is my word against a 5 year old's?

Also a few weeks ago Sean asked me if ghosts were real. I told him no, and he said that his friend's mom said they were. So we had a long talk about how people think different things, and believe different things. A tricky conversation, but a good one. It's not always clear the difference between what we know and what we believe, and it is an ongoing debate within myself. But at least he's now aware that people believe different things. I am sure this is a conversation we'll continue for the rest of our lives!