Another quirky thing Setri has been doing over the past few days... I told him that something he did (or was about to do) was silly. "Silly Billy bohy!", said Setri. Ever since then it has been 'Silly Billy do this/that'- "Silly Billy dep in 'ole" was one. The weird thing is we have no idea where he got the phrase. Gam and I have never used it in our lives. My mum didn't use it, or at least in all the time that Gam and I were around she didn't. That leaves TV and books, I guess? Over the last week or so, Setri has started responding 'Nah' instead of 'no' or 'no thank you', and we attribute that to a kids' book called 'On Your Potty' that mum picked up at the op-shop while she was living here. One of the main characters says 'nah' instead of no. Setri of course didn't heed the potty-training message.

When Setri isn't talking about Silly Billy, it's cookie monster. "Cookie Mommoh eat caper" (said while eating capers by the spoonful), "Cookie Mommoh eat bibbit (biscuits)", "Cookie Mommoh dink baybeh-chee-no" etc etc. He does a world-class Cookie Monster impression (minus the mess, thankfully- just pretend) too. I'd love to get that on video!

Just a further couple examples of things that typify Setri's language development lately:

- When watching a video on YouTube he will say "Don't like this lown (one). Dop this lown".

- Pointing to a fan on our bedroom ceiling, he said "Fan like at Gan-dad 'ouse. Got fan at our 'ouse".


Tonight's the first night we have ever attempted to put Setri to sleep in a room other than ours. He asked to "leep in Mam-ma bed", so I put him down to sleep there. He still hasn't woken and I'm about to go to bed and it feels really weird, and not at all good :( Even though I'm sure he will sleep better without us! We are both expecting to have to bring him in here at some stage when he wakes up though. It just seems unlikely that he would sleep through in a strange bed (he is clothed in a singlet and not covered at all because it's a hot night, but bound to cool down). (Update: ultimately he woke up very shortly after I fell asleep, and before Gam went to bed). Despite my sleep ultimately being crappier than it would have otherwise have been, and despite looking forward to cuddling Gam while sleeping (which we haven't really done since our last night in hospital after Setri's birth), I was so happy/relieved to have Setri in bed with us. When he does finally grow up and move into his own room I will miss him. Despite the lengthier-than-planned co-sleeping I don't regret doing it. These are hours of Setri's life that we wouldn't have got to share otherwise, and interactions with him that we wouldn't have had. Gam may not be overjoyed at being woken and asked for daddy cuddles or pats at 3am, but there is still something really special about cuddling up to our sleepy little monster. He will only be little for a little while longer. I am so glad we didn't go down the path of regimented self-settling etc. I think I would hate myself a little bit if we had. I still can't help but be conscious of the fact that Setri may be our only child. I would rather err on the side of giving him too much of my time and physical affection than the other way around.

Setri finally has a molar tooth! Or a pre-molar?

Re toilet training, I would say Setri is dry at night more than 95% of the time. It is really only paranoia that keeps me putting nappies on him at night. I don't have to worry about what type of cloth nappy to put him in, or whether it can hold a big wee, which is nice. We had a weird blip in the TT while visiting my parents, where Setri weed in his nappy more often than usual, and weed on our bed once (which he had never done before). I put it down to us telling him he had to either hold it or wee in his nappy on the car trip down. Most times he would hold it, so who knows why he chose to wee in his nappy more once we returned home to Brisbane (he asks to wear nappies when he wants to ride his trike, presumably because it's more comfortable). We solved it by putting him in undies and putting up with a couple of wees on the floor... And lots of praise from Gam when there was wee done in the toilet.

Just thought I would put in another sentence that Setri has been saying rather frequently lately: "Like go there lown(one) day". Often in reference to wanting to go somewhere he sees on TV. If it's someplace he knows he will say the place (e.g. 'that' beach, pool, zoo) instead of 'there'. He still does not differentiate between fictional settings (e.g. an animated TV show) and real ones. In fact he is more likely to say he would "Like to go there one day" about an animated environment than a real one, I think.

This evening, walking home from the park, we were discussing Setri's command of language, and for some reason his use of the phrase 'calm down' to Gam was brought up.

Sarah (to Setri): Daddy got OWNED! (Partly a reference to Setri's own use of the phrase the other day).

Setri: *grinning* Lol.

Yes, he said 'Lol'. Yes, Gam and I do say 'Lol' occasionally. Usually in a sarcastic or mocking context. Setri just nailed it, like he does every time. He almost never uses words in an inappropriate context. The only two I have picked up on is 'going' (Setri pronounces it 'gogo'), where he occasionally says something like "Lets gogo mark (Let's going [to the] park)" and 'have be' instead of 'have to'. E.g. when he finds an empty bottle or jar in the kitchen he will often say "Haf be buy more" instead of 'have to buy more'.

Pretty sure a jubilant cry of "Maint! Do by lelf!" has to be right up in the invokes-horrible-sinking-feeling stakes with Setri's chirpy "Oh-lake! Get up, Mumma". But he had actually managed ok... Actually, knowing Setri, if he had made a mess with the paint I would have heard a distressed cry of "Mess... Lipe it up..."

Setri's latest joke is a fairly simple one: when asked what he would like to eat, he replies "Nuts", and then grins or sniggers. He's aware that he's not allowed to have them (he has tried them, in small pieces, but didn't manage to chew them- we have explained to him why he is not allowed whole nuts, hence the joke).

Another sentence of 7-words: "Go outlide tek bar mat off loathe-line (go outside and take the bath mat off the clothesline)". He wanted to ride his trike over it and I told him I had put it in the wash and it was now hanging on the clothesline...

This morning's examples of Setri's response to Feifei's arrival on our bed show how he is using words like 'very' and 'really' lately:

Setri: (more joyously than he would ever greet Gam or I) Feifei! Feifei nice cat. Feifei vehveh nice cat.

Sarah: Aww. We love Feifei, don't we?

Setri: *Really* love Feifei!


Just thought of something that I don't think I've mentioned before: quite a few months ago I let Setri have a lick of a piece of chewing gum to taste it. Ever since then, everything minty that he's tasted has been assessed as "tate like chewju gome".


Gam was rousing on Setri for raiding the recycle bin in the kitchen. "If you do that again you'll have to go out!", he said. So Setri did it again. "That's it! Out of the kitchen!", Gam said sternly, raising his voice slightly. "Garm down!" said Setri, with a smirk. "Garm down!". Seriously, I know something like that would bother my own Dad and he would probably mutter things about being smacked by his own mother if he said something like that, but what are you supposed to do in response to a *20-month-old* who is not just smart but a complete smart-arse? Setri says these things in a very good-humoured way. Is it better to respond with laughter or to punish him for being too clever? It's not like he kept raiding the bin after this- it's not the bin that interests him so much as our response to his actions.


Setri used a 7-word sentence this morning but I've forgotten what it was! Grrr.


Setri has been telling us stories about that mysterious character, 'Really Happy Man'. He already told us that Really Happy Man goes shopping at Woolworths to buy bacon and eggs, and to the 'black fan shop' to buy plantains and biltong. All fairly wholesome. Setri began today's story after referring to himself as 'really happa bor (boy)'. "Really Happa Man go Looll-ler, buy egg, baybay". "Does Really Happy Man go to the bakery too?", I asked, "to buy bread so he can have toast with his bacon and eggs?". "Yeah" replied Setri. "And what does Really Happy Man have to drink with his bacon and eggs?", I asked. "Awa-hole", said Setri with absolute certainty. "Yikes! Really?!", I said. "Um, can you tell me, does Really Happy Man eat his bacon and eggs for breakfast or for dinner?". "Dinner", said Setri. "Okay, I suppose that's slightly better than drinking at breakfast. What type of alcohol does Really Happy Man drink with his bacon and eggs", I asked, expecting beer or 'line' as an answer. "Voh-vod", came the reply. "Really Happa Man dink voh-vod". Just :-o at Setri's stories! (Update: after lunch, Setri enjoyed drinking some of my beautiful Mariage Freres tea, whereupon he announced "Really Happa Man dink dee". Obviously the guy isn't all bad!).


Setri picked up a shiny pink mini-USB off our desk in the study and pointed to it. "That", he said, obviously wanting me to name it for him. "That's a mini-USB", I told him. Setri clutched the newly-identified object to his chest. "Bo-long do Leh-li (belongs to Setri)", he announced. He has also started saying 'bo-nana' for 'banana'. Another (mis)pronunciation I love is "Oh-lake!" for 'awake'. I still groan when I hear his cheery "Oh-lake!" at a pre-6am time as occurred this morning (after going to sleep at 9.15pm).


This evening was funny: Setri saw a picture of an emu in his alphabet book...
Setri: Emoo. Fye! *flaps arms*
Sarah: No, actually emus can't fly because they are too big *dreads soon having to explain why aeroplanes can fly*
Setri: *wide eyed* Juh lork (just walk).
Sarah: Yes! Very good! They can only walk.
Setri: *gets up and starts walking across the room with weird high-stepping gait*
Sarah: Where are you going?
Setri: Juh like emoo!
Getting him off to sleep was not so funny. He had a massive massive tanty and it took first me, then Gam ages to get him off to sleep. His premolars look like they are about to burst through the gums so perhaps it's that, but I asked if he was having any ouchies and he said no.


Gam mowed the lawn today. Same response from Setri as last time I mowed it. Endless wails of "Me mow lawn! ME MOW LAWWWN *wail*"



Had our lovely neighbours over for waffles breakfast this morning. After eating we were outside and Setri decided he'd had enough and wanted to go in. After a few episodes back and forth of "Go inlide now" vs. my "We'll go inside soon", spanning 20min or so, Setri started to cry (approaching nap time). "Go inlide RIGHT now!". Funny about waffles- often we have 'Auntie Nicole' and 'Uncle Dave' over when Gam makes waffles. Last night I told Setri that Daddy was going to cook waffles tomorrow, he piped up "Awah Nick-lole".

Last night, NYE/NYD when Gam was coming to bed, Setri woke up and bossily instructed "No Daddy, move over. No leep 'ere. Leh-li leep 'ere, juh' like Daddy", and smugly plumped Gam's pillow before plonking himself on top of it. "Leep Daddy lillow, juh' like Daddy". Gam and I ignored him at first, thinking it was one of his usual sleepy jokes, and Gam just hopped into bed as usual, but Setri kicked up a stink. Gam asked where he should sleep, and Setri refused to answer, instead happily announcing he would "Leep right there, juh' like Daddy". In the end Gam climbed in next to me and I shuffled Setri over to gam's side. Think this has prompted us to get our arses into gear and get him his own bed. My mum has moved home now so hopefully he will soon have his own room too!

Can no longer pretend that Setri isn't really interested in a particular TV channel and switch channels without asking him. He sees the menu screen come up and hastily points and instructs "Watch that lown".

"Jus' looh-look" and "Jus' meh-mell" = 'just looking' and 'just smelling'. We hear those a lot lately, whether it's part of an entreaty to hand him something from the cupboard, or a reassurance that he's not about to pick someone's flowers. Also 'lurlur' (furry), as opposed to 'fur', and a few similar grammatical constructs.

Haven't mentioned the godawful jokes Setri makes when he's pooed in his nappy. He threatens to sit down or to ride his trike. He wouldn't of course- a constant refrain is "Don't like mess", and we try to make a point of not laughing because we really want to encourage him to poo in the toilet. But just take this morning's example. After having pooed in his nappy and begun the bow-legged waddle to the bathroom to say 'goodbye poo', Setri wisecracked: "Lit down, 'quash loo on bum"

Yesterday and today used 'and' for the first time. "Mum and Dad at lolloh lop (coffee shop)", and "Mumma, Daddy and Lulu", and "Mumma and Daddy and Lulu"- almost like he was testing it out. Using 'very' and 'really' a lot.

"Workman doesn't raid his Mummy's makeup". "Leh-li do!"


"Happa 'bout YOO, Mumma!"

"Leep on floor with Daddy"

Putting Setri's night nappy on, Setri started wincing and groaning, while smiling ever so slightly. "Are you faking an injury, Setri?", I asked. "Yeah", he grinned. "Mumma got OWNED". Of course Gam thought that was very funny. Until we were lying in bed together and Setri said "Daddy, move down". Gam moved over a bit, and Setri said again "Daddy, move down". So Gam moved right to the edge until he was precariously balanced right on the edge. Setri rolled right over until he was pressed right up against Gam's back, practically pushing Gam off the bed. "Heyyy!!! said Gam. "What just happened there?""Did Daddy just get owned?", I suggested. "Daddy got OWNED!", scoffed Setri. In bed tonight he also deliberately pulled funny/ugly faces for the first time.

Setri got a big tonka truck for Xmas from his Auntie Cil and Uncle Richard. With it was a little plastic hard-hat, spade and rake. I told him he looked like a little workman in his hat. Today Setri took the spade and rake in the bath, along with 2 plastic cups to play with. He was about to drink some of the bath water from the spade when I noticed and said "Setri don't do that. You know not to drink that". Setri's comeback? "Workman drink that"

'Grandad's House' has many fans. Setri has an obsessional interest in fans. "That fan on, leeez. That fan on too" is a constant refrain- one fan is never enough. After an adequate number of fans is switched on, Setri pipes up with "Happa about faaans", with an adorable smile on his face. I nearly died of cute overload the first time I heard that. This morning he said it about lights when I switched on a bunch of them in the darkroom. "Happa about lights" *swoon*.

Trip to Kempsey in the car was not the hell-ride we expected. Even though we had to turn back around Springfield because we had forgotten to put the kitty litter trays on the floor and Setri had a good old complain about getting back in the car, he went to sleep within an hour after chatting fairly happily with us, slept for an hour and a half, and when he woke up he spent considerable time treating us to adorable renditions of Hickory Dickory Dock, Incy Wincy Spider, Galumph Went the Little Green Frog, and Baa Baa Black Sheep (the former three he had never sung to us before).

Have mentioned some of Setri's strange utterances previously but I think I forgot this one. Every now and then he will say "Really happa man" (really happy man) out of the blue.

Setri came to work with me today, Gam took us both in (I'm officially on holidays). Was reasonably sociable. On the way home he was sleepy but it was pre 11am and nowhere near nap-time, so I suggested we visit the coffee shop. "Go 'ome", Setri pleaded. "You don't want coffee?", I asked. "No. Go 'ome", he replied. "No coffee? Saaad!", I said. "Kai kai leep leep leep", said Setri in an overtly sarcastic tone, then scoffed. Gam laughed. "Setri, did you just say 'cry cry, weep weep weep'?", I asked, incredulous at what I thought I'd just heard. "YEAH!" said Setri in a big voice, then cackled "Ahahahaha!!". At that, Gam cracked up laughing, and I asked Gam if he'd just said that, thinking it was *exactly* something like he would say, and that it was more likely Setri had parroted him and I had somehow not heard. "No", said Gam. "Kai kai leep leep leep! Ahahahaha!" scoffed Setri. I was pretty much left with my jaw on the floor, but could not help laughing. Setri was so pleased with his efforts he kept repeating the line the whole way home...

Also, this morning Setri woke up at 6.20am and after having got me up and subsequently returned to bed to play while Gam was sleeping, Setri pulled a trick on me. I'm sure I mentioned a month or two ago that Gam taught Setri to fake an injury? Well, while mucking around climbing on top of Gam (I was reading on my BlackBerry), Setri toppled off and started groaning "Ooooh... Ow-ow... Aaargh". When I popped my head up I could see nothing wrong but Setri was still lying down, wincing. I could see a glint in his eye and sure enough when I asked if he was okay or had had an ouchie he just laughed, climbed astride Gam and repeated the whole performance! Later today we had him pretending to be sad, happy (both convincing!) and angry (not so convincing). Funny little guy. Ooh I just remembered something else he did- he was toddling around singing to himself and I heard him sing pretty much all the words to Baa Baa Black Sheep! With the way he pronounces things it went something like this:

Baa baa back leep av any lool
Yeh lir yeh lir ree bag lool
Lown lor Mahma, dame, lilli bor lih down down lane


I carefully shut up and said nothing because he is a touch shy about singing, but he went on and on and repeated it a couple more times, so Gam actually came into the kitchen and got to hear it too! I told Mum about it (she left today, this happened just before she left) and she asked if he was singing in tune. Well... Not really! Not like the way he's been singing Wheels on the Bus recently. But a great effort anyway, for such a little kid.

Still frequently left bewildered by how little sleep Setri seems to need. I'm exhausted from a stream of late nights, it's 9pm, and Setri is still awake. His usual bedtime is 8.30pm (we get him into bed at 8pm but he is almost never asleep before 8.30pm). He wakes these days between 6.30am and 7am. Never in the middle of the night nowadays, thank god for small mercies. Max. 1hr nap in the middle of the day.

Gam bought a massage table and was putting it together in our bedroom at Setri's bedtime. "How 'bout that!" Setri said, pointing at the massage table. Wondering where he copied the expression, we asked him "Who says 'how 'bout that'?". "Leh-li", Setri replied, pointing to his chest. O-kaaay then!

Just saw a photo on FB of the daughter of an acquaintance; little girl is the same age as Setri. One of those classic 'kid with face covered in food' shots (kind of like the ones we took after Setri's first ever chocolate biscuit). These days Setri would *never* allow himself to get messy like that. He hates mess.

Don't know if I mentioned on my birthday last month that Gam bought me a Hello Kitty cake from a Japanese bakery? Well, I opened up the box to show Setri, and he thought it was a toy. Within a split second he had reached in to pick it up with both hands. There was soft white icing all over his hands. "Meh! Meh! (Mess)" he wailed, holding his hands away from his body in distress. "Losh 'aand! (Wash hands)". I tried to reassure Setri that it was just yummy icing and that he should have a taste, but he refused. He just wanted his hands washed. Even after his hands were nice and clean he would not taste the cake.

Another funny thing he does re mess... You know the way some dolls and toys and cartoons have round pink dots on their cheeks? Setri sees that and points at the spots and says "Memmy (messy)". He pointed at the little red 'cheek' dots on his toy, Mamai, when he got it a few months ago and told me "Mamai memmy".

This afternoon Setri made up another verse of Wheels on the Bus. The second one he's made for mum. This one was "Mam-ma buh, Don' tuh light" (The grandma on the bus says "don't touch the light")

As a treat for Setri, Gam let him come in the car to drop me off at work, with the intention of dropping Setri at the childcare centre, where Mum would be waiting to mind him. Setri got so incredibly upset when Gam went to leave that Gam actually stayed for quite a while to hold his hand. After he left, Setri was apparently upset for a while longer but settled down and did really well. In the afternoon, he asked if we could go back there! Poor Gam had been upset all day about Setri's distress, and then Setri asked to go back!

Went over to our neighbours' house tonight to give them a little Christmas gift and wish them happy christmas (and thank them for all they've done for us this year... We have the BEST neighbours). Setri was actually more charming than shy for a change, though he didn't talk much (lots of cute cheeky smiles and showing off though). He held Kahrin's hand when she took him into their garden to show him the agapanthus (another flower he knows), then he cutely told me when he came back that he "Old aand" with Kahrin. When we finally said goodbye I asked Setri if he would say 'happy christmas' to Kahrin and Simon. Setri immediately went all coy and bashful and protested "Lyyyye" (shy), giving a cute bashful look while backing away. Awww.

"Daddy come back on bed". "Don' like let garse (wet grass)". "Lit go out there mell maimai (let's go out there and smell spices)". "Lit go tuhduh, lot buh vihvih-yo (let's go to the study, watch bus videos)" . All typical Setri-sentences of late. Especially the one about spices. Setri and his obsessive-bordering-on-pathological interest in things.

Singing "Leew buh, rau rau rau" and "Lee bine mye, lee bine mye. Lee 'ow lown (lown = run)"

Today Gam was reading a Diggers magazine with Setri before heading off to work. They identified a flower that Setri had picked on one of our walks over the weekend as a white peacock flower, or something like that. It was depicted alongside a 'yellow peacock flower'. This afternoon on the way home we stopped at the park where Mum had taken Setri to play. On the way back to the car, Setri pointed across the road and said "Yellow lea-loc lauer. Mam-ma". Presumably mum pointed them out to him when they were walking to the park.

All weekend long, Setri claimed to be 'laad'. When we asked him why, the reply was the same "Back lan/back lan lop" = he was sad because we had not taken him to the 'black fan shop'. We walked past it on the Sunday, when it's always closed, and he spread his hands and begged "Ope! Ope?".

Remembered one of the things I meant to write down yesterday. We needed to go to Bunnings, and asked Setri if he wanted to go. He said "Buh-buh. Vroom! Daddy make vroom!". Hmmmm.

Re toilet training, I realised today that I can't remember the last time Setri didn't have a dry nappy when he woke up in the morning. He always asks to go to the toilet within a minute or 2 of waking. Weird thing is though, mum says his nappy is frequently a bit wet after his daytime nap- typically less than 1 hour long. I forgot to put him in a nappy for his daytime nap today, but thankfully he didn't wet the bed.

This evening we took a walk and a car with an obnoxiously loud exhaust roared past. Setri said "that noisy car". There were a bunch of other things I meant to write down over the last few days but I keep forgetting. I've had a few late night 'episodes' of doing dumb stuff lately. Last night I put Gam's sticky date pudding into the cupboard where we keep cooking bowls and storage containers; other nights I have left fridge stuff in the pantry, or the next day's lunch on the lounge instead of the fridge :( I hope it's just that I'm really tired. Setri certainly didn't get that fabulous little brain from me.

Today Setri figured out on his own that 'mum' rhymes with 'bum'. And subsequently had great fun with the two words. That didn't take long...

This morning, saturday, Setri spent a good half an hour repeating the phrase "Mumma Daddy 'ome" and looking very happy about the fact we weren't heading off to work. We both hate leaving him :(

Instead of saying 'like Daddy' when we make a comment about some ability or physical characteristic of Setri's, Setri has taken to saying 'jus like Daddy'.

We copped some teenage attitude from our 20-month-old today. We were about to head off to 'Auntie' Erin's birthday evening at indooroopilly bowls club and needed to change Setri's shorts (elastic-waisted ones are easier to pull up and down going to the toilet). Setri threw a tanty and wouldn't cooperate. "We can always leave you at home," Gam said. "Do you want to come with us or stay home with Grandma?". "I don' care!", Setri yelled. But he did wind up cooperating in short order, giggling at our surprise and saying "I don' care" again and again... Gam and I were wracking our brains trying to work out if one of us had just said "I don't care" without realising it, thinking that surely Setri had been parroting one of us rather than coming out with that line on his own, but neither of us had said it recently!

Big red car... Setri is familiar with, although not an obsessive fan of, the Wiggles' song Big Red Car. There's an older version of it on YouTube that he is fond of that is musically superior to the more recent ones. Anyway, for some reason just in the last few days he started riding his little plastic trike and telling us it was a Big Red Car.

Mum has been taking Setri to the childcare centre every day to introduce him to the place. The first couple of days he seemed ok- a bit overwhelmed the first time because he was outside with bigger kids. Then yesterday he saw a little boy a bit older than him get dropped off and start screaming and carrying on. Mum said "It was like something clicked in [Setri's] head". He got really upset and didn't want to stay and play, and today he started to cry even

Ahahahaha I was finally let in on the secret bus story last night! So happy! Gam said to Setri that Setri could tell me the bus's name if he wanted to, and Setri got the most adorable shy look on his face as he quietly told me the name of the bus in the story: "Ber". It's not pronounced like the ber in 'Bert', apparently (we did ask), but more like the 'ber' in Camembert. So cute! Setri also told me that Ber has a friend who is a bus name Buhbar, and that Buhbar is a girl bus. *dies of cuteness*. I wound up floundering my way through this story, awkwardly making things up as I went along. Very functional rather than imaginative story, just like me, really. Setri must have liked it because the first thing he said after waking up this morning was "Mumma, more Ber". Awwww :)

Something else I forgot to mention last month (maybe accidentally-on-purpose, seeing as it's a bit shameful) is Setri's use of what I suppose is profanity. He has a knack for picking up on and parroting words like 'Gee/jeez', 'gawd' and 'good grief'. More interesting (worrying?), though, is that he occasionally drops these into conversation, always in an entirely appropriate context. It's not common, thank god (there I go again...) but when he does it he always nails it. Mostly though he just giggles and parrots the word in question when one of us makes an exclamation. Thankfully neither Gam nor I are particularly prone to use stronger cuss-words, but it will happen soon enough, whether it's us who he copies or a bigger kid at daycare...


2nd day of being 20 months old. This sentence he used this morning illustrates the new and improved communications from Setri. "Mumma get up. Lit (let's) go out there". He is basically fully conversational all of a sudden. It's not like we didn't have quite good conversations before, but he is communicating in what seems to be a really mature form of the language. Of course there is still the fact that he only occasionally manages 'p' and 't' sounds, never manages 's' sounds (he says 'S for Setri' as "Eh for Leh-li" if asked to read an 'S'). And I didn't get called 'Mum' once this morning! Last night was a different matter, but Gam put him up to it and Setri *loves* to collude with Gam in teasing me!

Tonight Setri woke up around 11pm as I was about to get ready for bed, so Gam sat with Setri and told him the 'bus story'. It's a special story about a bus... I have only overheard brief snippets, but it's usually the sight of Setri resting his cute little head on Gam's chest while Gam tells him the story that melts my heart. Every now and then, Setri will talk to me about something from the story, e.g. "Dark. Buh light off, go 'leep". Gam, seeing how "googly-eyed and silly" (as he put it) I went upon seeing and briefly overhearing him telling Setri the story, has insisted on secrecy ever since. Mostly to provoke me. Anyway, after shutting the bedroom door so I couldn't overhear while I was in the bathroom, Gam swore Setri to secrecy, then taunted me when I got back, telling me Setri had given the bus a name. Setri was so groggy and sleepy that I felt sure he would tell me, but he held off my sneaky efforts with amazing resolve. "No", he replied sleepily to my final effort at extracting even the tiniest detail. "Shot down!", Gam hooted. Setri perked up and immediately parroted Gam. "Shut DOWN!", he crowed. "Shut DOWN!", and he made a forceful 'shut' gesture with his hands (I think it's a sign he invented, but he uses it all the time to talk about shops being closed etc). Then he laughed and laughed, Gam's evil baby henchman. Boy do those two make such a great team. Setri has never really been a mummy's boy despite his clinginess, but even though I bear the brunt of their shared provocative sense of humour, I loooove the way Gam and Setri team up like that. When they laugh with glee at their dreadful jokes at my expense they just look so alike it's uncanny. And I love them both SO much <3

Setri over the last week or so (I.e. Since 19m) has started playing a little game where he walks or rides out of sight briefly before reappearing and announcing 'back again!'. Interestingly, he pronounces it 'uh-GAYN', not 'uh-GENN' like Gam and I do. Another recent development (first noticed when Dad was here a couple of weeks ago, I think) is Setri using the word 'number' (he says 'nunna') before saying the name of a number. E.g. 'Nunna eight!'. He is doing the same thing with letters but less consistently, e.g. he will often say either 'D. Daddy!' while holding up a letter D from his playdough cookie cutters, or 'Lella D Daddy' (letter D for Daddy). Oh and one more thing, he uses the word 'that' a lot. 'That big one', 'that big round light' (I was impressed with that one!), 'that red bus', all sentences he has used in the last few days.



Setri has started calling me 'Mum'. He first tried it out experimentally last night and I thought little of it. Today, exactly 20 months since he was born, he started using it consistently (except when he got upset, then I was 'Mumma' again). He pronounces it 'Mowm', using a vowel that sounds like a hybrid 'oh/ow' (like a cross between 'mow' and 'now') that he replaces an 'uh' with in most words with that vowel sound (e.g. bum = 'bowm'). "No ahnk-oo Mowm", he chirped when I offered him some breakfast. "Did you just call me Mum?", I asked him. "Yeah", he said, as if he'd achieved something noteworthy. "NO Mowm!" when I made a similar offer a little later. And "No mowm!" again when I asked him to practice his 'p' sound so he could say 'APPLE lider vih-neh-gar' instead of "Aawuh lider vih-ne-gar". Of course when Gam woke up a little later he thought this was hilarious. "You can still call me Mumma, you know", I offered to Setri. "Mowm!" he said with a big mischievous grin, shooting a sideways glance at Gam for approval. Sigh. I really hope this new name doesn't stick, I was hoping to be 'Mumma' until at least primary school!

Setri at 19 months

Work Xmas party today at my supervisors house. Setri was pretty much mute, as usual at such gatherings. Though when it came time to say goodbye he enthusiastically did so, knowing it meant he could leave...

3-5 word sentences are the norm all of a sudden. Occasional 6-word sentence, even. Today he told a joking lie. I asked whether it was the truth or a lie, and he said truth... Then caught my eye as a mischievous grin spread over his face. "Was *that* the truth or a lie?", I asked. "Lie!", he said, triumphantly.

Told Setri he looked very cute. "Gorgor", he replied, preening and grinning. "Moh-moh". "Modest *some* of the time, maybe", I told him. "ALL time", Setri shot back, grinning.

Yesterday after getting home I asked Setri if I could have a kiss. "No! Runna way!" he shouted, and ran off down the hallway at high speed. How Gam laughed! This morning I asked Setri for a kiss and he sweetly obliged, but afterwards giggled "Runna way!", and grinned when egged on by Gam. "Setri do you like Mummy to be happy?", I asked. "Laad!", he replied, grinning at Gam.

This morning Setri threw a tanty for no apparent reason (his premolars *still* haven't emerged from his bulging red gums, we don't have to look far for a reason, I think). After he calmed down I gave him a breastfeed and afterwards he seemed much happier. He said 'take Mamai lork (walk)' and fetched his toy named Mamai and wheeled it around the house to look at fans. When it looked like he was running out of things to do, I suggested he take Mamai to say hello to Dayday (toy plastic turtle). He took Mamai over, crouched down and held Mamai's face up to Dayday's face. He said "Hi-lo Dayday", then put his hand on Dayday and said "Hi-lo Mamai"! Awww :)

 

This afternoon we worked on Setri's dreadlocks a little bit, trying to encourage more along. Setri kept saying "annor (annoy)" and trying to wriggle away, but we bribed him with bus videos.

 

Just looked at the WHO child growth charts today, and with Setri's estimated height he is not far above the 50th centile and for weight just below 85th! How the mighty fall, given his enormous size at birth and growth rate up until about 5 months of age :)

 

He must be a pretty dense little guy, physically speaking, because he is looking fairly lean compared with how he used to look. His little coconut-shaped butt-cheeks are now perfectly normal-sized and his arm rolls, along with the pale-stripe tan line in the middle, are pretty much completely gone, with only a slight chubby bulge in the forearm as testament to Setri's former plumpness. He still fits in size 1 pants, although the legs on these are no longer comically over-long thanks to the steady elongation of Setri's short little pins. His hair, which we have not cut for 5 months, is starting to form little dreadlocks at the back. I was sad to cut these off last time, and this time I am hoping to cultivate them if Gam will let me get away with it. Who would have thought that tiny dreadlocks could be cute? Certainly not me! Probably he'll get lice at childcare and we'll have to shave him... D'oh!

 

I'm not too worried about Setri's apparent increasingly relatively small size, as Gam says that despite his enormous size at birth he was actually a fairly small and skinny kid until puberty. I was also short as a kid- second-shortest in my class right until highschool when I had a growth spurt and grew to the ever-so-slightly above-average height of 172cm. My mum's father was a tiny man, only 5'4 (or something like that) and Gam's father only the same height as me, so there are small genes lurking on both sides but hopefully Setri will be 6-foot-plus like Gam and his two siblings, or at least 6-ish-foot like my brother (I don't know how tall Richard is, just that he is taller than my 5'10 or 11 father?). Eh, it's not something anyone can control anyway so certainly no point worrying!

 

"Daddy pick me up" (past tense). Setri said that on the way home from the park. We hadn't taken Setri to the park for ages. A couple of months. He does go with mum very regularly, but for us there was a noticeable difference in Setri's strength, skill and independence compared with when we last went. After playing in the park he played at an exercise station, and impressed the father of a 3yo boy and 11-14mo-ish girl by pointing and reading aloud unprompted some of the numbers at the different exercise spots. "Eight! Len! Lie! Looo!". He still doesn't interact much with other kids, but he did make some attempt to interact with the little girl. Afterwards a bunch of bigger boys- siblings and a friend, I'd say- showed up. The youngest would have been going on 3, the oldest maybe 7. "Babies!", Setri announced, before reading the number '3' out loud and talking about his 'led bobboh-buh lauer' (red bottle-brush flower), possibly in an attempt to impress them. After that he found a new and beautiful variety of deep pink frangipani and insisted we pick one up to take home and show mum. Was a really nice way to spend the afternoon after leaving work early. When we got home, Setri obliged when mum asked him to show us how he can now say 'vinegar' properly... some of the time! Still reverts to 'vihivih' at other times. He also says 'bobo-vivih' for 'bouganvillea' (told you he was quite the baby botanist... It's a shame that I am so ignorant about different plants and flowers or he'd know many more!).

 

This morning Setri had slept off his sleep-deprivation crankiness and was so good and lovely. Upon waking he repeatedly announced "Like Daddy" and "Luddle" and "Gish" and "Good day, Daddy". I asked Gam for a kiss too and Setri briefly misunderstood, leaning forward with his lips puckered to give me a kiss. I tried to take advantage and have a kiss from him too, but Setri realised his mistake and grabbed me by my shoulders then pushed me up towards Gam and made me kiss Gam instead like I had originally proposed! After Gam had left for work and I was walking with setri to the bus stop so I could go to work, Mum and I were talking about Gam and Setri piped up with "Like Gam. Like Gam"! In the evening he asked for something off the spice rack and I told him to "take it over there and sit down", and he parroted me, saying "Take ova there lit down", while toddling off to sit at his allotted spot next to the pantry. 5 word sentence! Not one he made up himself, but boy is he still ripping along with his language development. We handed in his enrolment form at childcare yesterday, and will have the opportunity to start taking him along for play visits from now on. Discussed what will happen with his toilet training there, bearing in mind he may initially be too shy to tell his carers when he needs to wee. While we were talking with the centre manager we saw a 3-4yo boy in a green shirt brandishing a plastic cricket bat over his head, chasing another boy. The manager went to investigate the ensuing wail, and the boy claimed that the other boy had either thrown the ball at him or wouldn't give him the ball (the other boy was cowering against the fence, clutching the ball and shaking his head, his language skills obviously not as good as the first boy). It could have been a one off, but I swear when we arrived at the childcare centre and got out of the car I had seen Green Shirt Boy at the other end of the playground, menacing a smaller child- looking like he was trying to take the toy ride-in car the child was in. I saw only perhaps 2 seconds of interaction as we crossed the road and didn't see any physical contact, so dismissed it from my mind until the cricket bat incident, but I have a horrible feeling my instincts for spotting a little thug are still good. Thankfully that particular kid looked old enough to perhaps not be there next year!

 

 

Today was a horrendous stream of constant tantrums. Setri cheerily stayed up until 9pm last night, only to wake at 6am and slide out of bed this morning. He insistently said "Get up!" over and over, throwing a tantrum when I didn't comply (I'd gone to bed after 11pm, just so I could have some time on my own with Gam). Worried about Setri unnecessarily waking everyone, I got him to settle down and then got out of bed. Was convinced he would later have a decent nap- how could he not? No such luck. He napped for half an hour and the latter half of the day was also filled with innumerable meltdowns (including during a bbq when 'Auntie Nicole', 'Uncle Dave' and 'Auntie Cass' were present. When my mum and dad arrived home from visiting a friend, Setri was so grumpy and anti-social that when he spotted them coming up the front path he shouted "No Mam-ma! NO Mam-ma!", and he has *never* done that before. Usually, as we like to say, Setri is quite a reasonable baby. But today he was just too tired to reason with. There was one lighter moment when Setri toddled off to feed some lucerne ('Lulu'- he is quite the botanist these days) to the chickens while Gam and I watched from afar. After he held out the lucerne to the wire he started walking backwards, holding his hand out in a 'stop' sign and saying "Stay back! No more beck!" to the chickens. It reminded me so much of what Bec told us last week that kids get taught at Xander's day care it just cracked me up. Poor Setri did get pecked twice on the bellybutton a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first time I have seen him do something like that.

 

That reminds me, we were offered a place for Setri Mon-Thurs at our preferred child care from mid-Jan. Time of upheaval for all of us, not looking forward to it. At the same time it's better than not getting a place and sending him somewhere we didn't like so much.

 

 

There are 2 weird utterances by Setri that have us puzzled, and I think he only continues with them because they confuse us and he enjoys leading us on. He's been doing them for months now. The first is "Ivy". He says "I-vee. I-vee", like he is calling out for someone named Ivy. We have asked what is Ivy and he replies "Ivy". We ask "Where is Ivy?" and he will point and say "Ova there". So we will walk in that direction and he will point somewhere else and say "Ova there!". If we are inside he will then usually say "Out-lide", and if we are outside he will usually point and say "In-lide". Then we give up and Ivy remains a mystery. The other thing he says is "Goo-goo. Ah-bah". He doesn't pretend that Goo-goo Ah-ba is some omnipotent being like Ivy, but it's a mystery also [UPDATE: I *think* it's kookaburra, mostly said when he wants us to sing the kookaburra song]. 

 

Today I made myself a glass of orange juice and added some iron supplement and the juice of a whole lemon. Setri asked to taste it, so I gave him a sip. He smacked his lips thoughtfully and didn't ask for more. He then pronounced his verdict: "Really big lauer (sour)"!!

 

--> Ok he is on some kind of linguistic growth spurt today. Tried to get some video of him saying stuff earlier and he stuck fairly strictly to 2 and 3-word utterances and some incomprehensible babble, which he almost never indulges in. After I turned off the camera he played with the (battery-less) lawn mower, pretending to mow the lawn. "Mow lawn. Mow lawn. Make lawn happa (happy)". I turned the camera back on and tried desperately to get him to repeat what he'd said, eventually resorting to saying "Setri, does mowing the lawn make the lawn happy or sad?". "Laad", said the cagey little monster. Later he said something similar while watering the garden with water from his 'splashy pool' using a jug from the kitchen: "Olp Mam-ma. Lorlor gargar. Make Mam-ma happa (Help Grandma. Water garden. Make Grandma happy) ". Prior to these he had come out with two other things. The first he started a couple of days ago using the word 'our' to describe 'our car' (previously 'Daddy car' or 'Daddy Mumma car'). Today it was "Our lawnmower". And when I tried to help Setri down the two stairs from the patio at the side of the house to the front path he brushed me aside, announcing "Do by lelf (self)"!! Oh and the alambic in the cupboard isn't plain old 'Lambic' any more. It's "Lambic dor" (the writing on the bottle says Alambic D'or. I've never said it, Gam doesn't participate much in 'Mell maimai' and says it wasn't him, Dad denies calling it that during his spice-smelling sessions with Setri, so I can only assume Mum must have said it at some point. I asked setri did he read the bottle or did Grandma tell him and he said "Lell me". 

 

We dug out 2 old books from my childhood the yesterday. 'Go Dog Go' and 'Green Eggs and Ham'. Setri sat through one reading of Go Dog Go and appeared to like it. This morning he showed up on his push-trike at the bathroom door while I was doing my makeup. "Hi-lo", he said. "Hello Setri, what are you doing?", I asked. "Do not", said Setri. "Do not what?", I asked him. "Do not like 'at. GoodBYE!"... And having recited one of the classic lines from Go Dog Go, he scooted off down the hallway on his little trike.

 

 

Not so cute this afternoon... We got home and Gam inadvertently blocked Setri's path out of the kitchen (and hence to the bedroom for a breastfeed). Setri shouted "Get out! Stay out!!" and used both hands to push Gam backwards out of the kitchen. We were so shocked we just had to laugh.

 

This morning, Setri said to Gam as usual "Good day, Daddy", as Gam was about to leave for work. "Thank you, Setri. Goodbye", said Gam, leaning down for a cuddle. "Stay back", said Setri, pleading for Gam to stay home. Awww. I very nearly suggested to Gam that we simply chuck a sickie and stay home :)

 

Also this morning, Dad told Setri he shouldn't be playing on the black lounge (Gam and I don't mind) and Setri replied "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah". I shouldn't laugh at that one, he'll be doing it to me soon. Later dad was talking him through some computer stuff and he parroted dad, saying "minimy that". ??Then he came and helped me with my makeup and asked to give me and mum a kiss (Gish Mam-ma... Gish Mumma), then said "like mumma" and when Mum and I went all clucky and said "awwwww" he started making this awful keening, groaning noise and told us that's what we sounded like, then scoffed at us!

 

Pronouns seem to have undergone a sudden improvement/extension: This morning he said "I get uvva one". Yesterday he said "I get in lauer (shower)", "lic (pick) me up", and "me gorgor (gorgeous)" while he was trying on my earrings.

 

Gam has got Setri practising 'p' and 't' sounds, and he can do them really well. He still hasn't really got the hang of using them in words out loud, though he can sometimes say the words properly in a whispery voice. For example, for 'tea' he will say 'teh teh teh LEE!'

 

Every afternoon lately, when I get home and take Setri to bed for boob, he gives me a series of big cuddles afterwards and says "Like Mumma". I just about die of happiness!

 

On the weekend we went to a water park at Springfield Lakes and saw Bec and Xander and baby Joshua. Xander and Setri are still about the same size, though Xander is noticeably heavier. He still has just the same quirky personality as he did when we last saw him 10 months ago, only with more words. His 6mo brother Joshua is an astoundingly placid, good-natured little guy who didn't just tolerate being held by me (a complete stranger), he actually gave me cuddles! Such a beautiful chubby, smiley, cuddly baby. Bec said he makes a wonderful demo baby for practising baby-wearing with slings etc, and I couldn't help contrasting him with Setri at the same age- Setri would have given just about any stranger who attempted cuddles a massive dose of sadface accompanied by a barrage of wails! Gam was not-so-secretly hoping Joshua would give me a reason not to be clucky, perhaps an explosive poo or a good sized vomit while I was holding him, but Joshua is not a good baby for curing cluckiness. He saved his little spew for when he returned to Bec's waiting arms :)  Xander and Setri didn't really play together (neither of them seemed particularly interested in each other, despite Setri's fondness for viewing pictures of Xander on facebook) but they gave each other a very cute cuddle goodbye. I was surprised that Setri wasn't more interested in Joshua, given Mum's reports of his avid interest in babies. The only time he seemed to have an opinion was when he made it clear that instead of cuddling Joshua I should be taking him back to the park to play. Gam was probably very relieved :)

 

 

Just realised this morning that at some point recently, Setri started using the word 'another'. So, to use this morning's example, if a book has a moon depicted on a scenario on one page and a different scenario with a different moon on another page, instead of saying "Uh-wun moon (other-one moon)" or a variation (e.g. "Uh-wun moon. Dihidin" -different), he now says "Anuhnuh moon", perhaps followed be a description of the moon's colour. I don't know that he uses the word if the moon is obviously meant to be the same, though.

 

Setri still refuses to say goodnight to people if he is not ready to go to bed. After a late evening (8pm) of running around like mad and showing everyone his 'big playdough', I asked him to say goodnight to mum and dad. Setri's reply: "No! *evil cackle* Runna laay!" (Followed by him taking off at speed and protesting when caught).

 

Just lately he has started exclaiming "NO!", rather than simply saying 'no' to simple questions (e.g. "Would you like a piece of toast, Setri?"). His previous nos were prim little pronouncements in the Queen's English (in stark contrast to his bogan 'Yeeh' for 'yeah'). I don't think it's him trying to be rude, but by golly it sounds rude! When prompted to say 'no thank you' instead of 'NO!' he will comply only to the letter, and out will come "NO! AHNK-OO!". 

 

I just remembered something I meant to write about last month but didn't, but Setri has expanded the practice now so it's even funnier. He started out by finishing our sentences for us whenever we tried to counsel him to take care with his actions lest he be injured doing something. Any sentence staring with "Be careful...", "Setri put that down...", "Don't touch that..." etc. etc. would result in Setri chiming in with a sing-song "Ow-ow" in a 'heard it all before' kind of tone. Then in the last few weeks he started replying "Ow-ow. Waah-waah-waah". Then it progressed to more specific responses depending on situation. If I told Setri to be careful and he was in the shower at the time he would say “Lip ova. Ow-ow. Waah-waah-waah”. Or if I told him to be careful while walking down stairs by himself (holding on to side rails) the response would be “Lall down, ow-ow. Waah-waah-waah”. An instruction not to touch the barbeque because he never knows when it might be hot (he is really very good about this) would be met with “Might get burn. Waah-waah-waah”. Etc. etc.!

 

"Lit go lie down". 4 word sentences are a common part of Setri's communications with us these days. Not yet a majority, but frequent. "Go back back lan (go back to the black fan)" is perhaps the most over-used sentence- a repeated request to return to the 'black shop' (an African foods shop with a black-painted shop front) that contains many fans. Setri knows which of the shops on both sides of beaudesert road have ceiling fans, even the ones he has never been in.

 

So... How many 19mo have kecap manis, pimenton, malt vinegar, grape must and star anise in their vocabularies? Plus a host of others. Garam marsala, nutmeg, Setri's spice-smelling hobby is fast becoming another obsession, to the point where being told 'not now' leads to tantrums (first thing he's been doing upon hopping out of bed- if he isn't asking to walk to the shops to see various fans- is requesting to 'mell maimai'). While it seems quite a healthy hobby for a kid to have, like fans and WOB it appears to be growing almost pathological.

 

Setri was in the shower this afternoon and I was chatting to Gam when we noticed that Setri had gone quiet and was staring at something between his legs. "Is everything ok, Setri?", Gam asked. Setri was poking at his scrotum like he was trying to get something off it. "Is there something on your scrotum, Setri?", I asked. Setri was facing away, so we couldn't see very well. "Yeah", said Setri. "Uh-wun. That". He pointed to his scrotum again. "No, there's nothing there", I confirmed. "That's just your scrotum". "No, *that*", Setri insisted. He pulled at the ridge of skin running down the centre of his scrotum. Good god, that's a bit specific, isn't it? There probably is a name for it, but blowed if I know. I told Setri that when he can read he can look it up on Wikipedia.

 

Setri has laid off the beer jokes over the last month or so. Maybe he took my advice on wearing out a joke to heart. Since then, however, he has learned the words 'vodka' and 'whiskey'. We use a bit of whiskey in cooking (e.g. Gam's bbq sauce and chilli sauce) and had used vodka in a cocktail on a couple of recent occasions. It's one thing to be in a doctor's waiting room and have your 18mo toddler cheekily (and loudly)answer 'beer!' to a question as to what he would like for a treat following his needles. Probably even less favourably viewed would be a 19mo in a bottle shop pointing to bottles and asking to "mell whiskey" or "tate Voh-vod"... God forbid he ever uses those phrases outside our kitchen. And NO we did not allow him to taste the vodka! He didn't ask to taste the whiskey.

 

We went to buy fish and chips for dinner yesterday. We parked near some air-conditioning fans. When we re-entered the car park with our purchase, Setri pointed off into the distance (the car not being visible, at least not to me). "Car near lan (fan). Ovo there", he said. Giving directions! Clearly he got Gam's sense of direction and not mine.

 

My Dad has come to visit again. Setri has decided to call him Grandad (with prompting from my parents) because it's easier for him to say than 'Grandpa'... The way Setri said it previously, not having mastered the 'p' sound, it sounded almost exactly like the way he said Grandma (i.e. Something like 'mam-ma', though he said a perfect 'Grandma' twice yesterday). Dad brought a nice old-fashioned red rose (the nice-smelling kind) with him from his garden. When I got home Setri told me all about it. Setri can identify quite a few types of flowers now, so he told me the story of the rose's origins as follows: "Lauer. Led loh. Gandad lar (Flower. Red rose. Grandad car)".

 

This morning Setri asked to "Mell more maimai (smell more spices)" after I had given him a jar of ground coriander to open and smell , and I told him "Not now, Setri, we'll smell more spices this afternoon". He sat on the floor with his coriander after that, chanting "Not now Leh-li! Not now Leh-li!". Just goes to show how perfectly the little blighter skewered me in the Wheels on the Bus verse he made up for me when he was 18mo.

 

Setri asked to have his giant toy dog 'Lulu' on the bed. He stood up on the bed and held Lulu's head up, while pointing at the fan. "Lan (fan)", he said. "Lulu like lan".

 

Lorro. Think I have mentioned before that Setri now sometimes spontaneously says sorry for things? Anyway, he broke the foam covering the armrest of Gam's chair in the study the other day and Gam gave him a bit of a telling off for it, having previously told him not to tug on it. Setri said "Lorro Daddy", very contritely. Several times a day since then, mostly when we've been in the study but once in the car and a couple of other times, Setri says, just as contrite, "Lorro Daddy". When we ask him what he is sorry for, he says "Lair". We have told him it's ok and not to worry.

 

This morning, sitting in the pram on the way to the bus stop, Setri expressed distress that the sun was in his eyes. I pulled down the shade for him and Setri said, sounding rather satisfied, "in dark".

 

He is getting better and better at parroting us. Yesterday the standout was him saying "'Ere-yeg-go mate", after I helped him climb out of the vegie garden.

 

Setri has been telling me all day that he is gorgeous. I explained what the word 'modest' means, and told him that he was indeed gorgeous- and modest too! No surprises that a 19mo can't see the irony in a statement like that, so he ran around the rest of the day telling me he was 'gorgor' AND 'moh-moh'. Just now I asked him "and what other fantastic attributes do you have, Setri", and he replied with absolute certainty "Leh-leh". I wracked my brain trying to think of what it was, before coming up with the answer: clever. He usually says 'mart', which is why I didn't cotton on right away. I still don't think it's a bad thing for Setri to have an ego the size of a house, but I suppose I'd better hope he also develops enough charisma to pull it off!

 

Setri did really well in his interactions with people yesterday and today. Last night he said 'thank you' and 'good night' to a lady at Bunnings who gave him some pencils. This morning he said 'good morning' to Kerri-anne, the lady who co-runs our favourite coffee-shop. Then, this evening he interacted playfully, albeit shyly, with friends who came over for a bbq, AND agreed to go with our neighbours, 'Auntie' Kahrin and 'Uncle' Simon to their house without us (!!!). Admittedly Setri is obsessed with their cat, Crackers, which is a major incentive, but he hardly ever agrees to go anywhere without me if I am around, even with my Mum. Once the number of guests hit about 6 Setri became a little more withdrawn and kept wanting to play some distance away, but once half the people had left he said 'good night' to Auntie Nicole and Uncle Dave, and a slightly more formal 'bye bye' to Nicole's father, Chad, who Setri only sees infrequently. During the barbeque he was answering the odd yes/no question from other adults and not being completely mute, which can only be considered a good thing.

 

Something else he's been doing lately is telling us he's 'gaired'. When Gam mucks around and pretends to be asleep before suddenly coming alive, Setri will put on a scared expression and whimper, saying 'gaired'... before demanding more! He also claims to be scared if something happens suddenly and noisily (e.g. Something unexpectedly falling to the floor). We can't figure out just how much he likes it, because we asked him if being scared was good or bad and he told us 'bad'! He has also woken up once or twice and told us he was 'gaired' and said 'yeah' when we asked if he'd had a bad dream... We're not sure he really knows what a dream is, but it makes sense that he would have them. One of my earliest memories is of a nightmare I used to have, and Gam occasionally still has them, so we don't want to discount the little guy's feelings. Another thing, tied to this, is that he has started requesting different facial expressions as a game. He will ask for 'hapba', then 'laad', 'gaired' and whatever it is he says for 'cranky' (a favourite- he finds it hilarious) and 'surprised' (another favourite... He can now frequently be observed toddling around the place, widening his eyes and pursing his mouth into an 'o' of surprise and squealing 'ooooh!').

 

Setri still does that pretending to do something naughty/dangerous in order to elicit a reaction. I wonder how old he was when I first mentioned that? His tricks are quite good. For example, if he pretends to drink something he knows we don't want him drinking because it's potentially dangerous/unpleasant, he will say 'drink', then mime drinking very realistically and follow it up with some wet-sounding lip-smacking noises. Or pretending to bite  on a stone.

 

Watching Setri get older is kind of sad, knowing that one day he's going to be old enough that there will be more of a distance between us just because of the independence that comes with age. But really that thought is only ever fairly fleeting, because the rest of the time, ever since he was born, it has been like unwrapping the most fabulous present I have ever received. Every day we are excited to see a little bit more of Setri's personality, and the thoughts that come pouring out of that funny little head of his.

 

Today, while Gam and I were lying on the bed with Setri after Setri had a breastfeed, Setri gave me a big cuddle and said 'like Mumma'. It's not quite 'love' but it was spontaneous. It is hard to express just how lovely it is to receive that kind of uninhibited affection :)

 

Mum has been taking Setri to South Bank recently to play at the fake beach and visit the State Library. On the last visit there was a busload of Asian tourists visiting the place (mum didn't know where from). They got very excited to see Setri and wanted to take his photo. One lady attempted to pick him up and got as far as putting her arms around him before Setri broke out a massive sadface, Mum told me. He didn't cry, but she said the way they mobbed him she couldn't blame him for feeling overwhelmed!

 

Just remembered something Setri did a couple of days ago, as well as something he started doing last month that I forgot to include in the post...  Yesterday Setri climbed into Gam's chair in the study and said "Olp Daddy. Yuyu (computer)". I asked him how he was going to help Daddy by touching his computer, and Setri replied "(P)Lay game"!

 

The thing I forgot to mention last month is that Setri has been giving his toys names. 'Dogdog' is now 'Lulu', a strange old-fashioned wooden wheelie toy that Mum bought from an op-shop has been named 'Mamai' (pronounced MAM-eye), and a green plastic turtle has been named 'Dayday'. 'Dayday' is also how Setri pronounces 'danger', so I asked if he had named his turtle 'Danger' (which would have been pretty badass), or Daisy (he used to watch In the Night Garden quite frequently) but no, it was just plain old Dayday. It's interesting to see the names he makes up. Only 'Lulu' bears any resemblance to a real name of a person we know (Lucy, pronounced 'Lulu' by Setri), and Setri denied that he had named his dog 'Lucy', even though he now says that Lulu the dog is a girl.

 

Something else worth mentioning is the shredder. We have a paper shredder, and we have only ever used it once, when Setri was not quite old enough to pull himself to standing- say, 5 months old, maybe early 6 months? We have needed to use it since then but haven't because it's kind of dangerous when he's up, and kind of noisy for when he's asleep. So Setri really shouldn't have a clue what the shredder is or what it does. Nevertheless, every now and then he approaches the shredder, mimes putting things in and makes a noise that is a pretty good mimic of the one that the shredder makes. How, unless he could actually remember?!

 

 

This morning Setri spied the nutella jar I had foolishly left in full view on the bench and asked to "tate nut-ella". I told him to wait and he could have some on toast, to which he replied plaintively "tate own?" (taste nutella on its own).

 

Playing with playdough and the letter-shaped cookie cutters we bought Setri last night, Setri attempted to make a letter 'S'. When it didn't go right I made one for him. When I handed it to him he said "Eh for Leh-li" (S for Setri)! It seems he knows just about all his letters now, from A-Z.

 

After telling Setri not to stand up in the shower because the shampoo he poured on the floor has made it slippery, Setri stood up and promptly slipped over (I caught him)...

 

Sarah: Do you know why you fell down (in the shower)?

 

Setri: 'Lip oh-wa

 

Sarah: Er, technically, yes...

 

 

Setri's latest obsession is 'helping'. We cannot go out in the garden without Setri announcing "Olp Mam-ma/Daddy/Mumma", while holding the hose or carrying a pot plant. He warbles "Olp chiki" as he does repeated trips from tomato plant to chook yard, clutching a single (frequently green) tomato to give to the chickens each time. Yesterday he 'olped' me get dressed, attempting to put my clothes on me in the same way I do for him, and then took my clothes to the dirty laundry basket for me. He is 99% angel, that boy. Unfortunately we still cannot visit Bunnings without a tantrum at not being allowed to stand and flap his hands 'round round' in front of the displays of fans, however.

 

I went out on Saturday night and Setri was so tired after accompanying Gam home that he went to bed without dinner. In the morning we got out of bed and as soon as we headed out to the kitchen Setri motioned to his mouth and said "eat". "Wow", I thought, "maybe I can get him to eat some breakfast for once!". "What would you like to eat, Setri?", I said. "Lolloh (coffee)", he replied, perfectly serious. Once we established that going to the coffee shop and having a coffee *and* some food was a good solution, Setri rattled off the names of the people who run it- 'Keh-keh-aaa' (kerri-anne), 'Jor' (John) and My-my (Michael), and announced that he was going to say hello to Kerri-anne and give her a kiss. I knew that wasn't true and at best she would get a coy smile and a little wave, but I was impressed that he remembered their names!

 

19m today. Setri was giving mum cheeky grins while he had a mouth full of boob,  as he often does. "Are you trying to impress Grandma?" I asked him. "Yeah", Setri said. "Do you know why you are so impressive?" I asked him. "'Mart", he replied. THAT was an impressive answer. I tell him he's gorgeous/beautiful/funny easily as often as I tell him he's smart, probably more! I'm glad he knows I value him above all for his fantastic little brain and personality J

Setri at 18 months

2 days until setri hits 19m. Yesterday we were outside and Setri again started talking about his friend 'Lee' (our friend's 8yo son, Liam). They were going to 'go Buh-bah' (Bunya mountains) and 'go up-dair. Look lan' (go upstairs to look at fans). Setri then proceeded to say 'Liz. Nic' (Liam's mother and almost-step-father), and when I asked him if he remembered who else went to the Bunya mountains he replied 'Jaye' (another of our friends). When I asked him if he remembered who else went to the Bunya mountains he paused and thought long and hard before coming up with 'Lulu' (Lucy). I was pretty impressed. Not only that he can talk about an event that occurred over 5 weeks in the past that was not mentioned until Setri brought it up a couple of nights ago, but that he could state the names of 5 people outside of the family who were there with us. It's no surprise that he remembered the names of the people who engaged with him the most, I suppose, but that is pretty amazing for an almost 19mo.


I've probably mentioned before that one of Setri's favourite pursuits is smelling -and sometimes tasting- spices and sauces and other condiments. He asks me to help him do it multiple times a day, although I usually only acquiesce once a day. These days if I tell him something is even a little bit spicy he will go right off the idea of tasting it, and need a lot of coaxing to do so, e.g. with sweet chilli sauce (which he loved, after I finally convinced him). He is really fond of fish sauce (!) and the different vinegars we keep in the cupboard. Not just balsamic, which just about anyone would like, but malt vinegar, apple cider vinegar and white wine vinegar too. He also enjoys tasting the rose water and orange blossom water, despite the fact I think they taste pretty awful on their own.

Just remembered another synonym he has been using frequently, 'close' for 'shut' (he says 'lut'), and vice-versa. He always signs it with his hands too. Don't know if I've mentioned that he these days always says 'fini' as well as signing 'finished'?

One more funny thing Setri has started doing in the past few weeks is tell us that he is drawing/writing an object, person or number/letter when he is scribbling. Before it was 'daw-daw' (draw-draw), now it's 'daw bus' or 'daw Mam-ma' or 'daw cat'. We always make sure to take Setri's efforts very seriously, while inside LOL :)

Setri hasn't yet (perhaps surprisingly) started asking 'why' questions, but he can answer them, which is pretty cool. Actually more than his verbal abilities, his comprehension of questions that are supposed to be completely beyond a kid his age is something I find really enthralling. Something might be answered with a one or two-word reply, but it could take a complex series of mental calculations to come up with it. I love finding out what's going on in the brain inside that curly little head.

This afternoon I also was awarded my very own verse in Setri's 'Wheels on the Bus!'. Setri has long asserted that the 'Daddy on the bus says "No! No! No!"' (Daddy buh. No! No! No!), and as mentioned this morning, the Grandma on the bus says "Don't do that!" Well, apparently 'Mumma buh. Not now!' (the Mummy on the bus says "not now, Setri!"). Worst of all it appears to be true- Gam pulled me up at least 3 times this evening for saying 'not now' to Setri!

Setri was wearing his hat when he and mum walked to meet me on the way home fro the bus. Sometimes he is good about wearing a hat, sometimes not. When I mentioned it today, he said "Mam-ma", in an ever-so-slightly accusatory tone. "Oh, grandma made you wear it, did she?" I asked. "Yeah", he said. He was probably just telling me that mum had helped him put it on, but that way was funnier. I told Setri I was going to buy a hat soon (I never wear one and really ought to set an example):

Sarah: Where do we go to buy a hat, Setri?

Setri: Lop

Sarah: Yes, a shop! Very good. What do we do to buy a hat when we go to the shop?

Setri: Man. Lady.

Sarah: Yes, we take the hat to the lady or the man at the counter. What do we give to the man or lady in order to buy the hat?

Setri: 'At.

Sarah: *pause to process unexpected answer* Yes! That's true! Can you tell me what we give to the man or lady in exchange for the hat?

Setri: Muh-muh (money).




This morning, after waking at the ungodly hour of 5-something-am, Setri ordered me to sing WOB. He made up some lyrics I don't think he's used before. He is very fond of making me sing "the daddy on the bus says No! No! No!"... The new verse Setri requested was "Mam-ma buh. Don' do dat" (= 'the Grandma on the bus says "don't do that!"). More good news- 2nd dry night in a row!

Tonight Setri asked for my BlackBerry. When I asked who he was going to call, he said "Man". Gam and I asked what the man's name was- this is a pretty routine conversation, and Setri usually says the name of one of our friends, tells us he is going to say hello and give the person a kiss. Tonight he said 'Lee', referring not to a man but to our friend's 8yo son Liam. Setri last saw Liam 5 weeks ago, when we all stayed in a house at the Bunya mountains. We asked Setri what he was going to say to Liam. "Go up-dair. Lan" (= go upstairs to look at fans, something he wanted to do with Liam). This is indeed something Setri spent a large proportion of his time on while at the Bunya Mountains, accompanied by Liam!

This is actually the second time Setri has done this, I didn't think to mention when he first did it a month or so ago. Mum frequently takes Setri to op-shops to buy him clothes and toys. She did it today, and when I got home and saw Setri's latest new toys I asked Setri "Did you say thank you to Grandma?". Setri said thank you. A few hours later, just before dinner, Setri brought another of the new toys into the kitchen. "Ahnk-oo", he said. Having no idea what he was saying thank you for (and knowing it just as often means "hand that over!"), I asked him. "Mam-ma ahnk-oo", he said. "Thank you for what, Setri?", I asked. Setri pointed to his new toy. After telling Setri what a lovely boy he was, Mum whispered "Did you tell him to say that?". Nope.

Today Setri started using the word nice. I often tell Setri he's nice/sweet/lovely etc, because he really is, but he has never used it himself. This afternoon, though, he told me that Feifei was a 'nice cat', before saying 'luddle', and giving Feifei a cuddle. That reminds me of something else Setri has being doing- using synonyms. The other day he lay his head on my lap and said 'ug'. Had no idea what he was on about, as dumb as that sounds now- we nearly always say 'cuddle', and he'd never said it before. I asked Setri if he'd said 'up', and a couple of other words, quickly running out of options. 'Ug!' he said, more and more insistently, ever-more exaggeratedly laying his head in my lap each time, until I finally got it. I remembered that in one of his recent favourite books, a 'Pip and Posy' book, the two main characters had given each other a hug. That wasn't his first use of synonyms though. A week or so ago, Setri sat on the kitchen floor with a large bowl, pretending to pour something from the bowl. Each time he tipped it he would say 'em' (empty), 'dip' (tip), or 'dump', evidently having sussed out at some point that in the context of tipping something from a bowl they meant very similar things. Just when I think I'm getting used to how clever he is, he comes up with something like that, and blows me away yet again. Oh and I think in some cases he has been trying to put an 'ing' on some of his verbs. One of his first words was 'dan-duh' (stand up) and he still says this. But lately he has occasionally said 'dan-duh' before he actually stands up, and once he is standing proudly states 'dan-dan-duh'. There have been a couple of similar instances, but this is the only specific one I can recall atm.


While outside gardening yesterday, Setri told me there was a "Mess in-lide (inside)". This was a bit unusual, normally he tells me about a mess 'out-lide', of which there has been quite a bit on and off with Gam's landscaping efforts. I asked Setri who made the mess, expecting him to say 'Daddy' or 'Mumma' or even 'Mam-ma', as white lies along these lines have been a feature of recent jokes of his. "Chiki", he replied. Oh! The chickens never go in the house, as much as they might wish that they could. "What kind of mess, Setri?", I asked. "Leelee. (F)loor", Setri replied. "Are you saying that the chickens did weewee on the floor inside the house?" I asked, pretty sure he must be making some new kind of joke. "Yeah", said Setri. "Did they do poo too?". "Yeah", he replied, straightfaced. "Setri," I said "Is that the truth or a lie?". Setri looked taken aback by my question. "Looth", he said, looking as if he felt slighted by the implication. "In 'owth". He gestured with his hand and looked in the direction of the chickens' yard. Suddenly I realised that he was talking about the (not inconsiderable) mess inside the chickens' little 'house', and no doubt their yard too!

Also while gardening outside yesterday, Setri planted his first seed, a zucchini seed. He looked very excited (it's one of his favourite vegies) and followed me up to the garden, but when I gave him the seed and told him to stick it in the hole in the dirt he refused. It was only after I explained that no zucchini plant would appear unless he put it in the hole that he agreed and popped it in. I helped him cover it up with dirt. Hopefully he will be patient enough for me to not have to explain why there is no green plant with yellow flowers and zucchinis on it by this afternoon.

Have taken a few videos of Setri just recently. I take them on Gam's BlackBerry because if I do it on the proper camera Setri thinks he has more of a right to use it than I do. We have been prompting him to talk about/to 'Grandma B', Gam's mother, who we primarily take the videos for. She has not yet met Setri and just about dies of happiness every time she gets one, and addresses most of her emails to Setri :) Most of the videos involve me asking Setri questions to prompt him to talk and are nothing spectacular, but I also really enjoy watching them again and again, and quite often Setri does too!

Setri had his first dry night last night. I got up at about 7, busting to wee, and I was on the toilet when Setri said "Mumma, leelee". He waited for me to finish, then did a massive wee in the toilet, whereupon I noticed that his night nappy was completely dry. Pretty impressed.

Setri will 'sing a song' about almost anything we ask him to, these days. It's never quite as tuneful as his previously-mentioned effort with 'write it down', but it is really cute. He has started replying to "What's your name" with "Leh-li" again, as opposed to "Me!" or "Loo (you)".

One week away from 19m. Said to me this morning when I gave him a shower, "Mumma, in lauer", then when I stepped fully clothed into the (large) shower cubicle, he said "Off". I asked him if he wanted the shower off, and he replied "Lort (shirt) off"- telling me to take my shirt off! Then he pulled up one of the non-stick pads from the shower floor and was counting the holes. He got as far as 5 and stopped. I asked him what comes after 5 and he replied 'lic' (six). What comes after 6- 'lehleh' (seven', what comes after 8? "Don' late", he replied- a reference to "One, two, buckle my shoe"! I kept going and asked him what came next. "Nine". "What comes after nine?""Len". "And what comes after that?" "Home, (s)leep". Not quite 'home again', but very funny.

Setri was doing one of his dinosaur roars. I asked if the dinosaur was happy or angry. "Angy", was the answer. Why was the dinosaur angry?, I asked. "Eat", Setri said. "Lood". The dinosaur wanted food? What kind of food did the dinosaur like to eat? "Cat lood".

Took Setri to 'The Smoke' (formerly Blue Smoke) in New Farm for some american bbq with our friends Nicole, Dave and Cass. Setri was very good- boisterous, babbly and wriggly, with the occasional request to "Go out door" or "Go out-lide", but he never once did a runner or threw a tantrum. He did screech/shout loudly a couple of times after dinner, and only shushed briefly on request before doing the same thing again, but considering it was 7.30pm and we had been in the restaurant for an hour and a half, we considered him to have been extremely well behaved. Before we left home in the afternoon I told Setri we were going to a restaurant and that Auntie Nicole (our friend, a work colleague of Gam's) would be there. Setri brightened and said "Dave!"- Dave being Nicole's husband. I thought that was interesting, because although he likes Dave he doesn't appear to like him any more than Nicole or 'Kaa' ('Auntie Cass', another friend/colleague who we nearly always see at the same time as we see Nicole and Dave). When we were there, Setri actually paid more attention to Nicole (because she is very animated and engaged him a lot). When Dave had a seizure (epileptic) lasting 5 seconds or so I didn't think Setri had even noticed, because he was babbling away and smiling while it was going on. As soon as Dave was back on his chair, Setri slipped off my lap and walked over to Dave and patted him reassuringly on the leg. Which is characteristic of Setri if Gam, me or Mum need some sympathy, but pretty much unheard of for Setri to walk over to any other person (good friend or otherwise) and display that kind of behaviour. It was really sweet.


Since he was about 12-13 months old, Setri has enjoyed joining mum for some 'exercises'. Mum was prescribed a set of exercises for a severe intermittent back problem, and every time she gets out her mat, Setri hops on too and does something that looks like a downward-facing dog yoga position. Lately he has been getting the mat out himself and saying "Ek-ek-lie" (exercise), before doing his downward dog and a few other 'exercises'. Yesterday, I did the exercises myself for the first time. Got out of the habit of running when Gam and I got the flu followed by several colds in a row and have gotten horribly unfit. Haven't gotten back into it because Gam has been spending all his spare time single-handedly landscaping the backyard (his fitness is better than ever as a result, but all his shirt sleeves now look 2 sizes too small! *drool*). I spend my time keeping Setri out of mischief while Gam does yard work. I don't feel comfortable about leaving Setri with Mum while I go for a run these days because I'm back at work full time and really need to spend as much of my home time as I can with Setri and Gam. So I plan on doing Mum's exercises until I get back into some form of cardiovascular fitness regime.

Given that Setri's production of phonemes still comes nowhere near his vocabulary, a week or two ago I tried looking up charts to see whether he is behind in producing certain sounds. Pretty much there is no expectation at all for a kid his age, because as long as they are saying a word or two they are doing ok developmentally!

Lies! Setri has been telling little baby lies practically ever since he could say his first words. But the other day he did this, after making one of his beer jokes:

Sarah: Who drinks beer, Setri?

Setri: Daddy. Me!

Sarah: Oh VERY funny.

Setri: Lie *grin*.

He has since told us a couple more times when he has 'lied'. I'm not 100% sure if an 18mo could understand an explanation of the nuances involved in different kinds of lies. The ones he tells are either harmless (e.g. Telling us he hasn't done poo when he in fact has) or humourous (e.g. saying something we both know is obviously not true for the purpose of having a laugh). Don't want to venture into the more serious territory yet even if he is cognitively able to process it- it's an introduction to a world that Setri hasn't entered yet, one I suppose every parent hopes to fob off for as long as possible.

Gam reminded me of something else Setri does that's pretty funny, no doubt normal for his age. Not sure if I've mentioned it before. He will pick a flower (usually even if we say not to), then say 'back' and try to reattach it. Or break something and say 'brek', then motion putting the pieces back together and say 'back'. He has held off picking some purple flowers Mum planted in the garden, and keeps telling me "Lurllul lauer (purple flower). Die", because Mum told him if he picked them they would die! He loves gardening. Yesterday he ran around with a plant pot and a little garden fork saying "Gargar. Olp Daddy", and I asked him if he was going to grow flowers or vegetables. To my surprise he said vegies (vehveh), specifically tomatoes, and every time we have gone out since then he has spent time plucking grass from the lawn to put in his plant pot while saying "Gargar. Go vehveh (grow vegetables). Ah-mah-mo. Led! (Tomato. Red)". Lord knows what the grass-plucking has to do with any of it, but it is so cute.

I think I subconsciously forgot to blog about this when it first happened a number of months ago (13mo?) because it's a bit embarrassing! Setri suddenly seemed to realise one day that I don't have a penis. I saw him peering at me oddly when I was wiping after peeing in the toilet. "Uh-wun" (other one), he said, pointing. He briefly checked his own (frequently uncovered) bits. "Nee-nih". As I hastily pulled up my pants, worried he'd move in for an exploratory poke, Setri pointed again and stated with a satisfied authority: "Uh-wun". He seemed so happy with his conclusion that I actually didn't bother to try and teach him the right word! He has done the same routine infrequently since, so I suppose I will have to teach him sooner or later.

Setri has learned to peer through tiny cracks in doors. He also loves to 'hide' in his pink Disney-princess tent and peer through the mesh vents in the top corner, before being spotted by whoever he is playing with and shrieking in delight. He knows full well he's not hiding, mind. He also likes to 'hide' by pushing his face into my boob, before popping up to 'surprise' me when I make the requisite inquiry as to his 'disappearance'. When someone puts their eye up to the mesh and looks into Setri's little face pressed up against the mesh and says "Who's in there?", Setri says "Me!!!". He is also really good at spotting himself in photos now. He will nominate 'Mumma', 'Daddy', 'Me' etc. He has even gotten his head around the fact that the 10 week-old 'baby' in the sling with Gam on my BlackBerry screen is him, something he seemed reluctant to acknowledge for an awfully long time. He does have a little trouble with the concept of babies. He not infrequently requests one of his own (preference girl, but as long as it's a baby it will do, apparently). Yesterday he asked me for one, and I told him to ask Gam, who was not at all impressed! Whenever we have told him that Aunty So-and-so is having a baby, he asks '(to)day?', and we have to explain that babies take a while and it will come not today or tomorrow but 'later'. He definitely understands the concept of today and tomorrow, and we have started extending ourselves as far as talking about days of the week. We know he knows 'tomorrow' because if he is upset and asks for something (usually at bed time) and we tell him that he can have/do X tomorrow, he wails "Now! Nowwww!".

On a similar front, can't remember if I mentioned that we were trying (opportunistically) to teach Setri left and right, but he appears to be reasonably proficient! He gets his 'baby' trolley at Bunnings and will generally turn left or right on command, and will nearly always hold up the correct hand when asked which is which. Bunnings visits are a bit traumatic for us these days though, ever since Setri discovered that Bunnings not only has fans on the ceiling/mounted on aisle shelves but also sells a wide assortment of fans. And not just in one section, they seem to be spread out all over the bloody store! We have not managed to leave the store without a tantrum the last 3 or 4 times, all because we won't give Setri an indefinite amount of time to stand there flapping his arms while saying 'Lau! Lau!'!

Setri no longer seems to 'perform' on any 'what letter does this word start with'-type tasks. He usually keeps doing whatever he's doing and offhandedly replies 'bee', before ignoring me. I began to write his name yesterday, getting as far as 'Se' before saying "Setri, I want you to look at this word I'm writing and tell me what it is". Setri, too soon, took a sideways glance and said "Leh-li"(Setri), before wandering off to rat his toybox. Gam laughed while I proclaimed it was unfair and Setri had to try again with another word. I wrote 'daddy'. "Daddy", Setri said dismissively, before toddling off again. I'm not even sure he looked at what I was writing, I think he just guessed! Next I wrote 'grandma', but by then he was just ignoring me altogether. I tried several times to get his attention, and received no reply (even though he was only a metre or so away). "Setri are you ignoring me?", I asked. "Yeah", he replied casually. This is not the first time we've had that particular exchange where he off-handedly acknowledges ignoring me after I have made repeated verbal and other attempts to get his attention. Occasionally we will resort to dropping a word or phrase that is almost guaranteed to catch his attention, like 'fan', 'bus video' or 'chocolate'! Ever since about 5 months of age Setri has been adept at ignoring us. He is so successful at unblinkingly failing to acknowledge us, to even twitch a glance in our direction, I have to admire it as a cultivated skill. He is good to the point where we felt the need, in those early days, to check whether he could actually hear properly or not!


Well, people we know are getting pregnant left right and centre, it seems! Another couple who are good friends of ours are expecting a baby in May, another pseudo-sibling for Setri. Hopefully we can hook them up with our lovely neighbours who are expecting in April. Oh and in this post congratulations are due to Lynn and Patrick, two of my favourite people in the world (even though I've never met them in person) whose little girl finally arrived right after my last post. I am so sure Quyn Anh will grow up a really beautiful little person and an even better adult. I hope Setri grows up as insightful and thoughtful as Patrick and Lynn :)

Figured out today that Setri's 'bear' roar is quite different from his 'dinosaur/'tiger'/'lion' roar. Instead of a 'rarrrrr' it's a 'crrrowllcrrrrowll' I'm not even sure why he thinks bears roar, mind. I guess they might?

When Setri pretends to sleep he no longer says 'Leep... Up!' as he pops his head up and pretends to wake up, he says "Leep... Lake!"

Setri was on fire this morning, I was pointing out house numbers and car numbers as we walked to the bus stop... I said "Do you know what comes after 19?" And he said "lenni". Then he spontaneously held up 5 fingers and said "lie", and I told him very good. Then he said "lic". I asked him what came after six. "Leh-leh". "What comes after seven?" "Nine". A good effort for an 18 (and a half) month-old :)

Tonight Setri pointed at the raw chicken mum was cutting up and said "Raw chiki"! Last time we'd cooked chicken he's pointed at the chicken and asked for some of the 'ham'. We explained what it was and why we only eat it after it has been cooked- and he obviously remembered!


This afternoon we were all in the yard pottering around (or rather I was pottering while Gam and Mum did some real gardening). Setri picked up a small gardening fork and announced "Gargar. (H)olp Daddy". Ahhhhhh I just died of cute overload all over again just writing that down!!!!


Sarah: Setri, what happens to the cup of tea when we put it in the microwave?

Setri: 'Ott.


Setri was picking his nose while he drifted off to sleep tonight, something I've never seen him do before (he has stuck his finger up the 'nose hole' in both my nose and his before, but nothing more than as a basic curiosity). It shouldn't have looked so cute... He's had a very mild cold or virus over the past few days and his nose is so grotty and snotty over the last few days it probably needs a good dig around, I think it would surely be uncomfortable to have that many dried-up boogers in there! He has gotten a lot better at wiping his nose with a tissue and also letting me wipe. It used to be such an ordeal but now he doesn't mind much at all.

Setri seems to have developed an even more deep attachment to my mum just lately. He regularly goes looking for her even when I'm home, and frequently engages her by shouting "MAM-mah!!!" and running up to her with arms outstretched to give her a big cuddle. He has been leaping from my arms into hers for a bedtime cuddle too, instead of just leaning over to rest his head on her shoulder and give her a kiss. Mum loves it, and it's so lovely to see. I just worry about how sad both Setri and Mum are going to be when Mum goes back to NSW. We are all going to cry a lot, I think.

Read an interesting article about kids' screen time in the NYTimes today. Talks of an 'app gap' between rich and poor. We don't have an i-anything, but we have utilised Mum's iPhone (which she uses for an alarm clock and nothing else) as a means of bribing Setri to stay seated on the toilet during our fruitless efforts to teach him to poo there. Mostly for 'wheels on the bus' videos... We still have cause for worry about good old WOB. Setri frequently asks for WOB ("yellow buh", sometimes "Geen buh") videos first thing in the morning, which we have never said yes to. Evenings still result in tantrums if a request for WOB is not aquiesced to immediately. He hasn't had an interest in TV lately, maybe because it seems like the same thing over and over again, or maybe because he realises that he can get whatever he wants on the computer? I would say he gets quite a lot of screen time overall, between half an hour and an hour a day, but even if we have the TV on 'for Setri', he has never been the kind of kid who just sits and watches, he comes and goes and potters around. It's quite evident from the way he has picked up new words and things from TV, and when he expresses concern about someone on TV having an 'owow' that he takes an awful lot in, to the point where we do have to worry about what he sees.

I had to teach Setri the word 'dimple' tonight, after he pondered over the back of his hand, then showed me the 'hole' in his chubby little hand where the skin over one knuckle was indented :)

This is a typical conversation I've been having with Setri just lately. Tonight's version:

Setri: Zuszhi

Sarah: What? What are you saying?

Setri: Zuszhi.

Sarah: (remembering he ate a sushi roll earlier) Are you saying 'sushi'?

Setri: Yeah. Zuszhi *gone*.

Sarah: What happened to it?

Setri: Eat.



Setri has stopped replying to the question 'what's your name?'- just as other people have started asking it. If we ask, he either says something nonsensical and laughs maniacally, or gives a cheeky grin and says nothing at all. Meanwhile he can rattle off 'Gam', 'Deen', 'Lairuh' and 'Lerroll' (Gerald) in response to the respective questions about our names. He hasn't stopped saying his name ('Leh-li') altogether- e.g. if asked whether he wants mummy to do something or Setri to do it, if he doesn't respond with 'me', he will say 'Leh-li' (assuming the answer is not 'yooo' or 'Mumma').

Physically, the most noticeable change in Setri is that his stumpy little legs have been growing longer and longer. In the last week or two, Setri has developed the ability to stand on one leg unaided, which he seems pretty proud to be able to do. He can run 'properly' now, with both feet being off the ground at the same time. It still doesn't look like proper running, probably because he still has fairly chubby little toddler-legs :) He is also a little bit obsessed with jumping, but he can't quite jump. Every now and then both feet will leave the floor but mostly he winds up on tippy-toes and teetering as if he is about to fall over backwards. Gam showed him how he (Gam) could touch the light on the kitchen ceiling by jumping, seemingly sparking a realisation that jumping can be used to reach things that cannot otherwise be reached. Setri has modestly set his sights on our (high) door-knobs. He has been telling us if things are high or low, so I have been trying to explain the difference between tall and short. He already knows the difference between big and little/small. Setri surprised us the other day when our friends Nic and Liz came over for dinner and he roared like some kind of animal (one of his favourite tricks- sometimes it's a lion, a bear or a 'liger', or a 'daggo'- dragon). It was either a bear or a dinosaur that night. He told us it was a little one. We then asked him to roar like a big one, expecting the roar to be exactly the same (it was already a very impressive roar). Instead Setri let out this massive loud roar, practically enough to induce collective pants-wetting among the adults seated at the table. Clearly the boy understands a bit about the difference between big and little.

Since Setri's two poo-on-floor incidents, he has actually told us he wants a nappy on prior to doing his poos. He doesn't say why he wants the nappy, and I suspect if we asked him if he wanted to do a poo he would say no, but it's a step I'm happy with. No-one likes a poo on the floor. Night time wees are a bit of a trauma. Setri wakes and asks to wee in the toilet, but he is so floppy and sleepy that it is really a 2-person job to get him there, remove his nappy and pants and support him while he does a wee. It's so great that he tells us (he's still not dry at night, but from the look and weight of his nappies it's only a little bit of wee going in there), but so hard that he's not capable of helping us out like he does during the day.

Since my dad has come to visit, he has had a bit of a grumble about a couple of things relating to how we communicate with Setri. The first was how it was bad that we refer to incidents that result in pain, as well as the pain itself as an 'ouchie'. Apparently Setri will have to unlearn it, he will find it confusing and embarrassing one day, blah blah blah. We told dad that Setri also knows the meaning of the word 'hurt' and the word 'pain', and it's actually not confusing at all for him, but he wouldn't be convinced. The other thing dad got a bee in his bonnet about was Setri frequently asking for a 'big bit' of something. What spurred the mini-tirade was Setri repeatedly requesting 'chiki, big bit', when Gam smoked a chicken in the drum-smoker he'd just built. It was delicious, and Setri, who'd hardly eaten anything all day, was very enthusiastically consuming bits of this fantastic meal. Dad said that small children are all inherently greedy and we shouldn't give him big bits of anything if he asks for them because it only encourages greediness. I admit to having a similar preconception about small children before Setri came along, but in Setri's case it just isn't true, he doesn't seem to be greedy about anything! I know I am (!), but Setri seems to have this inherent restraint when it comes to anything edible, except maybe breast milk. I told dad that this wasn't true in Setri's case and he got quite grumpy. I pointed out that quite frequently when Setri requests a 'big bit' of something he doesn't get it, usually where doing so will result in a mess, and Setri seems to accept without fail my explanations for his receiving a smaller piece of whatever food item. I didn't think to also point out that his ability to specify verbally what food he would like and whether he would like a big bit or a little bit is damn advanced for his age and I would rather err on the side of further supporting Setri's precocious verbal development than get precious about some imagined problem with his manners based on Dad's observations of other children.



It still blows my mind to think that most kids Setri's age can't use enough words to tell their parents simple things like the water in the shower is too hot or too cold, whether the food they are eating is hot, cold, sour, spicy, salty or sweet, whether they'd like to stand in the sun or the shade, if they have an itch or an ouchie and what body part it is that's itching or hurting, that they saw a car drive up or down the street, what colour it was and if it was a man or a lady driver... Gam says to me if we had another baby there is no guarantee it would be as bright as Setri, which is true. I wonder how we would cope? We have had it very easy indeed.

Beautiful/gorgeous: A day later, he's also learned the reverse (see below) without me teaching it to him separately- I asked Setri if he could tell me a word that meant 'gorgeous', and he replied "bue-bue" :)

Such a quick learner. He parroted me when I called him 'gorgeous' earlier today, saying "gorgor", and I explained it was a word that meant 'beautiful'. Later in the day I told him he was beautiful, and he gave me a knowing grin and said "gorgor". Still can't help wondering how much of his apparent brightness for his age is just down to us paying attention to what it is he's trying to say, where a lot of people seem to dismiss their kid's attempts at communication until the child can produce perfect speech. Some kids probably just learn to stop trying.

My dad has come to stay with us again, after a heart scare. Setri actually seems to look forward to his visits these days. He still hardly talks to dad over the phone, except for 'hello' and 'bye bye', though he often spontaneously offers kisses, kissing the phone. He will answer questions about what he has been up to, etc. though.

He seems to have hit another milestone point in his verbal development. Not so much in his vocabulary, because it's so big already that there isn't a whole lot more he can learn until he starts reading, but in the way he strings 2-3 words together fluently all the time instead of a minority of the time. His pronunciation is still pretty crappy but getting better. He has started saying 'pig' instead of 'gih', and last night he said 'purple', before immediately reverting to 'lurlull'. Gam downloaded Angry Birds for him, a game he described as 'pig owow' (ouchie), which I thought was pretty cute.

Interesting, despite his obvious cognitive abilities, Setri will still look at pictures in a book and demand that they change (e.g. A light be turned on). He thinks pictures are interactive. Last night he opened an 'In the night garden' book and tried to board the Ninky-nonk by climbing on top of the book...

Toilet-wise, he's doing great with the wees, still no progress with poos. He wees last thing at night and hops out of bed and takes himself to the toilet first thing in the morning. His night nappies weigh half what they used to. He will quite happily poo on the floor if he doesn't have a nappy on, then tell us there is a mess. He won't wee on the floor. Mum bought him some undies and initially he seemed to behave as if they were nappies and do a wee in them within a few minutes of getting them on. That seemed to resolve pretty quickly though. We all wish the poo thing would!

The 80s Sesame Street song 'write it down' that Setri is so fond of singing, he moved a step closer towards proper singing when he sang "Light light light light Down" rhythmically *and* in tune!

Counted 3 again today. I was clutching some beans I had picked, and Setri pointed. "Beans. Looo". Two of the thinner beans were held tightly together, separate from the third, so I spread them apart. "It looks like two, I said, but how many are there really?". "Reee!"

I came across a YouTube video of a song for English language learners tha other day. Looks Japanese in style. It's called Good Morning. The very first time I played it for him, as soon as it finished, Setri piped up with "Good! Mormor!", and demanded I play it again. And again etc etc. A few days later, Setri said to me "Good day". And yesterday he said a perfect "Good morning" (only it was evening), and when prompted said something that sounded very much like 'good evening', and at bed time he told everyone "Good night". This morning, when Gam left for work he said "good night" to Gam! When prompted he said 'good day' instead. I find it really interesting that he managed to extrapolate a phrase like 'good day' from a song called 'good morning'. It's certainly not a phrase he's ever heard us say in greeting, although he would have heard me say 'have a good day' to Gam. As a greeting it's quite archaic.

So many words being strung together, these now form the majority of his communications. Geen bohboh (green bottle), brown zhugu (sugar), ice leam, mahmo lor (tomato sauce) etc etc.

Last night Setri parroted Gam. Gam said to Feifei "get out!" And Setri immediately started pointing at Feifei and yelping "Get out! Get out!"...And tonight Gam said to me over something "Stop being silly". I went to ask Setri something and he was grinning at me and repeating something I didn't understand at first: "Dop lilly. Dop lilly"- little monster was parroting his father again. Oh dear!

This afternoon Setri was running around with the cover of one of the Xbox games. I picked him up and we walked back to the lounge to return it. While we were there I thought I'd give him a pop quiz. "Setri", I said, "Can you point to an 'O'?". He touched the 'o' in XBOX. "*Very* good", I said. "Can you point to a zero?". Really, I didn't expect him to get it right. They pretty much look the same, they kind of even sound the same. I would think he's super-smart for pointing to an 'o' when I asked him to point to a zero. But Setri immediately touched the '0' in 360. I was so darn impressed.

Still day 1 of 18mo. Tonight while I was feeding Setri to sleep and singing songs he filched my BlackBerry. He pretended to make a phone call, saying. " 'loh... Bye", but mostly it appeared he just wanted to clutch it as he drifted off to sleep. Because I kept trying to pinch it back when he relaxed, he sat up again and spontaneously started reading aloud the numbers on the keypad. Not in any order, and his pronunciation is shite, but seriously, numbers from 0-9 and he can read them aloud. He also pointed to, and named, letters B and V. He makes my brain hurt :)

Tonight Setri and I played 'chase' for the first time. Setri went to tickle me, as is routine, and instead of submitting I announced "Run run run!" and took off (returning the favour for what he does to me when he has a pooey nappy that I want to change). Setri thought it was such great fun, I was sick of it long before him. He seemed to prefer it when I was chasing him, however. It probably appeals more to his massive naughty streak :)

18mo today. This morning Setri said "Up. Looo (you)", to indicate very specifically that he wanted to be picked up by me. This is because he's been thwarted a few times, most recently yesterday evening, when he's asked me to be picked up and someone else has picked him up instead. Yesterday Mum picked him up for me because I was gardening, and he wailed "Nooo! Mumma! Mumma! Up LEEZ!" And mum and I told him "You are up!". This morning, when I confirmed with Setri the intent behind what he had said, he repeated it in the reverse: "Loo, up". [Update: he now asks this way almost every time. Instead of asking "Up, leez", it's nearly always "Up. Looo". It doesn't sound very polite, but I can appreciate why he's doing it!