Setri the two-nager

Unlike with a lot of things (most, even), Setri is very motivated to practise his French, without any prompting whatsoever. He regularly asks "What is the word for [English word] in French". He inserts the French words into English conversations with Gam and I- just now he asked me for some 'saucisse' and some 'sauce tomate', then said "Merci beaucoup, Mama" when I gave it to him.

He requests bread with 'confiture', and shouts 'attendez moi!' instead of 'wait for me!'. He also makes utterances that I recognise from the French-language cartoons he watches, but I'm not sure what they are (one I do recognise after I looked it up is 'Ce nes pas juste!'- we get that a bit if we haven't let him have something he wants. Because I don't speak French, Google Translate has been getting a workout- and my French vocabulary must have increased six-fold since Setri started watching those shows.

Then, there are the tantrums. It's as if he sometimes just has to throw a tantrum no matter what! Mostly they seem to be frustration over the silliest things. And sometimes over apparently no reason at all. And we offer solutions-  give him a choice of talking about it, asking for help if he needs it, doing something in return for the item he desires. But sometimes he opts for a tanty instead- or tells us he'd rather continue the tanty than fix the problem that caused it! Those are the times we have to remind ourselves that he is still 2 years old... He doesn't interact or communicate with us like a 2-year-old most of the time, so sometimes it feels quite confusing that he behaves in that way. But he is 2! A tantrum for a 2-year-old is absolutely normal, and I'm sure some part of him is normal for his age. Mostly he seems like a teenager, or at the very least a much older child. He is quite self-conscious, quite fond of contradicting us or telling us when we are wrong about something. Quite fond of saying crossly "I wasn't talking to YOU!" if I jump in to the wrong conversation.

As for reading- I had almost abandoned the idea that Setri would learn to read by the time he was three. But then we recently got an iPad. A month or so later and he can read a bit- he is even more familiar with which letters are associated with which sounds, can read quite a few whole words, pick which sounds make up a word. And he has also expanded his French vocabulary. Apps are awesome! It's just incredible what a kid can do when given access to a tool like this.

He also watches lots and lots and lots of 'phun car crash' videos on YouTube, which probably isn't so good but it has enabled him to ask questions about the types of music accompanying the videos. He can pick when someone is playing piano, drums, violin or electric guitar, and also a few different genres of music. Unfortunately there is some pretty crappy music accompanying some of those videos (e.g. Limp Bizkit and other crappy angry-teen type stuff) that Setri either tolerates or enjoys. However, because he is such a sweet little boy, he will often deliberately pick out videos where I have commented in the past on the pleasant music accompanying it, and tell me "I am playing this video for you, Mumma".

The questions continue. A week or two ago he asked me "Mumma, what is love?". A lot of what he asks is beyond easy answers now!

Two and a half Setri

Setri's arguing has become so much more tiresome now that he uses facts to support his arguments. Just now, he poked me with the corner of a brochure...

Sarah: Ow!

Setri: Sorry Mumma, sorry! *gives kiss*. But it's only made out from paper.

Sarah: You know, sometimes paper can be sharp. It's so fine that it can even cut your skin sometimes- it's called a paper cut.

 Setri: *Pointing to folded corner of brochure that poked me* But not this corner. This one is not really sharp, it couldn't cut you.

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Setri: Xiaoxiao has green eyes!

Sarah: Yes, she does. They are lovely, aren't they.

Setri: And Feifei has yellow eyes. There's so many different types of eyes! [rushes off to pull eyelids back and look at own eyes in mirror]

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Sarah: If we buy some mangoes we can make a mango smoothie. Mango smoothies are the best!

Setri: No, we should make a Mumma smoothie!

Sarah: What's in a Mumma smoothie? Setri: Noses, and eyes and lips, and eyebrows, and arms, and hands, and skin, and boobs! You chop it all up and then you put it all in a blender!

Errrrrgh.... He'll have written his first horror movie script by the time he's 3....
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Setri will try anything to avoid sleep. All day he steadfastly refused to do any reading exercises so he could use the iPad, preferring to go without videos rather than give in and do a few measly Reading Eggs first. 15minutes after bedtime, he hops out of bed and toddles off to the study: "Daddy, could I please do some reading exercises now?"

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 I don't think Setri actually knows the meaning of the word 'compromise', but he's made up a song, the words largely consisting of repetitions of 'No compromising', rhymed with the occasional 'No moisturising'. Neither Gam or I have a good feeling about our 2-year-old singing 'No compromising' for a good part of the day... What on earth has he been watching on the iPad while we aren't looking?!

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"You cant have the iPad and you can't have the Xbox. It's only for me, not for you!" -Setri To pinch one of Setri's favourite phrases: I doubt it, Setri!
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So, Setri climbed into a box and found himself in a bit of a pickle. It was too funny not to show Gam, and Gam ran for the camera... The picture on the right shows what happened when Setri spotted the camera....Baby Zoolander!

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Setri received his first-ever bee-sting today. In the knee. Poor little guy. Lots of ice on the knee, frozen raspberries and lollies to eat, cuddles and videos (Gangnam style I can understand, but SKRILLEX on repeat??!) did the trick. And he went to bed so incredibly early- 7.45pm! I was almost tempted to let him get stung by a bee every evening... Kidding!

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In the last week we have discovered that Setri is a massive Three Tenors fan. This is probably the tenth or eleventh time I have sat through their rendition of 'New York New York' played on YouTube through the TV this morning...

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 Just caught Setri pretending to talk on Gam's business phone (which he is not allowed to play with). Setri: Bonjour Bubu! Q'est que tu fait? [whispers] Shhhh we have to be very quiet! Sarah: Are you being very quiet so you don't get caught playing with Daddy's work phone? Come on, put it away please. Setri: I was just talking to Bubu on the work phone, because Bubu has some work to do. So I need to use the work phone. And I had to be quiet because I was very nervous of you, of you taking away the phone!

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Setri was watching French Trotro and I thought I had spotted a teachable moment to further his musical education (Trotro was a bit sad, and there was some generic 'blues' playing)... Sarah: Do you know what type of music is playing at the moment, Setri? Setri: Harmonica! I just kind of shut my mouth after that, because I had to stop and listen to see if he was correct (he was)... smart aleck-y music genre identification can come later!

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Last night Setri saw TV ads for the for the first time in 6 months. He watched an ad for Coles bread ('Coles bread is better'). Now Gam is about to go to a really good bakery, and asked us what we wanted:


 Setri: We should get some Coles bread!

Sarah+Gam: Noooo!

 Gam: We're getting *real* bread!

Setri: No, we should get FAKE bread!

According to Setri, the Coles bread "has a better crust". He never eats crusts...

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Setri is playing with his toys...

Setri: [Points to a spot on his fire truck] See this button here? When you press it it makes a siren noise! Wee-waarh-wee-waarh! And when you press this button it plays music [there is no button, siren or music].

Sarah: Oh, does it? That's nice.

Setri: Yes. Dowd plays music for all his friends. Except Daisy. She's a bit... married.

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Outside playing with Setri in his splashy-pool...

Setri: Why are you wearing this book-ini top, Mumma?

Sarah: Well, in some places it's considered bad manners for a lady to wear no top outside, including in our society. So I'm wearing a bikini top because I don't want to make the neighbours cross.

Setri: But you don't NEED to wear the book-ini top, Mumma. *Everybody* can wear no shirt!

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Our friend Nick took this photo of Setri and me at our good friends 'Auntie' Erin & 'Uncle' Luke's wedding back in August. We all had a really nice time, and Setri didn't want to leave (even at 9pm) despite not having napped all day!

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 The baby botanist...

 Setri: I'm going to draw a flower for you

Sarah: Oh thank you Setri, I love flowers!

Setri: Maybe I will even draw you a green Hellebore.

 Sarah: A what??

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2-year-old Setri

Setri was checking out a 9-year-old photo of me behind a grotty plastic window in Gam's wallet...

Setri: That's a photo of you. You look very dirty, Mama!

Sarah: It's the photo that's dirty, not me! It's an old photo. I was nice and clean!

Setri: [accusingly, points to a photo of Gam on his licence] *Daddy* looks nice and clean!

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Setri generally resists all our attempts to teach him how to read. A few weeks ago I gave him an example of how important reading can be- in order to distinguish between two identical-looking chutney bottles in our fridge... We had chutney again today, and it turns out the lesson sank in: Setri has learned how to read the word 'hot'!

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Setri, on why there could be (despite my assurances to the contrary) a dinosaur inside his boiled egg:

"It's quite a *big* egg. It could be hiding in there"

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Setri just asked "Where does ham come from?". His eyes grew a little wide when I told him, but it didn't stop him asking for a second piece...

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Setri: Can we go to the burger shop now?

Gam: How many stickers do you need to earn before going to the burger shop?

Setri: Four

Gam: You just earned one. How many more do you need to earn before we go to the burger shop

Setri: Three more stickers

Gam *secretly super-impressed*. That's right. Very good!

Setri: Can I have three more stickers now? Pleeeeeeaase?

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I just cooked dinner- can't even remember the last time Gam didn't cook. Setri just told me "That was the most delicious omelette in the whole world! That was the best thing you've ever cooked!". This was despite him telling me he didn't like half the things I was putting in it... and he probably can't remember the last time I cooked dinner :P

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I just love how the word 'rigolo' (funny/amusing/comical) has entered our vocabulary thanks to Setri and French children's TV programs.

[Setri does something inexplicably stupid/borderline naughty]

Sarah: Why did you do that, Setri?

Setri: [Slightly sheepish] It was rigolo!

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September 14. Took Setri to South Bank. Setri is to Asian tourists there what Justin Bieber is to teenage girls. And it doesn't freak him out any more, he actually seems to like being approached for photos.

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Setri is a cranky little so-and-so tonight, resulting in much hilarity...

Setri: Can I have some cake please?

Sarah: Not until after you've had your dinner. Would you like lamb or chicken for dinner?

Setri: I don't like lamb OR chicken! The lamb last night was *disgusting*!

Sarah: That's not what you said last night when you asked for more lamb!

[Setri has lamb for dinner. He asks for seconds. After dinner...]

Setri: Can I have some fizzy drink please?

Sarah: No, but you may have some cake now if you like. Would you like some cake?

Setri: I don't like cake! I only want fizzy drink! Fizzy drink is the BEST!

 

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And now he's just asked us how the electric piano works... personally I find the baby-making questions easier than that one!
 

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Setri now has a new phrase in his vocabulary: "It's not that exciting." This afternoon when we picked him up from childcare, he wanted to walk home. "It's not *that* exciting to go in the car", he told us grumpily. And he wanted to go straight home instead of do a spot of shopping: "It's not *that* exciting to go to Superior Fruit"...

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At 2 year and 5 months of age, Setri has asked for the first time "How does a baby get in a lady's tummy?"

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We were lucky enough to attend the wedding of two wonderful people this September, our friends Nick & Liz. Nick had set up a photo-booth in their house for the guests to take photos- what a great idea! Some of the nicest photos I have of Setri and Gam :)

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Setri was watching one of his (and my) favourite cartoons, Trotro. He announced that he wanted to be a 'petit champion de judo' like Trotro; the closest outfit he had was one that our friends 'Auntie' Amelia and 'Uncle' Victor had given him after their trip to Japan when Setri was a baby. Finally it fits him, and he was so happy to look like Trotro as a petit champion! 

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Setri asked to brush his hair with the new comb his Uncle Semefa gave him. Then he said "I want to take a photo and show Daddy" (who was at work). So we did :)

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These photos were taken when I worked at the baby expo at South Bank, and Gam took Setri to visit the animal farm/ petting zoo thingummy there when they came to pick me up. Setri *loves* (L.O.V.E.S) baby animals. He loved them so much that when it was closing time he spoke to the lady in charge (a complete stranger- something he never does, because he is so shy) and tearfully pleaded to be allowed to stay with the baby animals!

 

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And these were taken when we went to South Bank with Auntie Delali. Delali came from London to meet Setri for the first time, and he warmed up to her really quickly. He loved having her to stay with us :)  But despite his initial excitement about the 'big wheel' (wheel obsession = still present), he was asking to hop off by the third time around!

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Still breathing

Still alive. Still very slack about blogging. And about housework. Setri and Gam are still awesome :) The state of politics in Australia still pisses me off, even if I never get around to writing about it any more. The state of politics in Queensland is so mind-bendingly appalling it's hard to know what to say about it! I will try and get some already-written posts published soon, but as with posts for the last 2 years it's all still Setri-related :)

Setri at 23 months

Wednesday.

Setri turns 2 tomorrow. I kept him home from childcare today because he'd had more coughing fits last night and a very runny nose this morning. He's also been exceptionally cranky; last night he even woke up throwing a tantrum, shouting about putting his shoes back on. He continued to tantrum even when we explained it was night-time and that we were in bed. His wakeful period today has essentially been one long tantrum, over nothing!
I've got the bug too- it doesn't seem *too* bad, mostly a cough and a bit of sinus congestion. Hopefully it won't last long! Setri's birthday present (a balance bike) arrived today, and we bought ginger beer and stuff for making a cake. At the rate he's going, he will be drinking ginger beer and eating only ice on his birthday, poor little monster. He has barely eaten for 3 days.
We aren't having a party for him, except for having my parents present. Setri has made it clear that he likes the idea of parties, but not having extra people over(!). We thought about inviting people he would actually like to have over (Liam and baby Beau, plus parents) but decided not to. Just as well, seeing as he's sick. So we just bought him all the trimmings (party hats, streamers and balloons) to give him a little party that fits his idea of a party. We are including family by having Semefa and Dibs, Rach and Chris (plus Mum and Dad) over for waffles on Sunday. I thought some of Setri's denials about it being his birthday were probably to do with being stressed about having lots of people over. When asked who he wanted at his party he told us he wanted me, Gam and 'Grandad' (and said 'yes' when we asked if Grandma should come too). Hopefully he won't be feeling too cruddy tomorrow.

Tuesday.
Setri went to childcare today, but we ummed and ahhed over the decision because he'd spent a fair bit of time awake with coughing fits during the night. Seemed to have an ok day, but not really eating any solid food after he got home; we got Grill'd burgers for dinner and he barely ate a few bites. I knew he was sick (he denied feeling sick) when I offered him an organic prune- he is usually clamouring for prunes and more prunes! He ate about half the prune and then gave it back. He NEVER gives back a prune! Poor little guy.

Saturday.
Beautiful weather again and we spent a lot of time outside gardening and (for Setri) playing in the 'splashy pool'. Setri asked a number of times if he could "Go shee baby Beau now?", and each time he had the most beautiful, wistful smile that spread slowly over his face as he asked. As if I'm not clucky enough, seeing Setri so adorably besotted with our neighbours' beautiful newborn baby is kind of doing my head in!
Toilet-training, we seem to really have had some kind of a relapse. Setri is once again denying he needs to poo, even at home, until the very last minute, and then acting distressed and soiling his pants a tiny bit (even if he winds up pooing in the toilet). Offers of bribes seem to upset him. NFI why this has happened, as he'd made progress to the point where he was even pooing in the toilet at childcare. His poor carers!

Friday- Good Friday.
A week off hitting 2 years of age. Setri pretended to be a baby again today. He had been watching 'Pingu the babysitter' on YouTube, and was pretending to be 'Pingu's baby'. Which mostly consisted of loud wailing. I asked why 'Pingu's baby' was crying. "Sad for his mummy", Setri replied, before elaborating. "Pingu's baby sad and cry because, because his mummy gone to lurk". In Setri's world, babies are sad because their mummy goes to work. I asked him if he gets sad when I go to work, and he said yes :(
On a happier note, we got to meet Simon and Kahrin's baby today! Setri was instantly besotted with baby Beau (a great easy name for him to pronounce!). Beau is so little, only 3-ish kg, but he took a great interest in Setri, and his eyes followed Setri as Setri played with the toys on Beau's playmat. I got to have a cuddle (*swoon*). Being such a little baby he made the cutest mewling noises, and even his cries didn't really sound like cries! Setri was so good, he put his hand on my chest and said to Beau "Share-uh" (Sarah)- introducing me! I invited him to touch baby Beau's hand, which he did, incredibly gently. He didn't try to touch Beau uninvited, he seemed to instinctively know that he needed to be very gentle. About an hour after we went home he was begging to 'want to go viszhit baby Beau agayn'.

Wednesday.
We think Setri pooed his pants at childcare today, just not sure; he came home in different pants and told us he had just got water on his other ones (I took him in and Gam picked him up; carers did not mention soiled clothing, so it must still be there). They were doing water play, so his story made sense, but twice in the afternoon/evening, Setri said "No poo in your pants", and sounded distressed. He adamantly refused to sit on the toilet both times and burst out crying but the second time there was a bit of a skidmark in his pants where a bit of poo had escaped. He cried in pain when I wiped his bum and it was pretty red, which suggests he possibly did poo his pants earlier in the day and it was in his pants for a while and burned his bottom. Or that someone was a bit rough whem wiping him. A sore bum is a good reason why he probably tried not to poo again. He seemed really devastated that he'd soiled his pants. Gam and I reassured him that we were still very proud of him and loved him very much, and he calmed down.
Tonight, because he couldn't 'park car with Daddy', we went outside with him after the sun went down so he could run around and act out 'hey diddle diddle'. He puts his hands over his mouth and chuckles while pretending to be the little dog that laughs, then he runs back and forth very fast while holding out one arm to the side as he pretends to be the dish that ran away with the spoon. After he had done that for a while he decided to be adventurous/naughty and head off down the front path towards the road. He said "Yeah yeah yeah" when we said not to go there because there are big ants; only the threat of being taken inside stopped him. Then we told him he wasn't allowed down the other steps to our driveway. "No ants down there", said Setri, undermining us with our own logic.
He did something similar when we went back inside. He pretended to cut our expensive red plastic Kartell? Chair with a butterknife. "You are only allowed to cut food with your knife", said Gam. Gam pointed to a segment of orange peel in Setri's hand. "Cut your orange instead". "That not food", Setri pointed out. And he was right, the little smartarse. Why else would I have been getting him to throw the peel in the bin?
Tuesday.

Nothing special to report, other than yesterday Setri did not sleep at childcare. He's pretty much entirely kicked his day nap. Was really painful and flaky (tantrum-wise) after childcare. Apart from the tantrums he is so grown up and engaging. He uses past and present tense with only occasional mix ups -e.g. 'might broke that' instead of 'might break that'; he still occasionally says 'yesterday' for something that happened 2 days ago, but if it was more than a couple of days he will say 'a while ago'.
Gam was impressed yesterday that Setri uses the plural 'mice' and word 'mouse' correctly. He can recite even more songs and nursery rhymes off by heart and enjoys 'acting' the part of nursery rhyme or song characters.
A recent well-used example: He will crawl under a chair and say 'Pushy Cat, Pushy Cat', which is my cue to respond "Pussy cat, Pussy cat, where have you been?", to which Setri replies "I've beena Lunnon vizhit the Queen". I am of course expected then to ask what he did there, to which Setri replies "Fighten little moush under a chair!". And then more often than not we have to repeat the whole thing! Or he will say "Mouse shcared". Lol.
Another change is that he is now so fond of our neighbours 'Uncle' Simon ('Uncle Lymon'/'Uncle Shymon') and 'Auntie' Kahrin, that he eagerly leaves me behind to go and see them if he hears one of them (mostly Simon) arrive and talk to Gam. We have not yet met 'Junior', who is due home from the hospital today, but Setri seems very keen to meet him. Not as keen as me though! I am super-clucky for other peoples' babies right now :-D



Saturday.
Gam made waffles for brunch and Auntie Nicole and Uncle Dave came over. Setri was cute but not talkative. I ate waffles and was in a fair bit of pain afterwards. Gam worked all day on beautifying/landscaping our front path.
Went out to Indian Restaurant for dinner for our friend Auntie Jaye's birthday. Liam was there and was just wonderful at entertaining Setri, who had a ball.
On the way home he chatted excitedly about being in the car at night, telling us that he could see the moon and the stars, that "All the carsh have light on", and commenting that we were "In car too-gev-ah", which (once we had interpreted as meaning 'together') we found really sweet.
Have noticed over the last week or so that Setri's tantrums are getting less and less like tantrums; to clarify, there is less screaming and crying and more shouting and foot-stomping and orders to do whatever he wants 'NOW!'. Funnily enough, this would be behaviour he sees modelled pretty much every day by one of the carers at his childcare. Again, thank god she is not his regular carer (but she does supervise mixed outside time, so he sees her pretty much every day).
Instead of giving Setri quiet time, which didn't seem to work all that well, Gam now says "Setri, can we talk about this?", picks Setri up and carries him off to calmly discuss Setri's issue. This seems to work very well, but when asked, Setri did say he preferred quiet time! Quiet time seemed to result in Setri calming down long enough to allowed to head off, and like a dog to a bone he would start worrying at the same issue that had led to his tantrum in the first place. Trying to remind him it would result in more quiet time didn't work and we found ourselves spending vast amounts of time repeating the quiet-time/tantrum cycle.
Oh and Setri has become much better about saying sorry now. Don't know if this is a result of changing tack on discipline technique or of newfound maturity. Maturity is a very weird term to be using on a 23-month-old!

Friday.
Felt a lot better this morning until I discovered that the stomach bug had not left me, merely worked its way to the other end of the system. Once half the morning had been spent in the bathroom and I was sure I was in the clear, I ventured out shopping with Setri in the pram. Didn't realise just how much being sick and not eating had taken out of me and felt so weak. Plus dealing with a bit of whinginess from Setri on the way home, I was seriously regretting venturing out without Gam!
Our neighbours' baby arrived tonight- a boy. 2 weeks before he was expected (and the poor bloody things are in the middle of renovating their bathroom! They have a port-a-shower in their front yard!) Simon won't have to buy a shotgun when Setri and Junior (as yet unnamed) hit their teenage years. Hooray! Setri actually said the baby was coming today (in fact, 'now'- and he brought the subject up, too). But he also told my mum that I have a baby in my tummy. He's just a tad obsessed with babies at present.

Thursday.
This afternoon I unburied some of Setri's toys when I put some washing away. Setri insisted that 'BearBear', 'Scarf Bear' and 'Karate Bunny' be brought to him on the bed so he could play with them. Then when I needed to go to the kitchen I suggested to Setri that he bring Scarf Bear too. Setri scooped up all three toys into his arms and wobbled to the side of the bed as he said "Bring all three of them". This counting thing is getting really impressive!!!!
In the space of a week, Setri has gone from hating showers to loving them and looking forward to them. He has even attempted to take his own shirt off the last 2 days! He has instigated a ritual whereby Gam must sit on the toilet, place Setri on his knee, then take off his own shirt. Then Setri gets undressed and hops into the shower with me while Gam takes off the rest of his clothes.
Tonight, Setri spotted a red mark on Gam's chest. "Red mark on Daddy'sh chest", he said anxiously. We reassured him it was ok. Still, Setri insisted on leaning forward, framing the red mark between his index finger and thumb, and peering at the mark with a frown. "Doc-tir Shetchi", he announced very seriously. After another minute of serious scrutiny of Gam's 'red mark', Setri leaned forward and gave Gam's chest a kiss and gam a big hug. "Daddy o-kay now", he said, beaming.
While 'helping' Gam outside, Setri referred to himself as a "good help-er".
Wednesday.

I've had some sort of stomach bug since Monday evening. Thankfully Setri is ok. Gam has been brilliant at taking care of him so I can rest. And thankfully Setri is way better at entertaining himself these days. He has been doing a lot of counting without prompting, not just reading numbers or reciting them.
Yesterday he got out his 'My first numbers' book (bought at Lifeline Bookfest when he was ?9 months old) and was counting the pictures of objects on each page- right up to 9. That's not something we do with him with any regularity, because he has never had any interest (unless it's objects that he can have rather than pictures in a book, smart boy!). He has developed this interest in counting by himself.
Another thing that impressed me recently was Setri's memory. We did some letterboxing for the Greens prior to the election, and Setri had a nice time helping us put leaflets in peoples' letterboxes. About a week after we did this letterboxing, I was walking Setri to childcare. Setri pointed to a group of letterboxes outside a unit complex we had letterboxed and said "Daddy put leaflet in that letter box". He kept this up for a bit, alternately specifying which ones Gam had done and which ones he, 'Shetchi' had done. As we walked up a little side-street closer to childcare, Setri pointed at yet another letterbox. "Who did that one?", I asked, "Was it you or Daddy?". "Mumma did that one", said Setri. And I think he was right! I can't say for sure because there is no way I could remember who did which of the 200-odd letterboxes we put leaflets in, but when he mentioned it I *did* remember doing that one, because there was no footpath and I was carrying Setri for safety.
He also tells me funny stories from childcare more often these days. Quite a lot of them seem to involve affectionate naughtiness for his beloved Miss Nusrat. Yesterday he told me he was "shwinging off table at childcare", and "Miss Nusrat shed 'Don't do that again!'". The other day it was "Run away without your hat on! Miss Nusrat said 'Come back 'ere! Don't do that agayn!'". Yesterday he told me that he loved 'Gracie', that she was his 'girlfriend', that they swung off the table together and that Gracie also likes pretending to "crawl like incy wincy spider". Apparently it was also Gracie's birthday, she turned "2 months old" (LOL!) and everyone got some cake. I love his stories!
This morning he told me "Miss Susah-nah got bee in her 'air yehyerday. Very shcary". He has been saying that a lot of things are scary lately. He was giving a fan in Bunnings a kiss and a cuddle in Bunnings the other day, and a moment later- I swear it was the same fan- he was acting terrified and telling me "That fan very shcary!". He clung to my legs and we had to move away from the fan. He then told me he was scared because the "fan talk to you (me)". When I asked what the fan had said to him, he told me it had said "Hello". Terrifying! I would have thought he'd enjoy being talked to by a fan, seeing as he loves them so much. He has also told me he is "shcared of the shky", and "shcared of dead thing" (including dead flowers).
Toilet-training has been going immensely well. Apart from last week's stomach bug where he seemed to have lost some control over his bowels, he has a perfect record of pooing in the toilet! He seems to have gone off the potty- he told us "potty give you owow", but has been letting us know he needs to use the toilet before it becomes a matter of urgency, which is just great. He also did another poo in the toilet at childcare, which sent Miss Nusrat over the moon (finally an end in sight to changing someone else's child's pooey pants- I think I would be over the moon too!).

Monday.
Setri has outgrown pretty much all his old pronunciations. Even 'pizza' is now "peetsha" instead of 'mimi'. 'Spicy' is 'maishy', so half-and-half old and new pronunciation. Haven't managed to get any of his 'proper' talking on video. It's quite cute, he enunciates some words ever so carefully. 'Butter' is a good one, no hint of the Australian laziness in his pronunciation. When I ask him if he wants butter or ajvar relish on toast, I probably pronounce it more like 'budda' if I'm in a hurry, whereas Setri will primly reply "ButTER".
He appears to have another mild cold, mostly consisting of a runny nose. On Saturday he slipped over on some puzzle pieces that he had refused to allow me to put away ("playing with puzzhool", he insisted every time I tried). He put his tooth through his bottom lip, right before we were due to leave for our friend nicole's baby shower. He was a bit too sore to eat solid foods for the rest of the day.
Friday.

No tantrums 2 days in a row. Setri is almost always lovely to be around when he's not been to childcare these days! Do recall a recent-ish weekend where pretty much all of either Saturday or Sunday was tantrum-filled though, so it's obviously not the only thing.
On Wednesday evening and throughout Thursday, poor Setri experienced horrible poos that burned his bum and made him semi-continent. After changing two pairs of pants within a couple of minutes on Wednesday evening I realised something was wrong and stuck Setri in a nappy. Poor little guy needed me to hold him and give him a cuddle while he pooed, which he did very frequently, including one at night- can't remember the last time that that happened, and it all made me VERY THANKFUL that we are not still changing nappies on a regular basis! As much as I have been complaining about the stupid amounts of time spent toilet training (or rather being manipulated into staying at home for longer in the mornings before childcare because "I need to poo in potty"), it's way better than having an untrained kid!
Today Setri was being extreeeemely cute, and also told Gam he loves him. Gam jokingly told Setri the other day that men don't hug each other, so to be like a man, Setri shouldn't hug him after saying "I love you Daddy", and should fold his arms across his chest. Today Setri did this dutifully without being told, and nodded his head, confident he'd done things the manly way. Arms folded against chest, Setri then leaned in and gave Gam the cutest little no-arms hug I've ever seen.
After another episode where Setri was pulling out all the stops to be really really ridiculously cute, Gam asked him what he thought he would get out of it. Setri didn't miss a beat when he replied "Eat bacon at coffee shop"!
"Need to put a battery in there, make it work"- Setri said that about a battery-operated frog-shaped back massager he had been playing with. As far as I remember, the last time that thing had batteries in it, Setri had barely started talking!?

Wednesday.
This morning Gam confirmed that he's been thinking exactly what I've been thinking: that Setri's beloved 'Miss Nusrat' might be pregnant. If so, that will mean that she won't be there by the end of this year! Ohhhhh I hope we are wrong! Setri loves her so much. He talks enthusiastically about Miss Jodi and 'Miss Suze-ah-nah' but I think 'Miss Nusrat' is so special to Setri that we are going to have real problems getting him to go to childcare when she is not there. Setri has eaten a proper breakfast the last 2 days in a row, which is good. He pretty much never eats breakfast normally. No tanties this morning, a nice change from yesterday afternoon.

Tuesday.
The 40-odd minutes of time-wasting as a result of Setri insisting he needed to poo in the potty/toilet this morning turned out to *maybe* have been worth it- I phoned childcare to check on him and they told me he'd pooed in the toilet! Kind of betting it was just a bit escaping when they sat him on the toilet (which is better than nothing) rather than him actually voluntarily pooing on the toilet at childcare (which seemed quite a way off), but hey... Progress, however small, is progress. (Update- it was a REAL poo, not an accident!)
These days Setri likes to negotiate. We started it, with "If you do poo on potty you can do/have X (be it a food bribe or- more often- a YouTube video". Well Setri has kind of turned the tables and now every time we ask him to do something he finds unpleasant, he negotiates. He pipes up with "Do X, watch bus video!"
He has also started contributing to stories and nursery rhymes. For example, I was reading 'This little piggy went to market' to him this morning. The illustrations are of the various pigs. The one going to market is carrying a basket, the one eating roast beef is seated at a table with a napkin tucked into his collar and a meal of roast beef in front of him. "This little piggy went to market", I read. "That little piggy go to Lool-lurth", said Setri, pointing to the picture. "Look at big fan!". Which just happens to be what Setri loves to do when he goes to Woolworths...
This afternoon and evening were almost one long tantrum. Over mostly very small, nonsensical issues. Repeated bouts of quiet time did not do the trick. On one occasion I overheard Gam requesting that Setri not do something again, and Setri sassing him by yelling "Yeah yeah yeah!"! It was so bloody draining. But Gam and I figure if we sort it out properly now then we hopefully won't have to deal with it in the future.

Friday.
I felt a lot better this morning until I discovered that the stomach bug had not left me, merely worked its way to the other end of the system. Once half the morning had been spent in the bathroom and I was sure I was in the clear, I ventured out shopping with Setri in the pram. Didn't realise just how much being sick and not eating had taken out of me and felt so weak. Plus dealing with a bit of whinginess from Setri on the way home, I was seriously regretting venturing out without Gam!
Our neighbours' baby arrived tonight- a boy. 2 weeks before he was expected (and the poor bloody things are in the middle of renovating their bathroom! They have a port-a-shower in their front yard!) Simon won't have to buy a shotgun when Setri and Junior (as yet unnamed) hit their teenage years. Hooray! Setri actually said the baby was coming today (in fact, 'now'- and he brought the subject up, too). But he also told my mum that I have a baby in my tummy. He's just a tad obsessed with babies at present.

Thursday.
This afternoon I unburied some of Setri's toys when I put some washing away. Setri insisted that 'BearBear', 'Scarf Bear' and 'Karate Bunny' be brought to him on the bed so he could play with them. Then when I needed to go to the kitchen I suggested to Setri that he bring Scarf Bear too. Setri scooped up all three toys into his arms and wobbled to the side of the bed as he said "Bring all three of them". This counting thing is getting really impressive!!!!
In the space of a week, Setri has gone from hating showers to loving them and looking forward to them. We ALL have to shower at the same time. He has even attempted to take his own shirt off the last 2 days! He has instigated a ritual whereby Gam must sit on the toilet, place Setri on his knee, then take off his own shirt. Then Setri gets undressed and hops into the shower with me while Gam takes off the rest of his clothes.
Friday. No tantrums 2 days in a row. Setri is almost always lovely to be around when he's not been to childcare these days! Do recall a recent-ish weekend where pretty much all of either Saturday or Sunday was tantrum-filled though, so it's obviously not the only thing. On Wednesday evening and throughout Thursday, poor Setri experienced horrible poos that burned his bum and made him semi-incontinent. After changing two pairs of pants within a couple of minutes on Wednesday evening I realised something was wrong and stuck Setri in a nappy. Poor little guy needed me to hold him and give him a cuddle while he pooed, which he did very frequently, including one at night- can't remember the last time that that happened, and it all made me VERY THANKFUL that we are not still changing nappies on a regular basis! As much as I have been complaining about the stupid amounts of time spent toilet training (or rather being manipulated into staying at home for longer in the mornings before childcare because "I need to poo in potty"), it's way better than having an untrained kid! Today Setri was being extreeeemely cute, and also told Gam he loves him. Gam jokingly told Setri the other day that men don't hug each other, so to be like a man, Setri shouldn't hug him after saying "I love you Daddy", and should fold his arms across his chest. Today Setri did this dutifully without being told, and nodded his head, confident he'd done things the manly way. Arms folded against chest, Setri then leaned in and gave Gam the cutest little no-arms hug I've ever seen. After another episode where Setri was pulling out all the stops to be really really ridiculously cute, Gam asked him what he thought he would get out of it. Setri didn't miss a beat when he replied "Eat bacon at coffee shop"! "Need to put a battery in there, make it work"- Setri said that about a battery-operated frog-shaped back massager he had been playing with. As far as I remember, the last time that thing had batteries in it, Setri had barely started talking!? Wednesday. This morning Gam confirmed that he's been thinking exactly what I've been thinking: that Setri's beloved 'Miss Nusrat' might be pregnant. If so, that will mean that she won't be there by the end of this year! Ohhhhh I hope we are wrong! Setri loves her so much. He talks enthusiastically about Miss Jodi and 'Miss Suze-ah-nah' but I think 'Miss Nusrat' is so special to Setri that we are going to have real problems getting him to go to childcare when she is not there. Setri has eaten a proper breakfast the last 2 days in a row, which is good. He pretty much never eats breakfast normally. No tanties this morning, a nice change from yesterday afternoon. Tuesday. The 40-odd minutes of time-wasting as a result of Setri insisting he needed to poo in the potty/toilet this morning turned out to *maybe* have been worth it- I phoned childcare to check on him and they told me he'd pooed in the toilet! Kind of betting it was just a bit escaping when they sat him on the toilet (which is better than nothing) rather than him actually voluntarily pooing on the toilet at childcare (which seemed quite a way off), but hey... Progress, however small, is progress. (Update- it was a REAL poo, not an accident!) These days Setri likes to negotiate. We started it, with "If you do poo on potty you can do/have X (be it a food bribe or- more often- a YouTube video". Well Setri has kind of turned the tables and now every time we ask him to do something he finds unpleasant, he negotiates. He pipes up with "Do X, watch bus video!" He has also started contributing to stories and nursery rhymes. For example, I was reading 'This little piggy went to market' to him this morning. The illustrations are of the various pigs. The one going to market is carrying a basket, the one eating roast beef is seated at a table with a napkin tucked into his collar and a meal of roast beef in front of him. "This little piggy went to market", I read. "That little piggy go to Lool-lurth", said Setri, pointing to the picture. "Look at big fan!". Which just happens to be what Setri loves to do when he goes to Woolworths... This afternoon and evening were almost one long tantrum. Over mostly very small, nonsensical issues. Repeated bouts of quiet time did not do the trick. On one occasion I overheard Gam requesting that Setri not do something again, and Setri sassing him by yelling "Yeah yeah yeah!"! It was so bloody draining. But Gam and I figure if we sort it out properly now then we hopefully won't have to deal with it in the future. Monday. Setri only wanted to eat coconut rice for dinner last night. He woke with a temperature last night a bit after 2am and didn't go back to sleep (he was happy and talking) til nearly 4am. Temp was fine in the morning and he seemed ok. Although he said "Don't want go to child care today", we figured he was probably alright to go, and dropped him off after letting his carers know to keep an eye on his temperature. Phoned childcare and they reported that he had been a bit sad all morning and his temperature had been cycling between normal and 37.6. He has developed a runny nose. We will probably keep him home tomorrow even though it means me taking more time off work. Don't want to repeat mistake of last time he was sick when he begged not to go to childcare and we sent him anyway, and it was only when we caught the cold ourselves that we realised just how sick the poor little guy actually was. Better to let him sleep in and have lots of boob and he will hopefully get better quickly. - He was actually pretty fine when Gam picked him up. Had not soiled his pants at childcare. Was keen to get home. Threw lots of very long, pointless tantrums all afternoon and evening. Claimed to need to do poo, then would refuse to take pants off, then say yes to taking pants off, then no, then yes a few seconds later. One would think he was enjoying messing with us but for the fact he actually seemed quite unhappy. We popped next door to visit our neighbours Simon and Kahrin. They are living elsewhere for a few weeks while their bathroom is renovated, but were checking its progress. Kahrin invited Setri to climb in Simon's truck. I'm not sure I've ever seen Setri so smugly happy! Kahrin asked if the seats were comfortable. "Jus OK", said Setri. But when we asked him to get out he insisted 'stay in!' and I worried we were going to cop a meltdown. He didn't, thankfully (or Kahrin would never have made the mistake of inviting him back, I'm sure!). Kahrin and Simon's baby is due in a few weeks. Just before we left our house to visit them, Setri had been playing with 'Lambie' (a toy that they gave him as a baby, incidentally). Lambie has a bit of a protuding gut, and splayed limbs. "Lambie have very big tummy", said Setri. "Baby in there! Baby hiding". And with that he covered his eyes with his hands, his sign for 'hiding'. So cute :) Saturday. A few things worth remarking on. Setri has been going through a 'selfish phase' (hope it's a phase!) where he has become reluctant to share things with us, even to the point where he'll tantrum if we insist. Even ridiculous things like objecting to me sharing one of the TWO weeding tools he was holding, and me rinsing my fingers under the tap that he was using. It's probably a very adaptive response to childcare, but it's not exactly nice. I think we are all dealing with it ok. There are times when it's reasonable for Setri not to share, and there are times when it's not reasonable for him not to share. We deal with each as appropriate. Simultaneously, we have heard 'do by shelf!' a lot more frequently lately. He is definitely cultivating his independent streak. Setri hasn't pooed in his pants at home all week. Jellybeans and Wheels on the Bus videos combined appear to hold sufficient currency to induce him to go on the potty. Appears to be making further progress language-wise. Tonight he said "Daddy ish a good szhing-ger". He also pointed to Gam's phone when I was using it and said "That not Mummy's phone, that Daddy's Black-Ber-ree". He has been using the words 'good' and 'great' to describe YouTube videos according to how much he likes them. We have so many pregnant friends right now. Setri has been told about the babies lurking in various big round tummies. Earlier today we were lying on the bed and Setri flopped down on top of me and hugged me around my waist and said "Get in your tummy". I told him that 'baby Setri' (this is how he refers to himself as a baby) was in my tummy once but "You're too big!". Setri adopted an anguished look and bunched his body up over my tummy. "Very shmall!", he insisted. Gam came in and Setri repeated the whole thing. Gam asked Setri did he know that he had once been in Mummy's tummy. "Yeah", said Setri. Then he said the strangest thing... "Go for shwim in Mummeezh tummy." That is a really weird thing for him to come out with. Certainly no-one has explained to Setri that babies spend their time floating around in amniotic fluid- he hasn't even got as far as asking about how babies get out of one's tummy yet! Tuesday. This afternoon when we went to pick Setri up from childcare he saw us at the fence. We told him to go and meet us at the stairs (the entrance to the outside area), while we entered through the building to go and pick him up. When we disappeared around the corner he obviously panicked, because his happy little face was tear-streaked by the time we made it in! I picked him up for a cuddle, which irritated Gam because he has a policy of not picking Setri up while at childcare (obviously I don't share this policy!). When I put him in the car, Setri started throwing a tantrum, screaming and sobbing "Go back to childcare! Go straight back to childcare NOWWW!". He did it allll the way home. Gam blamed my giving him a cuddle! Setri did poo his pants at childcare but came home and did poo in the potty- he let me know both times. The second time he said he'd done poo in his pants but needed to do poo in potty- it turned out he hadn't pooed his pants and he'd told me just in the nick of time. He had jellybeans as a reward for the first poo (actually I gave him a couple in good faith just for sitting on his potty), but he didn't ask for any the second time around, so there was no bribery. I did let him watch numerous Wheels on the Bus/Hjulene pa Bussen videos though. He needed a shower this evening, and Gam helped with that but I managed to wash Setri's hair on my own. Setri throws tantrums before every shower because it involves taking off his clothes. He was quite happy to run around naked for a while afterwards, which is a step in the right direction! He is still going to bed quite late (8.30pm... It's better than 10pm...) but seems to be well and truly in a routine of napping at childcare. Nusrat told Gam that Setri just mucks around until he falls asleep by himself. Monday. 23 months! Numbers. Setri can count up to ten without reading the numbers, and regularly does it to show off these days. It kind of backfires, because frequently I'll have asked him to count the number of some object and he'll keep going. He recognises numbers well into the teens, but as far as actually counting objects goes I'm pretty sure he only has a grasp up to about 5. Last night I had him mucking around on the piano and I asked him to play certain notes (e.g. Can you play a 'D'?), and he did, getting it right first time each time before mucking around and playing many other notes. Could have been a fluke, but maybe not. I actually thought I had a video of him at the piano reciting the letters A-G several times then stopping but refusing to tell me if he was trying to recite his alphabet or the notes on the piano- haven't been able to find it though. Mostly I can't get him to do anything much on video, it's almost as bad as if there were someone else in the room, Setri just instinctively knows that there'll be someone else watching! He did it again tonight. He singled out 3 notes in a row upon request. I got excited and called Gam in, whereupon Setri completely failed to repeat the performance. He tried- it actually looked like he *cared* about impressing Gam, and he was a bit upset when he didn't get the right notes. Gam praised him and thanked him anyway. He came home 'unsoiled' from childcare today, again. He had also had a really good day. He told me when I arrived, shortly after Gam, "Had a nice time at childcare". He didn't ask to be picked up, and he refused cuddles, which is a first. But I just *know* that's because Gam put some words in his ear before I arrived! He did a poo in his potty tonight, and we rewarded him with jellybeans (I'm so proud of him for loving the black ones- it's one of the few ways he takes after me!). Setri started using the word 'being' tonight. "I'm being Incy Wincy Spider", he said when an Incy Wincy Spider YouTube video played over the TV. "Climb up water spout!" he said, clambering up the back of the lounge. "I'm being Peter Rabbit", he said, when that video came on. "Peter rabbit got something in his ear" (and indeed, while the lyrics speak of a fly on the nose, the muffinsongs Peter Rabbit gets a hypno-fly in his ear and appears to have some kind of major fit). Then the song called 'Hello' came on. "I'm being Hello!" Setri said, trotting up and down the lounge, emulating the cartoon girl in the accompanying YouTube video. Er, *nearly* got that concept, then! Tonight Setri threw a massive tanty when I took off his dirty shirt, so he had to go for 'quiet time' in the study with Gam. Once he had agreed to put on his shirt, he was allowed out. Gam told him that he had to say sorry to me for throwing a tanty, and Setri adamantly refused. When offered a choice of saying sorry or sitting on his own in the hallway, Setri chose sitting in the hallway. After about 2 minutes he caved and came after me. I asked him to say sorry for the tanty and he said no. I asked him did he feel that it was unfair that we made him change his shirt, and he said no. I asked him did he feel it was unfair that we were asking him to apologise for the tantrum, and he said yes. So Gam and I sat with him in the study while Gam explained very nicely that saying sorry is not just about how one feels, it's also about how you have made another person feel. He again asked Setri to apologise. Setri said no, but then mumbled (looking down at his feet!) "Szhorry Mumma". It was a pretty sullen tone he took, but after 10-15 minutes of tantrums, negotiations and gentle explanations we got that apology! It's weird, although Setri is developmentally far ahead of other kids his own age in a lot of ways, it didn't occur to us that he might be significantly ahead emotionally- I guess it falls under emotional development? It's not the sort of interaction you'd expect to be having with a kid who's a month off turning 2...

Setri at 22 months

Sunday. I can't remember exactly which day it was, but about a week ago was the first time I had the feeling that Setri is not my baby any more. It wasn't a bad feeling, but I had to admit to myself that he is 100% little boy now. He is still breastfed, he is still loving, affectionate and slightly clingy, but there is nothing baby about him. Even snuggled in my arms when he is sleeping, he is no baby. He is an amazing little boy.

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Friday. Setri was telling us (again...) "Setri have no boob!". I said "Do youknow *why* you have no boobs?". "Bohy", said Setri. "Bohy have no boob. Girl have no boob!". "Yes, that's true. But girls grow up into ladies, and ladies have boobs. Do you know what boys grow up into". "Bohy grow up inna man... Men!". "That's right!", I said, expecting to leave it at that. "Szetchi grow up, have boob", Setri said. "Oh really?", I said (only slightly worried!). "What are you going to grow up into, Setri?". "Grow up inna man", Setri said confidently. Hopefully the having boobs thing was just one of his jokes!

Shopping at Woolworths this afternoon, Setri spotted a little boy from childcare in the trolley being pushed by his mother. They were going in the opposite direction. "Aarav from childcare" said Setri, pointing. "Go straight back!". So we went to see Aarav. He's a little hyper boy. Setri waved and said hello to Aarav, while Aarav shoved a large grocery item in his mouth and barely seemed to register Setri's presence. Aarav's mother was very friendly and polite about it all.

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Thursday. No more poo dramas at childcare, Setri came home clean the last 2 days, and Nusrat doesn't seem to particularly want Setri sent in pull-ups. So we figure screw the wishes of a rude lady who doesn't often look after him anyway!


When watching YouTube videos Setri has taken to saying "Watch(ed) this one before" if he has already seen it too recently for his liking.

His reading is coming along great, we have been using starfall.com and it is brilliant. Setri doesn't like it anywhere near as much as YouTube videos but it helps him learn about the different ways that letters can be pronounced, as well as capital vs lower-case. The other day I pointed out the word 'go' to Setri somewhere and asked him what it said. Wasn't really expecting anything because the only words he recognises are 'Setri', 'Daddy' and possibly 'Mummy'. But Setri scarcely paused before he said 'go!'.

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Tuesday. Stayed home with Setri cos we were worried about his barking cough. He is definitely not sick and pretty much didn't cough all day but he definitely enjoyed his day off from childcare. He kept proclaiming "stay home lit Mumma and Daddy tomorrow!", and I kept having to gently remind him it was not the weekend and he would be back at childcare.

Setri now knows the whole list of actions involved in cooking something in the microwave. He likes to carry a dish to the microwave for me, open the door, push the dish inside, press the numbers that he can reach (he can only reach 8,9 and 0), then press start. He knows which is the 'start' and which is the 'cancel' button; he cannot reach the 'quick start' button that I use, so when he is 'helping' me I ask him to press specific numbers. When the microwave cycle is finished, he loves to open the door, but we have long worried about this and drummed into him that he is not to touch whatever is in the microwave because it will be very hot. He has taken to running and getting a pot-holder, because he knows these are used to carry hot things. I worry that the next step will be some kind of attempt to use the pot-holder to remove hot items himself, so still keeping a very close eye on him.

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Monday. Went to pick Setri up from childcare today and neither of his regular carers was there. 'Miss Nusrat' had finished her shift at 3pm and I guess 'Miss Jodie' must've been off sick. The toddler room was being staffed by 'Miss Jo' and a casual with a soft voice and a hard-to-pronounce name that I found impossible to catch last time I saw her. Setri had pooed his pants *4* times that day, because he had obviously been trying (and failing) to hold in a poo. 'Miss Jo' spoke to us very rudely and told us she had better things to do all day than change Setri's pants and we had to put Setri in pull-ups from now on. That would not be a problem at all except for the fact she was extremely rude in the way she said it. Gam was similarly short in his response (which was that we had been told to send him in pants because he wears pants at home, and this was the first we'd heard of bringing Setri in pull-ups so for her not to be rude about it). She had the hide to tell him something along the lines of "Don't take that tone with me". I quite shocked by the way she spoke to us, and we were both contemplating making a complaint about it. We asked Setri (keeping in mind the other day he'd said something that led me to believe he didn't like her- I wasn't actually aware of who 'Miss Jo' was at that time, however). Setri said Miss Jo was good and that she should stay, so I think we will not complain. Gam and I have resolved that we will pick Setri up slightly earlier so he won't be in the care of Miss Jo whenever we can help it, and if she is put in permanent charge of any room that he is in we will change childcare centres. Miss Jo gave us something that resembled a smile and said possibly the least sincere 'Have a beautiful day' I have ever heard as we left. I couldn't blame her for feeling cranky (although she wasn't the one changing Setri's pants, the casual girl was!). Setri's horrid new habit of holding in his poo (only at childcare now, thankfully) only to have little bits leak out- well I said *I* was at my wits' end the other day! But to have that annoyance spill over into rudeness when she turned a perfectly reasonable request into a downright rude order was pretty unprofessional. Gam said he'd pointed Miss Jo out to me before as the staff member who had the worst style of communication with the kids. I do remember him telling me about one who seemed to shout 'No no no!' all the time, but I didn't pay much attention because she wasn't employed in the toddler room (so I thought!).

Setri started wheezing and developed a barking cough when we put him to bed tonight, and was snoring after he fell asleep. Hope he's not getting sick.

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Sunday. Something I've noticed lately is that Setri *really* resists saying sorry sometimes. Not for something simple like when he's accidentally hurt someone. More complex situations when he feels he's in the right, even when saying sorry would be an easy out. This morning, for example, he whinged and kept demanding "Pull my nappy up" after I'd put it back on after his wee in the morning. I'd pulled it up all I could, and I got sick of his whinging, so I took the nappy off and put pants on him. He threw a massive tanty. Eventually he decided he wanted something, and I said "but first you have to say sorry for throwing that tanty". "No", said Setri. I repeated this several times, and all Setri had to do to get whatever it was he was after (I forget what it was) was say sorry. A very token 'sorry' was all that I required! Each time he said "No!" as if he was so sure he was in the right and that he had been hard done by. In the end actually wondered if maybe I needed to talk over the whole thing with him (in hindsight, yes!), but eventually he said a sullen "sorry". I guess regardless of how advanced he is in some ways I still expect interactions like this to be very straightforward, none of that hard parenting stuff yet. I think that is about to start.

This evening Gam told me he had a glass of beer and Setri asked to taste it. Gam said no, and Setri said "Do poo in potty, tate beer", in an accusatory tone. We have had conversations like that before, but never with Setri referring to our past statements in a way that sounded like he was accusing us of being liars or backing out on a deal!

Setri has also gotten more physically adventurous in the last week or two. He has always enjoyed being a 'baby daredevil', but limited himself to stuff like jumping on the bed or lounge, 'jumping' over things on his trike, and climbing up on the back of the lounge if he is doing it by himself. Lately he has been full-on running up and down the lounge at speed, and saying he is going to 'jump off' the lounge of the bongo. He has done it a few times but doesn't appear to know how to jump and land with both feet. He sort of takes a big step down more than a jump, and it nearly always throws him off balance- it's a worry! Going on past form, he has probably seen bigger kids pull this stuff off at childcare and wants to try it himself. A few months ago he learned to swing from a bar after seeing a 3yo doing it at the park. The other day, Gam encouraged him to ride his trike down our slopey front path and driveway, and Setri had this look of sheer maniacal glee plastered all over his face. I didn't like that look one little bit!

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Friday.

Sarah: I love you, Setri.
Setri: I love you Mumma. Mumma very nice lady. Lady have boob. Men have pee-peen.
Sarah: :-o LOL


Thursday. Setri pooed in a nappy this morning. He didn't poo yesterday except for a little bit that escaped, and I was worried that if he kept holding it in he would get constipated. He said he didn't want to poo in the nappy but he was adamant about not pooing in the potty either. Wondered if he might have been a bit traumatised by Gam getting mad at him yesterday when a bit of poo escaped on a (thankfully plastic) chair. Thankfully he decided it was ok to do it in the nappy this morning and at least a day-and-a-half's worth of poo came out, so no medical worries. He then lied about wanting to poo on the toilet a few minutes later, as a stalling tactic pre childcare, but we let him sit there for a little while anyway.

Wednesday. Tried the 'need do poo' thing again this morning before childcare. Gave him 15min but nothing. When we got him off the potty he yelled "Do poo at home! No poo at child caaare!". When we went to dress him he yelled "No mants! Leave mants off!", which is unusual! Just stalling for time. Once we got to childcare he didn't cry when we dropped him off. Quiet acceptance.

Just remembered something Setri has been doing lately. Re wheels on the bus/hjulene pa bussen, he obviously knows words from both the norwegian and danish versions. Problem is, I know only a few verses of the norwegian one. So when Setri perfectly recites a verse from the danish version and then demands "Mumma, sing", I'm in a spot of bother- he thinks I can do it, but I can't! His absolutely spot-on pronunciation makes me feel that language classes of some sort are an absolute must, but his childcare doesn't offer anything like that.

When Gam got home today and came to the bedroom, Setri spontaneously said
"I love you daddy", and toddled over to give Gam a cuddle. *dies of cuteness overdose*

Tonight while going to sleep, Setri started poking Gam with his foot. "Setri, don't poke Daddy with your foot", I instructed him. "Poke Daddy with your hand", Setri said, miming jabbing a finger toward Gam. I gave Setri a look that said 'don't even think about it'. Setri said, solemnly, "Daddy shed no".

Setri has lately been commenting when he has drained a boob, either pleading "More boob milk come out?" or telling me "No more milk in there". I wonder if my supply has adjusted down or if it's a blip due to me being sick, or whether it's always been this way and he just feels the need to mention it now?


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Tuesday. In a repeat of yesterday's events, Setri said he needed to poo almost immediately after we got up this morning. He sat on his potty and refused to get off for half an hour, pleading "Poo come out! No poo at child care". He didn't, so we took him to childcare. Apparently he pooed 3 times at childcare - we had only packed one spare pair of pants and one nappy (because he comes home clean 40% of the time and having pooed *once* about 60% of the time). Poor childcare workers. It must have been a case of Setri having accidents while trying to hold in a poo all day, though, because when we got home he asked to sit on the potty, then did a full-size poo. We're kind of at our wits' end!

Other than that he has been great today. No 'quiet time' needed, been very good and cheerful.

His favourite carer, 'Miss Nusrat' was away yesterday and today, and this morning he was quite upset about the idea of going in to childcare while she was not there. He also told me he didn't like 'Miss Jo', that she was gone and he didn't want her to come back, despite him having mentioned her in what I thought was a favourable light? Then this evening he said "Miss Nusrat like me. Miss Nusrat very nice lady"!

Also this afternoon he spontaneously said "I love you Daddy" and gave Gam a cuddle. When I practically melted into a pile of goo, Setri turned to me and put his arms around me and said "I love you too". Later he also said "Give Mumma a big 'ug" and gave me a massive cuddle. What a lovely little boy he is!

This evening while he was playing at the sink and pulling at a cupboard door blocked by the chair he was standing on, I told him he shouldn't pull at the door because he might hurt himself. " You wouldn't want an ouchie", I said to him. Now, can a 22mo child adopt a sassy tone and gaze? Because that's what Setri did. "Yeah?", he said with a smartarse stare. "Yeah want owow".


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Monday. Poo dramas all morning before childcare, basically one long tantrum... Bit of poo in pants at childcare, and they said when he woke up there was another little bit of poo part-way out of his bum. Because he'd been holding it in :( He was still holding some in when we got home, because there was a tiny stain in the fresh pants. He cooperated and sat on the potty twice, producing a tiny bit of poo each time but insisting on getting up immediately afterward each time. Then did just as much again in his pants a short time later. FML can't believe I'm talking so much about poo again nearly 2 years after he was a newborn, who would have thought such a capable little boy would make a huge issue out of it?!

This morning I told Setri that Gam was sick and he said. "Daddy need medeh-shin. Haf be go to dok-tir."

This morning was also the first time that Setri has not shed a tear when we dropped him off at childcare. He looked a tiny bit sad, but also like he was accepting something he knew was inevitable, and settled down to wait out the day. Apparently he played with a 'junior kindy' boy for the first time today, during the mixed time outside.

This afternoon, Setri came up behind me and gave me a big cuddle from behind, resting his head on my shoulder. "Mumma vehveh nice lady". Awwwwwww :) The last couple of days he has been calling me "Mummy" a lot and it feels weird. Sort of like an influence from childcare. I much prefer 'Mumma'!



Think I have mentioned that setri has recently developed a 'thing' about taking off his clothes. Well, tonight he did his regular stand-on-chair-play-at-sink and got water on his shirt. As is usual, he prempted me saying anything by pleading "Leave that shirt on?". He hurriedly went on to mime picking dirt off his shirt, saying "Pick dirt off, throw it in bin. Byebye dirt! Shirt nice and clean now!". Nice try, Setri!



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Sunday. Was talking with Gam earlier and marvelling again over Setri's use of language. The way he talks about past, present and future. The way he sucks facts up like a sponge and spits them out again months after we've moved on and assumed whatever we told him was a bit beyond him. He uses idioms. He learns pretty much everything from YouTube videos and the occasional activity with us; there is no way he will sit down at our request to engage in a particular activity.

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Saturday. Have been sick w Setri's cold last cpl days. Assume/hope it is. Setri is almost better, still bit of a cough. He's been good yesterday and today- no childcare seems to make a big difference in behaviour. This morning he asked for boob and I told him he cld have boob if he told me a word that started with M. "Mumma!". So then I asked him what letter the word 'boob' starts with, hinting 'buh-buh'. "B!". We've started using online learn-to-read tools on starfall.com for when Setri hasn't yet pooed in toilet/potty. He doesn't really like it and would rather have videos of songs but he does pay some attention.

He has chattered a LOT about childcare the last cpl days. From what I can gather, a girl called Yasmin has pulled Setri's hair and hurt him but she is still his friend, 'Miss Jo' (not 'Miss Jodi) patted him to sleep on Thursday, and also ate a sandwich in the kitchen (and there was a fan in the kitchen that was going round at the time), and a girl called Maggie needed her shirt changed. The latter conversation went something like:
Setri: Maggie get all dir-tee. Maggie took shirt off at child-care.
Sarah: Oh. Okay. Did Maggie take her shirt off or did someone else take it off for her?
Setri: Mih Jodi take shirt off. Maggie have no boob.
Sarah: That's right, she's a little girl, little girls don't have boobs.
Setri: Only lady have boob!
Sarah: Yes, that's completely right.
Setri: Maggie get all dir-tee. Maggie need new shirt. Maggie have no boob!
Sarah: Yes, Maggie has no boobs.
Setri: Szetchi have no boob.
Sarah: Yes that's right, you have no boobd because you are a boy. Only ladies have boobs.
Setri: Maggie kai(cry) for shirt.
Sarah: Oh, poor Maggie. You know-
Gam: You know when someone is sad you can give them pats, right?
Setri: Yeah.

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Wednesday. Ohhhh the tantrums are So. Much. Worse since Setri started going to childcare. I think this morning's (PUT MANTS ON!) effort is the longest tanty he's ever engaged in. He kept it up for a solid 5 minutes *after* Gam took him to the study for quiet time. We are so knackered because Setri's coughing fits kept us up til well after midnight last night. Not his fault, poor little monster. He also begged and begged and begged to "Tay 'ome". I feel like I'm coming down with a cold and I hope to god it's the one he already has and not another one that will come on top of it and make him even sicker.

Hehe just remembered something Setri did the other night. He told me he wanted chicken for dinner. "Chicken?", I said. "We have some of that leftover Greek chicken and olive thing". "Chicken in bag", said Setri. He was specifying that he wanted one of those roast chickens from Woolworths!

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Tuesday. Setri managed another day yesterday without soiling himself, but kicked up a right royal stink when we brought him home and took off his pants because he hadn't yet pooed. "Mants OONNN!!" is a common refrain being wailed around the house these days. What's with his insistence on wearing clothes ALL the time? We have always let him run around naked at home. Now he will make a mess on his shirt and he'll immediately look anxious and say "Not change this shirt. Leave this shirt on", and have a complete meltdown if we even hint at changing it at any point, even if we say he can leave it on until bedtime. Anyway, once his tantrums about not wanting to use the potty and wanting pants on was all over and the poo done with he was quite happy and delightful for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately once in bed he had a couple of really bad coughing fits and threw up his dinner all over the bed :(

He pulled another sneaky poo almost as soon as we got home today, before we even took his pants off.

Worse, his cough has been bad all day- noticeably so to his carers at childcare. Apparently he had quite a happy day again at childcare but coughed a lot and didn't eat much. He ate noodles and some vegies when we got home but then didn't eat dinner. He has been coughing a *lot* this evening and since we put him to bed he has been awakened by horrible coughing fits several times. Going to take him to the doctor, but I suspect there is nothing that can be done. Worried he might puke on the bed again too, the coughing gets so bad at times.


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Monday. Something I've noticed lately is that Setri uses the words 'buy' and 'bought' correctly. He has also started using location words like 'top' and 'bottom' but he will sometimes mix up the words that come prior, e.g. he might say 'down top' when he means 'up the top'.

Pronunciation is quite good most of the time, but a few of his favourite words are still stubbornly mangled, despite them being so simple. I tried getting him to say 'fan' the other day, and he said 'f-f-LAN'. 'Pizza' is still 'mimi' (I suppose just as well or he would be pronouncing it the same way he says 'penis'- 'pipi'!). I reckon I will miss 'mimi' when he starts saying 'pizza' properly! He can also say 'pl' and 'bl' and 'br' sounds properly; He says a perfect 'please' nowadays, and also says 'ankyou' instead of 'ahnk-oo'.


As far as his reliability in telling me about his day at childcare goes, 'friends' and all, yesterday he told me he had green milk at childcare. He ignored me every time I asked him about his day, and eventually came out with some jokey crap about drinking green milk. Sooooo. Guess I'd better take that one with a grain of salt!

Tonight when watching a Wheels on the Bus video on YouTube, Setri spied a Fisher Price toy bus that plays 'WOB', identical to one he has: he piped up "That Szetchi'sh!". Lol.


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Sunday. He woke up SO incredibly chirpy this morning he was a joy to be around. Since then there have been tantrums and I'm thinking an early nap is in order while Gam goes out to see a client. Lately Gam has been scooping Setri up and taking him for 'quiet time' in the study whenever Setri throws a tanty. Setri has taken to wailing, somewhat ineffectually, "I'VE CALMED DOWWWN!!!" In an effort to convince Gam to let him go.

Went to visit our lovely neighbours this evening. Setri was pretty much mute but loved being there and kept showing off, especially for Kahrin.

Tonight, as we are in bed, Setri started talking about a -supposed- boy at childcare- I couldn't pick the name- whose he said is his friend! I hadn't even asked him anything about childcare. He told me they run around and play chase 'just like Mikey', that 'Mikey' is also a boy and his friend (I don't know why but I pictured Setri having mostly girl friends). He also told me that Miss Nusrat "use watering can to clean up weewee outside". Wonder how much is true?


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Saturday. Setri still managed to sneak poos today. The first was outside, the second was after we had returned home after going out, so he had pants on. Grr.

Couple of things he said today, the first while he was eating some leftover chicken from friday night's 'Greek' chicken and olive stew:

"Ta(s)te like pork"
"That one have brownie bit. Don't like brownie bit" (the chicken was coloured from the red wine in the sauce, and had been browned before putting it in the stew- I expected the red wine to be a selling point but he still wouldn't eat it). Never heard him use the term 'brownie' before! It's not something we'd say, but it works pretty well, I guess.

Also today I had a massive de ja vu when he was playing with a ball of his. He was talking to himself, unaware that I was watching. The ball is a hard plastic cage with a smaller red ball in the middle that contains a bell. One hemisphere of the cage is yellow, the other purple. He was turning the ball one way then the other, viewing the red ball in the centre through the colours on the outside, and saying. "Purple not look vehveh good. How about yellow? Yellow look good". Well, ok... I don't know, maybe he has done something similar in the past?

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Friday. We have resorted to a 'no pants while at home' policy, as Setri keeps trying to sneak poos in his pants. Living in a constant state of paranoia. That said, we can comfortably leave him without a nappy on at night. Have to count one's blessings, eh?!


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Thursday. While he was 'helping' me make coffee, Setri said "I go childcare, Daddy pick me up soon". Shortly after that he had another episode of "Don't want go childcare" before we even left the house, but after a talk and cuddle with Gam he was good to go. So much so that when we got to childcare he opted to get down by himself instead of being passed to a carer, and his lip quivered when he said goodbye but he was very very good.

Another thing we were doing this morning, something Setri started doing last week and I can't remember if I wrote about it: singing "Old McDonald" with someone else's name in place of McDonald. When Setri came up with the idea the other day he was singing "Old McJojo" (Jojo being what he calls 'Miss Jodie' at childcare). This morning he asked me to sing 'Old McNusrat' 'Old McJodie' (saying it properly now!), 'Old McSetri', 'Old McMumma' and 'OldMc Firetruck' (a reference to 'Dowd the Firetruck'- Setri's name for a red firetruck toy)... I did a lot of singing this morning! Another thing he did was spot a toy hippo pushcart-thingummy we had left outside after playing with it yesterday evening. "That my thing!", Setri said excitedly, pointing to the cart. I am so used to him mixing up his personal pronouns and have only heard him use the word 'thing' a couple of times before, so I didn't understand him at first. I'm pretty sure his use of personal pronouns has improved just recently.

Ok, few hours later and I'm certain. After childcare he said "I see fan over there!". Setri's carers both told me that he had a very happy day, and was actually laughing, running around happily outside, and playing with other children. Plus he was singing at some point, Nusrat told me. She said again most emphatically that he is a very good boy. Apparently Setri had a wee accident today though- Nusrat was on her lunch break and Setri must have been waiting to tell her he needed to wee. When she came in from her break he came straight away and grabbed her hand and immediately weed on the floor.

Another alternately fun-filled and horrendous-tantrum-filled afternoon followed. Also Setri keeps being very obviously just about to poo in his pants (insisting 'maybe laylay'- i.e. later) right up until he either poos in them (once this afternoon) and getting very distressed because the poo didn't listen to his instructions, or finally acquiescing and letting me take his pants off and sit him on the potty (once this evening). He then did half a poo, insisted he was finished, then sure enough a few seconds later he very nearly pooed on the floor until I whisked him back onto the potty. Sigh.


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Wednesday. Childcare have obviously changed tactics at nap time at our request, thank heavens. Setri was asleep at 8.30pm last night, the last time he was asleep that early was when he was sick a couple of weeks ago. His horrible cough has gotten worse so he had a bit of a disturbed night and actually slept in until 7am!

Leaving for childcare he was very good. When we got to childcare and stopped the car he started crying and saying "Don't want go child care! Don't like child care! Don't like child care!". Poor little man :( We explained that he has to because we have to go to work, but that there were only 2 more days at childcare- today and tomorrow- and then he doesn't have to go for 3 days. It calmed him down a little bit, but he was still pretty sad as we took him in and said our goodbyes.

Tonight I thought he seemed ready for a nice early bedtime. It was only 7.45pm when he appeared to be a little tired and cranky, after "One more leez" YouTube video (said while holding up one finger), we took him off to bed. 8.32pm and I'm still in here with him, although he's obviously ready for sleep. Gam just came back because Setri requested his 'drinkie', and asked Setri if he would like a nappy on. Setri said yes, and while Gam was getting his nappy he started tugging at the tip of his penis. "Got 'luff on there", he said. "Do you have fluff on your penis?", I asked. "Got fluff on there one night", Setri clarified. It's true- a week or so he did have some kind of fluff on there one night, and it wasn't until the morning that we managed to remove it. That's not particularly interesting; what's interesting is that he said 'one night' instead of 'yesterday', which is his default way of talking about anything that happened at some point in the past. I'm impressed!

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Tuesday. The first words Setri uttered when he woke were "Not go to childcare yet. Go in car to childcare szhoon". When I confirmed that yes, this was the case, his face fell. He apparently had a bit of a sad day yesterday because there were 3 new kids and their crying seemed to make him a bit sad. He said something about the food at childcare this morning and I said "Do you like the food at childcare?". "Ye- No!", he replied, catching himself out. We found Xiaoxiao in the garage this morning and let her out, so that is a relief. Setri had noticed her absence and seemed a bit worried by it. He asked me to read to him this morning, which is an old delaying tactic, but I did anyway because he doesn't ask for it often and I'm pretty sure they don't get read to at childcare (Setri never mentions it, and he can give a fairly detailed account of what they did, what he ate and what songs they sang- and who sang them). What else can you do for a 22mo kid who knows the entire alphabet, all the numbers from 0-12 (and possibly more, but there aren't many kiddie YouTube videos of counting songs that go past 10)? He seems to recognise certain words too (especially his name), and routinely tells us his scribbles are a 'D for Daddy', 'M for Mumma' or 'Eh for Shetchi'. Not that he scribbles or draws that much- despite having ready access to crayons and paints (!) he only does it a few times a week on average.

This morning he also used 'a' (the indefinite article) in a sentence for the first time. I forget what the sentence was, but it was only really noteworthy for the 'a'.

This evening (after not pooing at childcare), Setri pooed on his potty. But he has developed a horrible habit of doing half his poo in there, then exclaiming excitedly "Poo in there! Put that in toilet", and toddling off to the toilet carrying his potty. When we suggest that maybe he should wait and finish his poo he insists he is finished- and of course a few minutes later the rest of it arrives. Worse, today he wanted to look at the poo while he was doing it, so raised himself off the potty slightly for a better view, and got poo on the back of the potty as he did so *shudder*. When the first poos in the potty went so perfectly I wondered how anyone could complain about how much they hated potties compared with the toilet- all the cleaning etc. "What cleaning?", I thought "There's practically nothing to clean!". Famous last words, eh...

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Monday. Horrendous tantrums this afternoon. The sort of tantrums he throws after a day at childcare are like nothing we ever saw before he started there- the sort of meltdowns that go on for minutes, where Setri can't be rationalised with, can't be induced to talk about things. Gam has been picking him up and taking him for 'quiet time' in the study, where Setri usually calms down after a couple of minutes but often remains fairly flaky for another few after that. No idea what could be causing it- his carers (and even the 'chef' lady who does the catering and sees him a fair bit because the kitchen looks out on the toddler room) describe him as 'very good' and 'quiet', 'gentle'- all of which I would agree with, except that after he spends a day there the description seems so much less apt!

Xiaoxiao hasn't made an appearance this afternoon/evening. I really hope she is ok. Feifei seems lonely (usually it's Xiaoxiao who's the clingy one looking for Feifei). Setri loves both cats, and I worry when one doesn't show up for even a half hour, let alone a whole evening. We had some rain and light stormy weather this afternoon so hopefully she is just hiding out.

Setri has named more of his cars. We have known about 'Nan the car' for a while, now there are 'Dat' and 'Dart' as well. 'Dat' is a bit confusing, I always think he is referring to 'that' car!

His language development is so far along now that my inadequate education in grammar has left me short of a vocabulary to describe what's going on. I'm providing little examples here and there but I'm no longer really painting an adequate picture (plus it's harder to remember longer sentences and write them down later!).


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22mo today (Sunday). Uncle Semefa and Auntie Dibs are coming over to have waffles for brunch with us (they haven't met Rich and Cil before).

Setri freaked out when he saw Semefa. Again. Happy to give Dibs a kiss. Semefa is a huge guy, and I suppose maybe he does look very intimidating to anyone who doesn't know him very well! It's been nearly a year since we last saw them, which makes us a bit slack :( He sat with me and ate some waffles, then went to play by himself, but he had a massive freakout when he needed to poo, wailing "Maybe later! Do poo later!", because he didn't want to do a poo when Semefa was here. Didn't want to do it in the bathroom, didn't want to do it in his pants. The poo started to come out anyway and Setri got very distressed; he just would not calm down. It took Gam to hold him upright while I got his pants off so we could clean him up, and now Setri and I are in bed (despite Setri claiming he wanted to "Go back out there"). Setri clearly needs a nap. So that breaks our 'winning streak' of no soiled pants or nappies for 4 straight days. Never seen Setri freak out like that though, he really didn't want to poo in his pants, which is a great, welcome change, I suppose! We are going to 'Auntie Rachelle' and 'Uncle Chris'' house later so Rich and Cil can see it. One of Chris' brothers will be there with his wife and 2 kids, and our second(?) cousin Will (who we barely know) will be there with his wife. So a big day for Setri. Gam is dreading the drive out, but I think that's mostly because Setri screamed nearly the whole way last time (it was about a year ago, maybe more).

Chris' brother wasn't there, but his wife and kids were; their 19mo daughter was friendly and behaved quite cutely. It was interesting to see that when she wanted food she simply toddled up to her mother and chirped "Mummy!", her mum would pop a spoonful in her mouth and away she would go. Very unlike Setri in her communications. Setri was very shy but he had fun.

Forgot to blog about Setri's cute playing this morning. He had a couple of match box cars, some bigger cars and a toy tractor on the lounge. "Car at car park", he said, clutching two match box cars. "Haf be stop now". Shortly afterwards it was "Car at red light. Haf be stop agayn. Light turn geen! Go car go!".