International, baby!

Sean's passport is here! I guess this mama's a pretty good passport photographer... or the State Department relaxes the passport photo guidelines for toddlers. Looking at Sean's shiny new passport suddenly reminded me of this commercial:

Sunday afternoon

Reading a hilarious book about froggies with Da-da.


And some deep discussion on the merits of living in a house versus living on a lilypad.

Piano Man

We took Sean to the last of the summer concert series offered by a neighboring town. And head injuries be darned, we enjoyed it! This time we saw a Billy Joel tribute band and lucky us, "Billy" showcased his talent for covering Journey and Aerosmith songs, too! With summer winding down, the sun went down a lot earlier than in June and July, so Sean was dazzled by the many planes that flew overhead, and the kids running by in their light-up sneakers, wearing glo-sticks and glo-necklaces.

Doing some "heavy lifting" - what else is new?

With the stroller he spent most of the night pushing around in the grass.

This is the view we had most often of Sean - running away, snacks in hand.

Attacking da-da on the blanket with hugs and kisses!

Whew, exhausted and ready to go to sleep!

Owie

I received a call at work from the Vice Principal of Sean's daycare this morning. The conversation started with her saying: "Sean doesn't have a fever and he's not sick BUT..." She went on to tell me that Sean fell while playing at Splash Day and got a big scrape on his head. Apparently he thought he was fine and kept on playing until his teacher took him inside to clean him up - he was not happy about that - he wanted to keep playing! All the while his teacher cleaned up his head and bandaged him up, Sean was screaming "Out! Out! Out!" Finally, the "wound" was dressed and Sean was good to go. Shortly afterwards, he enjoyed his lunch, had his nap, and went about his afternoon.

Meanwhile, I couldn't wait to go pick up Sean from daycare. I was expecting to see something like this:

(source)

But instead, I found this:
It looks like it hurts a lot, but Sean doesn't even seem to notice! Poor little buggins.

Ready to go!

While he was sleeping...

Can you tell we're clinging to the last weeks of summer? Here's another post about our stay on LBI. One day, when Sean settled down for a nap, Thom John and I left the boy in the care of his grandparents and headed out with Aunt Rachel, Uncle Peter, and Andrea on a bike ride up to the 151-year old Barnegat Lighthouse.

All smiles after 9-ish miles. Too bad we still had to climb 217 steps, go down, and ride back.From 172 feet above sea level!Cheese!The actual light - or as Sean would say, "lllll-la? lllll-la?"

It was a fun trip - I hadn't been to "Old Barney" since my Aunt Pat and Uncle Dannie took me a few years ago. When we got back, Sean was on the beach with his grandparents, so we went out on Grandpop's boat for some water skiing fun.

Morning at the beach

There's more to the beach than the beach - there's also time for leisurely cups of coffee (or milk, if that's your thing) on the deck in the mornings:

Beach baby!

We took off for a few days last week and went to Long Beach Island. Sean had a blast on the beach - he played in the sand and in the low-tide pools and he went swimming with his daddy and his grandfather. Here are some shots from the beach:

15-month check-up

Sean had his 15-month well visit with the pediatrician tonight. The wait was long, but we had fun goofing around in the waiting and exam rooms before the doctor came in. Sean made a new pal in the waiting room. A little boy kept pointing to Sean's Elmo t-shirt and saying "Elmo!" and Sean would answer back: "Mehl-moh!" When we got to the exam room, the nurse weighed and measured our boy and here are his stats:

Weight: 26lbs 10oz (75th percentile)
Height: 32 inches (75th percentile)
Head: 19.5 inches (95th percentile)
Face: Totally handsome (off the charts!)

Everything was going fine while we waited for the doctor - Sean was having fun playing with the spinning seat. Then the nurse said that Sean would need 3 shots tonight and the boy made a beeline for the door:

"C'mon mama! Let's go buh-byyyye!"

"Get your stuff, mom - let's go!"

"Fine. I'm gonna try to get down the vent" Luckily I could convice Sean to stay by letting him play with the instrument shelf: And then Sean practiced getting up on the step-stool (by himself!) and getting back down (with help) for about 10 minutes:
After receiving a clean bill of health and 3 Snoopy bandages, we headed home for a dinner of waffles and fruit. Yum!
And Sean in action:

15 Months

Seanybear, I didn't forget that you turned 15 months last Thursday! I didn't do a post because we were too busy enjoying our mini-vacation at the beach!

This month has been a busy, germy, whirlwind of summer fun.

-You are looking less like a baby and more like a boy lateley. And you are acting more like a toddler - you have the toddler scream and foot-stamping down cold.

-But you're such a lovebug. You give big hugs and kisses (muuu-ahh) freely and often.

-New words are pouring out of you everyday. Your new favorite is "baah-byyeee" (bye-bye) followed by a hearty wave.

-Your walking is certainly picking up speed and you can almost climb up onto the furniture.

-You love to help mommy and daddy carry things around. At daycare, you love to carry your bag and cup from the car, down the long hallway and into your room.

-Your palette has opened back up again - you at least try everything I put in front of you and sometimes I'm surprised at the foods you gobble down (broccoli) and the foods you reject (peaches). Thankfully you haven't noticed that blueberry season is over because you're totally into green grapes.

-MOLARS! A couple of big, bad molars have broken through your bottom gums and we think there are a couple of ones on top, too - but you won't let us near your mouth to check. I snapped this picture after trying to cut your nails (you hate getting your nails cut, by the way):

Chore Boy II

The helpfulness continues!

Opening doors (eek!)

Watering the plants Sweeping up

Kissing Pepper - I mean, putting Pepper's leash on: