Seb's update

Well, there are 2 aspects to Seb's update. The first is that he saw Shamu. For those of you not yet in the loop, our big boy is in Florida for a week with his grandparents as his birthday present (or perhaps it was their present to me b/c it sure is easier with just a baby!). They are spending a day at Sea World and a day at Busch Gardens (not drinking alcoholic pee water). At the former, Seb and the gang "dined" with Shamu the orca and saw him do some pretty amazing tricks (great lighting and pump up the volume music help). Seb reported that other highlights were when Gramps fed "stinky fish" to the seals and when he got to let loose the water cannons on a pirate ship.

The 2nd aspect to the update is to take stock as Seb enters his 5th year. His Nana dug out his dad's baby book and it appears that our young man might be even skinnier than his dad (where did my genes go?). Sopping wet, he might weigh 33 1/2 lbs. His Nana maintains that he is 41" but that seems a tad tall to me, so we will have to double check next week. He is still severely allergic to peanuts and shellfish, but coping well with it. His eczema is under-control, except in Issigeac where we have to wage a battle with the water. The brush this summer with asthma seems to have been a false alarm. The dentist says every tooth is perfectly aligned (how did that happen?!) And I am thrilled to say that he doesn't yet need glasses. His dad figures that he' ll have them by 8.

More importantly, he remains an incredibly chatty, creative fellow. We hoped for a verbal child and we got verbose as well!!!! He loves books and anything theatrical. His interest in knights/medieval ages/castles/dragons/weaponry is still going strong. He likes his train set, though is a bit over-focused on the know-every character-of-Thomas aspect of it. He was just thrilled by the tree dollhouse that we gave him and especially loves the pulleys and ladders, so he may be ready for meccano in '08. He is proud to be "bilingual", though I think his French is slipping as we don't use it every day.

I can't say that he loves daycare/school. He likes it some days and tolerates it on others. We often have to use strong persuasion to get him to go. Often, he just wants to stay home and play with his toys. He claims to like baking but in reality, he does it for a few minutes and then wanders away till it's time to clean out the bowl and/or eat the goods. He has a couple of friends here - a boy and a girl both 4. Each is a 5-10 minute walk away but it's amazing how even as a mostly "stay-at home mum" we have to schedule to see them.

He saves his worst behaviour for his parents (and occasionally his sister). His anger has been something terrible over the past year. He seems to have matured some in the past 2 months, certainly helped by returning to the city. He isn't hitting, though he still storms off, loves a good door-bang, and can scream till someone might think to call 911... He calls us "mean' several times a week, which usually leads to some larger melt-down (mine or his). While at the library this weekend, we checked out "how to parent your strong-willed child" books. We noticed that his ability to play by himself has really suffered in the past 6 months. That might be the fact that parents were always available over our parental leave and that he has some insecurity about the last move. He is perturbed by the fact that we are only subletting and weekly asks where we will live next. Perhaps the next move will be our last for awhile. I hope so!

I'll upload some photos soon, especially of the groovy treehouse. Plus his dad will set about editing "Seb - the 4th year" video any day. Expect it in all your stockings.

Sophie's update will be found here next week after she turns the big ONE. I'll save you all my birthday update, though I am happy to say that I weigh the same as I did 5 years and 2 children ago. Not quite the same shape though...