Seamus Says, continued:

Meal time is pretty different with Seamus in a big boy chair, sitting right at the table.  He needs real dishes, he can see everyone else's plate and wants what we're all having (Instead of bananas and yogurt, this guy wants a bowl of butternut bisque! Try letting a one-year-old feed himself bisque!). This weekend Seamus has had a terrible ear infection (maybe it seems more terrible to me since his ear is draining so much - it is literally dripping! - and before he got tubes we couldn't see the pus and blood when he had an ear infection).  Even so, he's been a delightful dinner table conversationalist.  Last night he asked for, "More macca pease", which means, "More macaroni please!"  Full sentences!

A couple of weeks ago, right after we got back from California, we were all in the car and Seamus held his arms out to Derek and said his first full sentence, "I want my Daddy!"  Of course it sounded more like this, "I wan I Daddy".  I was impressed he got the personal pronoun correct!  Then he started saying phrases like, "Get down, Dog!"  which sounded like, "Geddow Daw!"  I don't remember Luke talking like a baby.  He seemed to enunciate and speak in full sentences right from the start.  I was so proud of his speech and thought that babies who spoke baby-talk were somehow inferior.  Now I have a child who speaks baby-talk, and I think it's the most adorable thing when he asks for his, "Soo-soo" (soother).  My how we change.  Thank God we can love our children right where they are!  And thank God I can learn to be less judgmental of other children and parents the longer I parent.

I was keeping a list of Seamus's words, but in the last few days I've sort of given up because it seems like every other minute he's repeating something someone says.  He's not quite the adorable little toy you show off to your friends and family while they're standing in the doorway wishing they could just leave but knowing they have to wait while we prod the baby, "Say buh-bye! Say buh-bye!"  He won't yet repeat on cue.  But Seamus's little morsels of conversation are so enjoyable, surprising, and precious.

The boys are sharing a bedroom in the basement now, just below Derek and my bedroom.  So each morning I wake up to Seamus humming, "Ay-ay-ay-ay", just like Luke used to do when he was waking up.  Then of course, Luke starts ungraciously shouting, "Go back to sleep, Seamus!!"  But sometimes, these days, I get to wake up to Seamus's perky little voice saying, "Guh Gor-ging!  Guh Gor-ging!" (Good Morning!).  And then Luke still shouts, "Go back to sleep, Seamus!  I'm trying to sleep!"  Sigh.  It's a beautiful life, isn't it?