I sad

Sebbe has learned to identify "sad" - as in, when the pigeon doesn't get to drive the bus, he's sad. Or when Seb throws his doll on the floor, Pip gets a boo-boo and is sad. Or if he hears a baby crying, the baby's sad. It's his favorite new discovery. We were particularly impressed on Sunday when he was able to stop, mid-tantrum, and say, "I sad." We had taken away the computer, after the fifth or sixth time watching his favorite Ernie and Elmo singing video, and he was having a royal meltdown. But then he stopped, said "I sad", and was suddenly amenable to distraction. It was awesome. (Of course, now he says it all the time, and I'm not sure he always means it - it's his favorite new "look at me" phrase.)

He has also been demonstrating an impressive degree of self-control when he gets frustrated or angry. For the past few months, he's been lashing out and hitting us, or occasionally biting, when we try to compel him to do something (leave the apartment, get in the bath, etc.) We have told him that he can't hit, that hitting hurts people, but we weren't sure the message was getting through or that he had sufficient mental and emotional control to remember. But suddenly, just last week, he started either hitting his leg, hitting his hands together, or just shaking his hands in the air when he would previously have hit us. And then he says, "I boom". And we can talk about how it hurts your hand to hit things and how it's hard to get frustrated. It's been really an amazing development, and we are impressed. (We're easily impressed. :) )

I've posted some new pictures from October outdoor play in the picasa album.