Some Favorite Things

Matthew with his dog and wearing his construction jammies

I feel like nothing much has been going on here. Scott has been hard at work since his boss and one of his other co-workers are gone for a few weeks. Scott has to do their jobs and his own while they are out and it's keeping him very stressed and busy. I've been resting and not doing much in an effort to try and prevent myself from going into labor early, since my midwife told me at my last appointment that things are starting to move along and I could go into labor at any time. I really want to last until my mom gets into town this Friday (she is coming all the way from Rhode Island, poor thing). So I've been resting at home a lot, which makes for a boring time for Matthew I think...and nothing interesting to write about. So, here are some Matthew stories from the past month or so, some of his favorite things and words he uses right now (plus some completely unrelated pictures). Sorry, it's probably not too interesting, but soon we should have some more to write about. :)

Two Tired Boys

Singing in Church A few weeks ago at church, Matthew sat on Scott's lap during the opening hymn. Usually he just sits there or tries to squirm away, but today he decided to join us in singing. He looked at the hymn book and made his little singing sounds right along with us except they were very LOUD and conspicuous. Of course, he made up his own words and tune too. It drew a little bit of attention, but I thought it was more funny than anything. After the song he folded his arms nicely for the prayer. It was cute. AMEN Before most meals, Matthew will fold his arms and wait for the prayer. Sometimes in the middle of the prayer (if he thinks it has gone on too long) he will loudly and emphatically say "Amen", maybe as a signal to Scott and I to wrap things up.

My Nose

Recently Matthew discovered that his little fingers are just the right size to fit inside his nose. He is more fascinated by this than anything. He doesn't try to pick his nose, he just puts his finger up there and runs around the house. Sometimes he'll come show me how nicely his fingers fit inside. I don't have any photographic evidence of this, because I figured it was best not to encourage this behavior...but sometimes I just can't help laughing.

Hanging out on the Couch

Dinner Time

I've been finding it hard to get Matthew to try new foods. He's just a typical picky toddler, I guess. But despite his general refusal to try anything new, we still sit him down with us for dinner and feed him small bits of what we are eating. He doesn't get a special meal. In general he'll pick through it and find the fruits he can recognize or the piece of bread and eat those, while rejecting everything else. I've gotten used to it. However, lately he has surprised us by not only trying some new things, but apparently enjoying them too. I made Quiche Lorraine (with Swiss cheese, onions and bacon) a while back, thinking he would probably just poke at it with disdain (as is his custom). While Scott and I were gobbling our food he actually picked up a piece of quiche and tried it. We try not to make a big deal out of whether or not he eats the food, so we watched hopefully out of the corners of our eyes and surprisingly, he didn't spit it out AND went back for another bite. He kept eating it and I kept giving him more as he asked for it and I think he ended up eating more quiche than I did. It was great. Last week we had steak and I cut some up into little pieces and put in on his plate, thinking there was no way he would even try it. Again he surprised us and tried the steak...and liked it. I kept giving him more and more pieces of it and he ate them right up. He ended up eating a pretty big portion of it. He's also since eaten pork chops, taco meat and sausage. I think he may even have accidentally eaten a few vegetables. The night we had tacos, I gave him his taco deconstructed; the tortilla by itself, the pork filling, cheese, and pineapple salsa filling all separate. He watched Scott and I put our tacos together and then tried to put his together also. He held the tortilla in one hand and tried to place all the parts inside and eat it. It kept falling apart, but he was very determined to do it the "right way." It was cute.

Matthew finds a chocolate muffin!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I think it's interesting what things Matthew likes. Right now he really likes dogs, airplanes, cars, trucks, motorcycles and construction vehicles. I'd never really told him about any of those before he started showing interest in them (except dogs). He has just seen them out in the world and decided they were neat. I thought it was amazing that he could make the connection that the airplanes he sees flying in the sky are the same ones he saw on the ground when we saw the big static displays on the 4th of July. I was all ready to explain to him that the big airplanes on the ground were the same ones he saw flying around, so I asked him, as we saw them, where the airplanes are. He just pointed at the big airplanes on the ground and made a sound as if to say, "right there, mom." He already knew it. He always surprises me by how quickly he picks up on things. He likes anything with buttons, as probably a lot of toddlers do. He loves the computers, any remote control, phones and the DVD player especially. He also likes going outside and swimming in his wading pool and going in the water at the beach, although he does not like getting sand on his hands. He doesn't like his hands being dirty, unless it's with food. He doesn't like getting sand, dirt, paint or marker marks on his hands and he'll stop what he's doing until I can clean his hands off. He doesn't mind cracker crumbs, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, cheese sauce or anything else he can eat being all over his hands though. He also likes brushing his teeth.

Matthew goes on a "sandwich rampage"

What's Your Name?

We've been trying to get Matthew to say his name. We'll prompt him by saying "What's your name?", or "Can you say Matthew?"...and invariably his response is "Daddy." I guess he thinks his name is Daddy? He used to say "Mama" but now it's kind of turned into "baba" but, of course, he says "daddy" perfectly. He has also started saying "Gup" all the time. I think it came from him saying "cup" but it definitely has a G sound on the front now. He will walk around the house saying "Gup Gup Gup Gup" which is kind of weird.

Matthew and his playgroup friends

Some of Matthew's words: Aw Duh - which means "all done". He uses this to signal the end of a meal, that he is done playing with something or that he wants to go play somewhere else, like upstairs on the balcony where his pool and water table are. Cacker - Snack or cracker Wa Wa - Dog (or motorcycle) Hey-Co - Helicopter Ap-po - Apple Bye Bye - bye bye Hi - hi Daddy - daddy (which he says very well...this was his first word and he's had a lot of time to perfect it) Eh-Bow - elbow (sounds a lot like his word for apple) I go - I'm going somewhere Baw - ball Chee - cheese Key - keys Wah Da - I want that or what is that? Uh oh - uh oh Cup - cup His longest phrase is probably when he says "I go bye bye"

He was saying this to everyone at Scott's office the other day as he ran around exploring. In his mind I think it's two phrases...."I'm leaving now" and "It's been nice talking to you, goodbye."