Update on Christmas Toys

The lollipop is no more - dropped on the kitchen floor and shattered into a million pieces.

We went to Wally World to buy some plastic foods for Matt Matt and Ree Ree to play store with - she bought him a toy shopping cart for Xmas. We also picked up some nice, thick whiteboard markers for him - he has been using our thin ones and couldn't get the caps off easily. And then we spotted it - the toy camera. He's been DYING for one since we took some pictures a few days ago and has been toting around James' Nikon D40, which seems like a pretty bad idea. So we've been on the lookout for a toy camera. He's already taken over 100 pictures and that was only about 40 minutes of playtime. He's SO pleased with himself when he takes a picture of something, so all of his toys have been documented so far. As I said - look out, Annie Liebovitz.

Christmas!

Matt Matt was super excited last night, hopping up and down on his mattress and singing, "I love Santa, yes I DO!" It might have been the sugar rush from the homemade chocolate cupcakes we had to celebrate Daddy's Christmas Eve birthday (35 this year!). He was primed when he came downstairs this morning for presents. This is the reaction shot:

The first thing he spotted was the trike, and he wasted no time climbing aboard and riding off. He handed me the helmet but he ended up wearing it most of the morning, even when he wasn't riding. In fact, it took a bit of convincing to get him to not wear it for his nap.

Yes, Mommy is still in her pajamas! What of it?

Then it was alternating bouts of ripping the wrapping off of still more presents and wandering off to ride the trike some more. Even though he and Ree Ree have been practicing pedaling for weeks at the Big Toy Store (a. k. a. the huge new Toys R Us in Allen), he refused to pedal it. Maybe because he was barefoot and the pedals have little bumps on them to help the grip. Anyway, he got a ton of good stuff that he was pretty damn happy about. A big red firetruck from Grandma and Grandpa in Georgia:


Lots of plastic toy cars from Cars (or Car Movie as he calls it). Daddy is cutting them out of the hermetically sealed plastic and Matt Matt is telling Mommy that he got "lots and lots and lots and LOTS" of cars.
He also got an easel, complete with a personal message from Santa Claus. He wasted no time getting going with this toy, too:


But the one that he smiled the most about was the lollipop ("Big as Matt Matt's head!)


But wait, that's not all. There was a very nice top from Auntie Holly and Uncle James, and a Leap Pad with Cars and Dora books (Mommy was excited about that one - yay for educational toys!) and about 8-10 books.

After the unwrapping came the Christmas movies that Mommy bought on DVD a few years ago. Movies from her childhood - the Rankin/Bass Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman - including an odd Frosty Returns feature with John Goodman as Frosty and narrated by Jonathan Winters (who's no Jimmy Durante). Daddy napped on the couch, conserving energy for the Big Dinner he'll be cooking tonight - prime rib, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes with plum pudding and custard to finish. Yum!

After Matt Matt goes to bed, the feature movie is going to be Casino Royale, so we can make sense of Quantum of Solace. We went to see it on Tuesday and couldn't remember the details from the first movie, and it turns out that would have helped to understand the early action in the second.

Christmas 2008 - two thumbs up from Matt Matt!

Lollipop Monster

Matt Matt is a lollipop monster! He first heard about lollipops in The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Dr. Seuss' ABC book, and on his quilt that Grandma sent to him for Christmas two years ago. He was VERY interested in sampling said treat, so he managed to convince Ree Ree to buy him a lollipop and now he is an ADDICT. Every 5 minutes, he asks for a lollipop or tells me that Ree Ree said he could have one. Aigh! But on the upside, I can now see which of my genes got selected - the sweet tooth gene. (sigh...)

We sing the Lollipop Song (remember that one?) but of course it was (ahem) before my time so I don't know all the words, but Matt Matt doesn't care - he just sings "Lollipop, lollipop, pop, pop, POP!" And then leaves sticky handprints everywhere.

Say cheese!

Matt Matt found this vintage Fisher Price camera I had bought at a Goodwill store like 10 years ago and just loves playing with it. He also likes playing with James' nice DSLR as well. He took a bunch of pictures - Mommy:


and Daddy:


and Grandma and Grandpa:

and the TV (oooh I want a Blackberry Storm!)

and the ceiling fan:


and the carpet:


Look out, Annie Leibovitz.

Thanksgiving

This morning, I was telling Matt Matt all about Thanksgiving. I told him how Grandma and Grandpa are coming to visit and Daddy's going to cook a big meal, with a turkey and cranberry sauce and stuffing and roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. Mommy's going to make pumpkin pie and apple pie and our friends Mig and Becky are going to come play with Matt Matt. He was VERY excited - "Matt Matt eat turkey all up!" Well... we see about that, my little vegetarian. You have yet to find meat that you find tasty. You used to eat meatballs but now? Not so much. :-) That's okay, we know you like Yorkshire puds and roasties, so you can stick with those. And Mommy'll probably put some carrots and dip on your plate too, since you like them and they are (gasp!) good for you too.

We are also probably going to try to go see the ICE! show at the Gaylord Texan if we can get tickets. (Still need to look into this!)

Mommy, I can't keep helping you with these things...

In an effort to get Matt Matt to learn his ABC's, we tend to sing the ABC Song to him a LOT. He'll participate if you pause and pretend like you forgot the letters. So I sing "A, B, C, D..." and he'll fill in "E, F, GEE!" and so forth. Pronunciation's all over the place, but he's pretty much got the order down pat, not too shabby for 2 1/2.

Well, yesterday, he'd obviously had his fill with the ABC Song, because when I paused after D, he said, "Mommy sing ABC song all by herself. Matt Matt no help Mommy any more." I about died laughing. The way he said it was classic, like "Jeez, Mommy, you need to get with the program and learn these things! I can't keep helping you out like this all the time."

Who likes Peanut Butter?

Matt Matt does.

Emergency Surgery for Purple Kitty

Purple Kitty required emergency surgery the other night to reattach a severed limb and close a gaping wound in his neck, brought on by an enthusiastic walloping from Matt Matt. It didn't look good for our feline friend...





Dr. Mommy got out her needle and thread and sewed Kitty back up...


just in time for another walloping from Matt Matt. Poor old Purple Kitty.

Happy Halloween

Matt Matt Kitty Cat wishes you a Happy Halloween.

Matt Matt looking at his imaginary friend

Matt Matt making goofy faces at the Arboretum

Matt Matt and the Big Wheel

Out and about tomorrow

We're busy having the house re-roofed (damn hail!) and they work on Saturday, so we are going to be out and about for most of the morning, and hoping like hell Matt Matt can nap with the hammering right over his head. (He did a decent job of it today). We're going for breakfast at my favorite b'fast chain, IHOP, and then down to the Dallas Arboretum to see their Halloween setup. Wish us luck!

Naughty dum dum!

Matthew's been sick the last few days, but he's obviously feeling better this morning, because I heard him shouting at his pacifier (James calls it his dum dum since they call it a dummy in England and the nickname stuck) which obviously fell out of the crib.

"Dum dum! Get in my mouth! Get in Matt Matt's mouth! Naughty dum-dum. Dum-dum on floor - get in my mouth!"

Matt Matt says

This is more for me to remember in the future than anything else, but I have to write down some of the stuff that Matt Matt says these days, because it cracks me up.

Me: Matt Matt, what do you want for dinner?
Matt Matt: Mommy on bread! Mommy on toast! Eat mommy all UP!

Ethan and Aiden bought Matt Matt a "Puss in Boots" (from Shrek 3) for his birthday this year, but Matt Matt calls him "Kiss in Boots" and corrects me when I call him Puss in Boots.

My iPod is called Mommy's iPop and I also get corrected for calling it an iPod. "No, Mommy. iPop!"

Every cat he comes across (live, stuffed or drawn), he points at it and says, "That kitty cat loves Matt Matt." Same for dogs.

Riding the "bike" (scooter) at the pond

Just hangin' out in downtown McKinney

Chocolatey chops!

Dear Aunt Tarah

Matt Matt loves his kitty cat tail and ears!

Conversation

(while changing diaper first thing in the morning)

Me: Did you have a good night's sleep, young man?

Matt Matt: Not young man!

Me: You're not? What are you then?

Matt Matt: Not young man. Matt Matt Mommy's cutie pie.

Me: Awwww... you are my cutie pie, indeed.

Matt Matt: Pie! Cutie Pie! Matt Matt Cutie Pie!

*pause*

Matt Matt: Matt Matt go play cars with Ree Ree. Mommy go away.

Quick update

Matthew has been discharged from speech therapy. Miss Stacey felt he was at par with his age group and was doing just fine. He's using nice, long complicated sentences now. I am thrilled. Actually, sometimes I wish he'd pipe down a bit. He doesn't like that Ree Ree and I have a chat when I get home about how his day went, so he shouts, "No talking! No talking" over us. Makes me laugh.

Play ball!

We decided kind of on a whim last night to take Matthew to go see his first baseball game - the Frisco Roughriders were taking on the Midland Rockhounds at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in the final game of the AA season (before the majors expand their rosters to 40 players for September and all the "good" minor leaguers are gone). Our friends Seth, Jess, Ethan and Aiden joined us on San Juan Hill - the outfield grass seats. Matt Matt watched for about 2.3 seconds then told Daddy he wanted to go "far away" and walked off to have a wander around the stadium (yes, James went with him.)


Of course, because Jess brought Aiden's stroller, we spent 90% of the time doing this:

I wanted to get a shot of the two of us, for posterity:

The fireworks they set off when Frisco hit their only homerun surprised Matt Matt and he kept looking around wondering if it was going to happen again, so we quit while we were ahead and called it a night. On the drive home, Matthew kept saying it was dark out and he couldn't see the trees - we figured out he'd never seen a night sky that he would be able to remember since he goes to bed so early. :-)

Trapped by an oak tree

The day before we leave, I'm packing my suitcase in the bedroom while Matthew naps in his Pack N Play in the bunkroom, and James is watching TV or playing videogames. I'm looking out this window, when I hear a loud groaning sound and see an oak tree very slowly and gracefully fall over and block the driveway.

Thankfully, the neighbors were out on their porch at the time and heard it too. I heard someone say, "What the hell was THAT?" and a few moments later I hear footsteps in the woods. I tell James what happened and he goes out to investigate. Good thing the neighbors have a chainsaw.

We called the rental agency to let them know and the neighbor said he was good friends with the owner and would call him directly. It was kind of touch and go as to whether the small tree that the oak had collapsed on would actually hold it up through the night.




Thankfully, it did, and we were able to leave without further incident.


Bye, Lazy Bear Lodge! It was fun. We may be back...

The "waterfall" on our property

Water trickle, more like!

Hiking on Whiteside Mountain

We made a friend while hiking Whiteside Mountain

Matthew really wanted to pet this dog but every time she got up close, he chickened out. He did find it funny when Mommy got kisses from her, though.

Sliding Rock

We found out about a local swimming hole, Sliding Rock, that was supposed to be little-one friendly. Boy was it ever! You could slide down the rock and pop into these two holes halfway down. Kind of like a hot tub, only with icy mountain water in them.


We thought we were just going to take a quick look and head home, but Matthew had different plans for the day. (None of us had bathing suits and I didn't even have a towel in the car, just a tea towel from the diaper bag to dry him off with!)


Since he was already wet and didn't want to come out, we just said what the heck (or something like that) and stripped him down to his diaper and stayed a while.



He was screaming, "More hopping! More hopping!" and James was happy to oblige.



Finally, though, we had to get out and get our shoes back on and head home, but Matthew was having second thoughts. We meant to go back but the weather didn't cooperate on the days we didn't already have plans.... shame about that.

Picnic on Lake Glenville

Lake Glenville was five minutes down the road, so we decided to have a picnic lunch there one day. The only other people around took all the best picnic tables, started their campfire going and then hopped on their pontoon boat, beer cans in hand, for a tour around the lake, leaving the fire burning unattended. Nice!