sweet little boy

So Matthew has a friend - there is another little boy in his Tumblebugs class, who lives in our neighborhood and also spends his day with a nanny. They have had a few playdates at the Wiggly Play Center in Frisco and met up yesterday to play there again. Annmarie told me that Matthew and Jesse were really good about playing together and sharing the toys (Matthew is about six months older than Jesse).

In the middle of playing together, Matthew suddenly leaned over and kissed Jesse on the nose! (awww!) When it came time to go home, Matthew and Jesse gave each other a hug (awww again) and somehow fell over! Jesse started to cry (not hurt, just surprised) and Matthew asked him over and over, "Are you okay, Jesse?" Awww my sweet little boy! :-)

Too sweet...

Matthew is a sensitive little guy! We bought the Cars soundtrack because he LOVES every thing about the movie so much, and when the James Taylor song comes on, he always asks us, "Are the cars sad? Why are they sad?" (in the movie, it's a flashback to when the interstate has been built and suddenly no one comes to Radiator Springs anymore, and all the cars are dejected and drive away slowly) So we tell him that the cars are sad because they thought their friends were going to visit and they didn't come, so the cars were sad because they missed their friends.

We explain this like two or three times a day, and he's always been like, "Oh, okay. Whatever." but tonight, when we told him the cars were sad, he got these big tears in his eyes and we asked him if he was sad because the cars were sad, and he couldn't answer 'cause he was all choked up and started crying. Awwww! I hugged him and he pushed me away and wiped his eyes.

SO sweet I can hardly stand it. :-)

Quarium

We decided we had a spare $50 or so that we needed to be parted with, so we took Matthew Monster to the Dallas World Aquarium this morning. They have done a LOT of renovation and additions since the last time we went (2002? Something like that) and it looked really nice. It probably would have been better if we'd gotten there right at opening time - it was CROWDED. Matthew was very interested to find the people who were playing the jungle music and not so interested in actually looking at animals. We did, however, spot the sloth, way high up in one of the trees.


Matthew's favorite - kitty cat. BIG kitty cat. Pissed off looking kitty cat. Needless to say, he took home a plush jaguar from the gift store - AS IF there weren't enough cats in bed with him. He already has two stuffed jaguars. sigh...




When it was over, we took him to TGI Fridays in the West End for some lunch. As usual, he only ate the fries.

Bike rides!

Matthew loves the WeeRide we bought and stuck on the front of James' bike. They go for bike rides just about every day now. Matthew "helps" Daddy steer.




(and yes, when they go out in the neighborhood, Daddy wears his helmet too. We were just messing around in the driveway for a little bit.)

We need to dig out Mommy's bike and pump up the tires so she can join in!

Red Race Car Bed

We have been talking to Matthew for a loooooong time about getting him a big boy bed, and he's been kind of iffy on it, so we decided we'd just go ahead and buy one and give him the chance to use it if he wanted to. So off we went to Big Toy Store to look at the ones he and Ree Ree have been eyeing lately. There were two big red plastic race car beds - a Lightning McQueen one (fits a crib mattress) and a more generic Step 2 Stock Car bed (fits either a crib mattress or a twin size). I assumed he'd want the Lightning McQueen one - a) because he loves Car Movie more than life itself and b) it's less practical and in the end will be more expensive because we'll have to upgrade him to a twin size sooner or later. So I was pleasantly surprised that he wanted the bigger Step 2 bed.

Of course, the damn box was waaaaaaay too big to fit into my MDX, so we had to take it all out in the parking lot and then stuff all those pieces into the car. It was packed to the gills and you could barely see Matthew in his car seat in there. When we got home, we dragged all the pieces up to the messy-as-all-get-out landing and got started.



Matt Matt was very keen to help Daddy put on the black wheels, so I distracted him while James put the body of the bed together by helping him move and pile the wheels in the bathroom (like you do). He decided that he needed to drive the toilet to Pretend Colorado Springs for a visit.




While we were doing this, James was hard at work assembling the rest of the bed.


After we attached the wheels (Matthew directing exactly which wheel went where), it was ready for a test drive.







That is only a small fraction of the toys we found in the bed this morning. He was very enamored of the idea of being able to get in and out of bed as he pleased (despite the fact that he's been climbing in and out of the crib at while for a while), so last night we had to go up twice to usher him back into his room. We may have to go Supernanny on his butt if that continues!

Bounce House!

We went to Noah's house for his birthday party and we saw the bounce house from the next block over before we even got there. Matthew wasn't too interested in going in when we arrived, but man did he sure end up loving it. It was hot as Hades in there, and Matthew slept like a *rock* for naptime that day. I'm considering buying one to have in the backyard permanently.

The debutante is presented to society

Mother's Day 2009

Doesn't really need any explanation, I think.

3 Year Doc's Appt

Matthew was extremely well behaved at his doctor's appointment this morning - the Three Year Well Child visit. Of course, no immunizations always helps, but he was friendly, which is not always a given these days, listened closely and did exactly what the doctor and the nurse asked him to do.

The stats, for those of you playing along at home, are as follows:

Height - 37.5 inches (60th percentile)
Weight - 32.2 pounds (60th percentile too - WOO HOO!)
BMI - 16 (normal)
Blood pressure - 84/58 (also normal)
Diagnosis - well

Other than the flu shot in the fall, this was Matthew's first visit to the doc's since his two year well child appointment! We have a healthy little boy on our hands. They tested his hearing and vision (both fine) and recommended we take him to a dentist in the near future. Asked a bunch of developmental questions and it was all good.

The best part came at the end: Dr. Suzanne had LOLLIPOPS.

The What Happens If Stage

Most kids go from the NO! stage as toddlers to the Why? stage as preschoolers. Matthew has officially entered the What Happens If stage. We rarely get a "why is the sky blue?" type question, but at least 30,000 times a day, Matt Matt starts a sentence with, "What happens if..."

For example, we found a gas leak near our meter the other day (a whole other blog post, in and of itself) and had to have it shut off and fixed. When Atmos came out to turn everything back on, Matthew was fascinated with the fellow who had to traipse through the house, turning everything back on, relighting pilot lights and testing all the appliances.

"What happens if the man doesn't come down from the attic?"

"Well, he'd end up living up there and attics are not fun to live in. Especially in Texas. He is working and has to finish up here and go to his next job."

"What happens if he doesn't go to his next job?"

"He'd probably get into trouble."

"What happens if he gets into trouble?"

"He won't be able to help other people get their gas turned back on."

"What happens if other people don't get their gas turned back on?"

ad infinitum.

It takes every ounce of my self control not to lean down and say DID MOMMY EVER TELL YOU ABOUT THE TIME SHE KILLED A MAN IN PRISON FOR ASKING QUESTIONS?

Happy Birthday, Matt Matt!

From this:

to this:

to this:

and now this:

Happy third birthday, kiddo!
I love you.

Mommy is a princess!

Chris just provoked this memory of Christmas and I wanted to write it down so that I.never.forget.it.

When I put my paper crown on after we opened our Christmas crackers, Matt Matt looked at me and said in a tone of complete wonderment and awe, "Mommy is a princess!" (We had just seen a Dora episode a few days before where she briefly became a princess. I suspect that is where this came from.)

Whenever Matt Matt is being a total booger, I'm going to think back to the moment when he thought I was a beautiful princess and find my Happy Place there.

Mommy Finish Line

So every day, or so it seems, Matt Matt invents a new game to play. A few days ago, it was Mommy Finish Line - a personal favorite, but I am biased. I have to kneel next to his crib and wait for him to run over to me, hopping over various toys and stuffed animals and such. I lift him up in the air, kiss him and put him back down on the floor, in order to do it all over again. No idea where he came up with it, but I love it.

Three years old is SO much more fun than two years old was. Sure, we still get tantrums and so forth but they are fewer and further between, and he's so good at entertaining himself (and us) nowadays.

Magamet

You know, the metal discs that stick to other pieces of metal - magamets!

We had a visit

We had a visit today from the Dum Dum Fairy. You may not have heard of her - she's really just a minor fairy. (Many, many thanks to Supernanny!) When nearly three year old boys are done with their dum dums (Ed. - pacifiers. Don't ask.) their mommies call the Dum Dum Fairy and tell her to come by and take the now-superfluous dum dum to a baby who needs it. In exchange, she leaves a toy for the brave soul who sacrificed. Not a bad deal, really.

We've been getting Matt Matt ready for the Dum Dum Fairy for a while. Talking about her, asking him what he wanted to get (" 'Mote control car - like Miguel's house"), telling him that she only comes when we tell her to and not before boys are ready. Today at lunch, we were once again talking about the Dum Dum Fairy and James mentions that she might come at naptime today if Matthew goes to bed on time. I offer to help him pick out a gift bag for his dum dum from my craft room, and to my surprise - he's game. We pick a bag, we write a note, we go upstairs and get the dum dum. Matt Matt "kisses" it goodbye, we put it out on the front porch and shut the door.


Matthew can not WAIT to get upstairs and go to bed. He is super excited. Uh... yeah. That doesn't bode too well for naptime! I try to delay things by reading book after book, but Matthew insists he needs to go to bed right now, Mommy! I go downstairs to wait it out. He stays quietly in bed, talking to himself for 90 minutes (not bad, all things considered) with no tears - but he doesn't fall asleep either. Finally, he starts to get a bit fussy, so I go up and get him. We get him changed and dressed and head downstairs.

When it comes to opening the door, he's suddenly all reluctant and wants me to do it for him. We open the door together. He sees the bag and smiles, but wants me to pick it up for him, my normally super-independent toddler. We take it inside and then he sees that it has his 'mote control car in it, and suddenly whoneedsMommyanyway?!? Out it comes - he is THRILLED. He proceeds to play with it all afternoon long, insisting on taking it on a walk to the duck pond and then takes it to bed with him at bedtime. I manage, just barely, to convince him that the remote is happy to sleep on his train table instead of in the bed.




He only asked for dum dum once or twice at bedtime, and I reminded him that he's with Dum Dum Fairy now and Matt Matt has his 'mote control car instead. He said at one point, "maybe Dum Dum Fairy could come back" and give dum dum back, but he didn't get upset and there were no tears. Major relief - I thought I'd never see the day!

Fingers crossed he doesn't wake up sobbing at 5 a.m. :-)

Exhausted Pipes

Matthew and I were playing with his Mack (from Cars, of course!) 18-Wheeler the other day and he pointed to the grey exhaust pipes and asked me what they were. So now he calls them 'exhausted pipes' and it's too cute to correct him. He also has a Mario car and a Dretti car, because he asked me what the Mario Andretti's car was called and obviously thought I said "Mario and Dretti"

And there are no new pictures of Matthew because it has been impossible to get him to not try to grab James' camera, and we are worried he's going to break it. That, and James left the macro lens on it when he went to Cozumel and I'm too lazy to try to figure out how to switch it back to the regular lens.

Through Matt Matt's lens

We got Matt Matt a toy camera because he was forever trying to take pictures with James' DSLR. He LOVES it and went around the first day cataloging all his toys. He's still working on aim but we have a few good pictures (including my Blogger profile picture). I give you... Portraits by Matt Matt.

His toy shopping cart - a Christmas present from Ree Ree:



Speaking of Christmas, here's the tree we had:

An Impressionist interpretation of his table and chairs:


The towels hanging in his bathroom:


Tonka bucket truck, another Christmas present:


Sideways view of the MegaBloks bag:


and Mommy and Daddy being silly:



Upside down crib:


and his favorite stuffed animal, New Black Kitty Cat:


This one is Mommy's new favorite picture of herself:

Everyday life: bath time

Since this blog is meant to help me remember all the stuff we said and did when Matthew was little, I'm going to just write up a typical bath time for us. Matt Matt loves bath time (unlike when he was a newborn and would cry the whole time and we were terrified he'd slip out of our hands while we washed him.) We go upstairs at 7 p.m. because bedtime is at 8 p.m. and Matthew is a champion staller & negotiator these days. "One more, no, TWO more books, Mommy! Then bedtime."

We ask him, on the way up the stairs does he want fizzy colors or soapy bubbles. (He cares about Elmo not at all, it just so happens those are the products we can pick up at the local Target.) Matt Matt almost always picks fizzy colors but then he can't decide what color he wants his bath when we prompt him. "Red? Orange? Yellow? Green? Blue? Purple?" is usually met with silence. So when we get to the bathroom, we have him spill a bunch of the tablets into our hands and pick two. The packaging recommends 3 at most but you can use up to 10. (Clearly, someone on that product team knows preschoolers.) After he picks the tablets, we tell him what color the water will be when he throws them in. Once the tub is halfway full, we get him to toss them in and start peeling his clothes off of him.

He'll climb in, usually holding on to my shoulder to steady himself, then sits down and starts playing. He likes to play the "cup game" where he has a Scotty P's cup and I have a Scotty P's cup and he pours water into mine (or denies me) at will. Sometimes I'm allowed to empty my cup, other times not. At the same time, I'm wetting him down and getting the back and sides of his hair wet. Then we take a washcloth and fold it into a strip to go across his forehead, and I tell him it's Looking Up Time. He tilts his head back and I wet down the top of his head and he usually comments on the water running down his back. When I'm done, he looks down and I promise to catch any naughty water drops that sneak down his face to his eyes.

Then we break out the soapy bubbles for washing and I get the top half of him all soapy and then rinse him off. More Looking Up Time to rinse the soap out of his hair, then it's 10 minutes of me asking him to stand up and him ignoring me so I can wash the bottom half. Then we usually just sit and play and talk for a while, until 7:30 or so, when I lay the duckie towel I made for him on the floor and he steps out and then curls up on it. I wrap him up and then get two more toddler towels and put them on his head. By now, he's giggling and standing up and running away with the towels (shivering too, even though we bump the temp up to 75 for bath time) while I say, "Help, the towel thief is running away with my towels! You come back here with those towels, you towel thief!" and he tears around the bedrooms and the upstairs landing, giggling and flashing the neighborhood. It's usually 5-10 minutes before we can convince him to put his pajamas on and start the book reading process. We'll save that for another post.