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.