Underestimation of the Little Ones

It's easy to underestimate the little people our children are becoming. We had twice over the last couple crazy days of Christmas where we did that to our little Matthew. On Friday night we were on our way home (way too late for little children) from my mom's house after a family gathering. We live only 6-7 minutes away from her house, so in an attempt to get both children to fall asleep on the way home, we took a more circuitous route. A few minutes into the drive, Matthew asks, "Where are we going?" I answer, "We're going home." He replies, "No, not going home." We got busted...he totally could tell that we weren't on the normal route home. At that point we gave up and headed straight for home, arriving with both children awake at 10:45 pm! Hopefully Matthew's sense of direction will remain that great when he's 16 and driving!!

The second story is an underestimation of Matthew's sensitivity. Last night we did a White Elephant exchange with David's family. Matthew was in on the activity. I was the first person to have to pick a gift - so obviously my gift would probably be stolen. Part way through the game we all commented that nobody had stolen a gift. So Barb, David's mom was the next one to go. She stole David's gift. Matthew started to get upset. He made comments like, "Daddy sad". He started kind of whimpering, but was obviously upset that Mama had stolen daddy's present. Well, next, Rebecca stole my present. I made some kind of sarcastic snicker that my present had been taken. That made Matthew really upset. He started tearing up and fully crying and said, "Mommy sad". He was really disturbed that people were stealing Mommy and Daddy's presents. Well, soon after that, Matthew had his turn. We told him he could pick a present from the middle or take someone else's present (mentioning that he could steal one of our presents back). Crying, he walks across the room. Someone asked, "Are you going to steal back mommy's or daddy's present." Sobbing, Matthew answered, "Mommy's". He brought the present back to me and asked, "Mommy happy now?" I was almost in tears because it was so sweet. At the end of the game after everyone had opened their gifts, we said that people could exchange what they had if it was a mutual switch. We all saw Matthew eyeballing the present that had once been David's. Mama was a good sport and asked if Matthew wanted to switch presents - and of course he did! He made sure to ask, "Daddy happy now?" What a sweet kid to protect both of his parents like that!!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas!! While we had a whirlwind 30 hours, it really went quite smoothly. We started Christmas Eve with having David's family over for dinner. Then we went to Church and then came back to our house for stocking stuffers. Matthew didn't get to bed until 10:30!! It was probably not a good start to an already really long Christmas day, but he actually did very well. We started about 7:30 at our house with opening presents. We were at my mom's by 10, my sister's by 1, came home for a "sort of" nap. Then we were at David's grandparents' house by 5:45! Whew! But the pace of the day actually felt quite nice. For the first time, all the locations were within a few miles of each other. We are used to going from our house, all the way to Delhi, then to Hebron, then back to Mt. Healthy. But this year everything was in Finneytown or Mt. Healthy. It was great. About the time activities were winding down, it was time to move on to the next house. I didn't feel as much like we opened presents and then ran. But everything was quick enough that we really didn't have time to realize how tired we were! Both of the kids did GREAT. I was really proud of Matthew and how sweet he was as he opened presents. He made many comments like "I like it", and my favorite as he opened the last present of the evening, a Veggie Tales Pirate Ship from Great Grandpa and Grandma, he said, "I happy now" (as if the rest of the day had been a let down....ha). Here are some fun pictures of our day. Blogger changed how they put pictures on and instead of me being able to see the pictures as I post, I just see all that java jibberish stuff. So, I can't tell where on picture ends and where the next one starts. Here are the pictures explained:
1. Jacob is loving his new blanket.
2. Matthew on his new (hand me down!) bike.
3. Jacob loving his blanket some more.
4. Matthew showing Jacob the ladybug he picked out for him.
5. This is a Santa cookie plate that I got on Christmas Eve. It has you write on it whether you've been good or bad and what you want for Christmas. I asked Matthew if he was good or bad and he told me bad. After we explained to him that if you're bad you don't get presents, he changed his answer to good! A few minutes later Matthew was asking me if I was nice or bad. I answered nice, but wasn't really paying attention to him as I answered. He was aparently writing on the plate that I was nice too. It was so sweet. You can see where he wrote. There is a pretty clear A and N - but honestly, I think it's an accident (although there are two of each!)
6. A picture with Natalie and Bradley, our cousins. It was the end of the night and everyone was starting to melt down a little. This is the best we could do with four kids.
7. A super cute picture of Jacob.
8. Jacob laughing at Uncle Nate.
9. Matthew Jacob and Cousin Ollie.
10. Jacob and Ollie - two weeks apart! How fun will that be as they grow!
PS Sorry for the super long post, again!

Jacob Rolls Over...Sort Of

I don't think I'm counting this as Jacob's first official roll, but he kind of rolled over this morning. I put him on the couch with his head away from me and his feet where they could kick my leg. He rolled over (and the cushion was not tilted!) on to his belly using his feet to kick my legs to push himself over. Once he got over he was stuck on his arm, but was all the way over other than that. Then, of course, he got mad because he was on his belly and stuck! :)

Also, yesterday he chuckled, which he hasn't really done much, and he also found his toes for the first time (just one quick little grab). What fun, cute little milestones!

More Matthew Quotes

1. David and Matthew were shopping in a store and looking for something that they could not find. Matthew told David, "Just ask someone."

2. The four of us had just returned from the Children's Museum. We had tried to get a picture of Matthew next to Clifford and he wouldn't do it. While sitting at lunch we asked him why he wouldn't let us take a picture. He replied, "Maybe another time." (Think he's heard that a few times???)

3. On Christmas we were leaving my sister's house. Matthew had seen her cat. Matthew loves cats, but we don't see them too often. Matthew was asking over and over for a kitty of his own. I kept trying to talk him out of wanting one by telling him we have a good dog, and various other things. Finally I got slightly annoyed by the begging for a kitty and just said, "We're not getting a kitty." Matthew answered, "Oh, bummer."

Christmas Card

We decided not to do Christmas cards this year. While with having a new addition to the family it would be neat to send everyone a picture card of the new look of our family of four, we decided that it wasn't a good use of our time or money right now. But, if we had sent one out, it would probably have this picture on it.

or maybe this one

or this one.

And it would probably say something creative, like "Merry Chrismas". :)

Mommy Time

This morning Matthew told me that he needed mommy time. So we decided to go on a mommy/Matthew date. I asked Matthew where he would like to go. He chose the mall (I really wanted to let him know that it was a big sacrifice to take him there being that it is the Saturday before Christmas and I really didn't need to be going to the mall...) But, thanks to a struggling Cincinnati Mills Mall, not that many people were there!! We had a great time walking around and spending money that didn't need to be spent and that wouldn't have been spent had we not gone to the mall. On the way there I asked Matthew what he would like to get Jacob for Christmas. I fully expected his usual answer: cars. But instead he said, "An ornament". I asked him what kind of ornament. He told me a lady bug (I have no idea where it came from). We spent our whole time looking for such a thing - which apparently does not exist there. Instead we came home with a very girly stuffed ladybug that has bows and flowers on it. But it's what Matthew very sincerely picked out for his brother, so I bought it. As we were walking out of the store, Matthew asked me, "Jacob like it? Jacob play with it?" He really wanted it to be the best present he could pick out. I asked him if he knew why he wanted a lady bug. He said no, just that he thought Jacob would like it. Sometimes he is so sweet to Jacob (and then other times he's not...like when he jumped on top of Jacob last night!)

Jacob Cracks the Whip

Here is Jacob telling me that it's my blogging time is up.


One of these days I'll remember not to record things vertically. I can't figure out how to turn them.

Most days he insists on being held most of the day. He isn't turning out to be the greatest napper, but he is now sleeping through the night very well. He will sleep anywhere from 7-10 hours (usually 7-8). Now if we could just get Matthew to sleep through the night again...

Maybe it's mean that I sat there and recorded him instead of tending to him and calming him down, but you need to get those sounds recorded for memories, right? That way when he's a toddler and his cry isn't as cute I can refer back to how little his cry was. :)

Recent Christmas Adventures

I haven't had time to update much lately so here is a big summary of what we have been up to.
1. Visit to a live Nativity Scene - and some hot chocolate and cookies along with it! :) We didn't take food to feed the animals. Instead we found carrots on the ground that other people had dropped. We're so cheap! 2. Here's a picture of us being goofy at my mom's house. Our family got together to do a cookie exchange. Every other year of my life we exchanged Christmas ornaments at Thanksgiving. Every year I was running out the day before the exchange to buy whatever random ornament I could get my hands on. Well this year I bought ornaments on our vacation in June. So go figure, the year I'm prepared, the family decides that they all have enough Christmas ornaments, and instead want to do a cookie exchange. That teaches me to be prepared!! 3. Waiting for Santa...round one (see the post about Santa's visit to our house). 4. Christmas Party at School - Somehow I got the lucky job of being the mom helper at Matthew's school for the Halloween party, the Thanksgiving feast, and the Christmas party! Aside from the kids being a little higher maintenance than normal, it was actually quite fun to be a part of the special days. On Wednesday, the parents were asked to come back a little early because the kids had a performance. They got to ring jingle bells and sing some songs. Here are some pictures of Matthew and his friends. They also did a gift exchange. They drew names the week before and had to bring a little gift. Matthew got an MP3 player for kids....I found that absolutely hilarious!! It's so cute. It has its own ear phones and plays several songs. The buttons are easy enough for him to operate. Oh how the toys have changed!!!
Here is a movie clip of them singing, and also when David arrived to surprise Matthew.

5. Snowflakin' - Matthew has added a new word to the dictionary - it isn't "snowing", it's "snowflakin'" Here's a clip of him discovering that it's "snoflakin'" outside. Notice the lack of clothing...that's his style lately. And then, of course, he wants to go outside (with no pants on...)

Brothers

Here is our most recent picture of the two brothers hanging out.

Santa Visits with the Rudolphs

Each year the Greenhills Kiwanis comes around dressed as Santa Clause to see the children of Greenhills. They put an article in the Greenhills Journal and you call to RSVP for your kids. That way Santa knows where to go (and what the kids' names are!) Well, this year Santa was supposed to come on Tuesday, December 16. He was supposed to come between 6 and 8. We had both boys dressed in their Christmas gear, waiting for their picture with Santa. We waited, and we waited, and we waited. And Santa never came!!! Luckily we had just told Matthew he had a "special visitor" coming, so he didn't know who it was. We just told him that his special visitor got busy and didn't make it. So I called the people in charge to see if Santa still had time to come and visit. Santa called back and said he wanted to come by on Friday. So we had round two of Christmas clothes and waiting for the "special visitor". Finally, he came. He pulled in our driveway (did you know Santa drives and SUV?) and came to visit. Here are our pictures...very different from the screaming picture we have from last year!



And this is Matthew crying because Santa didn't bring the cars that he asked for. Poor kid doesn't understand the concept of time and that Santa doesn't bring what you ask for until Christmas!

12 Weeks

Here's Jacob's 12 week pictures. I put on the first one I took at 8 weeks so we can see how he has changed.

Matthew's New BIG Boy Bed

Ever since Matthew started sleeping in a big boy bed, we've just had his mattress and box spring on the ground. It didn't bother us or him that he didn't have a bed to put it on. Matthew didn't even notice. But today, some friends of ours gave us an old twin bed that they were getting rid of. It's a trundle bed. We thought that would be fun for future sleep overs with friends. In my mind, I didn't realize how high the bed would be - I didn't add up the height of two mattresses and a box spring. Take a look at Matthew's new big bed. It's taller than he is!




And of course he had to break in the bed by jumping on it. He's sleeping in it now. We'll see how he does getting up to go potty in the middle of the night, as he does several times. We still need to get a step ladder or stool for him to climb up.

Monsters

Does every child go through a phase of being scared of monsters? Where do monsters come from in their minds? Matthew has recently started this phase. It started about the time he started stalling at bedtime. It's hard to know if he's really scared or not - or if he's just stalling. He'll be scared of them at random other times too. Sometimes when we pull in the garage he won't want to get out of the car because he thinks there are monsters inside the house. It's so goofy! So when he's scared, sometimes we pray, but most of the time we sing the "God is bigger than the boogie man" song from Veggie Tales. For some reason, it works. We finish singing it and he says "No more monsters" and is content. Why that works, I have no idea. Here are the words to the song if you don't know it:
God is bigger than the boogie man. He's bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on TV. Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man and he's watching out for you and me.

I talked to another mom recently and she told me that they leave little Christmas trees in their kids rooms year round because they scare away the monsthers. Hey, whatever works, right?

What do you do for your kids to scare away the monsters?

Bumbo Seat

This is random, but does anyone out there have a bumbo seat that they are not using right now that we could borrow? Jacob is getting to the point where he wants to see what is going on, but is no where near sitting on his own. It's not something I need, but it could be fun for awhile.

For those of you who don't know what a bumbo seat is, check out www.bumboseat.com.

A Unique Kind of Tummy Time

Today I went to the dentist...one of my least favorite places to go. I don't know why, but it is. I think it's from when I was younger and I had to get fluoride treatments and I hated them. But anyway, my mom went with me to take care of Matthew so that he could see what the dentist does. He'll start going when he is three, so we thought it was a good idea to make a visit now. The plan (ha) was for Jacob to fall asleep on the way there and sleep in the car seat. Then my mom could just tend to Matthew. That didn't happen! Jacob woke up early in the visit and was upset. The dentist suggested laying him on my chest while she cleaned me teeth. I didn't think it would work, but thought we might as well give it a try. By golly, he loved it. He was laying on his tummy on my belly with his head up, watching them clean my teeth. It was the neatest dentist appointment ever. Maybe Jacob will grow up to be a dentist!

Accent Quiz

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia   Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Midland
The Inland North
The South
The Northeast
North Central
Boston
The West
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Movin' On Up

Last night I went to put Jacob's pajamas on him, and they suddenly didn't go over his shoulders!! I knew they were getting tight, but last night was the point at which I could no longer squeeze him in his 0-3 month clothes! So now I have to give in and do what I was trying to avoid-move up to 3-6 month clothes! It makes me sad that he is growing so quickly, but at least we get a whole new wardrobe out of it. I guess I'll pack up the little clothes for next time...

Unfortunately the Christmas outfit I have from Matthew is 0-3 months. Guess I better hit up the stores... :)

Where was baby Jesus born?

This is the question I've been trying to teach Matthew today. We read the Christmas story together and acted it out with the pieces to my nativity scene. After the story, I tried asking him some questions about it to see if he remembered. One of the questions I asked was "Where was baby Jesus born?" The first time I asked him, he just hesitated. I told him that it was in Bethlehem in a stable. I then asked him over and over again right in a row because he was having a hard time remembering. Each time I had to remind him that it was in Bethlehem, in a stable. About 10 minutes later I asked him the same question. I said, "Matthew, where was baby Jesus born?" His answer: The hospital. ....we have some work to do!

9 & 10 Weeks

I didn't get around to posting Jacob's 9 week pictures, so here are 9 and 10 (actually it's 10 1/2 weeks...I forgot to take it on time!)

9 Weeks

10 1/2 Weeks - I couldn't get a very good one. Matthew wouldn't stay out of the way!

Here's a picture of Matthew being goofy on Thanksgiving. My mom has a collection of random hats that Matthew likes to play with. He tries on several himself and usually brings one to everyone in the room.

Here is a picture of my "two boys", as Matthew says. I love the way they are looking at each other. You can see Matthew just being silly and Jacob is looking at him as if he's saying, "You're crazy".

And here's one of Jacob peacefully sleeping. I love these snuggle moments!

Matthewisms

Here are some of Matthew's most recent phrases:
1. "One more thing" - usually used in stalling at bedtime.
2. "No, not yet" - often used in delaying meal time.
3. "Play little bit.", "2 minutes" - used in negotiating more play time.
4. "Naked time!!!" - used as he runs away while we're getting him dressed. It is then followed by him running all over the house, yelling the said quote.
5. Us: "Matthew, what are you making?" Matthew: "Macaroni and cheese." (no matter what he's playing with)
6. "It's snowflakin'" ...my most recent favorite, used to say that it's snowing.
7. "Scared. Monsters." Used to, again, delay bedtime.
8. "Big eyeballs" - used as he points to, and often attempts to poke, Jacob's eyes (which, by the way, are not very big)
9. Us: "Matthew, what's a pirate's favorite letter?" Matthew:"Rrrr" (said with the appropriate pirate accent).
10. "Where are me?" -used when playing hide-n-seek.

6 Whole Hours!!!

That's how many consecutive hours of sleep I got last night! Jacob slept 7 1/2 hours straight!! (Which he also did Saturday night...maybe we're on our way to it being a pattern...) I thought Matthew made it through the night, but David said this morning that he got up once to go potty (which I didn't hear - quite the rare event!) Ever since he has been potty trained, he's been waking up 2-3 times a night to go. I'm not saying that's such a terrible thing, but it does interrupt the sleep. So, between the two kids, we're getting up 3-6 times a night. Last night was quite the treat!!

One day I'll have something to talk about other than how much sleep I got and bodily functions. But for now, that's about all I've got! :)

Matthew Prayers

This morning David brought Matthew into our room to see me still in bed. He explained to Matthew that Mommy is sick and doesn't feel well and that he needs to obey really well today. Matthew started saying something, and as David and I are trying to translate it in our minds, we hear him say "amen". He prayed for me without being asked to!! How sweet. Since I thanked him and told him he was sweet to pray for me, he's been doing it all morning!

Two Month Stats

We went to the doctor yesterday for Jacob's 2 month check up. He's still healthy and growing strong. Dr. Bird's comments about Jacob were that he was a "tolerant guy" and "a big guy". He mentioned that Matthew better be nice to Jacob now because Jacob may end up bigger than him! Here are the stats:
Height: 24 inches (80th percentile)
Weight: 13 lbs. 2 oz. (80th percentile)
Head: 50th percentile (for some reason I never remember the head measurement, just the percentile!)
Looking back at Matthew's baby book, he was 23 1/2 inches and 12 lbs 6 oz (and started almost a pound ligher), so he was growing just as fast.

It's exciting to see how Jacob is growing and who he is becoming! He seems to be very calm and sweet and likes to snuggle. I love it!! I remember with Matthew that he couldn't sit through his first Christmas Eve service at 4 months old. So I'm excited that Jacob may be a little less active (not that I don't love Matthew for the active child he has become! I just don't know if I can keep up with two of them!! :)

It wasn't meant to be...

It was a fluke! The full night's sleep that happened Monday night was a one time deal. Last night we were back to every 2-3 hours :( Hopefully it was a sign that it might be coming soon, though!!

I Thought This Day Might Never Come!!!

While I really knew that one day, by the time he was a teenager, Jacob would sleep through the night (or at least longer than 3 hours), it felt like it might never come! But alas, the day arrived! Sunday night Jacob was still waking up every 2-3 hours, and then last night, magically, Jacob slept for almost 7 hours!! Now, of course, Matthew woke up at 3:30, but the night was a lot better than most! We'll see if it continues! Jacob wasn't too interested in eating yesterday, so I think that's why he might have slept longer - he just wasn't hungry. But we'll see!! Yay for Jacob and yay for sleep!

Brothers

On Saturday we had the boys' picture taken together. I bought matching outfits...I couldn't resist. That's a perk of having two of the same gender!! Matthew was nothing less than a two-year-old. We bought a package where we had to pick only one picture. It wasn't hard at all!! In the picture we chose, I'm actually holding Jacob's head up, since Matthew wouldn't. They had to zoom in to cut my hand out. It turned out pretty nice. You'd never know the adventures of our day by looking at the picture. Here it is. I had to take a picture of the picture, so it's not the greatest quality on the computer.

8 Weeks

I'm not calling it two months....that seems too old to be true! How can my precious little infant already be two months old???

Here are this week's shots. He's not a super smiley baby (more of a quiet cuddler kind of personality), but I managed to catch him smiling again!

Here are 7 and 8 weeks together. Did he change?

Can you tell what I'm doing in this picture???

....pooping.....

Such a sweet face!

The First Week

Matthew started potty training himself 10 days ago now and is still doing awesome!! In that time he has only had two accidents: one was the first day in big boy underwear while he was outside playing, and the other was at 6 a.m. after a long night's sleep. Both times he was trying to get to the potty and didn't make it. He is awesome at remembering to go himself - he doesn't have to be reminded. We are weaning ourselves off of stickers and M&M's, but he often reminds us that he would still like the encouragement ("M&M's, please"). He's doing great at night, waking up dry most of the time (he even wakes up in the middle of the night to go...whether that's good or bad is still up for debate! It just makes for more sleep interruptions!) We're so proud of him!!! He's doing a great job!

Earlier today I told him he was awesome for helping me put some dishes away. When I told him he was awesome, he said "M&M's, please? Sticker, please?" I think he's getting carried away...

Cute quote: I had just finished talking to David about something, and I had addressed him as "David" (not Daddy). 5 minutes later, Matthew starts following David yelling "Wait for me, David. Wait for me, David." At dinner we had a conversation talking about how mommy and daddy have real names. Daddy is David and Mommy is Mary. He then went around the table, first pointing to himself, saying "Matthew Rudolph". He pointed to David and said "David Rudolph". Then he pointed to me and said "Mommy Rudolph".

Last night Matthew was throwing a good fit refusing to try the asparagus I had put on his plate. We told him he just had to try it, and he could spit it out if he didn't like it. After spending the entire dinner trying to get him to try it, we gave up. We told him no dessert and no popcorn for movie night, and he was okay with that. A little while later we were watching a movie. He must have noticed the lack of popcorn and asked for it. We told him he had to try his asparagus, and that it was still on the table. He decided it was worth the try. He and David went to the table to try it. David was ready with a bowl for Matthew to spit the asparagus out (we weren't expecting him to actually like it). Matthew takes one bite and says "Mmmmm! Me like!!!" What a goofball!!! All that and he liked it!!

Progress, finally...

Jacob slept 5 hours in a row last night!!!! (unfortunately it was followed by a two hour spurt after that.) This hasn't happened, probably since he was one week old. If you've talked to me in the last couple weeks, you've probably heard my frustration that he was still getting up every 2-3 hours at night (and Matthew was sleeping through the night by now! Not to compare my children....) So, yay for Jacob and yay for sleep. Hopefully it continues!!

7 Weeks

I set a goal for myself (thanks to a suggestion from Sarah!) that I'm going to try and take Jacob's picture once a week, probably in the same place. I started this week. I put him next to a stuffed animal of mine when I was a baby. I have a similar picture of myself leaning against Snoopy. So here is Jacob's 7 week picture. I caught him smiling :)

Here are some other cute ones from tonight. Check out the rolls!

We'll see how long the weekly picture thing lasts...I tried it while I was pregnant and I think it lasted about two weeks!

Moving Quotes Over

Here are the really old kid quotes from the side of the blog. I just want to move them to a post so I can delete them off the side wihtout losing them.


1. (After Matthew had just pointed to his belly and told me he had a baby in there...)
Mommy-If you have a baby in your belly, what's in my belly?
Matthew-Snacks.

2. Mommy- Matthew, what letter is that?
Matthew-D.
Mommy-What words begin with the letter D?
Matthew-Dada......dog dog.
Mommy-That's right!! Can you think of another word that begins with the letter D?
Matthew-D-me!

3. Matthew (to his baby doll in the baby swing): Want underdog, baby?

Potty Updates

Friday Matthew spent all day in a pull-up and was dry from when I put it on him in the morning until we put him in a diaper for bedtime!! Last night we made a trip to the store to buy a second potty for the basement and some big boy underwear! Matthew is very proud of both!! He wore his big boy underwear today and only had one accident (he was playing outside and didn't quite make it inside in time... :) Who knew we'd be doing this this weekend???!!!

One of my favorite things about this is when Matthew says "ta-da" (however that is spelled!) when he's gone potty. Another cute memory was this morning when I was feeding Jacob on the couch and Matthew walks out to me, pants around his ankles, carrying the bowl to his potty to show me what he had done :) Thank goodness he didn't spill!

I'm glad Matthew is doing this on his own. We have no idea what we are doing!! Any tips on night time potty training???

I'm In Shock!

Matthew stayed with my mom for 4 1/2 hours tonight and went potty 5 more times all by himself. He did it all without rewards (although he does enjoy dumping it in the toilet, flushing, and washing it out...that's his reward!) The diaper we dropped him off in was totally dry when we picked him up. When asked what kind of big boy underwear we should buy, he said "Spiderman"! (Not what I would have guessed, but he was very insistent on it.)

Now, the real challenge will be leaving the house, being that he goes to the bathroom all day long!!!

More Potty Talk

I am in shock that our little Matthew has gone potty on his big boy potty 4 times today!! This morning I was getting dressed while he was watching TV and he hopped up and ran into the bathroom saying "me go pee-pee". Sure enough, he did. Today at lunch he did the same thing, and then did it two more times after that. The last time he even tried to dump the pee-pee in the potty (while I was out of the room, so therefore it ended up all over the floor. Bless his heart...he even flushed!) I am so shocked!! The kid is potty training himself!! All I have to do is provide a little assistance with clothing and diapers (which, by the way, I gave him a pull-up today and he is so proud to be wearing big boy underwear - so he thinks!), give him a couple M&M's (thanks mama and papa!!), and give him a sticker to put on his potty. I hadn't planned on doing this until after Christmas, but maybe we need to think about this sooner! I'm not totally sure he's ready physically because his diaper is always wet, but we'll have to start working towards it.

A couple cute stories that go with our potty events today: At one point he asked me to read him a story while he was sitting. Jacob happened to be screaming to eat at the time. So we took on some serious multi-tasking. I was sitting on the bathroom floor feeding Jacob, reading a book upside down, and Matthew was going potty. It was quite a scene. Right around then, Matthew starting grunting and looks and me and says, "Hard work, Mommy". :)

Good job, little buddy!! We're proud of you! (Hopefully you'll still take a nap after all those M&M's!!)

One last thing...as I'm sitting here writing this, he was standing in the bathroom, pants and pull up already down, yelling "pee-pee". He needed to go again!! I better start learning where all the potties in town are!!

Happy Halloween!

This video says it all!!

We had a great Halloween. It was fun to watch Matthew start to understand what it was all about. As his teacher told us, he can't remember last year, but next year, he'll remember this year. Matthew quickly figured out what the day was about....candy! He had a hard time saying "trick-or-treat", so we had him say "happy halloween" isntead. His first stop, Mama and Papa's house. Papa loaded him first, and then when we all weren't looking (so Matthew thought...), he decided to slip a little extra into his bag.
At the end of the evening, Matthew's big cousin Dylan came over to visit. When I told Matthew that Dylan was there, you would have thought I had said that Buzz Lightyear had just arrived. He was SO EXCITED. They had lots of fun being silly together. By the end of trick-or-treating, even Dylan agreed that they had enough candy. So we all went back to Mama and Papa's house to hang out.

Little Mr. Three Blind Mice

Our ferocious lion.

"Two boys" (as Matthew would say)

Loving on Dylan.

Cheese!