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. :)