Matthew

Sorry I haven't posted in almost a month...just feel like I haven't had anything to post, other than the daily routine of life! So here's a little update on the kids, since that's what most people are curious about :) Here are some ramblings about Matthew: Matthew is 3 - that says a lot! He is EXTREMELY extroverted, to the point that it totally exhausts both David and I. I am an extrovert too, but not as much as Matthew. He talks non-stop - really. We think he talks just to hear noise. He can be extremely sweet - and sometimes not so sweet. He loves to read, absolutely loves it. He gets up around 6:30 am (not my choice of awakening time...). He comes out of his room very loud and ready to start the day. There's no easing into the morning. He's ready to go! He often wakes everyone else in the house! He's very eager to learn. He knows his alphabet well and is now really trying to learn letter sounds. We're not doing anything official in the way of homeschooling - just trying to take learning opportunities as we get them. So it's fun to see him try new things. He's often asking how to spell words and tries to sound them out. He loves rhyming words. He's not a big eater, never has been. Bedtime is NOT his favorite part of the day. He enjoys laying down to read with us, often asking us for more books. But once we're done, we have had a hard time keeping him in his room. We're trying to get to the bottom of the issue with this. Maybe it's his extreme need to be with others - he can't handle being alone?? Maybe?? He wants someone to stay with him, he hears a noise, he has a booger, has to go potty - and he has a potty in his room: you name it, he's used it as an excuse. He often comes out at night as well, after we're sleeping. We are working on breaking his habit of screaming for us in the middle of the night. It's just a rough way to be awoken! We have a paper chain, and for each night he makes it without needing us, he gets to take a link off. Every time that happens, he gets something from his treasure box (sticker, etc), and when he gets to the 5th chain, he gets a bigger prize (first time is a basement camp out, second is a car movie car, and third we're still deciding between a few things...stay tuned, maybe we'll eventually get to it!). We've been doing this for about two weeks and we're almost to the first big prize. Slow progress, but at least we're moving in the right direction :) We're open to advice :)

Matthew is loving preschool. We think it has been so great for him. He's making friends and talk about them all the time. I'll post more about that another time :)

Little Helper

Jacob is turning into quite the little helper lately, and it so proud of it! He takes pride in throwing away his diapers (and it always has to be the same trash can in the basement - he will take a diaper that has been changed upstairs, carry it down the stairs, just to throw it away in the bathroom can), feeding the dog, swiffering the floor, filling up sippy cups (he takes them to a sink and stands there until someone comes to fill it up. Tonight at bedtime, he went into Matthew's room, found Matthew's cup, brought it to the kitchen sink to be filled, and took it back to Matthew, all without being asked to!). Here are some pictures of his helpfulness!




Other Jacob updates: He is really enjoying reading books. We have read to Matthew at bedtime ever since he was a little baby. Well, being the second child, we didn't really do that with Jacob - probably just out of exhaustion. We'd get to bedtime and just get him in bed as quickly as we could. Eventually, Jacob figured out that he was missing out - Matthew got to read and he didn't. He, very clearly, let us know his thoughts about it. He would point at his books and squeal, showing us he wanted to read. Eventually we'd ask, "Do you want to read some books?" and we get this little Jacob giggle and grin that he does to show us that we figured out what he was "saying". He is a little bit of a book snob. He strongly prefers Eric Carle books over anything else (author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar). He often pushes other books away until he gets the one he wants.
Jacob is also a very talented eater. He has recently mastered putting food on a fork and eating it, getting soup to his mouth on a spoon, and would like to think he's working on using a big boy cup.
Jacob is definitely not the talker that Matthew is (thank goodness, to be honest :) But he definitely can get his point across, at least to those of us that speak his language. The other day, though, he gave me a big hug and, very clearly, said, "I ya you."
He's a climbing machine - climbs on everything, and, really, does very well. He rarely falls, and when he does, usually doesn't care. He flipped off of Matthew's bed the other day and thought it was funny!
Think that's what he's up to for now...not much exciting to others, but to us, he makes us laugh everyday!

Matthew Wants a Sister

During Christmas, Matthew kept saying he wanted a sister for Christmas. We just kind of chuckled and never addressed the issue that he wouldn't be getting one from Santa. Well, the day before Christmas, David casually said, "I know one thing you won't be getting for Christmas, and that's a baby sister." Little did we know how traumatic it would be for him. It led to 30 minutes of all out screaming - snot, tears and the whole ordeal! Here's a clip of him, after 20 minutes. I still think I should submit it to America's Funniest Home videos...I think it could win us some money :) I should have taped longer, though. But I felt bad holding the camera in his face while he was so upset!

PartyLite

I'm getting rid of some of my old PartyLite stuff. I posted it on Craigs List. If I like ya, I might give you a better deal :)

Random Pictures

I don't really have much to report in the last week, so here are just some pictures that we have taken.





That last one is of cousin Ollie with Grammy's brother.

15 Months...Almost

I had Jacob's 15 month pictures taken today, a little early on accident. We just had his 1 year pictures taken in October, but we're just about out of wallets to give people. This was an easy fix...get them taken again (I love doing pictures :) When I called Portrait Innovations, I figured I'd have a hard time getting in. So I called recently, figuring I'd have to wait two weeks. But I was caught off guard when they could schedule me now! Here is Jacob's official 15 month picture.

Jacob on the Move!!

I am totally amazed at the amount of progress Jacob has made developmentally over the last week. As many of you know, Jacob had tubes put in his ears last Wednesday (after 9 ear infections!) I was so relieved to finally have that happen. The amount of time (and money!) that we've spent at the doctor and pharmacy in the last 6 weeks is absolutely ridiculous. In the back of our minds, David and I have been wondering if the reason that Jacob wasn't walking yet was because of the fluid that was always in his ears. We had heard that it was a possibility. Jacob has been walking while holding on to fingers since he was probably 6 months old. I thought he was going to walk 6 months ago, but he just never would let go. Well, our thoughts were confirmed when Jacob took 25 steps across the room on Thanksgiving morning - the very next day after his surgery. Earlier in the morning David and I had been saying that we thought he'd be walking by the end of the weekend, just by how he was moving around. Little did we know that later that morning would be the magic day. When it happened, I had a bowl of food (Let me just tell you that Jacob and food are pretty tight...they're good friends) that I was holding out for him to get. I kept backing up - mean, I know, but it worked! He walked clear across the room. And he hasn't stopped since. He really seems like a happier kid now that he can move. It probably helps that his ears feel better too :)Jacob has been so much more verbal since the tubes were put in too. We have, several times, heard him say, "I did it". The way he says it you kind of think to yourself, "Did he just say that?" It's wierd that he went from only saying, "Mama, Dadda and Ubba (up)" to a full sentence. I've also heard what I think is, "All done", which comes out "adone" and "more", which comes out "mo". Here is a little clip of the new toddle, which I happen to think is just one of the cutest things in life, for all kids (and I happen to think my own is pretty stinkin' cute too...) I can't help but smile every time I see him toddle across the room, looking so absolutely proud of himself.
Jacob has also started being more confident in all his maneuverability. He is starting to climb. One of his favorites is climbing up on the chair we have by the light switch in our basement. It's there so Matthew can turn the lights on. Jacob climbs up on it and turns the lights on and off (and on and off and on and off.....) He also likes to climb up on Matthew's high bed (which is pretty high! It's the top of a trundle bed, probably 3 feet off the ground). As soon as he climbs up, he crawls to the other end to slide off the end on his belly so he can get down. Then, of course, he goes over the stool and starts it all over again. It's all about the process for Jacob. He just wants to make sure he has mastered the process, more than whatever it is he is trying to accomplish. At Thanksgiving, my mom had out a marble track for Matthew to play with. First, the adults had a blast with it. Then Jacob decided to help himself as well. He did so amazingly well and putting the little marbles in the track and watching them go down. I heard a couple "I did it!"'s while he worked. Here's a little clip of him doing it. At the end he tries to put a marble in his mouth, which I have to say was probably the only time I caught him trying to eat them. Otherwise he has done so well. He's a hoot!