Matthew update

Well, blogger is being dumb again and won't let me move the pictures. So you get the pictures first!

A few weeks ago I made a bunch of scrapbook pages of Matthew and when trying to remember dates and such I went back through my blog posts. It was so much fun to have all the little updates I used to do of him about what he was doing and liking at different ages. The older he's gotten the less I have done this but I really want to keep preserving my memories of Matthew. So if you don't want to read this that is fine, but if you do, here is a little about Matthew these days!

Age: 15 months 3 weeks

Size: I don't really know, but I should measure and weigh him.

Sleep: Matthew is such a good sleeper these days! I didn't know if I would ever be able to say that. He is transitioning from two naps down to one nap a day. He usually does fine with only one nap but sometimes he still needs that extra boost. It has been really nice because he will usually sleep in until 6:45 or 7 now; a much welcomed change from the 5:30 wake up time we had grown accustomed to. I do miss that hour in the morning though to clean up the house and get ready for the day. He still goes to sleep at 8 and more often than not will sleep through the night without waking up and crying.

Food: Matthew loves to snack and some days he would eat nonstop if I let him. His favorites haven't changed much: granola bars, pretzels, fruit snacks, and graham crackers. He loves eating cereal with milk for breakfast and he will eat it all with his spoon. He is getting pretty good at using his utensils. His skin doesn't break out as bad anymore when he eats which is nice. We discovered that Matthew loves pumpkin spice egg nog; but what's not to love about that? He also insists that his food be on a plate or in a bowl, he doesn't like when I just blob it on the tray.

Speech: Matthew jabbers a lot and has a few words. I think it would be safe to say that his first word was "this." He loves to ask, "What is it?" He also says that, all done, want, ho ho ho, and will bust out other phrases as the moment strikes him. He is really good at animal noises (thanks to his Where's Spot? book) and can do the dog (his favorite), lion, snake, monkey, and alligator. The trick is getting him to do it on command. He understands pretty much everything we say to him. Sometimes we will play a game where we just give him commands and see how many he will do; he's pretty good at it. My favorite is in the morning when I say, "Matthew do you want to get in the tub?" And he takes off at a dead run for the bathroom.

Motor skills: Matthew enjoys running places these days. He also has really good fine motor skills. He is starting to really enjoy coloring and holds his pens the right way which is super cute. His favorite thing is to draw with the dry erase markers on whiteboards I have on the fridge. He tries to cut with scissors although he can't quite make it happen. He loves to jump although his feet don't really leave the ground. He has gotten really good at climbing and turns our house into a jungle gym. He has learned how to move the chairs or step stool around to get up where he wants. He also likes to climb onto the toilet seat and play with the fan switch or crawl over to the sink and suck on the toothbrushes (gross!). He loves to throw balls and especially loves it when they hit the wall and bounce back.

Social: Matthew mimics everything, both actions and emotions. Justin and I have to be really careful about how we react to things. If we show any kind of tension he will mimic it by hitting or throwing things. We are really working hard to teach him to have kind hands. He also loves to do everything I do. He frequently gets the broom out and sweeps the floor, and he will try and do his hair with my comb and curling iron (Don't worry, Justin makes sure to stop him and give him a ball to bounce instead :) ).

Other: Matthew knows how to fold his arms for prayer and whenever we are out shopping and they say something over the loud speaker, Matthew always folds his arms. It's super funny. He absolutely loves walking through the snow. He has the cutest smile and laugh that make it hard to stay upset with him for very long. He is also a fast learner; it only took him one day to learn not to pull things off the Christmas tree. : ) He loves, loves, loves, books. He is constantly pulling all the books out and looking through them. His favorite right now is The Puppy Book. He will sit and make you read it to him over, and over, and over, and over. He also likes The Pokey Little Puppy, and all of his Spot books. Are you sensing a dog theme here? No, he is not getting a puppy for Christmas; but he will get to play with Zeke during the holidays.