Matthew: 4 1/2

The older my kids get the harder I find it is to remember the little details of when exactly they did certain things. But I love being able to look back and remember. Since Matthew is officially 4 1/2 now I thought I would take this opportunity to document his life. Sometimes I worry that Matthew hears too many negative messages from me about certain behaviors he has that drive me crazy. I always try to praise and point out the positive but sometimes those moments are farther and fewer between than I would like. Matthew and I have always gone through up and down phases; sometimes we get along together great and Matthew reminds me of a younger version of myself, and sometimes we butt heads and being with the kid drives me bonkers. I'm pretty sure he feels the same way. The older he gets the more I find myself unsure of what the right thing to do is. Teaching a child to walk or eat comes fairly natural. Teaching a child certain behaviors such as not hitting I feel like I can handle. Teaching a child how to count or how to paint or how to love books, I love doing. But teaching a child how to be a good person, how to make correct choices, how to navigate through the emotions of life...now that often stumps me. I'm still trying to figure out these things for myself. And so that has kind of been my approach. When Matthew does something that I think he should know by now or that I am just sick of dealing with, I try and remember that he is still learning. And just as I often make mistakes and make poor choices, how much easier is it for a 4 year old to not always have perfect behavior. And I point out those moments to Matthew. When I have gotten upset or not been patient or I have made a bad choice I always try to apologize to Matthew and he helps me remember too that it's okay because I am still learning. So we are helping each other be better. Okay, enough random tangent, on to Matthew!

• Matthew has become less narrow in his range of things he likes. But when he does discover something he likes he still immerses himself in it completely. Whenever he discovers something new and exciting it is like you can just watch his mind opening up and exploring this new world of wonder. Example: The Olympics. I am planning on doing a whole post about this but after watching one hour (or less) of the Olympics it consumed him. He was that way with the Frozen music-another recent favorite. We listened to that CD way too many times in a row and all our play was centered around that. 
• Matthew has finally decided that Koyle is an acceptable playmate. Glory hallelujah! Mostly this is due to the fact that Koyle is finally old enough to engage with Matthew. Since most of Matthew's play is role playing, imaginary type play, Koyle just wasn't fun before because he wouldn't do what he was supposed to or act the way his character should, etc. Matthew has also gotten better at making exceptions for Koyle's age and we are constantly working on being flexible and changing things to make them work instead of just getting frustrated that we can't always create things exactly as Matthew imagines them in his head. But really the boys have been playing so well together and it has given me a nice break from being the constant playmate. 
• Matthew enjoys preschool but I think he gets a little bored sometimes. He still has plenty to learn though. We have kind of been working on writing his last name, but not very diligently. He is constantly picking up more and more in regards to literacy and reading and for now I am just expounding on things he does himself. I figure I have all of next year to get more serious with him. He will try and read words himself sometimes and depending on the word can get close. The other day he read the word Pop by himself on something, only he said "Look mom, this says poop!" I got a good laugh over that.
• Matthew LOVES to write and draw and make things. The other day we read Library Mouse and he couldn't wait to write his own book. That afternoon when we finally had time he sat and worked on his book for over an hour. Then we had to staple it together and he was so proud. He is always drawing things out on paper, cutting them up, taping them together, you name it. I am looking forward to warm weather so we can save a few trees and start drawing with sidewalk chalk : ) 
• He has been learning a lot in Primary and the concepts are starting to stick more. This has been fun to see.
• Still prefers to eat everything with his fingers. No matter how many times during a meal I remind him and prod him to use his fork, he always reverts right back to using his fingers. Someday...
• Life in terms of potty stuff is still the same. We have really good phases where he doesn't have any accidents at all for a week or more at a time, then just sporadically here and then, and then we will have a week where he can't seem to remember that the toilet exists. I think it is slowly getting better so I just don't worry too much about it. Although on occasion it does still get frustrating. 
• Getting dressed is my absolute least favorite part of every single day. It aggravates me just thinking about it. He turns into this absent minded, uncoordinated little boy who can't focus on any one task for two seconds at a time if his life depended on it. Lest you think I'm exaggerating-I'm not. Seriously if I had a magic wand and could choose one thing to fix about Matthew it would be the getting dressed issue. Nothing like starting every day off on a bad foot; and heaven forbid something should happen which requires us changing clothes more than once during the day. Yet somehow when the right motivation strikes him he can magically dress himself in about 2 minutes.
• Matthew has been SO tired lately, he must be growing or something. He has taken quite a few naps lately but has needed one almost every day. He has been sleeping in until almost 7:30 every morning. And by sleeping in I mean he still comes into our room every morning (or throughout the night) and will then fall back asleep until we get up. He had been coming into our room during the night a lot and so we bought him a clock and told him he couldn't come into our room until after 6. This worked for a few days but now he just claims he can't find his clock or that he forgot to look at it. So we're still working on it. But he's not allowed to get in bed with us until after 6. He always loves telling us about his dreams in the morning.
• He never ceases to amaze me with his witty comments, his keen observation and memory, his serious and contemplative side, and his forgiving and loving heart. 
• Snuggle time is still very important and effective. If Matthew is having a meltdown usually the only thing that will calm him down is to sit and snuggle, and often we read books together. He doesn't ask for snuggle time as much as he used to unless he is upset though. The bigger my tummy gets the more  awkward  snuggle time becomes.
• Matthew loves watching cartoons in the morning but he behaves so much better when he doesn't watch t.v. He enjoys computer time in the afternoon. He likes playing pbs kids, starfall, or the Tigger computer game my dad gave us at Christmas. Justin and him have almost finished the Donkey Kong game on the Nintendo 64.
• Still has the sweetest smile, loves his family both near and far, dreams of living in Idaho, wants to be a football player and have me cheer for him.

Oh how we love our Matthew boy. He gets the brunt of my tiredness too often. The past week Koyle has been going to bed early and it has given me some fun one on one time with Matthew that I have missed since Koyle stopped napping. He really is a very good boy and I can't believe how quickly he is growing up. While some days I think I'm not gonna make it through next year with him at home, I just can't imagine sending him off. He is my buddy and my pal and we do almost everything together (like it or not). I know I won't remember all the cute things he says and does but I want to. Oh, how we love our Matthew boy!