16 Months

Matthew is 16 months old today! Happy Day buddy!

He is getting more and more interactive with us, and voicing his opinions on things. For example, we used to just grab a couple of books from the shelf at bedtime and read them to him. Not anymore... he definitely tells us which books he wants and does NOT want. The one we read 6 times the night before might get a "no no" and a shove from Matthew when it's suggested tonight. Hee hee.

He is also starting to understand the concept of colours. He can say a few of them, blue ("booo"), red (something like "yed"), yellow ("yeyo"), and will repeat when I tell him what colour something is. But as far as he's concerned everything is blue right now. He'll point to a red toy and say "booo!", point to a yellow duck and say, "boooooo". I say, "Actually the truck is RED Matthew. Red." and he might say "yed" or maybe "booooooo" haha. I think he just really likes blue.

And just this week he's added a couple of words: Ball (which he LOVES to say when he finds a ball), and bib (which he asks for as soon as I sit him in his high chair, in case I've forgotten that I need to put it on him ;) ). Also he pointed at the Froot Loops box yesterday and said "Bud! Bud!" so I think he knows bird too. Yay Matty!

To celebrate being a whopping 16 months though, he ate almost an entire bowl of oatmeal. Not a big deal, you say? Well he did it completely on his own, bowl on his tray, and ate it with a spoon. And he barely spilled any, none got on the floor or his hair, and he didn't fling the bowl when he was done. WOW!!

Unfortunately he's feeling under the weather for his 16-month birthday, with a bit of a head cold and some impending molars causing him grief. Hopefully he feels better soon because it's not fun for any of us!

New antics

Matthew adds new skills to his 'repertoire' almost on a daily basis now. Here are a few things he has picked up lately.

• With plain old walking getting to be a bit boring, he's decided to try walking backwards. He's actually getting quite good at it - but not being able to see where he's going poses a bit of a challenge.


• Similarly, Matthew has started running, which is fine and all, except when he finds himself going too fast or isn't sure he can stop before running into something, he simply puts his hands up and closes his eyes. We're trying to steer him clear of this practice.


• He's adding new signs all the time now. Today at breakfast, he signed three signs together: "more", "banana", "please"! And, then today at lunch, I prompted him to say thank you, and he did the sign and said "tants" :)


• He's also learning new words, now saying: more, shoes, up, down, owie, cat, yes, no (or... no-no-no), apple, blue, yellow (yeyo), and uh ohhhh!


• Matthew's been going to daycare for a while now, and although he liked it and had fun while he was there (so we're told), he was still crying, sometimes a LOT, when we dropped him off. Until this week, when he didn't cry at ALL for Sean, and by Friday when I dropped him off, he actually reached out for Mimi when we got there, with a big smile on his face, and barely even said bye-bye to Mama! Such a big boy *sniff sniff*


• We got Matthew a couple of wooden puzzles and he already knows where all the pieces go. He's also got his new bath shape sorter all figured out (although, even though he knws where they go, getting those pesky pieces into the holes is a trick!)


• He's now able to sit down on a step or small chair... Tricky, considering you kind-of have to go at it backwards!


• Matthew's been saying and waving "bye bye" for a while now, but now waves and says "Hi!" too.


• He can give high-fives (and will to pretty much anyone who asks), and has even learned something new at daycare. All the kids give "enough respect" (fist-to-fist), which is funny since I don't even really know what that means. Kids these days :)

A few Summer pics...

I finally got our summer pictures off the camera and CDs so I thought I would share a few here! Matthew had such a great Summer, and we all had a blast out East with Nonna and Opa, Aunt Katie, Uncle Geoff, and the Larkins :) Enjoy...

Smarty pants

I just had to share - this morning Matthew combined two signs, "more" and "please" and then pointed at the empty banana peel on the table, and said "moaaa" (more). YEAH!

Also yesterday Sean showed me something he'd taught Matthew: when Sean says "ONE..." Matthew will say "Duuu!". He is counting!!

Um, but when we say "three...", he says "duuuu!" hahaha.

Matthew is 15 Months

Well, Matthew is 15 months old now, and growing by leaps and bounds. I thought I'd share a few notes about what makes him tick these days...

Matty's a very energetic little guy! Actually, big guy - most people think he is anywhere from 19 - 24 months old already. Now that he can walk though, he is on the go NON-stop. Running, walking, running... tiring himself and Mama out! :)

He LOVES trucks. Actually anything with wheels but especially trucks. He will point them out on the road, in books, on TV, and will even imitate them when he can just hear one.

He also loves cats (though the feeling is not mutual), and as we learned this weekend, dogs. He loves getting doggy kisses - much to Mama's chagrin - squealing with delight whenever a big sloppy dog tongue meets his cheeks!

He loves to play games with Mama and Dada, and his all-time favourite is to be chased (a la "I'm gonna get you!!"). Now all we need to do is stomp our feet and he will take off running in the other direction, arms flailing, howling and belly laughing, practically running into walls he's so excited. Hee hee.

He'll usually come to Mama or Dada and bury his head on one of our shoulder when he is really tired or hurt, but he has a special cuddle that he saves just for Dada. I can beg and plead for a cuddle, but Dada will get one every time, unsolicited. Thankfully, Matthew gives out kisses pretty readily - he's very affectionate when he's in the mood, even making the motion to plant kisses on perfect strangers (although I've tried to talk to him about the appropriateness of this ;) ).

He's very good at telling what he needs or wants, but also (most of the time) is okay when we tell him no or that we can't pick him up right that instant. Although, sometimes, he's pretty insistent about getting his way.

Matthew also loves to read books. I mean, loves loves loves. He will pick out books and bring them to anyone who will scoop him up and read to him. His favourite right now is "Hop on Pop" which he's started asking for by name ("pop pop pop"), lol. He's also pretty happy to sit and look at them on his own. In fact I've started putting a book in his crib with him at naptime and bedtime, and he is starting to favour that over his blankie!

Although he has his cranky or off days, or throws the occassional fit, he's generally a fun, gregarious, curious, adventurous, loving, happy little guy.