Parenthood - 2014-02-11 One!

February 11, 2014

At one Matthew is very into tea parties. It's adorable. He carefully pours the "tea" into tea cups and gives them to you. Then he takes his own and sips. Pouring has a "pshhh" sound. Sipping has slurping sound. Daddy taught him this - I really need to get a video of the two boys solemnly playing with Elizabeth's tea set. Matthew loves Elizabeth's toys - if he can't play with his sister, at least he can get into her things! (She's resigned to Matthew playing with her tea set now, but has sternly dictated terms - he MUST put it away when he is done. There are still things she won't let him play with if she's around to see though!)

Matthew is spending more and more time on his feet. He loves to walk with help, but for some reason tends to go sideways, like a crab. He prefers to go down the stairs like a "big boy", holding hands. If he must go down by himself, he tends to slither down backwards on his belly. It's very fast.

His favourite foods are grapes, pasta, meat, rice and chocolate. Especially grapes.

He's very giggly and huggy. We've reached the age of pointing at everything. "Ah" he says, very emphatically. He has quite a few words and more signs, unfortunately he's taken to inventing his own signs and we rarely understand what he is trying to say. This leads to temper tantrums - Matthew in a temper is not a pretty sight. He's been known to hit his sister, then immediately sign "sorry" and blow kisses. He might have learned that from her though. Good thing he is a good natured little boy the rest of the time.

If Auntie Janice is around, he usually demands she pick him up or that I give him to her for a hug. Auntie Janice does not object.

He does NOT like to nap (or sleep, for that matter). When he gets tired he'll lay his head down on the floor for up to thirty seconds, but after that he'll just keep going. He does like to help, whether it's doing dishes, stirring pots, putting things away... Usually he wakes up around 7:30am. His theoretical nap times are at 10am and 2pm, but if he naps it's because we're driving or Daddy walked him around for a while first. We aim to put him to bed at 7:30pm, but that doesn't always work. He'll be awake again needing a snack at 10. Then he sleeps until about 2am. After that he nurses until morning. It probably doesn't help that he has four teeth coming...

He can roll a ball back and forth and is starting to have favourite books. He still loves peekaboo and throwing things down the stairs. Especially if they belong to his sister... He also likes to play chase, or be chased. Sister is happy to oblige!