Animal Day

It was animal day at school. Matthew had to bring a stuffed animal, and in an attempt to be manly, he chose his sock money. In all honesty, that is his "favorite" (he loves using that word) at this time.

He came home dressed as a dog. He even barked when I asked him questions.

Fall!

My favorite season of the year is here and promises to bring all good things: cold fronts, football, smores, red wine, season premieres, chili, hot chocolate, running in the cold, iced gingerbread biscottis, Gavin, Thanksgiving, Christmas, lots of coffee and footed pajamas for the boys.

Updates from our household include: Kyle taking steps only for his Mother's Day Out teachers. We have yet to see them. Matthew continues to play soccer...still refusing to actually touch the ball, but runs alongside his teammates and pretends to be contributing. We'll consider that a small victory for now.

We had a first 'fire pit' last weekend. Kyle ate some of the burned wood and told me that it tasted nice. Much better than his real food that he refuses to eat.

I know this picture is blurry, but look how happy he is?!

Lots of 'firsts'

This week has been good, yet a few too many 'new' things all at once for my liking. And a warning, this might be a 'wordy' post as I'm feeling all setimental and stuff.

Kyle turned one on Tuesday. As much as I try to see the joy in every age, I can't help but feel very sentimental about our sweet baby....who is not much of a baby anymore. I cried on his birthday.....alot.

On Thursday, the boys both started MDO/Preschool. They both loved it and did well. Matthew walked in like it was no big deal, which is a big deal because he is our shy, cautious child. He has quite a few friends from last year and saw them often this summer, so I think that made it easier for him. Kyle, our not-so-shy child, pretty much jumped out of my arms to the teacher. Here is my attempt at a picture of the two of them.

The last 'first' of this week was U4 soccer. Not quite sure why Brandon and I ever thought this was a good idea, because I'm pretty sure that it wasn't. First, Matthew is one of the youngest on the team and most definately the most reserved. He is very polite and refuses to steal the ball from anyone and prefers to run beside them and encourage them. He will stand next to the ball, plan his shot and then look totally bewildered when another kid kicks the ball first.....because, after all, that's not nice. And how exactly do we explain to him that while sharing, saying 'sorry' if you knock someone down, 'thank you' if someone gives you something, and putting 'other people's needs first' is required everywhere but the soccer field. And when on the field, all bets are off....you can push, throw elbows, take the ball from people, not help them up if they fall, and if you happen to nail an old lady on the sidelines with one of your powerful kicks...well, she shouldn't have been standing there anyway.

Oh, and it's totally OK to trip a kid if the ref isn't looking.

Fall 2009

Fall means birthdays, football and cold fronts. Doesn't get much better than that! And it occurred to me the other day that Brandon and I met the first week of September in 1997....and it was in the back row of our physics class. He wormed his way into my study group. The rest is history!

First Aggie game of 2009.

My Baby is 1

I still remember his birthday so vividly....so how could it have already been a year?! Now my sweet baby boy is one year old and it is sad and wonderful, all at the same time. I remember Brandon leaving the hospital to take Matthew home as a visit, so it was just Kyle and myself in the hospital room. And I just held him and loved on my sweet, huge, baby boy! It was so different from Matthew...because to be totally honest....I was scared of Matthew. But I knew what I was doing with Kyle and it made those first couple of days so sweet.

Now Kyle is one and here is what he is up to:

• wears 18-24 month clothes
• LOVES his mama
• carries a lego around everywhere he goes
• no walking, just crawling
• becoming a picky eater, although has transferred to 'real' food pretty well
• loves to fall asleep in my arms at night
• tries to play rough with Matthew and Brandon....usually ends up in crying
• LOVES water and playing in water
• my running partner and he never cries in the jog stroller
• has 8 teeth and working on 4 more
• he is a 'dog wisperer'....and Jack seems to understand him

Sept 8, 2008

Sept 8, 2009

Conversations with Matthew

Halloween

Me: "Matthew, do you want to be Superman, Spiderman or Batman for Halloween"
Matthew: "Superman"
Me: "Do you even know who Superman is?"
Matthew: "Yes. He lives in China.....with the Panda Bears"
Me: "Oh."

Seriously, what do you say to that?

Baby

As I am carrying Matthew to bed...
Matthew: "Mommy, you're a girl"
Me: "Yes, and you're my baby"
Matthew: "No, I'm not a baby....I'm a boy!"
Me: "You will always be my baby"
Matthew: "NOOOOOOO....I'm NOT a baby"
Me: "For the rest of my life, you will be my baby"
Matthew: sensing defeat, he just sighs and somehow understands that he will never, ever win this battle.

Praying and Bo

Matthew has grown up so much lately. Physically and mentally. I'm loving it and hating it all at the same time. But twice in the last 2 days, he has made Brandon and I laugh hysterically and I thought I'd share:

(1) The teachers at Mother's Day Out taught Matthew and his class how to say "God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen." I only found that out because I heard him saying it over the monitor one day! Every night, before dinner, Brandon and I take turns praying. And since Matthew now knows a prayer, we included him. Last night was 'his night' to pray. So he said his prayer and we began to eat....until he insisted that he needed to say the prayer again for the chicken (God is Great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our chicken), and macaroni and cheese, and the milk, etc. Kinda felt bad telling my child that he didn't need to pray that much.

(2) Bo, our cat, had a rather unfortunate accident a couple of months ago. I ran over him. I can only talk about it now because it has been a while. Matthew will ask where Bo is and I tell him that he went to Kitty Heaven. Matthew nods in agreement and we go about our business. Today, Matthew decided to tell Brandon that Bo was "in the oven". "Heaven" = "Oven". Hmmm...I was really hoping that by telling him about Heaven that it would be a learning experience for him.....but nope....he thinks the cat is in the oven.