Growing Up

Time for a little update...nothing in particular. I've just had several things on my mind that I want to record, more for myself than anything.

Matthew isn't a baby anymore. He's still so cuddly and small (at 18 months he still hasn't hit 20 pounds!), but he is doing big boy things now. And it still catches me off guard a lot. He is talking a lot and I love hearing his squeaky little voice say new words. It makes me smile when I do something for him and he says dantoo (thank you) and then follows with ceckum (you're welcome). Or when he brings me something and says here go mama. He gets so excited when he sees Jon and always greets him in the evening shouting Daddy Daddy, it's Daddy! We get comments all the time about how he is such a happy easygoing boy, and it's usually true. He started nursery a few weeks ago and has been doing great. I stay in there a few minutes while they all get settled and then sneak out and he hasn't had any problems. Matthew is a climber. He climbs on everything and also likes to grab onto the table and bathroom sink and swing from them. He also is a pro at taking his diaper off...and that's been a problem! He and Emma love playing together, though it's usually wrestling or roughhousing of some sort. He has FINALLY gotten the hang of sleeping. He goes to bed really well, sleeps all night, and doesn't wake up until after 7. It has been great! Now if I could just make myself sleep past 6...
We love our sweet little buddy!

Emma has also grown up overnight. Her vocabulary is growing like crazy. It is so funny to hear her use big words. Things like, that's just terrible and that's ridiculous. I know there are several others, but my mind is blanking. Recently she has been working on her negotiation skills. If I say no when she asks me something, instead of throwing a fit (usually) she will say "How 'bout we talk about it in a little bit? Does that sound good? Okay, that's a good idea." She's just too little to be talking like that. :) Emma has definitely taken after Jon in so many ways. She is definitely an artist and can draw better than me already! She loves anything outdoors and can spot a bug a mile away. We were outside the other day and all of a sudden she stopped and said, "Look, there's a beetle!" I looked and couldn't see anything so asked her again where it was. She bent down, moved a pebble and some dirt and told me it was there. Sure enough there was a little beetle crawling in the dirt.
The holidays have been so fun this year, since Emma is really starting to understand them. She asks every day if it is Christmas yet and this morning she asked if Santa was going to come to our house and bring us presents in a bag. We were also talking about the tooth fairy today and when I explained how that all works, her eyes got really wide and she responded with, "WOW!!! And after the tooth fairy gives me money then you're going to give me money too, right. That's how it works. That sounds good, huh Mom!" Emma has also started stalling at bed times. She can come up with 1000 different reasons to not go to bed. There is always something she forgot that she has to get and she always wants to sing to us. Drives me crazy but makes me smile. We love our Emma!

We have been keeping busy. We really enjoyed Thanksgiving with Jon's family and are looking forward to having my family here at Christmas. We feel so blessed to be able to spend the holidays with family. And I'm grateful to my family for making the trip out here...two more weeks! I'm really looking forward to it...the visiting, the candy making, the sightseeing, just spending time with my family who I don't get to see often enough. And that alone will make it a merry Christmas.