He walks all the time

It's hard to believe that Matthew has only been walking since Tuesday. After 3 days of walking, falling, and finding his balance, Matthew is walking all over the place. He is now walking all the time with some crawling only when he is too tired to walk. But Matthew has the determination to walk. He is falling some but he gets right back up and tries again. He hardly ever cries. It just shows how he was fully capable of walking for a month now but he just needed the mental/self-confidence to do it.

Since the weather is hot, we get in the pool on the weekends. Matthew likes to move around in the pool in his little floatie. He looks and points at the birds, the airplanes, and the moon. Matthew has a lot of teeth for 14 months old. He has 14 teeth ( I think) and it looks like one of the last 2 is coming in. He was fussy most of the weekend because of it. He started feeling better Sunday night just before we had to put him to bed.

He is talking more. His new thing is to pretend that he is on the phone. He will do it with anything - a pen or Rusty's dog chew toy and pretend that he is talking on the phone by having a little conversation. All I can make out is that he says "hello" and holds the toy to his ear and rambles. It's the cutest thing. He also mimics us with words like my "Ohhhh". He pretends to get stuff out of the hand sanitizer dispenser and puts his hands to his face - just like daddy does in the mornings (except Andy uses after-shave).

One noteworthy milestone to record is that Matthew is not using the bottle anymore. We sort of quit it cold turkey. He was only using it at night and the mornings. He definitely doesn't drink as much milk now and actually I think he is not getting enough. The daycare told me that he is drinking more there now so that's good. We stopped giving him the bottle on memorial day and he fussed at night a little but after the first night, he adjusted just fine. He goes to sleep at the daycare without a bottle, so that probably helped him adjust to no bottle at night-time, too.

And he's off

Matthew is walking more and more.  On Monday night, Matthew was brave enough to take 7 or 8 steps on his own - out of the blue!  Andy yelled with excitement and I praised Matthew so he stopped long enough to look up at me then took a couple more steps and fell.  It was a memory that we will never forget.  On Tuesday, he started walking a little more.  And then yesterday, he is probably walking 50% of the time!  He is even trying to run.  

Happy Memorial Day!

Matthew is playing with Mama's make-up

Look what Matthew found - Daddy's tool box!

Daddy and Matthew playing right after we ate dinner at Shin-sei on Sat night

Matthew playing in his sandbox/water toy.  He loves it!

Matthew is 14 months old and getting more active.  He doesn't quite walk on his own for more than a couple of steps.  But he is getting more curious and we have to find things to keep him occupied at home.  During the work week, we don't notice it too much because after we pick him up, there is only a couple of hours before his bedtime.  We notice it on the weekends and especially- long weekends like this one.  His schedule is the following:

6:30am/7am Wake up & eat breakfast (cheerios, banana, and sometimes mama's cereal)

8:00am drop off at daycare

9:30am mid-morning snack and daily poop

11:30am/12 nap for 1 1/2 to 2 hours

1:30pm/2pm Lunch if he didn't eat it prior to the nap

4:00pm snack

6:00pm pick up from daycare and eat dinner

7:00 bath time

8:00 asleep all night long!

He usually keeps this same schedule on the weekends, too.  We are trying to ween the bottle.  We were only giving it to him at night just before bed but somehow I started giving it to him throughout the day.  He is supposed to get 25 oz of milk and he definitely does not get that without a bottle, but I know that it will all work out if we just cut him off.  He should drink more milk earlier in the day, knowing that he will not get it at night, right?

Rusty started doing something different lately.  Matthew is starting to stand up around Rusty where he gets real close and then Rusty growls at him.  The first time this happened, we thought Matthew stepped on Rusty's tail.  But then it happened again, and we disciplined Rusty right away.  We are not sure if Rusty is jealous or scared.  Rusty doesn't bite so we don't think he will do that but it just seems odd that Rusty would growl at Matthew after he has been so protective from the beginning.  

Matthew catches on quickly.  I put my makeup on at the kitchen table while Matthew is sitting in his high chair in the mornings.  The other day he was playing with my makeup bag and he put the eyelash curler next to his eye.  I thought it was funny but Andy didn't like it one bit.  

Over this memorial day weekend, we wish all the war vets and military alums a blessed day.  I remember going to the Vietnam wall in Washington DC and I saw a man walk very quickly to one name, touch it, and then he was on his way.  I also saw a very young soldier with no legs moving his wheel chair throughout the memorial.  I told him that we were very proud of his service and he appreciated my comments.  

Matthew's great grandpa, Serafino Guido, is a retired marine -he served in the Korean war.  He is alive and well and almost 90 yrs old living in Arkansas.   Serafino was born in Italy and came to Ellis Island when he was 2 yrs old.  He lived in Port Chester, NY until he was 16 and then joined the marines.  While stationed in CA, he met my grandma on a trolley in San Francisco. Here is a picture from Matthew's last visit.

Matthew with great Papa Aug 3, 2008 (4 months old)

Walking only when he wants to

99% of the time, Matthew likes to crawl.  But every now and then, he will give walking a try.  So far, he only does it when you ask him to come to you and then you pull back a little.  I will add a video as soon as I can figure out how to get it off the camcorder.

Look who's talking

We finally "turned the car seat around" for Matthew.  As soon as he reached 1 yrs old and 20 lbs, you can put them in a forward facing car seat.  We were sort of slow to get the new one installed in the car.  

Matthew is starting to talk more.  His favorite word is "ah-oh".  He will say it 5 times in a row just to say it.  Sometimes he drops things just so he can say it.  It's really cute.  

The other word that he likes to say is "sit".  He points with one finger at Rusty and says "it".  I guess we tell Rusty to sit a lot and he mimics us.  Rusty doesn't really know what Matthew is saying so he doesn't mind him.  

 I heard another word this week - banana.  We give him a banana every morning.  He says lots of other words but these are the only ones that I could make out.  

 

Happy Mother's Day

Today is mother's day and Matthew was fortunate to spend it with "Nanna" Grandma Snider, and "Nawnaw" Great Grandma Harrod. Matthew was a trouper all weekend because his naps and bedtime routine were not on schedule.

On Friday, we had our first parent-teacher conference at the daycare. Ms Jessica told us that Matthew's favorite song is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. She told us that he is making progress on eating real food (he reverted back to baby food for a stint but just this week he is eating more real food). He still takes a bottle and so we are working on that area. Ms. Jessica told us that Matthew takes the toys and puts them away vs crying like the other kids - we were very proud of this one. She also mentioned that he took his first baby steps on Friday while trying to give Preston a high five. The steps were tiny but it was a big accomplishment and proved he was mentally prepared to walk.

After the parent-teacher conference, we picked up Nawnaw fromt he airport and Nanna and Grandpa Snider and Uncle Mike drove into town about the same time. Matthew was tired and took a little nap and then woke up to all the family. We went to Fernandos for tex-mex and Matthew stayed up past his bedtime. He ate chips, chicken enchiladas, rice, beans, and corn tortillas.

On Saturday, the girls went to the mall with Matthew while the guys played golf. It was a nice treat for me to shop while Nanna and Nawnaw watched Matthew. There was an area with a couch in the middle of the mall and Matthew was down on the rug playing with other kids and enjoying being out of the stroller for a while. We took some pictures with Matthew and then while we were reviewing them, he took a couple of tiny baby steps. We were thrilled with excitement. He stopped after we made some noise.

Once we got home, Grandpa held his arms out for Matthew to come to him and then moved back and Matthew took his first steps (3-4 big steps in a row). He did it several times before he decided that he didn't want to do that anymore. We went to Pappadeaux's for dinner and stayed out way past Matthew's bedtime. He ate crawfish, shrimp, potatoes, corn, and dirty rice.

On Sunday, we went to Babe's chicken. We certainly ate well this weekend. Matthew's nap was interrupted but he did pretty good. He was dancing to the hookey pookey song and eating chicken, potatoes, corn, and green beans.

Matthew gave me a nice Mother's Day card with his signature and drawing. It contained a couple of gift cards to Chili's in there, too. I had to post it because it was so sweet.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and a special wish to Grandma Durkin and Grandma Bruce.

Pictures from Studio One to One

We took these pictures on Feb 1st at Studio One to One in the Galleria.  We are a little slow with getting the pictures out.  Matthew was 10 months old at the time and now he is 13 months old.  

Just a swingin'

Matthew loves to swing in the swing.  We walk down to the park near our house after daycare/work to get outside and swing a little before bathtime.  He gets a little fussy in the evenings because he is tired but if we take him for a walk, he gets relaxed and doesn't fuss.  We usually put on the Backyardagan's and mama does a little dance to get him in good spirits.  

No walking news yet.  He likes to 'bridge' between the couch and the coffee table.  Andy separated them so he would have to take a step and he will do it and then lunge into the couch.  He will not do the same to get back to the coffee table.  He will just crawl.  He can walk, he just doesn't know he can.