16 months old

Stella's birthday party

Matthew loved the sandbox at the birthday party

Yummy popsicle

Enjoying a popsicle on a hot, August Saturday

Matthew enjoying the toys at Stella's birthday party

Where does the time fly?  This week Andy went to Denver for work on Monday and then returned Thursday night.  On Monday night, Ana Paula came over to babysit after work because I had a volunteer meeting at the nursing home.  She's a great babysitter and we are so lucky to have her next door.   I enjoyed talking to my friends, Kimberly and Allison, afterwards about solid food, weening, and the crying-it-out-method.  I remember how hard those phases were and I'm so thankful that we have moved on to this stage at 16 months old.  It really is a nice stage.  Matthew has almost all of his teeth now (although he is still drooling for those last 4 teeth) so he doesn't fuss like he used to.  He sleeps through the night now - which is great!  And he eats regular food.  He likes to talk and that is fun to discern his words.  

I found out that Matthew's daycare would be closed for 2 weeks for renovations Aug 17-28.  It was a little stressful to figure out a game plan.  Andy & I were talking about taking a vacation so this sort of pushed us to take one week off during that time-frame.  The other week we were so lucky to have Gay volunteer.   She's a neighbor and good friend of ours and she watches kids all the time.  It will be nice to have her watch Matthew in our own home.  She is going to take him to the park with Dara's kids - one of them is Matthew's age.

On Friday night, we went out to an italian restaurant and Matthew enjoyed the spaghetti and meatballs.  The restaurant was full of older people and they all loved Matthew.  He was waving to people as he walked out of the restaurant.  On Saturday, we went to Stella's 2nd birthday party (neighbor).  Matthew had a good time but I think Andy & I had more fun.  Andy was jumping off the diving board in the pool and playing with the squirt guns.  Matthew had a great time in the sandbox and the pool.  The rest of the day was uneventful but fun- Andy mowed the lawn, we all got in the pool (including Rusty) and we grilled out.  

Matthew's favorite thing to do is to play ball with Rusty.  He throws this ball that lights up to Rusty.  He has more fun playing that game.  I'm sure he will play the same game with Sadie when we visit Lori in Arizona in the fall.

On Sunday, Matthew woke up with a cough and fever.  He was feeling bad most of the day.  We gave him tylenol just about every 4 hours.  We will take him to the doctor tomorrow to see what he needs to get over it.  We noticed a couple of kids in daycare with that same cough.  For the record, he was a bit of a challenge for me today.  He didn't nap very long and he was just feeling puny all day.  I would give him big hugs and kisses.  It reminded me of the challenging time when he was a baby.  But despite all the fussiness, we are grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful little toddler (we just wish we had family closer to help out).