A little after Christmas present

Just a quick post to share a photo of Matt that sums him up in a nutshell. I took it tonight while he was helping Jon prepare some homemade ice cream. This is our happy little guy.

Matt's Second Christmas

Whew! We are still recovering from an eventful day, but I'll take a break from writing thank you notes to post about Matt's second Christmas.

We enjoyed a fairly quiet Christmas at home again this year. Matt had some visitors before Christmas: my sister and her boyfriend came earlier in the week. We enjoyed some time together as well as a little day trip into the city to see the aquarium and the neighborhood where I work, and before they left Matt got to dive into some presents early.

Matt watching the penguins

Matt sitting on his aunt's lap, contemplating his next move against encroaching dinosaurs

On Christmas morning we slept in a little bit, then enjoyed some breakfast before tackling the gigantic mounds of presents. We had to pace ourselves and take a few breaks to avoid overwhelming Matt, although Jon and I appreciated the chance to regroup and clear away the paper and boxes, too. Needless to say, unlike last Christmas Matt stayed away for present opening this year! Many thanks to Santa, the grandparents, aunts and uncles, other relatives, and even friends and coworkers for all of the gifts. Matt has no idea how lucky he is!

OK, so we did let Matt open one present on Christmas Eve...

Checking out the giant pile of presents and choosing which box to open first

Ripping off that paper

Getting acquainted with his new dog

Tackling some hammering (warning: turn your volume down before pushing play!)

Checking out his new trucks

Trying out another pounding bench

Trying to figure out the baby Rube Goldberg contraption

Staring down the line-up of new dinosaurs

Matt's most impressive haul of clothes, books, educational materials, and toys (some of which has been set aside for later so he can fully enjoy everything)

Throwback Thursday, Christmas edition

I don't usually post retro photos on Throwback Thursday, but I'll gladly make an exception today since it's Christmas. I'd like to share a couple of photos from Matt's first Christmas and a couple from today to show how big he's gotten in just a year!

Baby's first Christmas

Baby's second Christmas

Same boy, same bear, but different Christmases!

More later, after we've finally finished attacking the massive mound of presents. In the meantime, hope you're having a merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

First and foremost, we wish you and yours a merry Christmas.

Matt has figured out something is up. He has decided he really likes the Christmas tree and the Christmas lights. We check ours out multiple times a day, and he proposes additions to the Christmas tree, some of which we can usually figure out how to make work (like cards) and some of which we can't (like books). But he has quickly become fond of this opening presents thing. Within an hour of my sister arriving on Sunday he had already ripped into one of his gifts she had brought. And he wants me to open every package as soon as we find them on the doorstep because the few that I have opened have contained more presents and even cookies. (He's struggling hard with patience as I put the majority of the packages aside until Christmas.) Tomorrow promises to be a busy, if not overwhelming, day for him, and Friday may be a very disappointing one!

Anyway, I've promised to share photos with Santa, so without further adieu, here they are!

With Santa at the Bass Pro Shop

With Santa at Christmas at Fenway

Yes, Matt ended up seeing Santa twice this year. Right before Thanksgiving I took him to a nearby store to see Santa because they offer photos for free; I figured that was a good way to check photo with Santa off of the list of things to do for the holidays. (Santa has a very nice set up there; we may go back there in the future!) But then we went to Christmas at Fenway, where we ran into Santa again. Since we didn't take Matt to see Santa last year, I hope this makes up for it!

Christmas at Fenway

This afternoon we went to Christmas at Fenway, an annual event we haven't been able to attend until this year because we hadn't been lucky enough to win entry. But this year I got picked! Sadly, by the time our scheduled entrance time came around many events, like autographs with current and former players, were over, and others were winding down, but we still had some neat experiences and got some good photos.

With the three World Series trophies

Matt running up the ramp away from the crowds around the trophies

Posing with Wally, the Green Monster, and the Red Sox Christmas tree

The adults' favorite part was getting to take a few swings in the players' batting cage. Matt was too young, so he got to watch this time.

Checking out the batting cage

Katherine taking her swings

Matt sitting in the official Fenway chairs and watching Daddy

Jon taking his swings

Trying to figure out why the balls are going so fast and planning to replicate this new game of hitting balls with sticks

And he's ready to move on

Having a little one kept us from being able to spend a lot of time doing something like pick through the odds and ends in the yard sale (which had a wide variety of gear, from leftover merchandise and player photos to banners and media guides), but the family activities gave us more to do with all of the players gone. Case in point: the "trackless train":

Matt trying to make up his mind about trains

Whee! Trains are awesome!

Posing for photos with the mascot, Santa (photo to come soon...), and other Christmas characters were part of the attractions. Matt was OK with Wally, a little unsure about Santa, but definitely frightened of the Grinch.

Help!

Is that scary Grinch gone yet?

I tried to get one last photo with the Wally statue, but Matt was getting too tired and too anxious about having to face the Grinch again. So we headed home, and after a nap and some food all was well.

Between Halloween and Christmas, we preferred trick or treating at Fenway, Matt because there wasn't a Grinch and Jon and I because being able to walk around the field and sit in the dugouts was special. At this rate Matt is going to think we go to the ballpark to celebrate a holiday rather than to watch a game!

The tree is trimmed

We cut down and set up our Christmas tree last night and trimmed it tonight. We have a small one this year, and we were very selective in our ornament selection (in other words, anything breakable isn't hanging on this year's tree). Our play yard is surrounding the tree in the hopes that someone won't pull on it and its decorations too much. Matt is still figuring out what he thinks of the whole thing.

Happy 13-Month Birthday, Matt!

Today Matt is 13 months old.

Peek-a-boo!

I stick my tongue out at you!

A happy, goofy little guy

So, what is Matt up to at the age of 13 months?

He is very comfortable with walking and has picked up a little speed, although thankfully he's not yet running. He still has a bit of a wide-legged stance as he toddles around, as if he just got off of a horse, which is normal for his age. And he still shuffles his feet as he walks, although he's getting better at going around things on the floor rather than dribbling them all with him. In other words, his gait is still pretty amusing to watch.

Even though he's not really speaking much that's recognizably English, Matt's very expressive and often pretty good at communicating what he wants. He just added "Mama" to his vocabulary within the past couple of days. He also signs "more" (although, like many little kids, he primarily uses it to mean "I want something, probably food") and "all done," and he's working on "milk" (he signs it correctly but usually means "food / drink" in general rather than just "milk"). He waves "goodbye" consistently and every once in a while "hello," too. His new favorite thing is to hold his hands out and shrug while making quizzical noises, imitating the exaggerated gestures I have made when asking him questions. He's getting kind of cheeky with it: he has been known to nab something like a phone, throw it, and then seem to ask something akin to "Where did it go?" or "How did it get over there?" Oh boy...

Matt just finished up a massive growth spurt. That's the reason we were out shoe shopping for him last Saturday: his main pair of shoes barely fit on Saturday even though he had worn them comfortably just a couple of days before. He currently wears toddler size 6 wide, although we'll see how long that lasts. And his 18-month clothes are a little closer to being retired. The 18-month onesies are just about done, but fortunately his cute shirts have a little more life in them. He's finally growing into the length of the pants; that always seems to be just about the last thing he does.

Matt still eats pretty well, with the occasional bouts of pickiness. He feeds himself with a spoon, even if he still needs to refine his technique; will dunk something into a dip, although if you don't watch him he's quick on the double-dipping; and has had a successful try at feeding himself with a fork. He also sometimes tries to feed people the leftovers of whatever he's eating, every once in a while after he's sampled it himself. He does like to pretend to give people a drink from his play coffee pot, too.

Matt is definitely a busy little guy during his play, and he always insists on some reading time, too. He keeps me on my toes for sure!

November Recap

Whew, it's hard to believe it's already December!

November was a busy month for us. I've already posted about Matt's birthday, 12-month doctor visit, and Thanksgiving, so I'll recap some of our other exciting adventures from this past month and then share some more photos.

Most weeks we had a mix of play groups or dates and library story time. Towards the end of the month we tried out a couple of new to us programs, a tot play / story time and a musical program, at neighboring libraries, and it seems we now have a couple of additional options. Matt outgrew our Thursday morning play group, and that space's play group for older kids isn't at a good time for us, so it's nice to have something else to do in the cold winter months to come.

Trying out the "shaky eggs" (aka egg shakers) at our usual library story time

The weekend after Matt's birthday we decided to take a little day trip. We went up north of the city to an apple orchard where we ate warm apple cider donuts and checked out the farm animals. After a quick lunch in town we went out to the beach and walked along the sand for a bit, watching all of the people and dogs out and about.

Listening to the music

Sampling cider donuts

Trying to pat the bunny

Not that impressed with the tractor

Unsure about the chickens wandering around

Feeding the goats

Chasing off the geese

Walking on the beach

Playing in the sand

Always a favorite mode of transportation

More playing in the sand

On Veteran's Day one of my friends had the day off from work, so we met her at the local state park for a walk. Afterwards we played in the leaves.

Matt enjoys a good stick

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we met up with a friend near the nearby NFL football stadium to explore some things in that area. We took the nature trail around a cranberry bog, and then we checked out the giant fish tank in the Bass Pro shop. After our friends headed off, Matt and I finished some Thanksgiving food shopping at Trader Joe's and then hit the line for Santa (photo to come later).

Enjoying his new favorite food, clementines (The band-aid was just to keep him from scratching a little bit of rug burn he had from to a too late attempt to shift direction; he's all right and surprisingly left the band-aid alone.)

Look, a fish!

Trying to take it all in

The cleaning man rubbing the nose of the friendliest fish (whom he made "wave" its fin at Matt)

Matt and his buddy watching the diver

The weekend after Thanksgiving we made a little shopping excursion to some local business. We took Matt shoe shopping since he had outgrown the one pair we had. He didn't find trying on shoes anywhere near as interesting as playing with the wooden maze and staring at himself in the many mirrors. We also took him to the toy store, where he wanted to dump out the toys so he could play with the boxes they sat in instead.

Checking himself out at the shoe store

So, what else has Matt been up to? Well, he is continuing his efforts to make the cat like him.

Her preferred position is still just out of reach.

Matt is enjoying playing with blocks and similar toys, stacking them in towers or connecting the Mega Bloks (aka "baby Legos").

He is also playing with a farm set we're borrowing from some friends.

He has discovered he can push buttons and enjoys his new power.

Matt finds the patterns made by light, whether sunlight through the windows or light from a flashlight, to be fascinating.

 He enjoys playing with boxes...

... whether that involves sitting in them...

... or wearing them on his feet as funny-shaped shoes.

He tries to steal the broom from me when I'm sweeping up the cheerios from under his chair.

My "helper"

Practicing for quidditch?

And fortunately the weather allowed for a few last chances to play in his sand box.

I'll end with a video taken one Saturday afternoon. This is just Matt being Matt.

I'll post again soon on Matt's 13-month birthday.