We started out by attending our moms' club's infant playgroup on Monday. Matt and his birthday buddy are no longer the youngest members: this past week an eight-week-old, a six-week-old, and a two-week-old baby joined us. Matt now has so many baby friends, and still more babies are joining our group! Even though there are five elementary schools in our town, at this rate he'll surely know at least one kid in his class by the time he starts kindergarten.
Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed at home, thanks to the weather. We wouldn't have done much anyway, as Matt's three-month growth spurt hit (as it has been doing intermittently). He spent most of Wednesday sleeping, actually, getting ready to grow some more.
Thursday we met up with a friend and her baby for another baby movie. I agree with her that our babies (who are two weeks apart) are at a difficult age for watching movies in a theater setting: they no longer are content to sleep most of the time, as they were when younger. They are alert so much more, and they are now aware enough to want to watch the movie - not what the doctor ordered. At the same time, they are unable to move anywhere on their own and can find it challenging to entertain themselves, so they require a lot more attention from us. Needless to say, watching a movie without a remote control handy is tricky! We were surprised to see a couple of people without babies at the showing, but at least they didn't complain, unlike the woman at the last baby movie I attended. Perhaps the baby-less attendees didn't mind missing a few lines of dialogue now and then if they were as disappointed as we were in the movie selection. (Note to movie chains: don't pick baby movies with themes and scenes that are guaranteed to upset new parents. A convict holding a family hostage, depictions of pregnancy loss, and babies dying are not what moms want to see when they've managed to wrestle their little ones out of the house, through cold, snowy streets, and into a theater…) We may start doing our own baby movies at home instead!
Friday we went to a Valentine's Day cookie party hosted by a member of our moms' club. The main activity was for toddlers and preschoolers to decorate cookies - and by decorating I of course mean plopping on loads of neon pink icing and dumping sprinkles all over. Matt and the other few babies didn't get to participate this time, but they seemed to have plenty to do being cute. I don't blame Matt for feeling overwhelmed once the bigger kids dragged out the noisy toys for their parade through the host mom's house, however, especially since our house can be very quiet and Matt is the main noise-maker. Anyway, I had a good time talking with the other moms, getting to know a few who aren't in our baby group.
Saturday we had our friends over with their baby. Our little guys allowed us to play a few games in between pauses to wipe drool off of their adorable double chins. We had to be strategic with our game choices; anything that required two hands from all participants or too much to remember if we had to take a break for a diaper change or baby feeding was out. If we make our game afternoon a recurring event we'll be able to draw up a good list of baby friendly games.
Sunday we enjoyed a quiet day at home, catching up on the Olympics. That may be how we spend most of the coming week, as we don't have much planned and Matt's growth spurt doesn't seem to be over. I won't mind, as we have been busy and could use a slower week.
Now onto the good stuff, the photos...
Matt is continuing to work on grabbing and touching things. In addition to his toys, he now likes to get his fingers on his books, including his touch and feel book from his one set of grandparents and his copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He has started to "help" me turn pages.
But he still likes to hold fingers most of all.
Cuteness overload alert: here is Matt hugging a stuffed animal. He was feeling the different textures of this bunny, a gift from his other set of grandparents, when I asked him to give it a hug. Much to our surprise, he did! Aw... I had been having him "give himself a hug" after diaper changes, a game someone suggested to make that time have positive connotations. I'm impressed at how Matt is not only remembering words he has heard but also associating some meaning with them. I'm curious to know how much he was able to make the leap from hugging himself to hugging something else and how much was a coincidence. In any case, it was such a sweet moment.
No one comes between Matt and his bunny!
I got Matt a jumper. He's still on the young side for it, but he loves standing, "walking," and "jumping" so much that within a few weeks this may become one of his favorite toys. (It better! He's not getting any more big toys until he gets a bicycle - for outside. Baby stuff is taking over the house, and we should keep the toys from occupying every room before he's even able to distribute them everywhere on his own.) Here he is thinking about what he wants to do on his new entertainment center.
Taking it for a test drive
Reaching for the parrot
Worn out, so good night!
