December Recap

I've already posted about some of our more exciting events in December, Christmas at Fenway, my sister's visit, and of course Christmas itself. But I want to share more about some other things we did in December as well as some other photos of Matt.

The first half of the month we had our usual visits to the Y play space, library story time, play groups, etc.

Made it through the tunnel!

Closer to Christmas we tried out a new to us play space, which we'll revisit during the cold weather. It's an indoor soccer pitch most of the time but a little kids' playground during the day.

Studying the soccer ball

Two points for Matt

Doing a little rearranging

We also went to a few holiday music programs and had a carol singing party with some people from my moms' club.

Choosing scarves to accompany the music

Now, onto miscellaneous photos:

 

Enjoying a few warmer days

Stacking up his "baby Legos"

Feeding himself with a fork and spoon

Trying on his new snow suit

 

Paging through his zoo book

Going for a little walk

Batman heading upstairs

Pushing buttons, one of Matt's specialties

"Who, me?"

On the go

Checking out the Christmas tree with the cat

Sunday snack before watching football with Daddy

Making silly faces

En guarde!

Doing a little banging

 

Hanging out with his bear and dog

Helping with the graham cracker crust

Standing in the corner

Checking out Daddy's new shoes

Showing off his new outfit, topped off with Daddy's hat

Happy New Year!

We wish you and your family a happy New Year.

May 2015 be as fun for you as a big box is for a toddler.

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!