January Recap

At last I've managed to finish getting this post together!

Until the snow hit, our weeks in January went something like this:

Mondays we went to an indoor play space or a library program.

Riding a duck at the open gym

He shoots, he scores! Two points for Matt

Riding the roller coaster

Being a goalie

Riding the zebra

Amusing himself with a small speck of something

Tuesdays we went to several different music or story-based library programs. Wednesdays we went to music class at the children's museum and/or library story time. We're close to earning back the cost of our children's museum membership!

Manning the switches on the lunar module

Choo choo!

Trying his hand at the craft

Hanging out in the dinosaur room

Thursdays and Fridays we met up with friends at the children's museum, playground, or indoor play space; ran errands; or just stayed home.

Trying out the brand new toddler-friendly playground in town

Checking out the new indoor play space in the next town over

We did have one special outing. Early in the month one of our friends invited us to share in a pass to the museum of science. Many thanks to them for the fun morning!

Checking out the woodlands mural in the little kids' area

Warily eyeing the butterfly in the butterfly garden

Not so excited about posing with me in front of the triceratops

Checking out a display of his favorite kind of bird

So that was most of our exciting adventures this past month. Onto photos of our time at home...

Matt continues to pursue the cat's affections with enthusiasm. As you can see, that enthusiasm remains one-sided.

Cats don't like to share!

Someone's excited about petting and playing with the cat - and it's not the cat!

 

Matt continues to explore coloring

Why wear one hat when you can wear two?

A happy, silly little guy!

Ducks swimming

Our sous chef

Toddling through the backyard (before it was buried in snow)

Not really sure about play doh (which I made for him)

Checking out the snow outside

Yes?

Playing with his wooden pull-toy ducks Jon made for him

Yum, a cupcake!

Playing with his trucks

Happy 15-Month Birthday, Matt!

Yesterday Matt turned 15 months old. He was feeling a little off because his upper two canines were trying to finish breaking through, so forgive the rosy cheeks, runny nose, and drool.

The 15 month old playing with dinosaurs before library story time

Today we went to the doctor for Matt's 15-month appointment. He weighed 25 lbs. 8.5 oz, which is closer to the 85th percentile, and measured 32 1/4", which is around the 90th percentile. I'm not sure the height is correct, since he was extra squirmy; I think the nurse missed at least 1/4 of an inch there. He had to have grown more than 1/4" in the past three months because he grew a full clothes size this past month alone. (He went on a 2-week growth spurt in mid-January and moved from size 18-month to 24-month pants, started outgrowing his 24-month shirts from brands like Osh Kosh and Circo that run smaller, and wears 2T/3T socks.) Anyway, Matt checks out as healthy - no surprise there!

Matt has 16 of his 20 baby teeth now. He's just missing his 2-year molars. We are all very ready for a break from teething...

At 15 months Matt is still a very active toddler. He is frequently on the go and just as frequently into something. Even with all of his toys Matt will occupy himself with just about anything: the contents of the pantry, the recycle bin, closet, drawers, cabinets... Matt continues to pick up speed as he moves, but he's also content to walk more slowly and deliberately as he checks out what's around him. The other weekend we went for a family outing, and Matt held Jon's hand as we walked down the sidewalk. It was very cute. And Matt is still somewhat cautious when it comes to climbing on and off things, but he's getting bolder.

Matt is quite communicative, although he hasn't added many more words to his vocabulary this past month. He seems to be working on some more animals, like "cow" and "pig," but he still prefers to refer to all birds as "duck" (we've had some long discussions about geese vs. ducks, chickens vs. ducks, penguins vs. ducks, etc.). With his pointing he's doing a decent enough job of getting his message across, although it'll be nice when he has more words to be more specific! He understands us very well; within the past month or so his comprehension of our conversations and commands has dramatically increased. He has always been fairly quick to pick up on things, and now that he understands verbal communication better he's even quicker.

In the past couple of weeks Matt discovered his belly button. He proudly shows it off, especially if you also show him yours. He can also identify noses (he prefers poking other people's to pointing out his own), knees, and now ears.

These days Matt still loves animals and dinosaurs, and he's showing a little more interest in cars and trucks, too. He loves reading, and sometimes he'll flip through books on his own, too. He still insists on helping out with cooking, especially mixing and dumping things into the pot, as well as a few other chores, namely laundry and sweeping, and pushing of buttons. He is still enjoying his easel, although some days instead of exploring vertical lines (his predominant artistic expression at the moment) he has more fun taking the chalk and crayons in and out of the trays and dumping them onto the floor or stuffing them into a bottle from the recycling.

I hope to post our January events and photos within a day or two.

Super Bowl

Yes, I know I'm posting about the Super Bowl a couple of days late, but we've been busy here dealing with yet another winter storm. I just want to share a few photos, and I promise I'll be back by the end of the week for our January recap and an update on Matt at 15 months old.

But back to Sunday night's game...

Matt only made it until halftime, and then it was his bedtime. In other words, he missed all of the action of the second half - not that he watched much of the first half. He was more interested in dipping (but not eating) chips in homemade guacamole and sampling the chicken wings Jon also made.

We finally got Matt to do the touchdown arm signal after a big touchdown.

For the record, we know nothing here about deflating footballs...

The First Big Snowstorm of the Winter

We were snowed in today, courtesy of winter storm Juno. The snowfall is slowing, although the winds are still blowing. It's hard to say how much snow we got because of the winds, but there are some deep drifts out there, and a total of around 2 feet is probably a good guess.

The snow drift on the back deck almost reaches the top of Matt's head.

Jon stayed home from work, and Matt and I canceled any plans to go out. We did some cooking together to pass the time. Here is Matt helping to prepare some pizza dough:

Stirring the dough

Helping to flatten the dough

It's a tough life waiting out a snowstorm in this manner, but someone's gotta live it!

Matt's First Time Sledding

We finally got enough snow this winter for a little play time in the yard. Matt got a chance to walk around, and then I took him for a little ride in a hand-me-down toddler sled we got.

He's still not too sure about snow. I couldn't convince him to play with it this time. He prefers to wear his penguin (or, as he calls it, "duck") snow suit and ride in the sled.

The Artist at Work

Jon just completed an artist's easel, made with walnut, a chalkboard, and a white board, for Matt. A roll of paper will allow for plenty of drawing, painting, etc. Early signs indicate it's a hit!

Drawing with chalk

Trying out the paper with some crayons

Happy 14-Month Birthday, Matt!

Today Matt is 14 months old. Sadly, he was under the weather: he and I came down with a stomach bug at bedtime last night. It has been a while since Matt has been sick, but our luck ran out. After several hours we both turned the corner, thankfully. We were able to spend a quiet day at home today, and Matt spent most of the day napping. It looks like someone brought the bug to our play group on Friday morning; at least two other kids who were there came down with it at the same time. We're hoping Jon escapes this!

Snuggling on the couch for a nap

Anyway, Matt is a very active 14 month old. He is so very close to running. Combine that with an increased sense of self and an increased desire for independence, and he keeps us busy. Matt has definite opinions about things which book he wants to read when - and how many times in a row. He really likes to look at the Christmas tree, the lights we put up around the porch, and the Christmas cards I taped up to the back door. He's going to be very upset when we take those down, as we look at them multiple times a day.

Matt has added a couple of more words to his vocabulary, notably "duck." He seems to be trying to say "blue" and maybe even "red," too. Right now, however, he is obsessed with cats, dogs, and ducks; he points them out, whether they're real or in a picture. He's getting better at recognizing more specific types; he tries to group other birds in the same category as ducks, but sometimes he recognizes that they're too different to be duck. In fact, Matt has been very good at making connections lately; he'll match up a picture in a book to something he sees somewhere else or look for the cat or his stuffed dog if he has something in his hand that mentions cat or dog. He's also very interested in saying words. If he doesn't know or can't say the word for something else he'd like to point out, he uses "that" (well, it's more "dat").

We haven't measured how tall Matt is or how much he weighs recently, but as of the first of the month he is now wearing 24-month pajamas and 18-24 / 24-month shirts; he'll probably switch over to 24-month pants sooner rather than later.

Matt now has 14 teeth, with 2 more on their way. One of his bottom canines appeared just in time for Christmas, and the other one followed soon after. The upper canines aren't far behind.