A happy belated St. Patrick's Day.
We took advantage of decent weather to visit our favorite berry farm.
Saying hello to the sheep and asking them how they were doing.
But after the rain came a rainbow.
Friday, March 18, 2016
St. Patrick's Day
But after the rain came a rainbow.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
February Recap
I almost got this post up on time!
February had some bitterly cold days, when the wind chill dipped as low as -30F, some snowy days, and some windy days this past month. But we also had days when the temperatures reached the 40s, 50s, and even 60s, meaning we actually got to spend a little time outside.
At the park near Dada's work
But other times we stayed inside, where Matt found plenty of things to keep himself busy.
Doing a puzzle
Building his own track for trains
We had a few special events, including an open house at a local camp and a Valentine's Day party.
Petting the degu
Trying out an obstacle course
Climbing through
Balance beam
We also did a number of our usual activities: playgroups and playdates, library story time, and open gym.
Working on a puzzle with a buddy
This month Matt experienced some firsts. He attended his first puppet show, about Peter Rabbit, at the local library. The guy also explained how the puppets worked, making it a nice introduction to puppets. Matt also took his first sports class with buddies from our moms' group. He wasn't too sure about the class aspect but enjoyed playing some of the games. And Monday he started his first set of classes, a combination of gymnastics (more of an obstacle course than tumbling), open gym, and pretend play.
Crawling through the tunnel at the sports class
Finally, a few other photos from our month.
Life with a toddler
Cuddling with his bear
Goofy hats
February had some bitterly cold days, when the wind chill dipped as low as -30F, some snowy days, and some windy days this past month. But we also had days when the temperatures reached the 40s, 50s, and even 60s, meaning we actually got to spend a little time outside.
Swinging
Sliding
But other times we stayed inside, where Matt found plenty of things to keep himself busy.
Making a "cave" by crawling under the sheets
Hiding in the closet
Intent on playing with his food
Reading with Dada
We had a few special events, including an open house at a local camp and a Valentine's Day party.
Swinging on the rings
Eating his decorated cookie (perhaps more frosting and sprinkles than cookie by the time he was done!)
We also did a number of our usual activities: playgroups and playdates, library story time, and open gym.
This month Matt experienced some firsts. He attended his first puppet show, about Peter Rabbit, at the local library. The guy also explained how the puppets worked, making it a nice introduction to puppets. Matt also took his first sports class with buddies from our moms' group. He wasn't too sure about the class aspect but enjoyed playing some of the games. And Monday he started his first set of classes, a combination of gymnastics (more of an obstacle course than tumbling), open gym, and pretend play.
Running for the line
Finally, a few other photos from our month.
All worn out
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Matt at 2 1/4 years old
Matt turned two and a quarter years old this past February 4th. Since I haven't updated what Matt is up to these days in a more general sense, I thought I'd try to do that.
Here is Matt on his 2 1/4 birthday:
Arranging his dinosaur bones
Fun with boxes
Train time
Matt's current interests are Winnie the Pooh, both the classic and Disney version; Curious George, both the classic and the PBS versions; vehicles, especially construction trucks, and above all trains, including Thomas the Train; dinosaurs, which have come back with a vengeance recently; and animals - pets, farm animals, and sea creatures in particular. His favorite activities at home are puzzles, stickers, and play dough. He has gotten into jigsaw puzzles. He can do most 9-12-piece puzzles without assistance, and he can solve 16-24-piece puzzles with just a little help. He loves being read to most of all, however. In addition to books about his favorite interests, he also likes books like Dr. Seuss, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie series.
Here is Matt "reading" on his 2 1/4 birthday:
He's not actually reading. (He should be well prepared to read when he's ready, though!) He has made up his own words to go along with the book (Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle), but it's not a bad guess at what the book is actually saying. His version is "Baby X loves his mommy," whereas the real version is "Does a baby X have a mother, too?" Before I could grab my phone he had just finished "reading" a short book of nursery rhymes, a couple of which he remembered pretty well (Jack and Jill), a couple of which he sort of remembered (I'm a Little Teapot), and a couple of which he could only remember what he saw in the pictures (Hey Diddle Diddle).
Matt is picking things up quickly. By now he is able to recognize almost all of the letters of the alphabet. (Some days he recognizes more than others, but he's getting there.) He can count up to twelve, although he often skips the number 5 (skipping a number is typical of kids this age), and he has an awareness of the numbers in the teens. He still knows his basic shapes, although things like the square vs. rectangle difference can trip him up. And he still knows his colors, although in some lights orange / red and purple / blue are tricky to distinguish. He is better now about naming more than one color for an object; for example, he will say we have a black and white cat now rather than just black, her dominant color.
Matt is very talkative these days. His words are getting longer, especially as he tries to conquer more dinosaur names. He almost gets all of "triceratops" now rather than just "tree tops," and he can pretty much say "pachycephalosaurus." His vocabulary has just exploded. He can name well over a dozen different dinosaur species (although he prefers to lump all of the flying reptiles under "flying dinosaur"), for example. His favorite question is "How?", often "How can X get down / out?" Close behind are the questions, "What's his name? / What is he called? / What is that?", for which he continues to use "Si-goo-dah?" at times. He can make his own sentences and statements without much, if any, input from us. He will say sentences that have as many as 10 words, and his sentences are getting slightly more complex as they get longer. He is figuring out because, or "po'cause," as he says. Sometimes the two halves of the sentence go together better than others. "Ankylosaurus have bony clubs on tails po'cause they ankylosaurus." Matt is doing pretty well with pronouns. He uses I, my (own), me, you, our, he, his, they, and sometimes their pretty well. The one thing that trips him up is turning around phrases like "Do you need me to help you?" into "Yes, help me"; he'll often say, "Yes, help you," instead. Matt has already picked up on some past and future tense ("I will") verbs, though. He's starting to use more conjunctions and articles, too.
Matt is just about ready to grow out of his 3T shirts, 2T pants, and size 8 shoes, especially after this week's growth spurt. He'll be in 4T shirts, 3T pants, and size 9 shoes by the time spring arrives, if not sooner. He weighs around 31.5 lbs. and is just over 3' tall now.
Here is Matt on his 2 1/4 birthday:
Matt's current interests are Winnie the Pooh, both the classic and Disney version; Curious George, both the classic and the PBS versions; vehicles, especially construction trucks, and above all trains, including Thomas the Train; dinosaurs, which have come back with a vengeance recently; and animals - pets, farm animals, and sea creatures in particular. His favorite activities at home are puzzles, stickers, and play dough. He has gotten into jigsaw puzzles. He can do most 9-12-piece puzzles without assistance, and he can solve 16-24-piece puzzles with just a little help. He loves being read to most of all, however. In addition to books about his favorite interests, he also likes books like Dr. Seuss, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie series.
Here is Matt "reading" on his 2 1/4 birthday:
Matt is picking things up quickly. By now he is able to recognize almost all of the letters of the alphabet. (Some days he recognizes more than others, but he's getting there.) He can count up to twelve, although he often skips the number 5 (skipping a number is typical of kids this age), and he has an awareness of the numbers in the teens. He still knows his basic shapes, although things like the square vs. rectangle difference can trip him up. And he still knows his colors, although in some lights orange / red and purple / blue are tricky to distinguish. He is better now about naming more than one color for an object; for example, he will say we have a black and white cat now rather than just black, her dominant color.
Matt is very talkative these days. His words are getting longer, especially as he tries to conquer more dinosaur names. He almost gets all of "triceratops" now rather than just "tree tops," and he can pretty much say "pachycephalosaurus." His vocabulary has just exploded. He can name well over a dozen different dinosaur species (although he prefers to lump all of the flying reptiles under "flying dinosaur"), for example. His favorite question is "How?", often "How can X get down / out?" Close behind are the questions, "What's his name? / What is he called? / What is that?", for which he continues to use "Si-goo-dah?" at times. He can make his own sentences and statements without much, if any, input from us. He will say sentences that have as many as 10 words, and his sentences are getting slightly more complex as they get longer. He is figuring out because, or "po'cause," as he says. Sometimes the two halves of the sentence go together better than others. "Ankylosaurus have bony clubs on tails po'cause they ankylosaurus." Matt is doing pretty well with pronouns. He uses I, my (own), me, you, our, he, his, they, and sometimes their pretty well. The one thing that trips him up is turning around phrases like "Do you need me to help you?" into "Yes, help me"; he'll often say, "Yes, help you," instead. Matt has already picked up on some past and future tense ("I will") verbs, though. He's starting to use more conjunctions and articles, too.
Matt is just about ready to grow out of his 3T shirts, 2T pants, and size 8 shoes, especially after this week's growth spurt. He'll be in 4T shirts, 3T pants, and size 9 shoes by the time spring arrives, if not sooner. He weighs around 31.5 lbs. and is just over 3' tall now.
Friday, February 12, 2016
January Recap
Yes, I know I'm very, very late with a review of our January! Matt and then I had to get over a long-lasting cold, and we had a winter storm where we lost power for a few days (although our generator allowed us to keep heat and water going), so we were a little distracted.
We did have a few exciting outings this past month.
Matt went with me to an event at work.
Fortunately the amount of cookies and cupcakes made up for the lack of trains.
We went to our favorite open gym.
Matt made a new game for himself: matching colored blocks to the same colored squares on a mat.
We also tried out a few new to us places, including a trampoline park, which Matt enjoyed, and an indoor spray park or splash pad, which Matt did not enjoy.
Checking out the trampolines
Matt's favorite part: the pit of foam blocks.
Kicking a goal
Mostly, however, we went to a few playgroups and storytimes but spent a lot of time doing various activities at home.
Matt's new interests include "making a cave," or crawling under blankets, and "hiding," although he will readily call out "I'm ov' there," if asked, "Where is Matt?"
Hanging out in his blanket cave
Peeking out from the cabinets
Matt spent a lot of time doing crafts and other projects.
Sticking stickers everywhere
Licking the beater
Digging for dinosaur bones (a new favorite activity)
As always, Matt enjoyed doing puzzles. He started challenging himself by reaching for harder jigsaw puzzles, getting up to 12-piece puzzles this past month.
Assembling a number train puzzle
Solving his first 12-piece puzzle all by himself
Working on a 12-piece train puzzle
And sometimes Matt was just silly.
With Mama's rainboots
We did have a few exciting outings this past month.
Matt went with me to an event at work.
We went to our favorite open gym.
We also tried out a few new to us places, including a trampoline park, which Matt enjoyed, and an indoor spray park or splash pad, which Matt did not enjoy.
Mostly, however, we went to a few playgroups and storytimes but spent a lot of time doing various activities at home.
Matt's new interests include "making a cave," or crawling under blankets, and "hiding," although he will readily call out "I'm ov' there," if asked, "Where is Matt?"
Matt spent a lot of time doing crafts and other projects.
"Drilling" into his homemade wooden blocks
Painting
Intently working with "dough play" (aka Play-Doh)
As always, Matt enjoyed doing puzzles. He started challenging himself by reaching for harder jigsaw puzzles, getting up to 12-piece puzzles this past month.
And sometimes Matt was just silly.
With Mama's sunglasses, his hat, and his gloves
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