Matthew is One!

Happy Birthday, Matthew! We celebrated by having Ken and Cheri over for grilling (fortunately it stopped raining) and some birthday festivities. Matthew enjoyed opening gifts, although Sam did most of the opening despite our attempts to stop him from doing so. Matthew didn't seem to care, at least this year, though I'm sure that will change in the future. He loved his gifts, even hugging the clothing he received, and Sam loved most of Matthew's gifts too (except the clothing), commandeering them at his first opportunity. A stuffed Elmo stuffed toy was maybe the biggest hit, or perhaps the cake.

We grilled for dinner and Matthew picked at everything, taking some bites here and there, but not eagerly devouring anything on his tray. He already had two other favorite meals (pancakes, he ate 4-5 inch pancakes; and mac and cheese) during the day and ate A LOT at those meals, so I guess he was maybe somewhat full. Maybe. Until the cupcakes came out. I got adventurous and made schnauzer cupcakes and they turned out pretty cute. Matthew got a kick out of the singing of the Happy Birthday song and after a bit of looking at his cupcake and deciding what to do, he picked the whole thing up and started eating the frosting. He ate a good portion of the cupcake and looking longingly at another cupcake.  I vetoed that after surveying the mess...in the picture he looks pretty good still. Eventually he had frosting and cake behind one ear and at various other points on his head. What a good day! We are so blessed by our little boys!

Catching up...

I've been a slacker posting things lately. I started off April doing so well, then lately I've been feeling so good that I've done things like help Jason with the basement, clean the van, deep clean kitchen drawers and cabinets, wash windows, organize closets and read some instead of using my "free" time to sleep.

So anyway, over the past few days Sam's pretend play has involved going to "Papa Don's" and having an "Easter hunt". His cars drive around and apparently look for Easter eggs. I guess the Easter egg hunt with the Reese family was Sam's favorite event of the weekend. Jason went outside with him as I, of course, was attached to Matthew in the house (and decorating the cupcakes for his birthday party). The kids all had a great time, and Jason had a hard time keeping up with Sam running around and gathering so many eggs.

After the Easter egg hunt, the 21st-ers (Blakely, Sam and Sophia) had fun playing together on the swing set.

In other news, last night I changed Sam's diaper around 6:50, and decided that he could have some "Naked boy" time as he calls it before his bath. So he eagerly ran around the basement wearing absolutely nothing and dancing for maybe 10-15 minutes before bathtime. We all then went upstairs for bath. I ran some water and when it was all ready, Sam started to climb into the tub. He perched himself on the ledge of the tub and proceeded to pee into the tub. I told him to go into the toilet but he didn't stop peeing into the fresh bath water. Yuck. I drained the water and ran some new water. While the new water was running, I undressed Matthew. I was a little surprised, but not totally, to see that Matthew's diaper was dry. He'd only had it on for maybe a half hour, so it wasn't too unusual. Naked Matthew was then standing along the outside of the bath tub while the water finished, when he started peeing on the side of the tub and the rug. Are you kidding me? Ugh. Yuck.

Finally, in other news, tonight after Sam had been "in bed" for about 45 minutes, we heard him get up and slam Jason and my bedroom door. He hasn't been heard from for the rest of the evening.

It's genetic

Tonight at dinner Sam started screeching/screaming in short bursts. Jason told him to stop it. Another short screech/scream. Jason again repeated it with the same result. Jason then issued the threat, "If you scream one more time, you are going in time out." Sam replied by screeching/screaming in a much lower, nonirritating tone. Both of us held back laughs and though "The little smart aleck..." No, I believe we didn't think so cleanly about his response. I made the comment that Sam reminded me so much of Jason in times like those...partly responding to a request or command, but not quite. Just enough to not break the rules, but enough to continue to be irksome. Jason didn't disagree with me.

He then pointed to Matthew and said that he must take after me. Matthew was covered with gobs of caramel apple dip from supper and was leaning over trying to lick some more caramel apple dip off of his tray, which was impossible. I didn't fully disagree either and thought, why should good food go to waste? I just don't know where Matthew gets his temper or fiestyness...neither Jason or I will fess up to passing along those genes. Guess you'll have to ask our parents and siblings for their opinions on the matter.

In other matters, we had a nice weekend in IA for the Easter holiday and also celebrated Matthew's first birthday with the Reese side of the family. Matthew was a little overwhelmed by the crowd and attention at times and preferred to be within 1-2 feet of his mom when there were lots of people around. He also was a little under the weather and still is, but he's doing pretty good. I can't believe he's almost one! The cousins and sibling greatly enjoyed "helping" Matthew open his presents, and they also enjoyed playing with his gifts.  

Matthew loved his cookies and cream birthday cupcakes, he had two. He's (usually, except for the caramel apple dip tonight) a pretty clean eater, so he was surprisingly clean for the "first-birthday-post-cake" picture.

Some pictures

I've been playing around with our camera some so I thought I'd post some of my favorite pictures from the past week. Note that some are from a week ago when temps were a lot warmer! Warm days will return again, just not anytime in the next few days apparently. There are a lot of pictures of Matthew, compared to Sam, as Sam is just too hard of a target these days and is becoming more and more theatrical around cameras. Enjoy!

Just enjoying some snack outside. Ummm.Cheese and crackers!

Matthew makes a bit of a mess, but hey, he's not even one yet.

Follow Matthew's gaze...someday Matthew, someday, you too will join in the fun.

Three Kirchhoff men looking at a camera at the same time. A rare event.

I want to climb up there too! Hmmm...How can I get up there? Someday, Daddy, someday...

Just perusing Daddy's Mopar parts catalog...how much do you think he'll let me spend?

Look at those baby blue eyes!

Some Monday ramblings

Another Monday. Jason is out of town for work, so today was a long day. I wasn't sure how things would go as Sam had a rather bad night last night How many times can that kid get out of bed at bedtime? For awhile we used the "we will take away your baboosh" threat to keep him in his room, but now that he doesn't have a baboosh, our ammo is gone...Anyway, he must gotten out of bed and led back (by Jason or myself) at least 40 times. I wish I was kidding but I'm not. He would get up, come out of his room and when I came to him (I was waiting in our bedroom just steps away) he would start crying and screaming, "Cover me up!" I was thinking, "I just did and if you would stay in bed, you would be covered up!" Jason received similar treatment except that Sam would scream at him, "Go to Philadelphia!". It took an hour to get him to settle down into bed and we eventually resorted to "locking" him in his room or who knows how many times more he would have emerged. You may be asking if he was tired...he certainly was, but he was having a heck of a time settling down.

Apparently this is another completely normal stage of toddlerhood. Does Sam read toddler books or check the internet for what trouble he should be causing these days? Because he seems to be doing things that are apparently completely normal for toddlers, though completely frustrating for parents. The little neighbor girl down the street goes through a lot of similar toddler antics so we believe they are sharing ideas and notes with each other when we get together for playdates. I can just imagine..."Have you tried refusing to get into your car seat and running around the empty car for a few minutes? How about running around the house and slamming doors when you're supposed to be putting on your shoes? or Have you tried throwing your toys at your parents when you're supposed to put them away?"

So anyway, back to Monday ramblings. Matthew, my little marathon sleeper woke at 7:30. He went to bed around 6:30. Sam had been awake since around 6, but didn't leave his room until it was 6:40, when his clock turned yellow. So some things are working. And he is still without his baboosh. He asks for it once or twice a day, nothing more, and drops it when I remind him that he gave it to the baboosh fairy. It's actually going smoother than I thought it would.

Sam had some cereal while I made pancakes and I was hoping to get them done before Matthew woke, but I didn't quite finish. Matthew is quite crabby until he eats in the morning and I wanted to avert Matthew's morning crabbiness. I pacified him with some Kix while I was cooking up our pancakes. I make a whole wheat/oatmeal/cornmeal pancake that is actually really good even though it is quite healthy. Anyway, I got the pancakes done and Matthew proceeded to eat more of them than Sam or myself. The extras went into the fridge to have tomorrow or later in the week. The kids just love pancakes and they're easy to reheat in the toaster. I don't know why I don't make them more often!

Well, the rest of the day was uneventful and even went smoothly. It wasn't without a few toddler/parent struggles, but nothing out of the ordinary and nothing too extreme. Just normal short tantrums and disobedience. Always testing whether I will follow through. Always testing. It's so exhausting! Matthew was agreeable as long as he had a full tummy and a clean diaper. He's really becoming quite independent and playing on his own and cruising around while holding onto furniture or walking with push toys. He still loves his mommy, but also enjoys his independence. Sam asked for Jason a few times and we talked about his trip to Philly. He even went to bed well, much to my surprise. Hopefully everyone has a good sleep.

Matthew's words

As Matthew's first birthday is rapidly approaching I have been trying to figure out what words he has. He said a lot of different things, but nothing much seems to make a lot of sense. However, lately I've tried paying more attention to what he says and when he says it to see if there are patterns to his babble. And lo and behold, I think he has a few words! Other than "Uh oh!" which he's been saying for a while, he also says "Hi" which sounds like "hi-ya" and "Daddy" which sounds like "Da-eee." In my view his still my baby so it's surprising to hear him actually say recognizable words. He also took a few quick steps yesterday as he went from one structure to another that were just far enough apart to require "free-walking" without holding on to anything. He just goes for it. My little risk taker.

Matthew has also become quite feisty over the last week. It's like something in him just woke up and there's this new side of him emerging. It started with his retaliation when Sam would take toys. Then a few days ago I was in the bathroom when I heard him screaming and screaming and screaming. It wasn't a pain scream, but more like a frustration scream, much like what he does when Sam takes a toy from him. When I got to him I found that he was pushing the John Deere around when it got stuck on a rug and apparently Matthew was very frustrated with that. Then yesterday Sam set down a baggie of snacks and Matthew grabbed it. Sam started complaining and trying to grab it back when Matthew started waving it back and forth in his face and screaming. Oh dear. After this incident I told Jason that Matthew is a pistol and Sam has been saying. "Matthew is a pistol! Matthew is a pistol!" frequently since then. He is definitely developing his own unique personality.

Bye bye baboosh

Right now, at 9:09PM I have the last  baboosh...in my pocket. Ever since the Mac discussion, Sam has struggled extremely at bedtime. We shall say he was conflicted. He would get into bed, then decide he wanted to leave his baboosh out for the baboosh fairy and say, "I want Mac." Then he would go back to bed, get up and get his baboosh and say, "I don't want Mac." Then back to bed. Then up again and "I do want Mac." This went on and on and on. At least 10 times over and over. It was a huge struggle to get him to settle down and get to bed. I tried to tell him that he could leave his baboosh out another night, just to lower the pressure, but he still struggled. "But I want Mac." I wondered what have we done? Is this too big of a decision to place in the hands of a 2 year old? Should we just take it when the time is right? Oh my oh my oh my.

Tonight it was more of the same. After setting his baboosh out and retrieving it a few times he decided to lay outside his door with the baboosh. What was he thinking? Did he think he could keep the baboosh and get Mac at the same time, since the baboosh was technically outside the door? We went back and forth and back and forth and finally I told him to get into bed for the last time and stay in bed. He could try to get Mac another night. In frustration he yelled, "I want Mac!" and threw his baboosh. The lights were out in his room and the baboosh landed at my feet. I reached down and quickly grabbed it and stuck it in my pocket. Sam started asking where his baboosh was, so I felt around on the floor and said I couldn't find it. We turned on the light and looked for it. "Where is it?" Sam wondered. He was not in a panic, but concerned. I told him that I thought the baboosh fairy came and took it since he threw it away and said he wanted Mac. I told him the baboosh fairy was very fast and we couldn't see him, but he must have been there. We looked some more and it seemed that Sam accepted my explanation. The lies parents tell.

Getting Sam to settle down after the baboosh fairy took the final baboosh is another story as he was so excited to get Mac. But what was interesting was that although it took 45 minutes to get him settled down, he maybe once or twice asked for his baboosh and never cried for it. He repeatedly asked for Mac and got out of bed at least 20 times to check outside his door for Mac. The power of the "outside party." John Rosemond, a parenting expert who I read, recommends invoking an outside authority in certain situations. Apparently getting an outside authority involved is supposed to get a child to comply (sometimes) more easily than another command from their parent. He used examples like "the doctor says you need to wear a coat" or "the dentist said no candy before bedtime", things like that, or more serious things, but our situation reveals that getting the baboosh fairy involved resulted in Sam just accepting the loss of the baboosh and since we didn't take it he couldn't appeal to us. It was gone and done.

He's in bed, sleeping now, and Mac is outside his door.

The last baboosh

Well, we've decided it's time to end Sam's relationship with his babooshes. He had three and I thought we'd try the "baboosh fairy" trick to get him to part with them one at a time. I thought that way he'd have some say in giving them up, like he can decide whether to put out a baboosh or not. We started Monday, Sam left a baboosh outside his bedroom door at bedtime and when he woke up in the morning he was greeted with a new car. Ken and Cheri watched the kids Tuesday night while Jason and I went to the Twins game, so no baboosh was left out that night. Last night Sam decided to leave out another baboosh. Now we're down to one.

I was fairly sure he wouldn't part with it easily, but I decided to test the waters to see what he was thinking. So today we were coming home from the Y when I told Sam that maybe if he gave up his last baboosh he'd get Mac, which is the trailer truck that hauls Lightening McQueen around. Three weeks ago a little boy brought Mac to our playgroup at church and Sam's been talking about him ever since. Much to my surprise Sam said, "Ok mommy." I wasn't sure he fully understood the implications of giving his last baboosh up, so I said, "You know you won't get any more babooshes to sleep with at night. Sam said, "Just baa baa." So he did get it. Wow. My testing the waters showed that he was apparently ready to give up his last baboosh and he understood the implications of his actions. So when we got home I made a quick call to Jason asking him to pick up Mac from Target on his way home from work, just in case Sam really decided to give up the last baboosh.

We had lunch, then off to nap. Matthew went down fairly easily, then Sam and I read a few books, I tucked him in and sang a bit, turned on his nap music and left his room. I went to my room, when a few minutes later I heard Sam's door open. Frustration rose up in me as I thought, "here we go again." Sam hasn't been leaving his room like he was in previous weeks lately and I thought we were done with that. But his door opened and I thought another struggle with nap and bedtimes would ensue. I waited a minute or two and didn't hear anything from Sam, so I decided to check on him. When I got to his room I noticed his last baboosh outside his door. Awwwww. I went into his room (his door was slightly open) and he was trying to cover himself up. I asked Sam what he was doing and he said he was leaving his baboosh for the baboosh fairy. Awwwww. I about cried. I said he could have his baboosh for nap and that the baboosh fairy only comes at night. He retrieved his last baboosh and I tucked him in. I just heard from Jason. He already picked up Mac at Target.

Matthew's firsts

Last night Matthew had his first real haircut. It was family haircut night and I decided it was time for Matthew to join in the festivities as well. I have trimmed his hair some with a scissors but wanted to see how he would do with the electric clippers that Jason uses on himself and Sam. Matthew handled the haircut without a single peep. He hardly moved his head and just did a great job. Jason said he was easier to cut than Sam. I couldn't believe how old Matthew looked after the haircut. I expected him to begin speaking in full sentences he looked so old and was surprised when he said "ahh ahh ahh" and squealed afterward. The bottom picture is Matthew this morning with his new haircut. I didn't get a pic last night as he went to bed soon afterward so got one this morning during breakfast.

So that was yesterday and today Matthew two front teeth finally broke through. He was doing better the past few days and I could see them through his thinning gums and they came in today. So Matthew has four teeth now! Sam had four teeth on his first birthday so Matthew seems to be following suit.

In other news, our baboosh removal threat has been a huge success for Sam. He hasn't left his room when he's not supposed to since the threat and this includes at bedtime and during naps. Unfortunately, we will still have to wean him off it eventually. No one is looking forward to that, but it must come sometime.

"That would be bad for me"

We got Sam's light switch cover thing so he can't turn on or off his lights. So he's no longer turning on his lights after his bedtime and reading or engaging in whatever activities he liked to do after bedtime. I can't remember if I've written about this, but now our problem is that he's getting up frequently and opening his door and coming downstairs. He does it like 10 times and doesn't end up going to bed for 45 minutes to an hour after he's supposed to. We've tried being gentle and leading him back to bed time after time after time. We've tried various punishments like we said if he got up again all his cars would go into timeout for the following day. Which happened. He got his cars taken away and we actually had a pleasant day the next day without the cars.

We tried holding his door shut. The first night we did that he screamed and screamed and screamed. The funny thing was that he was screaming, "MOMMY COVER ME UP!!! COVER ME UP!!!" which I had done many times already, but since he got up so many times I had enough. I held his door shut while he tried to open it repeatedly. This went on for maybe 10 minutes. The next night he asked if I was going to lock his door and I said I would if he tried to get up. He, of course, did, but he only got up and tried the door twice before going to bed. The next night he tried once, then not at all. However, last night he had a relapse and repeatedly tried to get up. Jason told him that he was going to take away his baboosh if he tried to get up one more time. We didn't hear from him the rest of the night.

Tonight we told Sam that we were going to take away his baboosh if he tried to get up. He said something along the lines of, "I have an extra baboosh." I said "No, we'll take them all away...forever. You will never see them again." He said in a very serious voice, "Ohhhhh, that would be bad for me." Jason and I stifled laughs at his serious demeanor. Later as I was getting Sam ready for bed I asked him what he would have taken away if he got out of bed tonight. He said, "My cars. Take my cars." Wow. That's serious. I reiterated that the baboosh would be taken away, not the cars and he got serious again. There were no problems with going to bed tonight.

Retaliation

Well, it has begun. Matthew has finally started to retaliate against Sam's commandeering behavior. It started this morning. We were playing outside, enjoying the wonderful weather  and enjoying some oatmeal cookies for snack. I was breaking the cookie into little pieces for Matthew when he dropped a piece on the steps of a little play structure we got from our neighbors (you can see it in the pictures). Matthew bent down to pick it up when Sam started up the steps and unknowingly stepped on the bit of cookie. Matthew cried out and started batting at Sam with his pudgy little hands. Sam didn't flinch and probably didn't even notice, but I sure noticed. Matthew was hitting Sam and screaming. It was quickly over, but that wasn't the last episode of retaliation for the day.

A few minutes later Matthew was pushing around a little riding toy, practicing his walking, when Sam came up and just took it from him. While Sam was in the act of taking the riding toy by force Matthew again screamed in frustration and started hitting him. Sam again didn't seem to notice but I intervened and returned the toy to Matthew. Later when Sam took a toy truck from Matthew the same episode replayed itself. Matthew has definitely had enough of Sam's behavior and life is going to become a lot more interesting now.

Quirky Matthew

Matthew has a few little quirks that are kind of funny, sometimes frustrating, and certainly worth writing about. One is that he likes to free-fall backwards in the bath tub. He will be sitting, playing with bath toys when he suddenly decides that he wants to lay out backwards and he just goes for it. I've always caught him but sometimes it requires some interesting acrobatics. A few days ago the kids were bathing together, Sam was in the front of the tub and Matthew was in the back. I was washing Sam's hair, so he was leaning back into my left arm and I was pouring water over his hair with my right hand. Then Matthew decided he wanted to fall back too, so I quickly crossed my right arm over Sam and grabbed the little guy. The slippery little bugger. Awkwardly I held them both for a few moments before Sam managed to get himself upright. When Matthew gets into free fall mode, he just does it over and over. So I get him upright and immediately there he goes again. For now, my agility and back are managing ok, but I don't know how things will go once I get some extra pounds on in my midsection.

Another of Matthew's quirks is that although he is a hearty eater, he is kind of picky sometimes. Like if he doesn't like what's placed before him, he simply will not eat anything. Astounding given how much he eats other times. But he looks over the tray, maybe tries a bite or two, then just sits there, refusing foods that don't appeal to his palate. Matthew will also spit foods out if he doesn't like them. He doesn't just try something and make a yucky face if he doesn't like it, he spits it out. It just dribbles down his chin, so he's not sending the food sailing, but he has a definite means of rejection. Sam never did this. He could make icky faces, but generally swallow whatever he didn't agree with and not try it again. Sometimes I'll get Matthew something, like toast, which he will start eating. Then I'll put something else on his tray, like strawberries. If the second option is better than the first, he will spit out food No. 1 mid-chew (in this case toast) and start eating food No. 2. So Matthew has a definite hierarchy of food tastes as well. Maybe his sensitive palate will lead him to be a chef someday. He can practice on the family dinner.

Some Sam Statements

Here are some of Sam's statements today:

Sam: (during breakfast) Mommy, I don't like you. Go back to bed. I want Daddy. He come home from work soon. (??? This was unprompted...really, it was. I feel like I have a teenager in a 2-year old body)

Sam: Mommy, change my diaper! The poopy is coming! The poopy is coming! (Potty training is going nowhere...whenever Sam has to go, he begs to go and if he's done #2 he waddles to the changing table...maybe we are getting somewhere)

Mommy: (Sam got his cars taken away for the day...). Sam, your cars are in timeout today.
Sam: I play with cars at the Y. (arghhh...smart a**)

Daddy: (while watching the Twins game...Jason was teaching Sam the basics of the game including what you can purchase at the concession stand). Sam, do you want to go to a baseball game?
Sam: yeah!
Daddy: Can Mommy come?
Sam: Yeah!
Sam: I get a beer!
Mommy: Who gets a beer?
Sam: I do!

Miscellaneous

Last night I fell asleep around 7PM so I didn't have time to post to the blog. I've been having trouble lately due to the fact that I'm just so tired! Hopefully I'll feel better soon. I had another baby appt on Thurs and the kiddo is doing well. We found a heartbeat and all my labs came back normal.

No new progress to report on Sam's potty training. He hasn't earned any new stickers nor has he taken the stickers and put them on his chart. He does know where the cars are stashed, though, and has to look at them frequently throughout the day. Why that isn't motivating him to try to earn them, I don't know. We'll get there.

Matthew's had a fever for the past few days, but finally was fever free today. His top two teeth are ready to burst through, but just aren't quite there yet, so that may be the cause of his fever. He's also been rather crabby and clingy, just not himself, and going to bed early. But tonight he made it until 7PM and we had a fun day. I will have to take video of him walking with the riding toys sometime. He gets going so fast and sometimes takes a tumble, cries a little, then gets back up. The child care workers at the Y told me his is quite fearless and yes, he certainly is.

Jason is making a lot of progress on the basement. We are ready to begin painting the walls (shall I say he is, I'm not sure if I'm okay to paint in my condition...), and ordered carpet today. In the next few weeks he should be all done!