A hot spring day!

Well, after some morning showers it shot up to 88 this afternoon. We took advantage of the heat to spend some time outside and fortunately, found a lot of shade to enjoy. The kids had snacks on the deck and Matthew, who is usually restrained in a booster seat during meals and snacks enjoyed the freedom of being able to grab some snack (cheese and crackers) or his plate and walk around, find a new place to sit and enjoy his snack wherever he pleased. He also enjoyed easy access to Sam's snack as he frequently went over to Sam's plate and would take Sam's crackers then walk off. Sam takes Matthew's toys, Matthew takes Sam's food.

The kids had some other wonderful displays of brotherly affection (or lack of). For example, Matthew was playing with his garbage truck on the deck when Sam came over, took it, and placed it in the middle of the table on our deck, where it was, of course, out of Matthew's reach. Sam also came up behind Matthew while he was walking in the grass and pushed him down. Such love. I'm sure I will fondly remember these times when years down the road the fights get much more dangerous. For now, though, I try to tell Matthew "no" and redirect him and Sam gets a time out or a toy taken away. We try our best.

Jason mowed the lawn this afternoon too, and the kids had a lot of fun watching him from the safety of the deck. Jason does his rounds and Matthew loves to excitedly wave at him while he's passing. Sam even tolerates the John Deere, as he used to prefer to remain in the house when Jason was mowing. Matthew even got to ride the mower when Jason was all done. After I snapped some pictures Matthew decided he'd like to steer, but I had already put away the camera so I didn't get any pictures of that. Sam did not want to ride the John Deere. I don't think he's rode it yet, but I can't remember for sure if he tried it last summer. Maybe he did. Anyway, even Matthew's bravery did not convince him to try it out. Maybe later in the summer he'll be ready to try it out.

It's in your genes, buddy

Sam has been showing some signs of shyness lately. I've heard that you're not supposed to label children as "shy" this early in life, so I guess I'll say that he's slow to warm up. And I guess it's likely in his genes too since Jason and I are both introverted and were probably labeled as shy early in life too. Which we're both okay with. That's just the way we are.

When someone comes up to Sam and says hi or he gets attention at stores, the playground, etc. from people he doesn't know, he turns his head away, but glances at them with his eyes. So he kind of looks away, but kind of doesn't and has this way of looking sideways in a goofy manner. He usually won't say anything, but he still smiles and looks sideways at whoever is talking to him or me.

This morning at church Sam's slowness to warm-up manifested itself in a new manner, one that we have not seen before. He went up to the children's message and sat on Jason's lap in front of the church and held his hands in front of his face. When he wasn't holding his hands in front of his face, he was pulling his shirt over his face. What a strange little boy! Always coming up with something new. After the children's message, he then ran down the aisle with his shirt pulled up over his face, almost running into some pews and giving a scare to some of the other churchgoers. Oh, he was so silly today.

Matthew is somewhat shy these days too, although his shyness has a clinical diagnosis: "stranger anxiety". At the playground the other day he was going up the stairs on a climbing structure when another little boy, maybe 15 or 18 months of age, started crawling up the stairs beside him. Well, that was not an acceptable move and Matthew gave the little boy the stare down for a few moments then burst out crying. You wonder what's going on in his mind? Well, Matthew, it's in your genes too, although you may outgrow it and be Mr. Outgoing. The genetic odds are not in your favor, though.

We're having a girl!

It's now going to be three Kirchhoff men and two Kirchhoff women. I have no idea what I'll call the blog at that point. I'm open to suggestions. Some of our bits of conversation following the ultrasound:

Jason: So, who's the father?

Me: (on the way home from lunch after our appointment) I bet your mom already bought something pink... (she waited a few hours, actually)

Jason: Sam, what should we name your baby girl sister?
Sam: Girl

Jason: I'm stunned...shocked...

Partial compliance

I've mentioned before Sam's methods of complying with Jason and my requests. He seems to find the most infuriating way to do what we ask him to do, but not really do what we ask him to do. He does something so that we question, "Did he really comply or was he actually being defiant?" The problem is that he is complying in a defiant way. Case in point. Last night I asked Sam to pick up his train tracks before going up for bath and bedtime. He first of all started throwing them off the ottoman onto the floor. Ok. That is definitely not compliant enough, so I Jason reiterated that they needed to go into the storage tote. So he stood next to the ottoman with the storage tote behind him and started dropping the pieces of train track behind his back, sometimes hitting the tote and sometimes not. So that is complying...isn't it? Hmmmmm....We still made him pick up the ones off the floor that missed the tote. They eventually all got put away.

Another case. One the way up to bed, Sam grabbed a bucket and started loading it up with toys to take upstairs with him. Now, I don't mind if he takes one or two toys to sleep with, but definitely not a bucketful. So I told him the toys had to stay downstairs. He was really upset about it and started crying and fussing. I reiterated my request, then he started throwing the toys out of the bucket and said he could take the bucket up. Well, he did comply with my request since I said nothing about the bucket.  How does he pick up on that nuance? Honestly, he reminds me soooooo much of Jason at times like these. He complies in an arghhhhh!!! sort of way. Like when I ask Jason what he's reading and he says something like "A book". Smarty-pants.

Signs Matthew is done with a meal

Since Matthew can't really talk yet, he instead resorts to other methods to let us know when he is finished with a meal. One tactic is to take the bits of food off of his tray attached to his booster and 1) set it on the table in front of him or 2) drop it on the floor. Another method is to start rubbing his hands in his hair. Why is it that he never touches his hair other than when his hands are all goopy from eating? Another thing that he does is angrily push whatever we are offering him (whether it is his sippy cup or spoon) away or bat them to the floor. When he's feeling particularly communicative, he will shake his hands in the air in the "I'm done, clean my hands" motion. If any of those signs are being shown, take heed to clean the kid up and get him out of his booster or it will only get messier, angrier and the like.

Signs Sam is done with a meal? Well, usually he spills his milk from playing 1) with his utensils, 2) with whatever toys he can sneak to the table, or 3) with his straw. Or he says "I'm all done now" and immediately expects to proceed to whatever activity he wants to pursue. Which usually results in us telling him to finish his milk (he just doesn't drink much milk) and then he takes a tiny sip and asks if that's enough. The things he tries. We'll say something like "Take two drinks of milk" and he will take the tiniest drinks possible and want to be done. We've learned that it's better to say he needs to drink half or finish his glass otherwise he'll find a smarty-pants way to just-barely comply.

He's a toddler

Matthew's walking!

Yesterday there was something different about Matthew. For weeks he had preferred to walk while having someone hold his hands. He was really pretty steady and I thought for sure he'd be able to walk more on his own (beyond a few steps) if he really wanted to. But he didn't want to, and so he'd just push around his John Deere while walking or hold someone's hands.

But then yesterday he just tried walking. And he made it 4 feet before reaching his destination one time, then another time he went 6 feet! He didn't fall at all, just walked slowly and steadily until he reached whatever it was that he was walking to. It was like he just determined that he's ready so he's going to walk. He still crawls most of the time, but the fact is that he can walk, at least 6 feet. Wow! That's much better than the 1-2 feet he'd been able to do before. I'm excited to see how much farther he can go.

In the evening the kids were playing in Sam's room while I was getting stuff ready for their baths. Matthew was walking around some and Sam got so excited he exclaimed, "Matthew's walking!" then turned quickly into his door frame. He cried badly for awhile and afterward he had a huge egg on his forehead. It's stretches from hairline to eyebrows and is about an inch wide. It stuck out around 1/4-1/2 inch too, although it's fortunately gone down today and is just a little black and blue. Poor kid!

Matthew also popped out another tooth yesterday, so now he has five. Three on top, two on bottom.

Nap routine

After finishing our current nap routine fiasco today I thought I'd write about what we do to prepare for nap. Matthew and I had lunch around noon. Sam was having a tantrum because I gave him a lid for his drink cup rather than a straw (I offered a straw initially, but he insisted upon a lid, then he changed his mind while I didn't change mine) so he wasn't eating. Matthew and I enjoyed our leftovers of last night's supper while Sam wailed and wailed. When we finished it was time for Sam's nap. Matthew had a morning nap, so he wasn't going to nap until later in the afternoon.

So at 12:40PM up the stairs we went. Sam wanted to be carried, so Matthew crawled up the stairs while I carried Sam. We went to Sam's room and I told Sam to pick out 2-3 books. He choose a Berenstein Bears book and the Cars, Trucks and Things that Go book. I sat on Sam's bed with him while Matthew crawled over to Sam's taggie blanket and smashed his face on it while it was on the floor and cried out in excitement. Sam and I started reading. Matthew was rolling around with the taggie blanket, still crying out, squealing, and having an otherwise good time on the floor. Sometimes he'd lay on his back with the blanket covering his face and lift up his legs/feet and slam them down over and over. I really need to get this on video sometime as Matthew's antics are quite a sight.

Sam and I continued reading. Sam didn't pay much attention to Matthew today due to his bad mood as usually he laughs, and says things like "Look at Matthew!" or runs over to Matthew and plays around with him. Instead, Sam was subdued and into his books. Matthew eventually came over to us and tried taking the book we were reading away. He then tried crawling into Sam's bed and cried out when he just couldn't quite make it. I handed him Mickey Mouse to make him happy and he hugged and drooled all over him. Matthew then grabbed Sam's water cup and started trying to drink out of it. Sam tried to take it away from him which resulted in unhappy shrieks and cries from both parties. I intervened, took the cup away and said it was Sam's cup, hid it under Sam's blanket and we continued reading.

Onto book two. Matthew crawled out of Sam's room. Generally Sam follows him, but not today. Seconds later he returns and continues his enjoyment of Sam's taggie blanket. Sam and I look for GoldBug in the Cars and trucks book. Matthew leaves the room again and shortly returns. All the while he is making excited shrieks, ahhhhs, gaaaaas, daaaas and other loud baby noises. He really raises a ruckus. Matthew then tries crawling onto my lap. Sam and I look for Gold Bug on about 10 pages, then it's time for songs. Sam lays down and I cover him up. I hold Matthew while singing to Sam and Matthew lays his head down as I sing our common "night night" songs, Jesus Loves Me and Away in a Manger. Finally, our routine is over. Sam seems relaxed, although I really don't know how it's possible and we turn on the fan, Sam's nap music and leave the room. Sam asks to have his door left open and I oblige. Matthew and I return downstairs while Matthew says "Da Da!!!!" all the way down the stairs as he points to the pictures in our stairwell. I heard from Sam at all since we left the room, so I guess the routine was successful.

Downstairs, I quickly clean up our lunch mess which includes sweeping, vacuuming and mopping the floor around the kids' chairs. I do it fast as otherwise Matthew will make his way over and eat the fallen food. If you want a place to eat off the floor in our house, try beside the kids' chairs as that gets cleaned most often. After that's finished, Matthew and I enjoy our afternoon reading time. He pulls books out of our book drawer and we read for 20-30 minutes, then it's his nap (hopefully...you just never know about this kid's naps...I do know that we rarely hear from him between the hours of 7PM and 7AM, but the rest of the day is anyone's guess). Sometimes we read a book in his room, sometimes not. He seemed tired today, so I just rocked him, sang a round of Jesus Loves Me and put him in his crib with his taggie blanket, of course. He covers his head and doesn't make a sound. It's 1:40PM.

The finer points of conversation

Sam has apparently been learning about conversation lately. His favorite question during meal times is, "How's your day, Mommy?" (or "Mama", something he is apparently picking up from the Berenstein bears books...I'm not sure I like being called Mama...). He will ask during breakfast, lunch and dinner. And he goes around the table, "How's your day, Mommy?" and "How's Matthew's day?" and "Daddy, how's your day?". He follows up his question to Jason by asking, "How's your meetings today?". It's fun to hear him ask his questions and he asks very seriously and listens and looks at whoever he asks intently while they respond. 

We've also realized just how much Sam is picking up and can relay later. For example, this morning Sam was telling Jason about how we went to a playground yesterday but it started raining really hard so we had to go home and watch Mickey Mouse and Matthew napped. I don't know why it's surprising to see how good his memory is and to hear him be able to talk about our day's events so clearly and accurately, but it is. Which means, A) there are no more secrets about our daily activities...Sam will certainly tell Jason of any expenditures and outings and B) we'd better watch what we say or it may be repeated to someone outside of our family circle...

Matthew contributes to conversations by mimicking Sam's laughter or other noises. He often squeals, mimics random sounds and shakes his head and does similar motions that he sees us doing (like clasping his hands and bowing his head to pray before dinner). He is becoming quite theatrical and will do anything to get a laugh out of us which then results in his delightful laughter too. He doesn't seem to have added to his vocabulary lately, but his saying of "Daddy" is clear and delightful too and could be understood by anyone these days. I try to get him to say Mommy, and he sometimes makes a sound like "Ma..Ma.." but I don't think he actually connects the sound as a reference to me at this point. It's a start, though, and before we know it he'll be talking up a storm and asking, "How's your day Mommy?"

A few of our favorite things...

Sam's favorites:

• Jumping. Off of anything he can climb onto. Or while on the floor. Just jump. Whenever, wherever. (Did I mention Sam got a bloody nose from jumping off a piece of furniture which he wasn't supposed to jump off of last week?)
• Cars. Of course. Our bribe for potty training. (Although I think Jason likes the new cars almost as much as Sam...)
• Animals. Dogs, kitties, bunnies, he likes to hug his favorites in books.  
• Books. Current favorites include Berenstein Bears, cars, trucks, dinosaurs, animals, he reads almost anything these days and just loves it!
• Playing outside. Jumping, running, climbing, freedom!
• Cartoons on TV. Especially Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the Berenstein Bears.
• Procrastinating, especially at bedtime, when getting dressed, leaving the house to go anywhere or leaving another location to return home. He is a toddler. It is a rite of passage.
• Saying "no".
• Screaming when told "no" by Mom or Dad.
• Swimming lessons. Just don't get his hair wet. 
• Jumping...on the bed. Our bed, his bed, whatever bed he can climb onto and start jumping before he is stopped by Mom or Dad.
• Being and proclaiming himself to be "Naked Boy!". 
• Hmmm...Foods... Sam doesn't eat much these days. But he does like watermelon, fries, ketchup, fruit snacks, raisins, cheetos, most sweets, anything else is hit or miss. One day he likes it the next day he doesn't.
• Baa Baa.

 Matthew's favorites:

• Blankie. Whenever he is put to bed he pulls his blanket over his head and tunes out the world. 
• Music. He loves to dance, he bobs his head, bends his knees, etc. whenever he hears music. Even if it's music in a store or when we're walking by a store with loud music at the mall.
• Pancakes. He eats more than I do. 
• Mac and cheese.
• Cheese.
• Most fruits (except watermelon and raisins...)
• Walking around while pushing anything...the John Deere, chairs, stools, boxes...anything that will slide/roll on the floor.
• The washing machine and dryer. Sometimes Matthew will just disappear during the day. Most likely he's in the laundry room watching the contents of the dryer do laps.(Comment from Jason to Jamie and my Dad - maybe you will have someone to watch NASCAR with you soon.)
• Trains. Cars. Tractors.
• Waving. He waves at almost anyone these days. At the park the other day some men were playing softball and he waved at them. He waved at Jason while he was mowing the lawn every time he rode by us. He loves to wave. 
• Pointing. He points and we tell him what it is. 
• Climbing. Oh my, this kid is going to break something. As in a bone. He climbs up on stuff he in no way should be climbing on. Goodness.
• Crawling fast toward open doors...dishwasher doors, outdoor doors, open gates, washing machine doors, toilet lids, oven door, refrigerator door, pantry, cabinets, open shower curtains...
• Going to bed. When he is ready, you had better just put him in bed. Don't try to read to him, rock him or sing to him. Just put him in bed or you will face the screaming, squirming wrath of Matthew.

Ketchup

"Matthew, you have everything I have!" I said as I pointed to his cut up chicken nugget, pieces of hamburger and french fries. To give me a break for Mother's Day dinner, Jason picked up Smashburger burgers, fries and chicken strips. It was a nice meal and we all sat down at the dining room table to enjoy our takeout. Matthew wasn't too pleased with our meal, though, and kept on complaining about what was on his tray. Eventually I figured out that he wanted ketchup. Ugh. I was hoping to avoid condiments for awhile longer as they make such a mess. But it was not to be. Matthew wanted ketchup and gosh darn it, he was going to have his ketchup. When Matthew says jump, we jump, when he says run, we run. For now he is still the boss, but someday in the near future, that will end and all our lives will become more contentious.

So I gave him a little drop of ketchup. He first of all dipped his fingers in it and made an icky face when he tried it. Then he daintily dipped a bit of french fry in the ketchup and proceeded to put the fry in his mouth, suck the ketchup off and spit the fry out. The process repeated with other fries. He eventually ate the food he dipped rather than spitting it back out. After awhile, he smeared the ketchup around on his tray and also on his face and his hair. Welcome to life with condiments. At least he hasn't found out about pancake syrup yet.

And Sam has been "the Boy who called pee" lately. He's using the potty almost exclusively for doing #1 (we're still working on #2) and that includes getting up during nap or prolonging bedtime routines to try the potty. He's figured out that we always respond when he says he has to pee, so he's been trying that rather than "Cover me up!" or "I need a drink" or "I have garbage"... He just keeps finding out new ways to procrastinate. And we keep finding new ways to adapt. We're just going to make trying the potty part of our routine after teeth brushing and see how that goes. When does all this get easier? Seems like just when we figure out one thing, something else comes along.

Oh, and today is Mother's Day. So Sam said to me this morning (coached by Jason, I'm sure) "Happy Birthday, Mommy!" then he paused for a second and said, "Happy Birthday Mother!" He's never called me mother before. Close Sam, I still appreciated the effort. As the day went on, he put together "Happy Mother's Day!"

Mostly words of Sam

Last night we were reading a Berenstein Bears book about pets, so I asked Sam if he wanted a doggy someday (not that we're going to get one anytime soon, or ever...) and he said yes. I asked if he wanted a kitty and he said yes. I then asked him what kind of pet he really wanted he said, "I want a doggy". And the he said, "Matthew gets a kitty." And I asked what Daddy gets..."He gets a rat." How about Mommy? "She's gets a rat."

Then this morning I was telling Sam that he'd get a sticker if he went pee pee on the potty. He's been using it a lot these days, usually without prompting, he just goes on his own. However, he didn't go yet this morning, so I was trying to prod him to try it out. He said in a very serious voice, "But my pee's not coming!"

Then after a fun morning at the zoo we returned home. I was loading up the dishwasher and went around the corner by the garage door entrance to grab the morning's sippy cups to put into the dishwasher. I heard Sam say, "Mommy, look at Matthew." So I came around the corner and there was Matthew sitting on the open dishwasher door. I said, "No Matthew!" And quickly picked him up and off the door and set him on the floor. He shrieked and shrieked in frustration at the change of plans. Sam said, "I don't like Matthew's noises." Then I noticed Matthew's hands were covered in tomato paste as he managed to get his grubby hands on some spoons from last night's meal prep. While I was trying to quickly close the dishwasher door, Matthew crawled over to me, leaving tomato paste handprints on the floor which I had just vacuumed and mopped before our zoo outing. Why do I even try?

Matthew's check up

Matthew had his one year check up this morning. He was quite a happy camper in the waiting room playing with the toys and other items. He was squealing with delight and pointing at all the nice pictures of animals on the wall. When we got to the exam room and out of his clothing he was fine then too. But when the nurse came in and started approaching him, he lost it and cried horribly. Nothing had happened yet, no shots, no examination, nothing. All I can think is that he maybe remembered something about his previous appointment and wasn't happy about his recollections. He was very disturbed throughout the appointment and especially, understandably, during the shots and taking a blood sample. Poor kid! After getting him dressed, we cuddled a while so he could calm down before walking through the waiting room so as to not disturb the other children. Fortunately, Sam was at Grammy and Papa's during the appointment so I didn't have to try to take care of him as well as Matthew as I'm pretty sure Sam would have lost it too with all of Matthew's crying. Anyway, Matthew is taking a nap now after exerting himself so much this morning.

His stats are as follows:
Weight: 25 lb, 75th percentile
Height: 32 in, 93rd percentile

I can't believe there are kids much bigger (in terms of weight) than Matthew! He seems to be such a load, but I guess I should be thankful he's not even bigger. Well, he's a growing healthy boy. He also added a new word to his vocab recently, "Ch ch" which means, "Choo choo". He's really getting a kick these days out of the train near our house and eagerly says "Ch ch!" and points when he sees it.