Our Little Picasso

There is nothing that breaks my heart more than seeing my little man feeling sick. Except maybe, knowing there is nothing that I can do about it. Wednesday afternoon, after a wonderful week of playing, Matthew developed a fever that did not go away until earlier this morning, after loads of Motrin and Tylenol. Of course, it was one of those "unexplained" fevers, where he seemed ok- a bit lethargic (preferring to watch endless hours of Curious George over block building) but he was eating, drinking, and sleeping just like normal. No runny nose, no cough, nothing to indicate something was wrong. Now, I know that a fever is the body's way of fighting something, and unfortunately I guess we'll never know what.

It's a good thing that while at Target on Wednesday before this fever was discovered, I decided to buy some paints for Matthew. It is a new art medium that he has not tried yet, and I thought would be fun. So, while he was in a more alert, ready to do things type of mood I threw an old T-Shirt of mine on him, gave him some paper and a few brushes and a plate of different paint colors= and boom! He had the greatest time- this is clearly a medium he will be using a lot more in the future. He painted a dump truck, and a snake, and Nanusia's pick-up truck, among other blotches of paint. I'm not sure why I did not introduce this earlier, I guess I was afraid of the mess, or of paint eating; but it is certainly one that will be around for a lot longer! The side of our fridge is already decorated, and we have a few off in the mail to some very special people.

Lets hope this rainy weather clears up, and that Matthew continues on the mend for our big too long in the planning BBQ this weekend. (yup, a BBQ at the end of September, seems we just couldn't all get our acts together to be available at the same time before now).

A New Project

In light of Matthew's utterly adorable Hello School Bus chant, I have decided to start a new project. I am creating a "cute things Matthew says" journal. Kevin's idea, or really the idea of one of his co-workers. Really, I don't know why I didn't think of it before, all of my years in education, we ALWAYS kept a journal around for the cute things kids say. There was always at least one in the school, but sometimes each teacher kept her own. Every year we would have a great time going through and reading what the kids said, and watching how things changed over the years. "Oh remember when little Johnny was in 1st grade and he said this... well now that he's in 8th grade, look at how much he's grown". Always a so much fun, so I decided to bring that into my own home.

Because I am a cheapskate, I didn't go out and buy a new Journal, instead I took an old Travel Journal (filled with lots of travel memories from France, Ireland... oh the times!) carefully ripped out those pages, stapled them together and put them in appropriate photo albums (I don't want to lose them). I am going to carefully decorate the journal, and through the years will hopefully fill it with lots of great comments; cute, sassy, funny... I hope it will be a great thing that in the future we can all share and look through together. One day maybe even I can show it to Matthew's future wife, so she can learn all the great things that Matthew had to say as a kid. Though maybe I should have started sooner, as I am sure Matthew has said some great things in the past, I think Hello Yellow School Bus is the perfect way to start off a lifetime of memories.

Hello Yellow School Bus

For those that don't already know, Matthew LOVES trucks. I mean LOVES LOVES trucks. He loves them so much, that whenever we pass the ongoing construction on Main Street he about has a conniption in the back of the car. "cool trucks, cool trucks, cool trucks!" chants from the back seat as he is bouncing up and down. Every time we pass the fire house the chant of "Fire Trucks Wooo Wooo Wooo". His favorite part of the day is watching the Trash Truck drive by to pick up the trash at the nearby apartment complex. As soon as he hears the truck turn on to our street, he stops whatever he is doing, makes a mad dash for the sofa, flings open the curtains and chants "TRASH TRUCK!" If we are lucky enough to be outside during this momentous occasion, Matthew will stare and wave, and ooh and ahh, and be taken away by the awesomeness of the Garbage Truck. The driver is usually really nice, and he slows down and waves if he sees Matthew watching. A similar event, though on a smaller scale, happens again in the evening when the Mail Truck comes. He won't drop everything, but if he's near the window- not even Curious George can take his attention away.

Why do I mention all of this? Well, a neighbor of ours drives a school bus, which she parks right across the street from our house. Mom and Dad hate this, as it really narrows the amount of space we have to pull out of the driveway without hitting the thing; but, Matthew loves it- he watches it everyday. If we come home and the bus is no longer there, he will say "Yellow School Bus, all gone, bye bye". Well today, right around 9:00 am when the school bus pulls into park in front of our house, Matthew runs to the window, throws open the curtains and shouts "Hello Yellow School Bus!" Seriously- cutest thing ever. Much cuter I'm sure from my perspective, since I heard that "well here you are" attitude in his voice with the exaggerated Hello, but still so darn cute- can't deny that. I wonder if he'll feel the same way in a few short years when he starts riding that very same Yellow School Bus?

A Fall Weekend

Despite the really horrible football game, we all managed to have a wonderful weekend. Matthew had a great, albeit too short, weekend visit with Mom Mom and Pop Pop, and the adults had a wonderful time cheering on the HOOS and their really terrible football team, while Matthew stayed with Oma and Nutze. The rain held off, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Venison and Bison Bratwurst, followed by some yummy Sam Adams Oktoberfest (the perfect fall beer) and football. We didn't make it the whole game, but had our fill of excitement during the time we shared. Between UCONN scoring on just about every play, UVA barely making it past the 50 yard line, and the guys in front of us getting kicked out of the game- it was a busy and exciting evening.

The weekend was capped off with a delish breakfast at the local diner, followed by a relaxing afternoon. What more could you ask?

The summer like weather on Monday sent Matthew and I to a new park, which was fabulous! It was a hike at 30 minutes away, but a nice change to our normal park. And because the temperature was so high (pushing 90) we stopped for a late morning snack of home made ice cream at Cows and Cones. Matthew enjoyed his Strawberry and I enjoyed Butter Pecan while we watched the cows grazing in the fields. I think this will quickly become one of Matthew's new favorite places.- and it is only 5 minutes from Daddy's work- so a perfect excuse for an extended lunch break!

Cutest thing ever- although every day I think Matthew does something that is the cutest thing ever, this really shows me how much he is growing up. After helping make dinner (which he does every night now- he loves to cook) I handed him the Orange Juice bottle and said "lets go recycle this" so he climbed off his chair, went out to the garage, put the bottle in the recycle bin, came back inside, wiped his hands off, looked up and said "Nice Job Mama!" How cute can you get?

Heading in the Right Direction

I will knock on wood before posting this, to ensure that I am not speaking too soon, but we appear to be heading in the right direction with this big boy bed stuff! Since Monday night, Matthew has slept all night long in his big boy bed, with fewer and fewer wake ups. Last night he went to bed at 7:00 (his old normal time, which we are hoping to get back to) and woke up once at 5:00 am, but quickly fell back asleep after being re-tucked in by daddy. Naps have been a breeze; he lies in bed, we read stories, a hug and a kiss, winding up his music box and boom- I don't hear from again until he comes trotting out of his room two hours later and says "Hi momma". What better way to start the afternoon? I am very grateful that this transition has not been super difficult, because I'm not sure I can handle too many sleepless nights in a row, I thought we closed that book with Matthew almost two years ago!

We have been enjoying this fabulous pre-fall weather. This time of year, this pre-fall time, is my second favorite time of year; second only to pre-winter, just a few short months down the road, but still all part of Fall, the greatest of all seasons, and one that only New England can do properly. During this time the days are warm, but not hot, the evenings are cool and nights can be down right chilly. We can spend all day playing outside without jackets, and without feeling the need to jump in an ice bath. Matthew loves that during this time we come inside essentially for naps and bedtime. Unfortunately this years pre-fall is marked by either a cold or allergies (I haven't decided which it is yet) so we are having to skip some of the best activities, like the peach, apple and raspberry picking that is going on today. (really what an awesome time of year that we can pick fresh the best of summer and the best of fall in the same day!) Hopefully we will be able to make it to some picking in the next few weeks, before those yummy peaches go out of season!

This weekend my parents are coming into town to mark another great part of this pre-fall season- Football! While Tom Brady may be out for the season, and so the Patriots are maybe not so likely to be making another super-bowl run this year, we are in New England- where college football is just as popular as the pros. So we will be heading to cheer on Pop-Pops Alma-Mater Virginia, as they take on UCONN this weekend; proudly wearing our Navy and Orange in support.

A side-bar: I made an appointment to go look at a pre-school for Matthew in a few weeks. Is it real that we are already in the pre-school hunt? Is time really going by this quickly? I'll keep posted on what we find- and if the ideal school really does exist.

Hurricane?

So Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Hannah made her way through our area this weekend. The few days leading up to this "event" was actually sort of amusing; the grocery store was jam-packed on Friday morning, the parking lot at Blockbuster had no available spaces; really quite amusing. I know that some parts of New England actually had a fair amount of damage, but here, in our little corner- we've had more damage by plain old regular Thunderstorms that hit our area- this Hurricane seemed all hype, and no show.

The weekend was essentially a wash because of the storm, so we made our way to Babies R Us to pick up a second Mattress for Matthew's new bed, then had a yummy dinner at 99, where kids eat free the day after a Red-Sox win. Can't beat a free meal right? Kevin took yesterday off work since the day was absolutely gorgeous and we headed out to RI for what is probably the last beach trip of the year. It was a delightful day, and after strolling along the beach and enjoying Rhode Islands best Ice Cream at St. Claire's, we were all wiped out and ready for bed.

I think this busy, exciting, and napless day only helped the situation, because Matthew slept ALL NIGHT in his big boy bed! He went into bed at 7:30, had one wake up at around 2:00, but otherwise was in bed all night long and he woke up this morning happy and refreshed from a good nights sleep. Thanks for the advice from those who gave it! What we ended up doing was putting the crib back in the room (and buying a new mattress, so we didn't have to switch them around) so that if Matthew was refusing his big boy bed he had an option other than our bed. Friday night he slept only in his crib, Saturday night he did about half and half, and yesterday he did all night in the big boy bed. Now, we are not foolish enough to believe that it will be smooth sailing from here on out, but Matthew seems to really love his new bed, and I think trying out the mattresses in the store and then getting to choose his own, was really fun for him. Hopefully the transition will remain smooth!

Big Boy Bed Night #2- was this a mistake?

Last night was night #2 in the big boy bed, and this morning it left us wondering- did we make this jump a little prematurely? While Matthew fell asleep like an angel, sound asleep by 7:30, his constant night wakings, and refusals to get back in bed have us wondering- maybe he is not as ready as we thought? By midnight last night, Matthew was indeed in bed with us for the remainder of the evening, he was not having any more of that big boy bed. He cried and begged for his crib, and when he realized he couldn't have it, he cried and begged for mommy and daddy's bed; and since we can't stand to see him so upset, we gave in. Thus it was another night of three people (one who sleeps horizontally) in the King size bed. Today we are asking ourselves- do we put the crib back together and put it back in his room? Or is it gone, its out of his room now and it has to stay that way? It really is a tough question. We want him to be happy, and to sleep well (so that we can sleep well) but we know he can't be in his crib until high school. What to do, what to do. I have a feeling we will end up putting the crib back in his room and letting him choose where he wants to sleep, hopefully he will choose the big boy bed, but the crib does offer him that security that he craves.

Nap time yesterday in the big boy bed lasted a little over an hour, so I was pleased. Today he fell asleep immediately, so we'll see how long he sleeps for. Once he wakes up and realizes that one of us is no longer in the room with him, that is when he becomes upset, but really, we can't stay in his room all night long can we?

Exciting day at the park this morning! While at our normal first Friday of the month playgroup, a fire truck was doing patrol through the park. Of course the 15 or so little boys about freaked out, so one Mom took it upon herself to ask (beg) the firemen to let the kids see the truck. The super friendly firemen agreed, pulled the truck over- and let the kids climb on board- sitting in the seats, trying on the helmets, pushing the buttons... its was a really awesome time had by all! Of course- I did not have my camera with me (because if I had my camera with me, there would have been no firetruck) but some of the other moms were able to get some good shots, so hopefully I'll have some to post soon. And since Matthew thinks that Fire Trucks are about the greatest things that have been put on this planet- you know he was over the moon with excitement!

Big Boy Bed Night #1

Last night was Matthew's first night in his big boy bed. I must say, and hopefully without jinxing anything, that it went better than expected. Our intention was not for him to sleep in it last night, but just for it to spend some time in his room- so he could get used to it. But as soon as we put the mattress in, complete with his Lightning McQueen and Mater pillow case and comforter, he did not want it to go away. So he helped me take apart his crib, and he helped it move it out of his room to make way for the big bed. Matthew normally goes to bed at around 7:00, so we were expecting a late night. There was a lot of putting him back in bed, a lot of talking to him, and some rocking. But eventually, a little before 9:00 he was asleep. We were pretty impressed. He woke up around 11:30 but was back in bed before Kevin could even get in the room. Then again at 2:30, same thing. at 4:30 he was up and ready to go- there was no getting him back in bed, so we brought him into bed with us where he slept until 7:30. Over all we think it was a pretty successful first night in the big boy bed.

Nap time today was a little tougher. There was constant get out of bed, so I tried to follow the advice of friends, I silently picked him up and put him back in bed. But this quickly became a game, so that had to stop. I tried out the old pre-school tactic of back rubbing- but that clearly tickled him because he kept laughing saying "no tickle mommy, no tickle" so that was out. I sat in his chair while he climbed in and out of bed. Finally I resorted to letting him cry a bit. (breaks my heart every time) I said "if you don't stay in bed, mommy can't stay in the room" so he got out of bed, I left. He cried and screamed, and cried. After 10 minutes, I said "get back in bed and mommy will come in" so he got in bed, I sat in his chair, and within 5 minutes he was sound asleep. So while it broke my heart to hear him screaming in his doorway- it clearly showed him that if he wants mommy in the room, he needs to stay in bed.

(top: Matthew and Daddy checking out the new bed. Bottom: Snoozing away, like a big boy)

Hopefully tonight will be a little bit easier on him. Baby Steps, but our little baby is becoming a big boy. We are already looking at pre-schools for next year. Whoah- this is happening way to fast, lets slow it down a bit. We'll work on the bed first, then we'll think about school.

Congradulations Chris and Rebecca!

A big Congrats to Chris and Rebecca who are now married, and hopefully enjoying their honeymoon in Mexico! (there was some question with Hurricane Gustav, whether they would even make it to Mexico) The weekend was perfect. A mini-vacation for Kevin and I, spent with some of our oldest and dearest friends; an absolutely gorgeous wedding, and a perfect couple doing the celebrating. I posted some pictures in flickr of the bride and groom, so be sure to check them out. While Kevin was busy with his groomsmen duties, I was able to spend some quality time relaxing by the pool and reading my book. Yup, actually relaxing by the pool, and reading a book- at the same time! It was wonderful!! The weekend was very tiring overall- as many of these people we haven't seen since our wedding, or even since college- so there was a lot of catching up to do- therefore some very very late nights, but well worth it- and oh so much fun. The only mishap came when Chris fell during a paint ball battle Saturday afternoon and banged up his face pretty good, oh and broke a bone in his left hand... meaning the ring did not actually fit on his ring finger. But all turned out ok, the make-up artist did a great job of hiding his bump, and both bride and groom sported their new jewelery on their right hands, so it all worked out in the end!

Matthew had a great time with Ms. Joui while we were gone, which I knew he would. He had such a great time that when Kevin and Matthew took Ms. Joui to the train station this morning, Matthew actually cried and wanted to get on the train with Ms. Joui. Now I really know I have someone I can trust to come watch Matthew! Thanks Joui!

Last week Matthew and I had been at a play date where my friend Nicole shared some of her home made pickles. Pure deliciousness... that's all there is to say. So Friday night before heading out of town, I cooked up my own batch (this is remarkably easy to do- Walmart sells the jars, and the pickling spices- all you add is water, vinegar, and cukes). We opened one of the jars yesterday when we got home... yumm yummm yummm. I think this is going to be my new hobby- These fresh home made pickles are far better than even the best store bought pickles. Added bonus- Matthew loves them- so at least I know he is eating some semblance of a vegetable.