Baby Matthew is Upstairs

Matthew and I were playing on the living room floor a few moments ago. I was on my back and was lifting him in the air with my arms and legs so he was flying like a superhero. Here is our conversation:

Kristi: "Look, it's Superhero Matthew!"

Matthew: "Mommy, I'm not Superhere Matthew."

Kristi: "Oh. OK, are you Big Boy Matthew?" (as in, big boys use the potty....I've been throwing that one in conversation a lot these days)

Matthew: "No. I'm not Big Boy Matthew."

Kristi: "Well, then. Are you Baby Matthew?"

Matthew: "Baby Matthew is Upstairs"

Kristi: "He is?"

Matthew: "Yes."

He leaves the living room and goes upstairs, returning a few moments later with a silver 5x7 framed picture of himself at about 1 year old that sits on my desk.

Matthew: "This is baby Matthew. See?"

Happy Birthday Aunt Karen!

Guess what? My aunt Karen is getting OLD! Mommy says that today is Aunt Karen's birthday, and I can't even count how old she is if I use all my fingers and all my toes!

But I love my Aunt Karen and always have a great time when I see her...

This is us Thanksgiving 2006. We had so much fun playing in Momo's backyard together.

This is also 2006...when Aunt Karen came to Chicago to visit for Mommy's birthday. We are in the coffee shop that was down the street from our old condo.

And this was in the park where I used to play all the time.

Aunt Karen and Uncle Shannon just came to see me last month. This is us using Mommy's new barbecue in the backyard. We had fun cooking together!

I love my Aunt Karen. Happy birthday!

Love,
Matthew

BAD BOY!

Matthew has picked up a charming habit from his little play friend Lilly. Apparently she uses this when dealing with her younger brother Percy. Let me demonstrate this highly versatile expression:

Kristi: "Matthew no climbing on the table"
Matthew "Mommy you are a BAD BOY!"

Kristi: "No Matthew, don't play with Kobe's water dish"
Matthew: "BAD BOY!"

Kristi: "Matthew it's time to come inside now for your bath"
Matthew: "BAD BOY!"

Kristi: "We don't hit people Matthew."
Matthew: "You are a BAD BOY!"

I have tried to point out that I am neither a boy nor particularly bad (though I admit that second one is a matter of opinion). He doesn't seem to get it. However I continue to try to explain that while we all might do bad things occasionally, that does not make us a "bad" person. My subtle distinction is, for now, over his head.

Love,
BAD BOY (apparently)

We miss Aunt Karen and Uncle Shannon!

Come back Aunt Karen & Uncle Shannon, we miss you! I was downloading pictures from Matthew's camera last night, and came across these photos from Karen & Shannon's visit in late April. We had a good time!

Karen cooks it up on the grill

Matthew playing with water in the Chicago Children's Museum

Choo Choo! Matthew rides the train on Navy Pier

Lots of love and snuggles

Chicago Botanic Garden - Model Railroad Garden

What a totally cool place. The Chicago Botanic Garden, a wonderful destination in its own right, has a model railroad garden inside chock full of moving steaming horn-blowing G-scale model trains. We set off early this morning for our adventure.

Inside the botanic garden there were many, many very interesting fountains. Matthew is like a moth to the flame whenever there is any water around. Fortunately, I managed to keep him from climbing in.

Watching the trains.

More trains!

If you are wondering why I don't have any pictures of the front of Matthew, that's because I couldn't get him to turn around. He had eyes ONLY for the trains.

OK. One picture of him not watching trains. But the kind lady taking our photo had to try 3 times before she got one where he didn't swivel his head backwards.

The exhibit is subtitled "Landmarks of America." This is Pike Place Market.

The White House

And Wrigley Field. Go Cubbies!

We got home and spent the rest of the day doing yard work. I spent 4 hours working in the back and front yards and am exhausted. Matthew helped some, and mostly played in the dirt. We were both filthy by the time we came in. I am posting this and am off to bed...

They are my Favorite! I Luuuuuv Them!

3 days ago, Matthew became passionate about a pair of 2 sizes too big, heavy winter fleece footy pajamas. I think they were a gift, and as they are green with snowmen on them, I put them in the bottom of his pajama drawer and hoped that they would fit him next Christmas.

Well he found them Tuesday night. As bedtime approached, I opened his pajama drawer in my usual fashion and picked 2 weather-appropriate "jammies" from which he could choose. "Do you want the doggies or the dinosaurs?" He saw the oversized heavy winter snowmen jammies peeking out from beneath a pile in the back of the drawer, pulled them out and said:
"These mommy! They are my favorite! I Luuuuuv Them!"

Several attempts to get him into a more weather appropriate set of jammies failed, so I just pulled down his comforter and blanket to the bottom of the bed and hoped he wouldn't suffer heatstroke in the night.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. The snowmen jammies had taken a place in his laundry hamper and were completely out of sight - covered by the day's outfit(s). I went through my usual routine - open jammie drawer, select a few options, present them for his consideration. No deal. He immediately ran to his closet, started throwing clothes out of his laundry hamper (all over the bedroom floor), until he found THEM. With considerable truimph he held them up by one heavy fleece foot.

"These mommy! I Luuuuuv Them!"

"But Matthew they are dirty. You wore them yesterday."

"But Mommy they are my Faaaaavorite!"

I really thought about putting my foot down. But really - is it worth fighting about day-old jammies when I could instead be holding my ground in the potty-training-no hitting-come inside when I tell you areas?

So Matthew slept in them again. He was at his Dad's last night and the laundry has been done, so they are clean and ready to be discovered during tonight's jammie selection. We'll see what happens.

How the Subprime Market Really Works

Sorry grandparents for a post that is not Matthew related, but I stumbled across this little nugget online and I thought it was good enough to post.

It's a stick figure slide show explaining the Subprime market meltdown, and it's pretty good. Warning: it contains some profanity. But it's informative and pretty funny.

Click here, then scroll down and then click on the first slide to start the slide show.

Via The Big Picture

Does he like zuccini?

You decide.

Wildlife in our Front Yard

This evening before dinner Matthew and I spent an hour in the front yard. What an adventure! Who said you have to go to the woods to see wildlife?

He's ready for exploration...

Look Mommy! A really really big worm! In case you were wondering, Matthew reported that the worm's name was "Mr. Wormy" (Let it also be noted for the record that Matthew refused to touch the worm until I did it first and he saw that it was "not icky")

He repositioned the worm to the sidewalk right in front of our house. Here is a close up of Mr. Wormy. Note that since it was about 5:30pm, we had several people walking home from the el past our sidewalk and for every one Matthew said "Hi! Look at the worm! Bye!" as they passed.

There was a lot of prodding the worm with a stick.

The worm shenanigans attracted the attention of this robin, who has made a nest in one of the trees in our front yard. She hopped around on the ground trying to get at that worm until Matthew chased her off and she returned to her nest. I had explained that worms eat dirt and birds eat worms and he was clearly trying to protect HIS worm.

After I said that worms eat dirt the worm was repositioned thusly. He kept saying "eat worm!"

All in all it was a grand adventure. There was also a sighting of "Jumpy Squirrel" that caused much excitement. (For those not in the know, Jumpy Squirrel is the name of a squirrel in the Curious George show)

Sadly I return to work tomorrow (a good thing since I have been out more than a week now) but thankfully I am feeling mostly better and while I still have shingles pain it is not too bad and I avoided the rash/blisters ickyness.

Love,
Kristi

Using the Mouse

This week Matthew finally figured out how to use the computer mouse. We were on the official Disney Cars website looking at all the characters from the movie, and he figured out how to use the mouse to scroll from character to character.

Note our new computer monitor! (the new computer arrived on Tuesday and is still sitting in its box upstairs.)

Our Evening Walk

Last Saturday I was unsuccessful in uploading pictures of our fun evening walk, so I thought I would post them now.

Matthew on his tricycle. He is getting pretty good at motoring himself, although he still prefers a good push from Mom (as long as I used both hands. "Two hands Mommy!" Clearly my instructions to him are coming back to haunt me)

Picking dandilions. He loves picking and blowing them...not great for his allergies, but lots of fun.

Investigating a really neat tree stump

A close up of the tree stump. I thought it was pretty cool.

Flowers in bloom.

"Riding" the fire hydrant.

Mother's Day Update: I've got Shingles (probably)

Well 2 days ago I started feeling extreme sensitivity and pain on the skin of my back on the left hand side (where the sensation of my shirt brushing against the skin hurt). Since then the pain has wrapped around my left side to my stomach. I finally called the doctor today to find out what was going on and their diagnosis: Shingles. Greeeeaaat.

The doctor has called in a prescription for an antiviral medication that should reduce the duration and hopefully prevent the rash/blisters/oozing/scaring/nerve damage that can result, so as soon as Matthew wakes up from his nap we'll be heading out to CVS pharmacy.

The doctor thought that since Matthew has had his chickenpox vaccine he should be fine, especially if we can prevent the blisters/oozing part since that's what is most contagious.

I can apparently expect a REALLY fun next couple of weeks.

Love,
Kristi

Happy Mother's Day!

Matthew and I want to wish a very happy Mother's Day to Mormor, Mimi, Gigi, and POGG!

I have had a wonderful Mother's Day so far, with plenty of snuggling from my favorite boy. We are probably off to breakfast and then Monkey Island later this morning.

And Matthew and Ari presented me with some WONDERFUL Mother's Day gifts....

Here is the Mother's Day card they made for me....

And the beautiful candle holder that they bought for me (with a little assistance from Mormor). Ari took Matthew shopping, and gave him 3 "suggestions" for gifts. This is the one he picked.

And finally the "bouquet" he made me at his arts & crafts class at Wonder Works.

I love all my Mother's Day gifts but especially love my sweet boy.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Computer problems and a slow day

Today was a nice day, but Matthew was not feeling 100%. We have both been suffering from terrible seasonal allergies this year, and his are not being controlled by the Zyrtec he was on last year. He has had itchy eyes and itchy bumps on his body, as well as the typical runny nose and sneezes. We are headed off to the pediatrician on Monday so today was a pretty slow day around the house rather than the big day out I had originally planned.


However around 5:30pm, we did decide to go on a nice evening stroll, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We even met a few neighbors we didn't know, as we were not the only ones with the idea to get out of doors. I took a whole bunch of pictures and hopped online to post them, but appear to be having computer problems as none of them would load. Tried both the home computer and my brand spanking new work laptop (got it yesterday) but neither worked. Could be an issue with Blogger but for now, sorry, no pictures!

Will try again tomorrow. We are supposed to have a cold rainy day so not sure what our plans will be, but stay tuned!

No shoes for Kobe

Conversation that Matthew and I had yesterday evening while hanging out on the front porch steps enjoying the nice weather:

Kristi: We need to close that door honey so Kobe doesn't get out.
Matthew: Kobe not come outside?
Kristi: No honey, Kobe can't come outside. He stays inside.
Matthew: Oh. Kobe not have shoes on.
Kristi: That's right, Kobe doesn't have any shoes.
Matthew: Kobe not have socks on, too.

End of conversation. Mystery solved. Kobe can't come outside because he has no shoes and socks.

Happy Birthday Mormor!

Hi everybody! Guess what? Today is Mormor's birthday! I'm super excited, becuase I LOVE my "Momo"!


Here is one of my favorite pictures of me and Momo. This was from last summer when she came out to take care of me for several weeks before Ari started working.

This is from Christmas, when we all made the gingerbread house that Gigi gave me. It was so much fun!

Check out me and Momo here! This was from her most recent visit when we went to Monkey Island. Momo climbed and jumped with me the whole time, it was great fun!

Everybody, please join me in wishing Momo HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Love,
Matthew

Spring has finally arrived!

Spring has arrived after a long, hard, cold winter, and Matthew and I couldn't be more thrilled! We celebrated the 70 degree sunny weather by spending all morning in the backyard planting flowers and playing.

This is Matthew moments after we went into the backyard. Notice Outfit #1 is still dry at this point!

Helping Mommy plant flowers. He was a big help, especially with the trowel (getting to scoop dirt is BIG fun).

The results of our work!

Here is another one

And one for the front of the house

Once the hose came out to water the flowers, Matthew lost all interest in doing anything but play in water. In about 10 minutes, this outfit was soaked.

By this point he has moved on to Outfit #2. Which is now getting soaked. And he has now watered the flowers, the grass, the fence, and his jungle gym. (And me. I got watered too.)

After all that hard work, we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the deck. Shortly before eating, Outfit #2 came off and Matthew got a good hose-down.

He is napping now and I will be going back outside as soon as I am done with this post to reseed the backyard grass. Yay Spring!