Is this an olympic sport?

I haven't watched the Olympics that much, but the little that I have watched typically gets me a little choked up. Not because I want to ski down a hill at 98 MPH, no definitely not. I get choked up whenever they show the parents in the stands cheering on their grown child, whenever they show the parents of the gold medalist crying for joy when their child wins. I cannot imagine the sacrifices those parents must have made for their child to be where they are. And I can identify with them. I make huge sacrifices for my son.
Let me tell you about one of the biggest sacrifices I make. Whenever I am in the kitchen Matty always wants to get out some bowls or cups to play with. This is a huge sacrifice when I really need to use one of the bowls he wants. But being the good mother I am, I sacrifice the bowl in hopes it will one day pay off.




Let me tell you, my sacrifices paid off the other day when I turned around and found this amazing creation.


This is a sign, a sign that my child is well on his way to doing great things. I mean look at the artistic merit of this piece, look at the skills my child had to have to get all these things to balance. He is very close to a gold medal, I just know it.

What a big boy!!

My son has become a boy. No, I am not saying he was a puppet and magic turned him into a "real boy!" What I am saying is he is offically, I mean really offically, not a baby anymore. Not only does he have his bookshelf in which he selects his own books to read before bed time.

He really is a scholar, isn't he?



But he also....are you ready for this.....? Really, are you ready for it? Because I am not ready for it. I feel my little baby slipping away from me, Ahhhh!!!!

He is now sleeping in his big boy bed!!



I told Steve, "He is not ready for it. Let's keep him in his crib!! Please!!" Steve, knowing that I have issues with letting my child grow up, insisted on taking the side off the crib. So, I reluctantly let it happen. And you know what, he slept great in it. No issues at all. And he was very excited about it, too!!
Meaning he is excited about becoming a big boy.

Please help me, my baby is gone!!

He wear sunglasses at night

For a long time Matthew has been very irritated by the sun shining in his eyes when we are driving. I have been trying to get him to wear sunglasses to help, but he was not understanding the relationship between the sun shining in his eyes and his sunglasses. Most of the time I could not get him to wear his sunglasses.
When we drive home from the babysitter's house almost every afternoon the sun gets in his eyes. When this happens he lets out a little squeal, closes his eyes, and then says, "Sun!! Sun!!! Go away!!!" For some weird reason, the sun does not listen and does not go away.

Finally he is understanding that his sunglasses help the sun stay out of his eyes. I found that making sunglasses "cool" and constantly telling him how "cool" his sunglasses makes him want to wear them. Now, when the sun hits his eyes and he doesn't have his sunglasses on he says, "Mommy!! Glasses, glasses!!!"

Now if only I could get him to figure out the relationship between him and the potty. We are working on that....

I am sorry.

I want to start this post by saying I am sorry.

As recently as a few days ago I never understood how kids could draw on the wall or ruin a piece of furniture with paint or a marker. I never gave my child markers or paint unless I was watching him like a hawk. I figured I was a wonderfully observant, organized mother with a very well disciplined child. I would never be one of those mothers with marker on my walls or child ruined furniture.

The above paragraph is why I would like to humbly apologize. I am sorry I was so arrogant to think that my child would never deface something in my house.

Let me show you the "beautiful" art my son drew with a permanent marker on my stone coffee table. I am so proud of my little artist.....or not.

By the way....I do not know where he got the sharpie, or where it was in our house. Because I am the "perfect" mother I would never leave a marker within reach of a 2 year old, therefore I blame Steve for this. Just thought you might want to know.

He is so mature

This little guy is so mature. Really he is... Lately he has been saying 2 phrases almost constantly.

He has been asking, "What that?" This question comes out of his mouth approximately 64 times a day. He points to something and asks, "Mommy, what that?" Usually I can answer and I appreciate his curiosity and his desire to learn. Although by the 52nd time he asks that question I am a little tired of telling him what everything is. This is expecially hard when we are driving and I cannot see what he is pointing at and he insists on me doing everything I possibly can to see what he is pointing at, even if that means getting in a car accident.


The second phrase he has been saying a lot lately is "Oh, I see." Usually this comes after I tell him what something is. Like last night I was making a lemon meringue pie to bring to work. When he heard the mixer going at a high speed he ran in to the kitchen, asked to sit on the counter and then pointed at the meringue in the mixer and asked, "What that?" I said to him, "Those are egg whites that are being whipped in to meringue." He looked at me and very seriously said, "Oh, I see."


I laughed pretty hard when he said this, does he have any idea what meringue is? No, I am pretty sure he doesn't. But he just sounds so mature and so adult when he says, "Oh, I see." He really makes me believe he completely understands what meringue is.


Really I think he was just sucking up to me, he knew I would let him lick the mixer when I was done. See.... isn' t he mature?

He is like a little human!!!

The other day one of our friends came over and started talking to Matty, they had a real conversation. It was really cute to watch. A lot of the time you cannot understand exactly what Matt says, but you can get a general idea of what he is trying to say and he absolutely seems to be listening and processing everything that you say to him.

After the conversation our friend said, "Wow!! I just had a conversation with your son!" And I just shook my head and said, "Crazy, right? He is like a little human!" This sounds funny to say, because of course my son is a human... duh! But I think a milestone for parents is actually coming to terms with the fact that your child is in fact a human, just like you are.

I have had several moments where I am amazed by the fact that my son is acting like a human being. And all of them are exciting, but at the same time sad. This "becoming a human" thing makes him less and less my baby. Excuse me as I let out a loud *sigh*.....

Matthew's favorite restaurant

It is amazing to me how good my 2 year old's memory already is at this age.

We have a Red Robin really close to our house and we get coupons a lot for it, so we end up going there 2-3 times a month. Usually, even when Matty was a little baby who could barely hold his head up, the Red Robin employees would give him a balloon. He has always loved looking at balloons and now he loves chasing them around the house and watching them float above his head.

The last several times we have pulled in to Red Robin's parking lot Matty instantly recognizes where we are and says "Boon!!!" This is how he pronounces balloon. He recognizes that he always gets a balloon when he comes to this restaurant and he recognizes that we are at that restaurant before we even get out of the car. I seriously underestimate his ability to retain things, because this amazes me.

I am not bragging about my child, believe me, I think this ability to put things and places together is a very common skill for kids this age. However, I am still amazed by how much a child grows and changes in such a short amount of time. I wish I could learn at that capacity and speed. Unfortunately, that will not happen, yesterday it took me 30 minutes to figure out that the DVD Steve had recorded for me didn't have sound because, it just didn't have sound. This was discovered after I unplugged and plugged in 86 different wires and after I cursed at the TV numerous times. Then I put a different DVD in and discovered nothing was wrong with the sound to begin with....brilliant, I know.

Thank God, my child seems to have much more advanced skills than I do when it comes to figuring things out. And thank God, my child loves Red Robin, because I love their grilled salmon sandwich... Yummy!!!

Say Hello to My Little Friend...

Say hello to my father in law's beautiful plane:


Yes, it is tiny and only holds 2 people, but I think it is pretty darn cute and my father in law is quite the pilot, he can do a lot of flying with this cute plane.
Matthew was really enthralled with this life size plane...

He LOVES airplanes. What a thrill it was for him to sit in his grandpa's plane.

Check out www.itsneverevertoolate.com to learn about The Flight for the Human Spirit and what this plane is up to.

Matty does not look very happy in this photo, but seeing not only his grandpa's plane close up, but also many others was a great day in this little 2 year old's life.

Compassion

You know what I did yesterday morning? I was so upset when my alarm went off I hit the alarm clock so hard my hand hurt.
You know what I did yesterday when I reached for my car door? I complained about how dirty my car was.
You know what I did this morning when I made coffee? I complained about my coffee machine because it is leaking water.
You know what I did this morning when a co worker asked me how I was? I told them I was "ok" and really didn't want to work today.


You know what I DIDN'T do yesterday or today or ever?

-Use my bare hands to dig through the remains of my house trying to find my child in the rubble.
-Cry out in the street for help only to find everyone else in my street needing the same help I did.
-Try to call my family and friends over and over just to find out if they are alive.
-Stare at a pile of blocks, cement, and dirt that used to be my house.
-Wonder if my husband was going to make it after being pinned beneath rubble for hours.
-Walk through the city I live in and see piles of houses and buildings and people crying out for their loved ones.

Please pray for the people of Haiti. And remember there are thousands of people in Haiti who would LOVE to have an alarm clock to wake up to, a bed to lay in, a coffee machine to make coffee, a car to drive, and a building to work in.

What could be better?

Is there anything better than playing on the swing set with Grandpa?

Yes....finding someone to rake up all the leaves around the swingset.

Anyone???

Sweet Dreams

What is it about taking pictures of sleeping babies and children?


Really what is it about taking pictures of anything sleeping? Why is it so fun? I have taken pictures of Steve sleeping may times and every time I do, I chuckle. Why??? Hmmm...

While you ponder that, I will share with you a few pictures of Matty napping.
Lately he has been putting his hands behind his head to sleep, which I think is hilarious.



Can't you just eat him up!!!!

I cannot wait to show him these when he is a teenager. He will say, "Why would you take pictures of me sleeping?" And I will say, "I don't know. I think it is cute."

To which he will roll his eyes and wonder why he has such a crazy mother.

I can't wait!!

Go Broncos!!! Or not

New Years weekend was filled with a lot of relaxation and getting things done. Except for Sunday, Sunday was a day we will surely never forget.

Steve got the thrill of his life and got a field pass from our realtor and good friend for the Broncos game. That means he was on the field for 1 hour before the game watching the players practice. He spoke with one of our best defensive players, Dawkins, for about 30 seconds and he got some high fives from some other players. Steve will definitely never forget this once in a life time opportunity, being right next to his favorite team while they were getting ready to play a game. After that thrill Steve settled in to his seats and watched the awful game the Broncos played. Apparently, Steve's presence did not help the Broncos at all. But, I can't say much, I was at the game also.

Several of our friends and myself went to the game as well and sat separate from Steve. Not only did we not get field passes, but we also were about 20 rows from being in the last row, furthest from the field. Never the less, it was a fantastic time, even with the embarrassing loss.

In case you are wondering, Matthew stayed home, he has yet to experience his first Broncos game. Though I know it will happen soon and will be just the beginning of his life filled with Denver Broncos football.

Sunday was bittersweet. It was more fun that I could handle, yet was very sad because the Broncos season is now over.

Thank God for a new fresh year. I am very excited and optimistic to see what will happen this year. Even if I know the Broncos will NOT win the super bowl this year.

What is up with the lower lip?

This is not a good picture of either of us, but I am trying to explain to you all what is going on with my son's lower lip. Lately, he has been using for 2 reasons:

1. To make the goofy face like the one above when I am trying to take a picture of him or when I smile at him.

2. To get his way and make me feel guilty.

The 2nd reason is the one that is troubling me the most. He has discovered that when he is upset, sad, or not getting his way he can stick out his quivering little lower lip and make mommy (that's me) melt in to a puddle on the floor.

I wish I could get a picture of this thing he does, because it is so absolutely adorable and so funny!!

Where he learned to do this, I do not know. I stopped doing that when I was 8 years old. It must be an innate talent that all children have- to pout using your lower lip and get your way.

Now before you all think I am an awful mother, know that the lower lip did not work for long. He has done it too much for me to melt in a puddle everytime and once I figure out his "little game" I make sure I win everytime. But it still has become very hard to discipline him or ever be mad at him when he sticks out that lower lip. Oh geez... this kid is smarter than I thought!!!