Matthias

I need to journal a little about Matthias so that I can keep this stuff straight! = )

21 months old

Playing Hide and Seek in the coat closet

Stinker in every sense of the word: this little boy is learning to challenge Mommy and Daddy at every turn - but always with a little mischievous grin on his face. Will they really follow through on their discipline??? What can I get away with?

He runs like crazy to keep up with his older brothers. And I often hear "Mommy! Help!" being shouted down the hallway. Always means the same thing: I find him sitting on Jonah's top bunk, grinning down at me. Proud to be able to get up there, but no idea how to get down safely yet. He is my biggest boy, tall and sturdy. Not chubby, just solid.

He is finally starting to hit that vocabulary explosion, and it seems like the past two weeks we're hearing new words all the time. Some we love to hear: "More peanut butter" (although it's more like "mo pee-bu", but HEY! progress), and some we now hear maybe too often: "Mommy poo-poo, Daddy poo-poo, Matthias poo-poo".

Snow. Cold. Peanut Butter. Juice. Bed. Teddy. Blankie. Coat. Shoes. Hot. Pancake. Pop Tart (this is unfortunate). Socks. Potty. Teeth. Yes Mom. Shirt. Dog. Ball. Toe. Mine (of course). Jonah. Reuben. Adi. Opa. Oma. Grandma. Yes Dad. No. Tirzah. Baby. Mommy. Daddy. Me Too. Help. and I know that there are more. So much fun to feel more like we are communicating! When he can't say the words he's trying to tell us, he acts it out. Just like charades! I love it.

She found me!

He is a busy busy boy, and keeping him occupied is my challenge, but he wants to just a part of whatever I'm doing: whether that is throwing toys into my shower, or pulling out one of the boys' school books and sitting down with a pencil and looking at me expectantly. He has just discovered how to play hide and seek around the house with the boys, and thinks it is hilarious.

His manners are fantastic - probably his favorite thing to say is "Thank You", which he says multiple times when you give him something he has asked for. He loves hugs - especially squeeze hugs and sandwich hugs between Mommy and Daddy.

He is proud to immediately start squatting and doing pushups if he hears someone start talking about work-outs, which happen pretty often in this house! And he is a great trooper to tag along when Mommy has to work ... and loves to go upstairs and do FitKids at the gym.

I love love love this kid. I love snuggling him for moments before bedtime. And as I realize he is growing up fast ... it is hard. He is still our baby, even though he is not really a baby at all anymore. Those big brown eyes can make Mommy melt.

Matthias has been such a gift to our family, and even through his onery-ness can aggravate his brothers to no end, they still cry "Matthias!" when he wakes from bedtime and naptime and smother him with so many hugs he finally pushes them away. I can't wait to see how he has grown even by his 2nd birthday this spring.