Matthew's Journal

I never dreamed I'd say this, but you're still waking two to three times at night and I barely even care. I'm so used to it now, that I just get up, walk across the hall to the office (where you sleep in the port-a-crib) and nurse you without ever fully waking up. I know you ought to be sleeping through the night, but I'm dreading and avoiding the cry-it-out treatment. But you're going to have to figure it out before you get to move downstairs with Isaac and share his newly-green room!

I really thought you'd be crawling by now but you're not quite there. You get up on all fours and rock and sometimes push yourself backwards. And you do manage to move a few feet or so, but you've never just crawled across the room. I guess I'm okay with that for a while – it makes my life easier! You're still such a snuggler too – you love to be held and to be up so you can see what's going on.

We've finally got you eating in the high chair at all three meals – sometimes you eat more, sometimes less. But you seem to like all manner of foods now, you just don't eat as much as I've come to expect from one of my kids. You really like hard things like Cheerios, but unfortunately I'd rather stick to mostly soft foods for now! I still supplement by nursing after each meal and before bed. (And during the night!)

Sometimes you'll just start laughing for no apparent reason, and then I'll realize how closely you've been watching everything going on around you. Because inevitably it will be Isaac doing a somersault across the room or Abby jumping off the couch or something else that I barely even noticed. You have a wonderful, bust-up laugh. I love it. You're pretty ticklish too.

Your hair is really coming in darker than I expected and you have a shock of it that sticks up in the middle of your head. You're in almost all twelve month clothes already – such a big boy! You love your daddy and you LOVE music. Sometimes you'll be fussy and all it takes is sitting you down at the piano or turning on the radio. Anytime you hear a rhythm you start bouncing to the beat. When I start singing “Kookaburra”, you keep your eyes glued to my face the entire song! (You have a definite preference for upbeat music.)

You've settled into a nice schedule – up at 7am and breakfast at 7:30. You take a morning nap from about 9-10am, then we usually go to the grocery store or library or something. We come home for lunch followed by another nap from about 1-3:30 or 1:30-4. Then we play and Daddy comes home for supper and bedtime is 8pm.

You are generally a happy guy except that you do HATE to be bored. Sometimes you'll be so fussy that I'll think you're getting sick, then suddenly we leave the house or go down to the playroom and you're a new man. It's like you really want new sights, new objects to look at, etc. You are VERY grabby and strong too, so it's hard to keep things out of your reach. Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe it's super nice that you're not crawling yet!