Matthew's Journal

You're sleeping through the night now! It took a bit of crying in early January, but really not so bad – a couple of nights of ½ hour or so of wailing. I am so thankful. It's also ironic - since we had such trouble nursing six months ago - that now you LOVE to nurse and I am having a hard time contemplating weaning you! We are down to about three nursings a day – the rest is table food and a little formula. You are a picky eater so far – if you don't like it, you just don't eat it, whether you're hungry or not! (That's a new one for me!) Your favorite food so far is BBQ pork, when you see it you start hyperventilating and then shovel it in your mouth once it's given to you.

You are SO close to walking, in fact some people would say you ARE. Three to four steps at a time is quite normal; you're just not cruising across the room yet. You also can say several words “more”, “all done”, “Dada”, “Mama”, “bye-bye”, “hi”, “kitty”, and of course “no”. It sounds more like “na” than no, but this is your favorite word. Try to give you a sip of your formula . . . Na na na! Shampoo your hair in the bath tub . . . Na na na! Take something out of your hand . . . Na na na! I feel pretty confident that we have another strong-willed child on our hands. In a way I am grateful because as long as that will can be shaped in the right direction, I think the Lord can use you in a great way!

Music is just about your favorite thing. You love toys that make noise. You love when anyone plays the piano; often you'll go over to the djembe drum and accompany while they play! The guitar is another frequent stop on your cruising rounds. You are VERY interested in all sorts of objects and particularly different textures. You love to open and close doors (especially on Abby's play kitchen) and put things in and out of containers. Often you become very focused on your activity for up to ten minutes or so. As long as you are surrounded by many different things to pick up and look at you are quite content. If we are in a less stimulating environment, you become bored and quite crabby. I set out four or five toddler toys on top of the toy box each morning (in the dining room – the center of activity for our home) so you can play with them all day long and still be in the middle of household activity.