the eve of the big 18 month mark

I still can't believe we've been parents for almost 18 months! It's been a really great ride and having Matthew has really solidified our plans of having another. Here are some photos of him eating lunch with his buddies and nap time which followed that messy meal.

Matthew's been eating up a storm and everything in site lately. His belly is quite huge and cute! At times, his teachers would need to cut him off because he's eating too much! I'm so happy and relieved that he's really enjoying school, his friends and especially his teachers. Ms. Ly, Ms. Lam, and Ms. Xennie are really great role models for him and I definitely credit them three for all that Matthew can do! Thanks, teachers! We're so grateful that Matthew has the pleasure of having you three as his first teachers!

So I have been searching for activities or places to spend time at during the weekend with Matthew. It's been a difficult journey as he seems too young for most activity centres in town. There are some great places but they are situated in Coquitlam and beyond. There is one that I am willing to go to which is the Kinder Cafe out in Port Coquitlam. I've heard great things so hopefully it'll be worth the drive. Near the end of February, I took Matthew to a Gymboree class. Although the colourful and many options of climbing structures were enticing, the drive definitely wasn't. We arrived at school just as usual and Matthew had his second breakfast before we departed to our Gymboree class. It was only really a mere 20 minute drive to and back (we went back to school after this class) and of course Matt Matt fell asleep on the way there and on the way back! That's a huge reason why I don't want to go for drives too long because it disrupts his scheduled afternoon naps.
Then Lisa and I had a great idea about going to McDonald's to play in the free play centres but the night before our big outing, we sadly learned that they have converted all their play centres into McCafes! Boo big time! So on Sunday we went to Ikea for a cheapy breaky (thanks, Auntie Lisa for footing the bill!) Then off to Go Bananas in Richmond we went. I was really excited to see how Matthew would take to the place. He was super eager to get in. But once we were in, he basically went to every corner that he wasn't supposed to! He went into the storage area, then he wanted to climb some stairs where the party rooms are located. But he seemed to have spent most of his 45 minutes at the ride 'em toy machine! The cost of entry was just under $7 but I really did not think it was worth it. Maybe we'll try again when he's older.

I still can't wait till we hit the aquarium or science world. Hopefully they won't be a let down!

Happy one and a half!

Time is passing so quickly! Every parent comments on the fact that time passes by so quickly. I didn't think this when Matthew was a baby, but I guess it's because I didn't enjoy it as much as now. I love how he can now interact, somewhat communicate what he wants and just how his little personality is forming. Also I think it's because my knowledge with this age group is better than when he was a baby. It didn't matter how much I read up on his baby milestones, my experience was not with newborns but with one year and up.

So now Matt Matt is turning a year and a half in a few days. He's able to do so much more. He's definitely a lot friendly with strangers. He will go to some and not look back for mom or dad. He has also been building his vocab with simple words and seems to understand what we ask of him like "go get your bib", "please get mommy some water", "what would you like to eat now?" and his response would be "apple". He can also feed himself (but quite messy at times) and drink from an open cup. We have now realized that Matthew is way more fun and easy to be with when he's not sick. He still whines at times but definitely way more when he's starting to get sick or when he is full on sick. I've done tours a ton of times at school and I always let parents know that their child will get sick lots when they first enter a school setting but man, doing it first hand is way more difficult than just preaching it!

February was a busy month for us. My parents went traveling to South America (their ABC tour) for just over three weeks and James and I had our first opportunity to be "real" parents! We communicated WAY more this month than any other time during our almost 15 years together. We constantly planned what and how we were going to prepare our dinners and other chores. I have to admit, at first I was kind of petrified on how we were going to time manage work, every day house hold chores, and our little busy toddler - what every normal parent does on a daily basis! We surprisingly did a wonderful job and very much enjoyed our time together as a family! And we think Matthew ate tons more and is heavier than when my parents left. I think James did really appreciate the quiet private time with just us three than always having to combine our time with my parents. I do agree with him on this as it was a very nice time together. Well, this makes great practice for the second month long trip my parents have planned for April!

Luckily for us, Matthew was only a little sick the first couple of days my parents left. After that, he didn't get sick until just last week and that only lasted a few days of a coughing fit. I really believe (and hope) that his exposure to school has strengthened his immune system. Matthew is definitely a much easier and more pleasant toddler to be around when his health is good. Since he wasn't sick much this month, he was a super angel!

Matthew's really enjoying his time at school now. There are times when I go to pick him up from his class and he runs and hides from me so he can play longer. It's frustrating when we are in a rush but I much prefer this attitude than when he didn't appreciate school. He still has a great time participating in circle time at school. Here's a clip of what he's been learning. Again, I'm such a proud mommy!



Another big highlight in the month of February is when he climbed/fell out of his crib! We put him down for his usual afternoon nap at home. His routine is: cry a bit and then find his "bo-bos" (cloths) and then curls up with his bum up to sleep. So to maximize chores during nap time, James left right after we put him down (to run and do errands) and I went to go take a shower. The next thing I knew, I hear Matthew crying quite loudly which is weird cause he was supposed to be in his room. I opened the door and there he was! I wondered how he got out so I decided to put him back in and watch him on the monitor to see how he did it the first time. He hangs onto the front of the crib and puts one leg over while holding onto the front frame. Then he throws his weight over to his leg that's already over the crib and waits for gravity to take over to pull him all the way down to the floor! What a monkey! Of course we immediately lowered his crib that night!

We also went to Gymboree this month and I wasn't too impressed so I'm going to look for other activities for him.

Here are some random photos of Matthew this month.

first snow day and a wow moment from school

We love how Matthew is willing to try new things. Even though he may be unsure or his facial expressions show he's not interested or excited, he will try. He normally has an "I'm not that impressed" look. Well, we got hit with a small dump of snow and lots and lots of cold days. Extremely cold - minus 20 at times with wind chill!
So before lunch was served, James, Matthew and I bundled up (like A Christmas Story style!), grabbed a garbage bag and headed out the door. Matthew seemed liked he enjoyed walking on the snow as he would lift his leg up to stomp on the higher piles. He definitely enjoyed the "poor man's sleigh rides" where daddy was tugging on the bag as Matthew sat on it and got pulled around.

Okay, so now for the "wow" moment from school. I'm sure this wasn't the very first wow moment but it's definitely one that's worth mentioning. So now that Matthew's okay with me being in and out of the classroom, I'm hanging out a lot more in there. Matthew really enjoys school, especially circle time or any time where songs are sung. On January 18, as usual, Ms. Ly asks the children to "find a circle and sit down". This usually takes a minute or two before all the children are sitting on their own circle and not on each other! And so, they proceed with all the letters they have learned so far since September and then the "new" three letters that are the focus for the week. They go through the sounds of the letters with a song that the teachers have cleverly made up and then an emphasize with objects for the three new letters. For example, Ms.Ly shakes her little bottle of uncooked noodles and emphasizes that she's shaking her "Nosiy" "Noodles". So on and so forth. Then Ms. Ly ends her circle time with one other activity. She has made these picture cards - one side is the picture of the child and the other side is just the print of their name. She pulls out each circle and shows the children the name on it and states what it saids. She does not show the picture side yet. She places each of the names on the floor with one extra of a child that's not in attendance (tricky, tricky, Ms.Ly!) So here's my "wow" moment. Matthew got called first to pick his name out of 8 other names. He gets up off his circle and heads towards all the names. He touches "Myra's" card and then puts it down. He then scans over to the next name and picks it up over his head like he's saying "this one is mine!" And indeed it was! It did say "Matthew"! Oh, man was I proud and I definitely did not hide how proud I was of him as I covered him with kisses! Moments like this is what makes me so happy to be a mommy, and especially Matt Matt's mommy :)

first swim class

We signed Matt Matt up for swim classes in January for Thursdays. Unfortunately, I've only managed to attend one of them as work got in the way, Matt Matt was just recovering from a cold and then James and I got hit by the flu pretty bad. Matthew kindly shared his germs he caught from school with us and it just wiped out the whole family :(

Since mommy and daddy do not have the skills of swimming under their belts, we've decided to send our little one year old to learn! His first swim class went very well. We were unsure of how Matthew would do as the only water experience we've had was either during bath time and just once in the waters in Hawaii (and that we were very, very close to shore). Matthew enjoyed splashing and being on his belly. The only time he rebelled was when he had to be on his back. During another class (that I didn't get to attend :( ), Matthew got dunked into the water and seemed to really enjoy it! Yay for our one year old! He makes us so proud!

christmas just keeps getting "funner"!

Ah, yet another great holiday! Growing up as a kid, I've always enjoyed the holiday season. I couldn't imagine loving this holiday even more until Matthew came along. Last year he was of course too young to care about presents and therefore barely touched any. This year, he's still too young to understand but he's more interested...in the wrapping paper that is! He could careless what's inside! It's the outside that matters to him! He enjoys ripping the wrapping paper as he's been practicing tearing up tissue paper all over the place. The up side, I guess would be that he's building on his fine motor skills! Oh the mess!

This Christmas is by far the best! I used to fill the space under the tree with all the presents I secretly bought for myself. This year was totally different. I even forgot to get myself a "just in case I don't like any of my gifts" gift. Instead, I had only filled it with all these goodies that I found online for Matthew. After all, it's ALL ABOUT HIM NOW!

Matthew was great with the Christmas tree. At first, he barely paid any attention to this "thing" in the living room. As the weeks went on (we put up our tree right after Remembrance Day every year) he started to explore. At first he would poke at the branches, then worked up the courage to grab things from the tree. James was smart and decided to only hang up our homemade decorations made from felt...or was he just being lazy?!?! Matthew really enjoys the Christmas lights on trees and have managed not to tear the tree apart or any other tree that he sees!

I just realized that we hadn't taken many pictures of the holidays :( But here's a couple of the kiddies at our annual Christmas dinner at Allan's.

Merry Christmas to all! Love us!

adventures of matt matt and monkey!

Ms. Ly, one of Matthew's first teachers (the other one is Ms. Mabel Lam) made this beautiful hand-knit monkey for Matthew's first birthday. With Christmas approaching, Ms. Ly encouraged a meaningful, handmade gift from Matthew. She didn't care much for store bought or generic gift. All she wanted was just one picture of Matthew holding the monkey that she had taken her time making for him. So Matthew and I put our heads together and decided to create a whole book from iphotos with our new Mac! With weeks of hard work of posing with Monkey on outings and activities at home, a book was magically created! (Thanks, apple for creating such an easy app for mommy to use!) Here are some pics from this awesome book!