Kids Say the Darndest Things - NO Bath Time Please

Life with Matthew been very exciting and entertaining as usual. Kids always say the darndest things, and this is another one for me to report on. I am very blessed that Matthew is able to express himself at that early age. He is officially 2 years old and 6 months, however, he still thinks that numbers don't change, so for him 2 years and 5 months.

Last week we been hit with some flu or cold (cannot never differentiate), and Matthew has not been himself since then. He would get irritated very easily, change his mind in the last minute what he wants to do and what he does not, and struggling with his constantly running nose.

Couple of nights ago, all day I been reminding Matthew that tonight is a bath time. He has no choice but to wash his stinky feet. He agreed every time with a smile on his face, but do you think he would do it? Let's see.

Its been a long day for all of us. Matthew didn't really want to go sleep and did not want to drink his milk either. Okay we let go. Then time for a bath. Matthew does not want to get undressed, he cries - 'No bath time please.' At some point we just let him cry in his bedroom. He calmed down by himself and came out. We talked, but no not able to convince him. I played with the water, I put some toys - still no, not interested at all. Finally I lured him with some splashing for him to come closer to the bathtub. He came. So we started to talk, and this is after 45 minutes of convincing, some little yelling (which never worked), and talking back and forth. Poor Daddy from all that eventful evening ended up sleeping through the best part of our conversation.

So both of us standing by the bathtub.
'Matthew will you take bath now?' - I asked.
He did not responded, just looked at me.
'Matthew please say yes, Y E S.'  - I spelled the word yes for him.
'Yes.' - He answered softly and not very confident.
'Okay Matthew O K A Y?' - I spelled the okay word for him.
'Okay.' - he answered again softly and still not confident.
Matthew is thinking very hard (literally steam is coming out his ears).
We are looking at each other, eye to eye, then suddenly...
'Mommy spell NO.' - Matthew demanded.

Well on the end I gave him bath anyway. I splashed his shirt, so he had no choice but to go inside the bathtub anyway, of course after little fussing. Once in he told me: 'Mommy go do laundry Matthew's shirt'.

Kids Say the Darndest Things - Daddy Is Not Listening

In few days Matthew will be 27 months, that is two years and three months and really can talk now. Still have little issues with putting sentences together, but he can tell you a story with just the words. In addition to counting and alphabet, and almost reading, Matthew knows almost all car makers. Just by seeing the logos he knows its Toyota, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Audi, Mazda, Infinity, Nissan, Chrysler, Ford and GMC. I though I throw that in, as I am really proud of him.

Every day I get to hear new lines from him, and today is the one to tell.

After dinner, I get to wash dishes, and Matthew and daddy watch Wiggles DVD. It was time for Matthew to have some milk, and he wasn't co-operating with daddy.

'Matthew why are you not listening to me' - I overheard him saying.

'Matthew get over here and have some milk' - daddy is asking Matthew again.

Next thing I see Matthew crawling on fours into the kitchen. I look at him and he looks at me.

'Mommy, mommy' - he raises his voice.

'Yes, Matthew' - I answered.

'Mommy, mommy - daddy not listening Matthew' - he said.

'Oh daddy is not listening to you' - I repeated.

'Yeahhh' - he confirms.

Hope you enjoyed another great line from Matthew.

Today's Blobbing Moment

It happened to me few times before, and now. Why is writing sometimes so easy and sometimes so difficult to execute? I have so many ideas written for the Story Blob posts, but I still have to be in a moment to write them. This week I got no moments like that. But I got a moment for sleeping, and this is my own and all time favorite quote: 'who ever invented sleep was a genius'.

Someone Little Enjoys His Food

My Matthew who sometimes looks like a little man in the baby clothes is definitely growing. Not just physically but mentally too. His little brain is processing everything he sees, and everything he sees he wants to do - one of them - eat like we eat.

You Are Getting Your Own Dinner Plate. It was time to give Matthew big dinner plate, and let me tell you why. Every breakfast, lunch or dinner Matthew would reach out for our fork or spoon, and dish full of food. He wanted to eat what we eat. It was fun for while, but us eating spaghetti with the spoon did it. 'Matthew you are getting your own plate' - we said. He absolutely loves it now as he can choose from three different foods I put on his dish. To our surprise Matthew started to pick his own food with his fork right into his mouth. The nice thing is that he knows when he does something new, and he is so proud of himself - the big smile on his face tells it all.

Spaghetti Time. Matthew is now almost 15 months, and he got total of four teeth - two on the bottom and two on the top. We thought that eating spaghetti would be tough, but we were wrong. Matthew would grab this long pasta and grind into pieces with his four teeth, and then with more shredding on the back and then its all gone. The best of all is to watch him how sometimes he would try to put long pasta onto the fork and then into his mouth. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work, and this is when his face looks like tomato smugged in the ground beef.

Let Me Clean Your Face. No not Matthew's face. In fact my face needed to be clean one day. With few sneezes around food, and with Matthew sometimes eating from my dish and then grabbing my face for a small hug and kiss, it is hard for me to keep my face clean. In addition, Matthew likes to pick small crumbs around him with his little fingers and eat them. So one day Matthew finds a small bread crumb attached to my face, picks it and eats it. This time I laughed.

Chocolate. Did I mention the chocolate yet?... Yes Matthew loves apple cinnamon chocolate loaf !!!

As life goes on, we continue our messy breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners. One day when I am old and washing my floor around the table, the greasy stains will remind me how wonderful and precious eating times we had together.

My Baby is Showing Affection - Unforgettable Moments

My reflections - unforgettable moments with Matthew.

'The first touch,
The first smile,
The first eye to eye contact,
The first hickey, a hunger call,
The first lick on the face, a wet one,
The first hug, for the bear,
Very shy every time,
Then snuggles to me,
- its all my baby.'

I was sitting on the sofa and watching Matthew playing. He is now 11 months plus. With his little hands he takes the white Easter bunny and hugs him on the left, then on the right side, and playing shy at the same time. That was so so cute, and I wish I had the video camera, but I knew soon as I get one all will be over. I continued to watch, to my surprise, Matthew is now talking to his prayer duck, of course in his own language. Then I get up and get the camera, but the unforgettable moments are now over. Truly unforgettable.

Earlier today we went to church for Ukrainian Easter Good Friday. It was his third visit to the church. Unfortunately we were not able to take him on regular basis on Sunday before, because of his eating and sleeping schedule, especially that he likes to eat and sleep at the same times as all the church masses. Well on the parking lot we ran into two priests who knew my father and came up to greet him. One of the priests immediately ignored my dad and dived to play with Matthew. Matthew responded by pointing and reaching out to him - next thing the priest is kissing his little hands. Another unforgettable moment.

Matthew started to show true affection around nine months but earlier around six months Matthew had these interesting ways to express hunger. When hungry he would latch to my chin and give me a hickeys. He would also make suction motions with his lips where we though it was hunger, but no he was massaging his gums. But try to explain this to his uncle who insisted that I feed him - I guess he got paranoid when Matthew made a move on him with his lips. Another unforgettable moment to share.

The true affection surfaced when Matthew started to hug his blue plush bear and a big brown bear. It was and still is so cute to watch him as he embraces the big brown Bear's head with his little hands. And then it is nice to watch him when he embraces the small plush bear with his little hands and brings close to his body to hug him. Many many unforgettable moments.

'Matthew can I have kiss kiss' - we would ask. 'Matthew I love you' - we would say all the time. 'Matthew eeee eeee eeee' - we would squeak. And there he goes with his mouth wide open and tongue across my face, a wet wet lick. Unforgettable feeling.