Matthew and Michael

Time to write about the boys!

Michael:
Michael is just about 16 months old...and how much he has grown in such a short amount of time!

The past few weeks have seen Michael develop so fast in so many ways.

His language skills keep developing...imitation, remembering words, and even identifying a few new words by sight, like showing him the word "monkey" will get him to make a monkey sound, showing him the word "giraffe" will get him to stretch his neck out really high, and eating, which from time to time gets a chomp on the back of his hand.



It's amazing how fast he remembers words. A few days ago, I put on a hat, and in just a few minutes, he was repeating the word "Hat" with perfect clarity.

My mom also sings "row, row, row your boat" a lot to him, and he asks for it, by name, "Rah, rah!!" when he wants her to sing it.

Of course, his most oft-repeated word: "ON!!!!!!!!!!!" with as much emphasis as possible.


(pointing to the porch light!)

Michael is our light-monitor. Certain lights (all of them if he had his drothers)must be on at all times, specifically, the dining room light. He also likes the laundry room light to be on when we go by for a walk, so it's a long dialogue between he and I: "ON!!" "Not right now, it's day time.." "ON!!!" "the sun is shining, we should save energy." "ON!!!! "No, the light is off!" "ON!!" Me to myself: this is hopeless.



Michael loves to go on walks. He likes to go on at least once a day and he is known well by the neighbors. Some of the neighbors go in the jacuzzi at around the same time every day that we go on our walks. Michael likes to just stand there and stare at them for the longest time. They are so friendly and say hi to him, but he just looks so nosy, like he wants to be in on their conversation.



(with my keys, attempting to unlock the door....amazing how much he picks up on just watching us from day to day!)

Michael has been SOOOOOOOO good adjusting to a little brother. He is curious about him, but is very gentle when approaching him. He likes to pet his head, and has even leaned in for some kisses.

of course, we'll know how he adjusts in a couple of months, since now, there are plenty of people to lavish attention on him, most especially Michael Sr...and once it's just me and the boys all day, it will be a little different...but so far, it's going very well.

Matthew.
Ok, Matthew is pretty much the opposite of his brother when it comes to sleeping...at least so far.



Matthew can sleep anywhere in any condition, light, dark, noisy, quiet...anything. Matthew likes to be held, but he can also just be plopped on the couch, on his tummy, in a bed, in his car seat, in his bouncy chair, on the floor...anywhere and he'll sleep.


(on our way home from the hospital!)

Now, that being said, we know there is some work to be done to get him to sleep in bed at night for long periods of time. He can sleep during the day for long periods, but as soon as it's bedtime and Michael and I are ready to turn in, Matthew resorts to catnaps.



But, we are working on it! We're trying to get him to stay awake longer when he eats so gets a good meal...trying to keep him up for some good activity time...trying to put him in his bed awake so he learns to drift off to sleep on his own.

We're always so excited when he opens his eyes because we have seen him with his eyes open so infrequently!

But all in all, he is SOOOO easy, SOOO kissable, so sweet and we are so lucky he is ours!!

Ah...we love our boys and everyday with them is so joyful and cherished!!