Five.

Six.

Seven.

Rex (?)

Lately, Michael has taken to speaking to Matthew like a dog and calling him Rex.

"Come here, Rex! Come here, boy!" He'll say.

Michael will do this when he wants to herd Matthew from one room to another.

While Toy Story has a Rex, and the boys do like Toy Story, I think the culprit is something entirely different. I think it's a clip from Snoopy Come Home I have occasionally let him watch on YouTube. In it, a little girl takes to calling Snoopy "Rex" and dragging him around violently by the leash and dressing him up:

Good thing it hasn't gone that far, right? I can't even imagine!

What am I missing?

Matthew is learning new words everyday and sometimes, his pronunciation is astonishingly good. Sometimes he'll say a word and I'll be surprised how clear it is. He clearly is able to listen and imitate.

But here's our conversation this morning which has me thinking I'm just missing something in the way he is processing things:

Me: Matthew can you say 'airplane'?
Matthew: "airplane."
Me: Good! Matthew can you say 'car'?
Matthew: "Car!"
Me: Can you say 'Michael'
Matthew: "Michael."
Me: Can you say 'bus'?
Matthew: "Bus!"
Me: Can you say 'Choo-Choo-Train?'
Matthew: "Choo-Choo Train"
Me: Good! Can you say helicopter?

Matthew: "Stee!"

Flippin' Sweet!

What is making him smile?




Seeing a dolphin for the first time, of course!!



Matthew was a little less interested and instead posed for a Myspace-esque self-portrait.

Trade Negotiations

What do you do when you have a dumb ol' graham cracker and a water cup while your brother has Goldfish and a helicopter?



Especially when your brother is this kind of a tough customer...



You can try several approaches:
1. Just Ask



2. Sweetness


3. Sneak one when an airplane comes....






4. Look for fallen scraps:


5. Performing



6. Scene-Stealing


7. Try to appeal to his patriotic spirit


8. Pretend to be blind and ask for handouts



9. Pull rank and just ask Mommy.