Meet Ami

When Cameron was about Matthew's age, he received a teddy bear to whom he grew quite attached. The bear became known as Henri (the French form of Henry) when I listed potential names and when I said "Henry?" Cameron replied, "Henri!"

When Matthew first came home, Grandma and Grandpa T gave him his own teddy bear. We have been waiting ever since then to learn the bear's name. Today, Matthew finally told us. His name is "Ami." Again, with the French -- you know, "ami" as in "friend."

In addition to naming Ami, Matthew climbed for a good reason today! As you can see here, he dragged a little chair over to the bigger chair so that he could climb up and read "Curious George" with Ami!I found this much more charming than earlier this week, when Matthew used the same little chair to climb onto the counter, place the salt shaker on top of the toaster and turn the toaster on, resulting in a melted shaker. And I swear, he accomplished this in about 5 seconds. I was actually in the kitchen with him and scooped him off the counter, but failed to realize that he had turned on the toaster until I smelled burning plastic.

Teaching Bad Habits

So, I'm pretty sure that when your kid does something that you don't really want them to do again, you are not supposed to laugh. And I'm almost positive that you aren't supposed to take photos. But seriously, how could you not document this?

Snowbound, Part 2

When Cameron's school called on Wednesday night to say school would be open on Thursday, I nearly wept with joy. When they called back at 6am on Thursday to say they had reconsidered and would be closed, I nearly wept with disappointment. But then, I pulled myself together. "Hold your head up, missy! You have totally rocked the last two days! You can DO this!" Then I called a friend and begged to have a playdate.

What a relief it was to spend time with someone over the age of 5! And how amazing to have Cameron and Matthew play with someone other than ME! We grown-ups talked and talked and occasionally broke up squabbles over toy computers, golf balls and favored baby dolls. But by far the biggest disagreements were over who got to push which doll stroller around the kitchen.When we got back home, I felt rejuvenated and I took the boys out to play in the snow once again. We had a great day. But not sooooo great that I didn't do a little dance when the school called to say, really, there would be school on Friday. Yee-hah!

Heaven

This afternoon, I took the boys outside to play in the snow. The whole world was sparkling white -- ice covered the tree branches and the sunshine glinted off the endless blanket of snow. There wasn't another person or even a footprint to be seen. Until we ran, whooping and hollering, falling in the piles of snow and breaking icicles off to use as light sabers. "This is the way I remember winter when I was little," I said to Cameron.

"Wow," he sighed wistfully. "It must have been like heaven when you were a kid!"

Snowbound

Yesterday, school and soccer were both cancelled due to snow. Our day went from really busy to wide open. Sometimes, when faced with a long day home with the kids, I feel . . . despair. But somedays, like yesterday, I feel up to the challenge. We got bundled up and played in the snow not once but twice!

We turned a cardboard box into an easel and colored.

And if I thought I was creative coming up with the easel idea, just look at what Cameron designed!

Yes, he made a MultiGrain Cheerios costume (with some help from the art department). He wore it much of the afternoon and made observations such as "It's hard to sit down when you are a cereal box." After much experimentation, he decided that the hardest thing for a cereal box to do is "spin around and around."

In the afternoon, we baked allergen-free cookies. Matthew was very excited and repeatedly signed "cookie, cookie." After having one, he decided that one cookie is just not sufficient and he took matters in to his own hands, dragging the stool over to try and swipe another treat. When I caught him, he yelled, "Tricked you!"

Overall, it was a highly successful snow day.

Then, school was cancelled today. *sigh* I'm still managing to keep my spirits up, but I am a bit less enthusiastic. Instead of bundling everybody up for a trip outside, I decided to just bring the snow in where it is warm. This novelty was quite a thrill for the boys. They've been playing in the snow for about a half hour now, creating snow men and using Little People to stage disasters. "HELP! I forgot to wear my mittens! This snow is freezing!"

Alphabet 2.0

Matthew seems to have quite a memory, and can already sing several songs, count and recite his ABCs. He is, however, only 17 months old so he takes some liberties. Every time he sings the alphabet song, he reaches l-m-n-o and goes like this, "H I J K ya ya ya ya P." He also sings "Doubbbb-llllle" for W. I like to imagine him spelling his name "Ya-A-T-T-H-E-Doubbb-lllle."

That's my name, don't wear it out

Yesterday, Matthew started saying his name. We've heard him say "Ma-dew" and Ma-cew" before and thought he was trying to say his name, but yesterday we'd ask, "What's your name?" and he would triumphantly shout, "Ma-ttew!"

Later in the evening, Matthew heard me mention a boy in Cameron's class named Dylan. As it so happens, one of Matthew's only close-in-age friends is also named Dylan and he grew quite excited. "Dylan! Dylan!" he shouted.

Later still, I asked again, "What's your name?"

"DYLAN!" he yelled.

"No, no. Your name is Matthew. What's your name?"

"DYLAN!"

As much as I insisted his name was Matthew, he insisted even more fervently that his name was Dylan. We all teased him, calling him Dylan and egging him on to say his name.

Then, this afternoon, I heard Matthew waking up from his nap. As I walked down the hall, I called out, as I do every day, "Is that my Matthew?"

Only instead of hearing a little voice reply, "Yah," I heard him say, "No."

I tried again. "Is that my Matthew?"

"No."

Then, it came to me. "Is that my Dylan?"

"YES!"