Happy Second Birthday, Mattix, take 2

Thanks to WP for eating my 2500 word post, full of photos. I’ve been terrible about writing real posts about Matty lately, and when I finally do, WP messes with me. Here we go again, and unfortunately, this one turned out longer than the original. Don’t feel badly for not reading it. This is for me to remember where Matty is right now. It’s not funny, it’s unedited, it’s dry, and it’s written very poorly. I just really want to remember him as he is at two. You can skip to the photos at the end. I didn’t want to disappoint Nicki two days in a row, though, so I kept writing until I passed out! J

Mattix turned two today! I can’t even believe my little Bug is two. He is growing up so quickly and I can see it every day. On Friday, we went to his two year old checkup appointment. That was almost unnecessary, as there was nothing that needed addressing. He’s just doing that well. He is growing like a little weed – for Mattix, of course. Over the past month, I’ve had to replace all of his 12 month clothes with 18 months. The 12 month clothes actually fit better, but they’re all too short – both pants and tops. He now needs the 18 month clothes for length, but they’re too baggy! Well, we know why now. He is 33 inches and 25.5 pounds – basically, he’s grown about two inches in the past few months. He is now just above the 25^th percentile for height and just below it for weight. Compared to other American kids, he’s still quite tiny, but *I* cannot get over how big he is getting. He has hung around the 25 percentile consistently for the past year.

At his appointment, we discussed something that I found very interesting. Mattix hasn’t ever thrown full on temper tantrums, and his doctor said that more than likely, he won’t start if he hasn’t done it yet. Ed and I can only recall one occasion where he laid down on the floor and kicked his legs. He wanted the remote and Ed wouldn’t give it to him. It was so out of character for Mattix that Ed and I just looked at each other and lost it…we laughed really hard. We weren’t laughing at him, but it was funny and unexpected. After a minute, Mattix started laughing along with us. Then he got up and that was that. He never did it again.

He has a lot of self control. I attribute that to his intelligence and ability to reason. I also think it might have something to do with his history, but that’s just me speculating. He is very smart and has always had an incredible ability to comprehend everything we say. Combined with his self control, he just doesn’t lose it too often. Obviously, he’s a normal kid and so when he’s tired or super frustrated, he acts accordingly, but when he gets upset, if I can help him focus on what I’m saying, he will listen and respond. Two weeks ago, Mattix has his first chocolate shake. He LOVED it. He kept saying, “Chock-leet shake! Mmmmmmm!” When we left, Ed took it away briefly to could buckle Matty into his car seat. Mattix immediately lost it and started crying, begging for his shake. I asked him to look in my eyes (that’s how we get him to focus, esp. if we are talking to him about an inappropriate behavior), and listen. I explained to him that Daddy was going to buckle him into his car seat and if Mattix was patient and then asked for his shake back nicely when Ed was done, he could have it. It took a few minutes, but he stopped crying, let Ed buckle him in, and then said, “Peeezzze, Daddy, chock-leet shake!”

Of course Matty is a normal two year old! Some weeks, we have a time out every day (or three times a day) and other weeks, we don’t need a single time out at all. TO works wonders for Matty. Each TO lasts two minutes and it gives him just enough time go get it together. At the end of TO, we don’t have some ridiculous lengthy talk about what he did. Instead, Ed or I (whoever put him in TO) go get him, ask him if he’s done (to which he always responds, “All done!”) and then he gives us hug or kiss. I’m so happy that he responds well (at least thus far) to TO b/c we’re very committed to non-physical consequences. I’ve known some children who don’t care the least about TO, so I’m so relieved.

Matty still loves to eat. He will eat almost anything – except vegetables. If we put vegetables in his food and he accidentally gets one in his mouth, the ensuing drama would make a person think we just made a valiant effort to slip our kid rat poison with his dinner. He either makes a horrifying face, sticks his fingers in his mouth, and scrapes out the offending vegetable with his fingernails, then hands it to me, or he leans over and spits the entire mouthful of food out and makes terrible gagging sounds. Ed has actually gotten really skilled at chopping veggies up super super tiny and mixing them into flavorful foods. We’re able to get a fair amount of veggies in that way, although not as many as I’d like. Other than that, he likes to try lots of foods. Sometimes, he goes through two day spells of picky toddler eating, usually when he’s not feeling great. On those occasions, he’ll insist that he wants “nacks” (“snacks”) and nothing else. I’ve found that I can get him to eat a full meal by putting a handful of “nacks” – either Cheddar Bunnies or Honey Bunnies – on the table, just out of his reach. Then he gets one “nack” for every bite he takes. He’ll eat his entire dinner for 15 cheddar bunnies. Works like a charm.

Bottles. Still doing them at bedtime and naptime. He’ll quit when he’s ready. That’s all I have to say about that. Except that I don’t care what others think. (We’re doing what we can to take care of his teeth until he’s ready to give up his bottles.)

Mattix is super compassionate and sweet. He notices if something happens to someone else that either causes them pain or he perceives to cause them pain. Any time I do a blood test or change a pump site, he says, “Ooowwww, Mommy” and kisses my leg. I assure him every time that it doesn’t hurt at all, but he is still concerned and wants to make me feel better. He is also super loving. He gives loves all the time, just because he wants to. I adore it when he runs up to me and gives me a huge hug or kiss for no reason. The other day, he left the room I was in and went downstairs with Ed. When they came back upstairs, he ran into my bedroom and said, “Hi, mommy!” He paused for a few seconds and then announced, “IIIII’mmmmmm back!” and I got a huge kiss. He loves his family – Ed, my parents, m brother, my close friend and neighbor Kedra, and me. These people are very constant in his life and they are very important to Matty. I love that he has meaningful relationships with his close family.

Mattix’s speech is exploding lately. I am incredibly happy about that. His verbal skills are really catching up to his comprehension skills and he is stringing multiple words together- sometimes four or more – to form sentences. His verbal skills have always been my main area of concern. We held off on speech therapy, only because it would have been for a “mild” delay, according to the evaluations, and because said “mild” delay would have cost $200 per session, one session per week. While we obviously wouldn’t just blow it off, we felt it safe to wait a bit longer to see how he did. As it turns out, he’s doing phenomenally. He has more words than I could even begin to count and he tells me what everything is. All. of. the. time. All. day. long. He often decides that I need to repeat his words back to him. If there’s a word I cannot figure out, he won’t quit until I get it. I can try to cheat and repeat it the same way he says it, but that just annoys him. He says, “nnnnooo!” and then says the word again. Sometimes this is a long process.

My favorite thing right now is doing the alphabet. I go through the alphabet – one letter at a time – and Mattix repeats the letter back. His voice gets higher and higher with each letter. It’s freaking adorable. He has the sweetest little voice. Everyone is always telling us how cute is little voice is. By the time we get to “W,” he’s in like the 8th octave and he says, “Double Dew” in this high pitched voice and I lose it. Then he laughs really hard, but I don’t think he knows why, and then we finish. Love it.

He can count to ten, although he only does it if he is really interested in what he’s doing. We can usually hear him count when he helps Ed cook. When Ed makes pho, Matty puts all of the dry ingredients into the container, one at a time. He counts each thing individually. The other day, he counted out each start of anise – all the way to ten. He also knows many of his primary colors and will announce things or sometimes will tell me what color something is if I ask – sometimes. Usually, he just does things on his own. He’s really into opposites right now – up and down, left and right, in and out, open and close, etc. He learned his left vs. his right a few months ago. It took him about ten minutes to grasp the concept and he can apply it to anything – direction and parts of his body (e.g., left ear vs. right ear).

He is sooo not into learning animal sounds and in his little world, everything either barks or moos, including me. He knows many different animals, but no matter how many times we remind him what sound that animal makes, it doesn’t matter to Matty. It barks or moos. Oh, or growls. Most things also growl. That came as a result of giving him a flashlight in the shape of a bear that growls when you turn it on. Now everything growls.

Matty still ADORES dogs and his “Gid-geet” is his whole world. Today, Gidget had the pleasure of playing doctor with Matty with the new doctor kit he received for his birthday. Gid-geet also gets to play in the sandbox, even when she doesn’t want to ( it’s amazing how a 26 pound kid can be so much stronger than a 24 pound dog), with the water hose, with hats, and just about anything else Matty can make Gidget do or wear. Today, poor Gidget got stuck wearing the stethoscope in her ears. When she tried to run away, stethoscope still in her ears, dragging behind her, Matty yelled, “No, Gid-geet! Come! Back! Mine!” and he chased her down and took it back.

Whenever I put Gidget into her crate, Mattix says, “Geeeedddd Geeerrrrrllll” (good girl) in a really high pitched, sing song-y voice. I realized that he does it because I pretty much do it, too. It’s so cute. When he does it, not me. As soon as I say, “Gidget, kennel” I hear Mattix say, “Geeeeddddd Geeeeerrrrrrlllll!” He associates the crate with “good girl.” So a few weeks ago, we were out walking down the sidewalk in front of some shops in a strip mall. There was a dog rescue group in front of a pet store, attempting to re-home dogs. There was a little playpen with a bunch of puppies inside that were barking. Mattix immediately ran up to them, put one hand on his hip, stuck out his pointer finger on the other hand, and started YELLING, “No! No, dog dog, no!” Ed and I did our best to make him stop, but he wasn’t going to quit until the dogs quit barking. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a dog in a kennel. He immediately stopped yelling at the puppies, ran over to the dog in the kennel, and said, “Geeeeedddddd Geeeeerllllll!” about five times. I swear to you, everyone within ear shot started laughing. It was hilarious. His personality is just so big. He also loves my parents’ dogs. One of them cannot stand little kids, so she spends most of her time avoiding him. Mattix is very good about realizing that Tigger doesn’t want to play with him – ever – and he leaves her alone. Their new puppy, Squeaky, loves Mattix and Mattix loves her. She’s a little football shaped Chihuahua puppy and so she’s the perfect size for Matty. They spend a lot of time playing together when my parents bring her over to our house or we go over there. When she jumps on Matty, he yells, “No! Squeaky! Okk!” (he says “okk” instead of “off” right now) and pushes her down, but gently.

Mattix loves to play. He is super imaginative and crazy busy. He loves to play in our backyard and I love that, too. Some days, he’ll play outside for hours, especially when our weather is perfect. In fact, his love of playing outside has turned us into the white trash of the neighborhood. Our backyard looks like it belongs on an episode of Cops now, too. Mattix drags out armfuls of toys, in addition to the million and one outdoor toys he has, the sandbox, the bikes, the Cozy Coupe, the water toys, the trucks, the golf set, etc., and turns the yard into a complete tornado of wreckage. Depending on how lazy busy I am, sometimes the toys stay out there for a day. He has also taken to emptying the sandbox all over the place, one bucketful at a time. Add to that the fact that Mattix screams (and I means SCREAMS), “NO! DOG DOG, NO!” every time any dog anywhere within ear shot barks, we’re pretty much trashing up the neighborhood. It doesn’t matter how many times I ask him not to yell at other peoples dogs. If they’re barking, he’s screaming “No!” (Yes, I know children are little mimes and yes, I know why he yells no every time a dog barks. In my defense, I don’t yell “no” at our dog. I just use my firm voice.)

He loves to go for walks and play in our neighborhood park. The slide there is crazy scary – it’s nearly straight up and down – but Matty has been braving it for six months. We can’t walk to the mailbox without stopping at the park. He also loves to run up and down the grassy hills in the water retention overflow area next to the playground. Ed taught him how to roll down the hill and that’s his favorite new activity.

I could g on and on forever, but I think I’m good for now! Scroll down for photos from his Bday!

 

 

I had intended to have a big second birthday party for Mattix, but other life stresses got in the way of my planning and we ended up just having a nice evening with our immediately family. At Chuckee Cheese. Holy sensory overload, Batman. I thought Mattix was the only one of us with mild sensory integration issues, but the true way to discover SI issues is to go to Chuckee Cheese. Turns out we all have mild SI issues. It took a solid ten minutes for me to acclimate enough not to have nerve twitches. I’m not being entirely sarcastic. That place is out of control. Anyway, it was fun. Mattix loved the rides, the games, the pizza, the cake, the presents – everything.

If you know me at all, you’ll know I swore up and down that Mattix was NEVER going to wear any sort of screen print or character clothing. Ever. Well, never say never. Ed was at The Big Dub one day, picking up Lactaid, when he came across my worst nightmare. Except that when he got home, Ed was so pleased that he found Yo Gaba Gaba tshirts for Mattix. It was actually pretty cute. So I made an exception. I guess if there’s every a place to wear a screen tee, it’s chuckee cheese, right? When we woke Matty up from his nap today, we gave him this shirt, all wrapped up. He unwrapped it, took one look, and exclaimed, “Up up up!” (that’s what he calls Yo Gaba Gaba b/c that how his first and favorite episode begins). He spent a lot of time in front of the mirror, admiring his new shirt.

 

I stood there, taking photos, wondering how long it was going to take Matty to figure out that there was a giant freak ass plastic mouse sitting next to him.

 

I think he figured it out…

He took the gift opening VERY seriously

We wrapped up the rest of his YGG tshirts. He was far less impressed the second time around. He literally threw them towards my mom and demanded, “More pres-eents!”

“Holy crap! How did you know??? I really wanted this!!!”

First, because he’s just gorgeous. And second, so that you can see the tablecloth. Only my mom would bring a WHITE tablecloth- cloth, not plastic – to CHUCKEE CHEESE!

 

I just love all of his expressions. Mattix has the most expressive face.

My little brother stuck the bow on his head. Not too pleased…

Loving on fire dog

Clearly, he’s been drinking and driving

 
He was a little startled by the candles. Neither Ed nor I smoke – obviously – and we aren’t around anyone who does, so I was surprised when Matty said, “Owwww. Burn!” I think he must have associated the fire with the firepit outside, although he’s only been out there when we lit it once. Smart kid.

I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to blow them out, but I was wrong!

 

And just in case you haven’t had enough of the photos, a little “Then and Now…” 

Mattix, eating his first bites of birthday cake on his 1^st birthday:

Mattix, eating his first bites of birthday cake on his 2^nd birthday:

What a difference a year makes! Can you believe how much he has grown up??? I’m so proud of him, but it does make me a little sentimental.

Family photo on Matty’s 1^st Birthday:

Family photo on Matty’s 2^nd Birthday:

Not too much has changed there – Matty’s still the only cute one!

Also, Ed and I finally watched the video from our time in Vietnam/our first meeting with Matty tonight. I know that might sound strange, but I also know that we’re not the only people who didn’t feel able to watch that video. There was so much trauma in Matty’s early months – trauma that we saw when we first met him. It took fourteen months for me to get to the point where I could watch it. I’m glad I waited, b/c it was very difficult to see it. He is doing so well now that I’m okay, but it was hard. I’ll write about it later this week.