Everthing Old Is New Again

“Oh my gosh!” Matthew can’t not believe the hi-jinks that Frog and Toad get into.  “Look at him, he lost a button! There is a snake over there; it is going to eat them? Is it a friendly snake?”

For years I tried to introduce him to Frog and Toad, literary friends of mine from childhood, but he rarely listened to more than the first paragraph before his eyes would glaze over from boredom. Now that he is older the paragraphs of text make sense to him and hold his interest in between pictures of moss and taupe colored protagonists.

This was the first New Years Eve that we let Matt stay up. Earlier in the day we had friends over for sledding, lunch, and making New Years Time Square balls. 

And in other news to share I had my first official ultrasound of the new baby this week. “That’s a monkey!” Matt said when I showed him the pictures. 

A Very Merry Christmas

What better way to spread the holiday cheer than to tell our family and friends that we were expecting a second baby?

We wanted Matthew to be part of the surprise so we ordered him a t-shirt that said, “I’m going to be a big brother” to wear under his sweater on Christmas Eve. When the timing was right he would take off his sweater and reveal the surprise.

 I got pregnant in November. Matthew was fascinated by the logistics of how the baby would come out. We showed him a picture of a baby inside a belly from a maternity book that the hospital gave me. After a brief glance at that photo he decidedly flipped ahead to some of the more telling pages of the maternity book. When we asked what he thought he informed us that he had a baby in his belly too. Imagine the coincidence!

With Christmas approaching we baked cookies, a gingerbread house, and a train. We shopped, wrapped, sent out cards, and planned a menu for our Christmas Eve party.

Christmas Eve approached and Matthew delivered our surprise like a champ. The family was as surprised and happy as we had hoped that they would be.

When the party ended, much later than Matt’s bedtime he protested going to sleep but three minutes after being tucked in he was fast asleep.The next morning he woke up to a pile of presents under the tree.
 

Three is such a fun age to be around at Christmas. “Special crayons!” Matt exclaimed pulling a box out of his stocking. “I was looking for these!” Or “Oh yeah! A new garbage truck!” His excitement was contagious.

Despicable Me

“My mommy is going to pick me up from school right after snack time,” Matt told his teacher the second he took off his coat and stepped into the classroom.

“Despackable me,” I heard him telling a playmate when I picked him up.

“Desicklable me?” The boy inquired.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Matthew concluded. Noticing my arrival then he threw the stamp roller aside, flung the picture he made at me, and began pulling me by the hand towards the cubbies. “Are you taking me to the movie theatre now?”

“Yes of course.”

The movie theater reminds me of the old one we used to go to while on vacation when I was a child. There is one step to indicate the upper and lower levels, the seats are wide and comfortable despite the fact that they do not recline, and tickets are only $3.50 for a matinee.  There are no brain teasers, advertisements, or behind the scenes features before the movie starts. The screen is dark and peaceful until that moment of excitement when the previews to the movie come on.

“I don’t want anyone sitting next to me,” Matthew putting his legs up on the back of the seat in front of us to block the aisle.

 “You shouldn’t worry about that.” Aside from us the only other people there are a family of four sitting on the other side of the theater.

The movie begins and halfway through Matthew whispers that he is three-years old.

“Did you say you have to pee?” I whisper back.

“No, I’m three!” He counts on his fingers, starting with his thumb, “One. Two. Three!”

.

When the movie was over Matthew was amazed by the change to a moonlit sky. “Was that movie on forever ago? Am I four?”

Later at bedtime he throws himself into my arms, “Thank you for taking me to the movies to see Despackable Me at apartment number four!" Suddenly I wish it wasn’t his bedtime already. 

Edaville Railroad

This winter Matthew has fallen in love with the move The Polar Express.

We waited an hour in traffic to get into the train themed park but he didn't mind the wait.

During the train ride a conductor came around and punched our tickets, which pleased Matt because it was just like in the Polar Express movie. Later he would tell me that his favorite part of the trip was when we were on the train and they played a song from the movie. 

After the train ride we ate dinner at a table outside. Matthew is sitting with me right now and asked me to tell you that he had a hot dog, french fries, and chocolate milk. After dinner, we walked over to the kiddie rides and ran into our friends, Stella, and Sargon. Sargon and Matt went on some rides together, and ran around exploring. To them it could have been a warm night in August or a cold night in December and they would have still had the same amount of fun.

Halloween Eve

Matthew had Banana Who since he was born. She dragged along with him when he learned to crawl, took his first steps, and made transitions easier to daycare, a bed, sleepovers in hotels during vacations, and his first day of school.

“Have you seen my ‘nana Who?” Matthew appears at our bedside holding a framed picture of his blankie, Banana Who.

“Let’s get you back to bed,” I tell him as I had last night and the night before that.

We think that we lost her at a department store. I called the store twice to ask them to check their lost and found, but each time the store assistant returned to the phone empty handed.





 It helped that Halloween was approaching and we had a lot of activities planned. Halloween gingerbread houses, decoration crafts, pumpkin painting and carving, ghostly cupcakes and cookies, pumpkin muffins, boo bags, candy corn pancakes, caramel apples, a school parade and party.

I was a parent volunteer at the school party and got to witness the fun first hand. When we arrived to school a little girl dressed as Jessie from Toy Story hugged my leg. Another boy dressed as Woody asked me to help him put on his shoes. Matt dressed as Buzz Lightyear left me to find his friends. I didn’t see him again until the kids lined up for a parade.

Dressed in costumes the kids marched around the outside of the school twice. Then they were split into groups, to attend different activity stations the teachers set up.

When it was time for the parents to leave, he respectfully thanked me for coming to his party and told me he would see me soon.



Then today we were outside raking leaves when Bob called Matthew over to see something. In his hands was none other than the long lost Banana Who!

Adventures In Pumpkin Bowling

Look Matt, the cops! We better hide!” Sarah points to a cruiser on the side of the road.

“Actually, we taught him that the police are his friends,” I interrupt.

“Really,” Sarah tone conveys disappointment.

This past weekend we went to Vermont.

“This moose is so cute,” Matt told me before bed, holding a stuffed moose that belonged to Sarah but by the end of the weekend would belong to him.

“You’re cute too,” I told him.

“But I’m not furry!” he giggled in response.

In the morning he wanted to visit Santa because a couple trips ago we took him to a place called Santa’s Village. I told him that we had something else planned and maybe next time we could go there. “I need to ask Santa to get a basketball game for Woody!” He argued, as though he didn’t have his own list of reasons to sit on Santa’s lap.

He quickly got over this when he realized we were going to a train museum.

At the train museum we rode the train and spent the morning observing and playing with train exhibits and toys. Matt was very excited to spend the morning doing what he loves most.

The next day we visited a farm. Matthew won a ribbon for pumpkin bowling. He also peeled an apple, make pumpkin ice cream, and learned about chickens. We went on a wagon ride pulled by horses and he tried to eat an apple from a string. It was a great note to end our weekend getaway on.

“Can we go back tomorrow?” Matthew asked me after the two and a half hour drive home.

1st Day Of Preschool

Approximately twenty minutes after we put him to bed, Matthew came strolling back to our bedroom. “I’m really excited for school!”

“That is great,” I enthuse and moved over to make room for him in the bed. “Is there anything that you are not looking forward to at school tomorrow?”

“I’m not looking forward to the other kids hitting me,” he replied after thinking about it for a moment.

“No one is allowed to hit you,” I tell him sternly. “If they do I want you to look them in the eye and to tell them not to hit you again. If they hit you again than you should tell the teacher.”

“And then what will happen?”

“The teacher will give them a time out because hitting is not allowed at school.” This seems to soothe his first day jitters and he goes off to bed without another visit to our room.

The next day when I dropped him off he had a big smile on his face and waved to me before walking into the classroom without an extra nudge from me.

He had these two things to say when asked about his first day of school, "No kids hit me this year." and “It was good. The teacher said that I could come back tomorrow!”

The school year is off to a good start.