Almost A Man

This post is dedicated solely to Matthew, since Claire seems to be dominating the news feeds lately.
Dan and I have many reasons to be proud of our firstborn lately. He handled the little addition to our household as beautifully as we could have expected. He has never shown any signs of jealousy or frustration at the amount of time I have to spend with her. He lights up as soon as she enters the room, and showers her with kisses, pats on the head, and words such as, "I love you SO much, Bee-Bee Care."
He is sensitive to being quiet when she is sleeping. He might be running thru the living room, but as soon as he gets close to her closed bedroom door, he starts tiptoeing. He will ask me if she is sleeping before playing with a loud toy. Matthew has done an EXCELLENT job of playing quietly by himself for all those hours I spend nursing and rocking her to sleep. He has had a very happy and compliant attitude since Claire has arrived and for that, we are truly grateful.
One of the biggest reasons we are proud of our little boy is that he is now potty-trained! I know, took him long enough, right? Last week while my sister was here, she was convinced he was more than ready, so last Thursday we took the plunge and put underwear on him all day. He had four accidents that day (2 of each kind), the next few days, 2 accidents each, I think, and now he has had several days of no accidents. A few days ago, after he had proudly dropped something in the toilet, I was praising him for how big he is. He asked me, "Am I a man now, mommy?" That's our little boy. Always striving to be just like daddy. He can't wait for the day when he is finally a man. He actually asks us about it sometimes! If only he knew how much he had to wait...for now, that is fine by this mommy!!
Now, our next project is to break him of his paci...

Here are some recent photos of our happy boy.
Swimming with Daddy in our neighbor's pool:

Climbing the tree in our front yard:

These next three photos were taken the day he spent with us out at hi school camp:



Matthew's first taste of corn on the cob. He loved it!

Playing drums with his cousin Daniel at the Hickman family reunion:

Playing in an empty Pull Ups box we bought just before deciding to potty train him. Oops!


So I am doing a horrible job of remembering all the cute things Matthew says. I need to try to remember to post them on here! One thing that I am remembering that he said a few days ago was, he was playing his little guitar and singing a song he had made up. I asked him where he learned that song and he told me, "Canada!" I am not sure when we ever taught him about Canada, but I'm glad he is learning some geography!
Last Sunday on our way to church, we passed a grassy field with some horses in it.
"Look, Mommy!" Matthew exclaimed. "Horsies!"
Not sure which adjective to use to acknowlege Matthew's find, I chose, "Pretty!" since they WERE next to a pretty little pond.
"Horsies aren't PRETTY, Mommy." Matthew answered matter of factly. "They are COOL!"
I stand corrected!
Thankfully, my little man still likes to cuddle with his mommy.