What's Poppin'?

In the fall, we went to a concert at church where the singer brought bubble wrap out of the kids to dance on for fun.  My mom thought it would be great for the boys to try this at home.  I thought that Matthew would be all about this, stomping all over it and joyfully screaming cause that's what we do in this family.  

Here's what happened:

Hide 'N Seek

A few weeks ago, Matthew decided to play Hide 'N Seek with me without me knowing.  I found him lodged between the corner of the kitchen and his kitchen set.

Our Little Arteest!

Two weeks ago we bought bath crayons.  He knew just what to do!

Now, crayon usage had to come to a halt last night as Matthew has been using crayons more for eating and shoving his fingers into than for coloring.  There's just something about a mouthful of wax that doesn't exactly equate with the concepts of "health and wellness" and "good parenting."

One Last Hoorah!

For a final playday before Deuce, I played hooky (and by hooky I mean my co-worker gave me the tickets) in order for E and I to go to the IU vs. Illinois game as part of the B1G Tournament.  We left M with E's family.  We were kind of forced to bring Deuce with us.  We realized with five minutes left in the game, we technically brought Deuce to an IU game before we brought Matthew to one.  Weird.

After having a great time at the game, we went to my office so E could see the new space.  And...this happened:

E: *Sees something, makes non-PC comment*
M: "I can't hear you, what did you say?"
E: *Sees people sitting in nearby office and says she will tell me later*
M: *Looks to left, sees CEO and VP of HR sitting in office*

By the way, this is what my new office looks like:

 

An Afternoon at the Children's Museum

My mom gave me a coupon months ago to buy one get one tickets to the Children's Museum which is 10 minutes from our house.  I had been saving it for when Matthew was what I thought to be old enough to enjoy it and before the baby was born.  It expires at the end of this month, so today was the day!  But it gets better...when I got there I learned that neighborhood residents get in free on Wednesdays from 1-5.

We had such a blessed day.  I will let the pictures/videos do most of the talking:

The first room we zoomed to was the car room where they had cars that could go on tracks, a big toy car, and a car wash.

Beep!  Beep!
Matthew carries many of the traits of his Papa Geoff including a
love of cars.  We spend a good 20 minutes just in here!

Matthew is sitting while I am "pedaling" the make air blow up a huge balloon

He was able to pump this lever to get air to fill another balloon!

When I saw the water room I knew Matthew NEEDED to go in there because water = heaven to him.  It led to water-soaked sleeves but his joy was totally worth it!

What happened here?  Matthew got a face full of water when he shoved his
hand through the waterfall!  Surprised for sure, but was greeted with love with the biggest smile!

Pulling the handle made water pour out.  I shouldn't have to explain this to you.

Pressing the buttons made water spew out which spun the wheels

As I mentioned above, Matthew has similarities to his Papa Geoff.  This time, the shared interest was science, so we definitely made it to the energy room:

Papa Geoff, I may have explained to him that what caused the ball to remain
suspended in air was something called fun.  You may want to tell him
something different the next time you are here.

Matthew just had to press a button to set the sails to sea!

Okay, not my best parenting moment in the video just played.  Telling your child they could lose a limb and encouraging them to put their face into a place where it is inevitable that they will catch pneumonia and die are not techniques I recommend you try.

We made two more stops before leaving.  The first was "Potbelly's" where Matthew wore a uniform and made sandwiches (with pickles of course) and shakes.  Mmmm...

May I take your order please?

The last stop was the grocery store but he was tired and ready to go home.  And so we did.

I love my little boy so much and truly love spending time with him.  This day was so wonderful as the near future will bring less time where it is just the two of us.  I have and will continue to truly treasure our time together.

hi im matthew and i love cousin buckethead

hi im matthew i like to play with my cousin buckethead i love buckethead did you know chicken can come in a bucket buckethead likes wearing things on his head like hats and buckets.

here is a video of what i just said not me saying it but buckethead wearing a bucket

we also like to play fort at grandma basketlady's buckethead should wear a basket on his head

here is buckethead eating a pork chop shouty says this picture is foreshadowing of when we are in the frat house at 2:00 AM in college i don't know what that means but think it might be naughty milklady probably doesn't appreciate shouty's joke settle down everyone she hasn't been milklady in a while we aren't weird her new name is bellylady

here shouty is shouting i like that book

titus and i sure do love to play

here we are getting friendly although shouty said that tickling and hugging are all well and good but that's enough he said that's enough six times

My Favorite Team Won Tonight

Indiana clinched the outright Big Ten title today.  I went slightly crazy.  We actually both agreed I went more nuts today than I did after this.  The best parts were that:

1. When Zeller scored to take the lead with 13.7 seconds left, E clearly yelled out of excitement.

2. Matthew was just as excited.  As I bounced around the house screaming myself hoarse, Matthew pushed off the couch, saw me, threw his arms in the air and, with a huge smile, screamed at the top of his lungs, ran and gave me a huge bear hug.  Memories of Super Bowl XXIII, in January 1989, with my dad.

3. I did not have an adrenaline-fueled stroke, seize and die.