First, his stats - he went to the doctor today and he weighs 32 pounds (50th percentile) and is 39 inches tall (85th percentile). He's extremely tall and skinny - he can still wear 24m/2T pants around his waist, but I have to buy 4T pants because he needs the length, and I just end up cinching the waist as tight as I can.
Mathias's favorite things these days are mostly all vehicles - he loves Matchbox cars and monster trucks and his new train table. He especially loves to "vroom" them around or make them crash into each other. The other thing he really loves is Magna Tiles - plastic blocks/tiles with magnets around the edges that you can stick together and build with. He uses them every day and is constantly building garages and houses for his vehicles (as well as his favorite stuffed animal, YaYa).
Mathias is also a pretty active little guy - he's in his best mood when we are outside playing at the playground, or running around in the street, or when he's riding his bike. He has a bike with training wheels that he races around the cul-de-sac, but he also loves to leave that in the driveway and just run laps on the sidewalk. He's a pretty athletic and fast little guy - he's the fastest kid in his soccer group (and the youngest) and he likes to kick/bounce/catch balls and outside toys whenever he can. He also goes to gymnastics class once a week and his favorite thing to do there (by far) is the "bungees" - a seat that he gets strapped into that is attached to bungee cords. Then he can jump up and down or I can pull down on the straps and "launch" him into the air. He LOVES it and giggles so hard anytime he's flying way up in the air. The "bungees" are definitely his favorite gymnastics activity, but when those aren't available, he especially loves to bounce on the trampoline, do forward rolls down the triangle mats, or run through the obstacle courses they set up.
Personality wise, we joke that Mathias is like a mini Mario - stubborn and always wanting to have his way. He's definitely a fun and happy guy, but also has his stubborn moments...such as when he refuses to come out of time out because he doesn't want to say sorry to his sister. He has been really loving any kind of attention from Miriam, especially negative attention, so he'd do something just to bother her so she'd pay attention to him. We've been really working with him on using his words instead of acting out in other ways, and it is kind of funny (but also makes us happy!) when he says things like "I am feeling frustrated because Miriam won't play with me." We've been rewarding him with a mini-marshmallow each time he uses words (without us prompting him) to say how he feels, and the other morning he told me "I am feeling frustrated that my magna tiles are messy" about 5 times in a 30 minute period, thinking he was going to get a marshmallow for each time he said it. :) At places other than home (daycare, soccer, gymnastics, with friends) he is SUCH a sweet, empathetic friend and a wonderful listener. He's the first to sit down in front of his coach when she blows the whistle, he stops to help a friend anytime someone falls, and he always finds toys to bring to the babies we know. He's so proud that he's getting bigger and can do things on his own - he's starting to undress/dress himself, and he loves to wipe his hands/mouth/spot when he's finished eating. He beams anytime we praise him for doing something by himself, or for being responsible. He loves to do things "by myself like Mimi does" and often watches her to see how he's supposed to do things.
He just switched from his crib to his "big boy bed" today - he wakes up a lot earlier than Miriam and has started yelling for us in the morning, which has been waking her up. We are hoping that he'll quietly walk to our room now instead of yelling in the morning, but there is a part of me that wonders if he'll be appearing at our bedside around 4 am. He doesn't ever really sleep in past 6 or 6:15, but luckily he still takes naps during the day to make up for his lack of overnight sleep.
Although he and Miriam have their moments of sibling discontent, overall it is so sweet to see them playing together. Miriam usually decides what they'll play and tells Mathias what to do, but he happily goes along with her. The other day they played "trick or treat" for 30 minutes, which we discovered just involved them knocking on a pretend door and handing each other pieces of candy from their Halloween buckets.
Here are some pictures from Mathias's birthday/Halloween...Miriam was "Coronation Elsa" this year (not to be confused with "Ice Queen Elsa" from last year), and Mathias couldn't make up his mind and just ended up dressing up in an alligator costume we had around the house.
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