Mathias is TWO!!

I know I say this every year, but I can't believe how time has flown...Mathias is TWO!!  I always think the time between 1 and 2 years old is a time of huge change, and that has certainly been the case for Mathias.  At one, he wasn't walking yet, wasn't talking much, and still seemed a bit like a baby.  Now, at two, he's walking (or, more likely running) all over the place, talking up a storm, and seeming every inch like the toddler he is.  Speaking of inches, he's 37" inches tall (98th percentile!) and weighs 28 lbs, 3 oz (71st percentile), which puts him in the long and lean category.  He's very tall for his age, and people are always thinking he's older than he is when they see him at the store/playground.

Mathias is a sweet, funny, stubborn, fearless little guy.  He loves to be outside, riding his tricycle and running around.  He especially loves to go to playgrounds and climb as high as he can go.  Usually once he runs low on energy from climbing and being on the slide, he wants me to push him "again, again!" on the swings.  At home, he is always on the move as well - riding his riding toy around the house, climbing up and down the stairs, lining his cars up in long rows, and chasing Miriam around the house.  He loves to play with things that make noise, he loves to knock blocks/towers over, and he has an obsession with a book he calls his "goat book"; a book about animals that happens to have a picture of a goat in it.  :)

Mathias is a good sleeper and a pretty good eater.  He does love to get up before the sun rises, every day, but the first hour after he wakes up, he's the sweetest and cuddliest of any time of the day.  He loves most foods, and recently has decided he's independent enough to use a (kid's) knife to spread things on his food.  He sees Miriam doing it, and, of course, thinks he is big enough as well.  More often than not, when I let him use a knife, he bypasses spreading it on his toast/crackers and puts the spread straight into his mouth.  His favorite foods include cheese, watermelon, goldfish crackers, and anything sweet.  He and Miriam also love to drink smoothies that I make, and I always manage to sneak spinach and some other healthy treats in there that they wouldn't otherwise eat.

As far as personality, Mathias loves to play jokes, play hide and seek, and generally make us laugh.  He's recently discovered that he fits perfectly into the cabinet where we store our throw blankets in the living room, and as a result, our throw blankets are frequently thrown on the floor while Boo sits in the cabinet and giggles hysterically.  He talks a lot, although many of his words are still hard for other people to understand.  He has some funny phrases, my favorite one being "8 9 8 9," as he's gesturing with his hands at a group of something.  He hears Miriam counting objects and has obviously come to think that "8 9" means a group of more than one, so he uses it whenever he's trying to point out a group of something.  However, he can recognize one or two of something, so sometimes he'll point to something and say "8 9 8 9" and we'll say "Mathias, how many are there?" and he'll reply with "two."  He knows he is two years old and has been loving opening presents, having cake, and having people sing to him.  Because we have family scattered all over, he's had a couple different parties and many present openings over Skype.  Each time, he gets really excited and says "YAY! YAY!" while clapping his hands over his head and grinning broadly.

Mathias also likes to think he's much bigger than he is, and he wants to join Miriam in whatever she's doing.  He loves going to her preschool and wants to sit at circle time with her.  When Miriam started soccer in the fall, he brought along his little soccer ball, and was sobbing and devastated when we wouldn't let him go out onto the field and play with her and the other kids.  This 'always wanting to be with Miriam' phase can lead to some times at home when they don't get along....he wants what she has, and sometimes will ask to trade her for another toy, but sometimes snatches things out of her hands.  We are continuing to work on communicating and being nice to each other, but I know it is fairly common for siblings to not always get along, especially when they are young.

To sum it all up, our sweet 2 year old boy wakes up early every day, full of energy, and makes us smile and laugh every day.  He's such a joy and special part of our life.  We can't wait to see how he grows and changes over the next year, and we are working on getting as many snuggles and cuddles as he'll let us, between his bouts of running and jumping and playing.

Here are some pictures of our sweet 2 year old boy!

Halloween and trick or treating!

It was our first Halloween in Eugene and our first experience with trick or treating in our new neighborhood.  For a couple weeks, most of our neighbors and the houses in our neighborhood have been decorating for Halloween.  We assumed that our neighborhood would be good for trick or treating, since we've got sidewalks, the streets are well lit, and there are lots of little kids.  We were right.  We wanted to get the kids out pretty early, while it was still light outside, and also inbetween bouts of rain.  Miriam decided to be Elsa (from Frozen) this year, but had to leave her "princess shoes" behind and trade them for boots to walk in the rain.  Mathias was a lumberjack this year, complete with beard stubble and a plastic axe.  He walked around saying "chop chop!", which was pretty cute.  Neither of them had ever truly trick or treated before, so this was a new experience for them.  Miriam was great - not shy about knocking on the doors, and happy to say "trick or treat!" and stick her pumpkin out for a treat.  Mathias was a bit more shy...he wanted to hang back with us, and would only run up at the last minute once he saw them putting a treat into Miriam's pumpkin.  He only lasted long enough to trick or treat through the 10 houses in our cul de sac, and then he passed out candy with me at home while Mario and Miriam went to a couple more houses.  Once they got home, Miriam helped me pass out candy and was anxious to run to the door every time the doorbell rang.  In all, we probably got about 75 trick or treaters, after 9 years of no trick or treaters at our old house in Tacoma.  We may have had more, but we turned off our outside light after 8 pm when the kids were in bed.

Here are some pictures from our trick or treating.  As most of you know, Halloween was also Mathias' birthday (he's 2!!), but I'm going to post his info and birthday pictures in another post.