Matthew Barrett is now 3 - wow!! How time flies, it seems just yesterday that he was a wee little thing and not a metre tall and 34 lbs! He is quite a little character these days - superior negotiator and an excellent memory. That memory comes in handy for learning new things and back-fires on Chad and I when we've made forgotten promises :-) Matthew still loves books and balls. He can read many books from memory and loves his bedtime story. We play basketball almost daily, along with bowling, and boy does he love to dance. After supper we often dance together in the toy room with Sissy bopping right along! Matthew is really good with numbers - we practice simple addition and subtraction using bowling pins, ducks, fingers, and blocks. He recognizes all his numbers up to 10 and can reliably count to 13...the teens kind of all run together. He knows his ABCs (and lots of other songs!) and continues to learn to recognize different letters. Over the past 2-3 months, Matthew has also become quite a computer geek - at least with Seaseme Street that is. He is a big fan of counting and letters with Elmo, completing patterns with Cookie Monster, and walking dogs with the man. He still loves Thomas, the Wiggles, and Lion King; but also enjoys the Backyardigins (going to see them in October), Nemo, the Aristocats, Cars, Goofy, and other Disney movies. We've been taking lots of day trips and Matthew loves spending time (and talking on the phone) with his Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousin(s). He continues to love any outside activity including the playground, the beach, and the park. Personality wise he's very social, but timid; focussed, but goofy; specific, but easy-going as long as there's a logical explanation...he's also incredibly sweet and affectionate with lots of hugs, kisses, and I love you's. Oh, and Teddy and Riley are still pretty important! We are so proud of our little man - it's scary how fast he is growing!! Love you baby boy!!
Anna Marie, aka Wild Thing, at one year weighs in at 20 lbs 12oz and is 79 cm long. This makes her long and slim, with a big bum :-) She is full of it - always into something and full of mischief! Unlike Matthew, who was reasonably content to play within his surroundings as a baby, she is always on the move. She crawled a full 2 months earlier than Matthew and has been taking 3-5 steps at a time for the past couple of weeks, so walking is just around the corner. Anna loves to wave, give hi 5s, and is now becoming more affectionate with hugs and kisses. When she hugs me she pats my arm - it is so sweet! She has a stuffed pink dog named Rosie who sleeps with her every nap and at night - she just loves Rosie! Anna loves to dance and gets so excited when we play music. She also likes to roll balls and bring books over to me to read. She lights up when Matthew is around...even though he is sometimes a bit rough. I have no doubts Anna will be able to hold her own as she gets bigger! After a bit of trouble with the introduction of finger foods, Anna now enjoys a regular toddler diet. Her favorites are cheese, bread, yogurt, soup, apple sauce, spaghetti and ham...and of course any little "treats" that come her way. She has a few words - Mama, Dada, Nana, as well as yes and no - she is pretty good at shaking her head "no" too! She enjoyed trips to the beach this summer and loves to be out in the grass...too bad we don't have any yet...maybe next year :-) Her personality is more feisty and dramatic than Matthew, and a little devilish - watch out teen years! Our baby girl is almost a toddler and we can't believe it - we're so blessed to have our girl! Love you Sissy!
On Saturday we went to a community fall fair at a nearby church. We weren't sure what to expect and were really impressed. There were several kids games, bouncy slides/structures, food, and music. All for the low price of $1 for kids and cheap food!! Matthew climbed up this giant pirate ship slide with Chad, but then wanted to go down by himself - he just flew down as you can see!
Off to the games...here's Nana helping him with the kangaroo catapult.
Sissy was just chilling out with Grampy most of the time. We had her bundled...it was windy!
The fishing pond was exciting...plus Matthew got a prize!
And he was very interested in shooting the gun at the cans - he did pretty good too :-)
Daddy's turn with Sissy!
Another slide...
Grampy holding Matthew up for the ring toss.
The bean bags had velcrow to attach to an X-Os board. He got two to stick!
The magical whale and the babies. We'll be back to the fair next year for sure!
