Back to Santa's Village today!

Matthew and I went to Santa's Village again today (1st time this year though) with my friend Miranda, her daughter Alex and son Avery, and her Mom. We met up with my sister Dale, brother-in-law Kevin, and my nephew Brent and had a blast! Daddy hates Santa's Village so we went without him. We had a picnic lunch, where Matthew ate a slice and a half of salami (no bread and nothing on the meat), then ate almost a whole slice of bread (nothing on it of course, and nothing to accompany it), some nacho chips, one bite of watermelon (still not liking it!), and drank some of my Coke and his own watered-down juice. We tried to see Santa and Mrs. Claus twice but Matthew started crying both times so we were unable to give Santa our Christmas lists early. And judging by the way Matthew was carrying on he just may have ended up on the Naughty List. But at least we've got a few months to work him back into Santa's good graces.

Matthew went on the airplane ride with Alex, the train around the park twice, the carousel once, and an extra-long boatride on the Muskoka River where he fell asleep in my arms. We also played in the water park for a while, and later sat down to watch a live show. Matthew however walked out of the show (we all kinda thought it was lousy) and went to draw at one of the craft stations. Then he ran out of room on his paper and started drawing on his arm and his face! I hardly took any pictures cuz it's a pain in the butt to stop, drag the camera (and flash if necessary) out of the darn bag, turn it on and load everything up, take a picture or two, and put everything back into the bag and go on your way. And apparently it's bad to have the Canon on a strap around your neck so there's no getting around this predicament.

I was hot and sweaty beyond belief and snapped at my friend a few times, and despite my apology I still feel like a jerk about it. Sorry Miranda! But after the grouchies subsided I think all-in-all we had a good day. Matthew is sound asleep and I think I'm on my way too. It's been a long time since I've walked for 6 hours!

And so I bid you adieu. Until the next update...

Our finicky eater

Well right on the developmental track comes the new fight in the house - getting Matthew to eat real food.

It was only a few months ago that he'd eat practically anything in front of him, and I thought I was raising a kid who loved fruits and vegetables. Now he'll only eat a few things, mostly bread, and even that changes every week.

For a little while there he would eat practically anything if it had ketchup on it. However he had to see you put the ketchup on before he'd put it in his mouth; if you told him it was already on there he wouldn't believe you and refused to eat unless you put a dab of ketchup on the bite of food on his fork. Now he doesn't want ketchup. Babcia (Chris' Mom) tried to make him a hotdog a few weeks ago and put ketchup on it. Matthew starts whining, then crying, then I think he progressed to screaming and refused to eat it. After trying to explain to Matthew what the food was and that he ate it the other day and loved it, Babcia rinsed the ketchup off the weiner and gave it back to Matthew. He ate it.

He used to love Minigos, but now will only squeeze everything out of the container and fingerpaint with it on the highchair tray or squish it into his hair.

He will only eat pizza CRUST. He doesn't want any of those pesky toppings in the way. I tried to sneak a few toppings onto his crust the other day and as soon as it hit his tongue, he spit it out, and then picked it up from the tray and launched it across the room (we'll talk about his table manners later!). Only when I took away the offending pieces with toppings and sauce would he resume eating, because apparently the food he will eat shouldn't be in close proximity to the food he won't. Like the good stuff will be tainted somehow.

The other night he had a hot dog bun for dinner. With nothing on it. No ketchup, mustard, relish, or mayo. Just the bun.

And he only wants cereal for breakfast. Preferably the kind Mommy eats, like Mini-Wheats, but he'll eat Cheerios if he has to.

He'll also eat bananas any time of day, or canned fruit like peaches or pears. Oh, and he always has room for ice-cream!

He will also eat any sort of baby food jar food, I think because it's mushy. So I try to make him casseroles here and cut things up very small, but he still won't eat it. It's probably too chunky for him. God forbid he has to chew! Maybe what I'll do is grind it up in the food processor for 2 seconds and put it into a baby food jar so he thinks that's what he's getting. Just until he grows out of this picky stage...in 5 or 6 years!

And maybe we'll start buying him some of that Enfagrow stuff to mix with his milk so he'll at least be getting SOME nutrients into his body. But then again, he might be "off" milk next week!

How do you spell "food"?

We're at the stage now where Chris and I have to spell things out to each other so Matthew doesn't know what we're talking about. Tonight Chris is trying to tell me he's too tired to go out, and when I ask why he spells out "M-A-L-N-U-T-R-I-T-I-O-N" (basically his crappy eating habits are wearing him down). Matthew hears this and says "ummmm"! More proof that this kid is too smart for us!

Oops, I jumped the gun on potty training.

So I'm getting tons of (unsolicited) advice from people about how I should start potty training Matthew. So in a bid to get him used to things I started buying those Huggies Convertibles diapers, that can go on as underwear OR a diaper. Then this morning I read a newsletter I get through email about how my Baby Shmear probably won't be able to pull up his pants until he's about 2. So why am I bothering then? I'll still put him on the potty when I'm on just so he can get used to it and I can get used to his cues, but I think I'll go back to the regular diapers. Besides, you get more in the pack and they're cheaper.

Ow!

So Matthew's learned to say "ow" whenever he gets hurt, which is very cute. He'll even walk over to you and put out his "owie" for you to kiss better. Now he's figured out he gets sympathy when he hurts himself, so he just says "ow" for no reason. If we're ignoring him, "ow". If we're watching TV and we won't get up to play with him when he wants us to, "ow". And tonight at the grocery store when we wouldn't let him out of the cart he threw his head back, made a face, and started screaming "owwwwwww" throughout the grocery store. I think everyone knew it was fake cuz it's now almost 10 pm and we still haven't had a visit from CPS.

On another note, his new favourite game is stealing our seats if we get up for something and laughing at us. Last week I was walking from the kitchen to my favourite chair in the living room, and he bolts from his bedroom, puts his arm out to block me, and jumps into the chair giggling the whole time! So now we instigate it. "You know what, I think I'm gonna go sit in that chair!". A crooked smile will come across his face, and he'll run. Little turkey!

BAM BAM BAM!

When I was little I had surrogate "grandparents" who lived across the street named Mr. and Mrs. Chater. My little sister and I were over there every single day, sometimes for hours at a time, just watching them do their housework or running around their yard and playing with them.

We have an elderly couple next door named Bill and Mary. When we're outside Matthew always has to go next door to see them. For the past few months I couldn't figure out why Matthew would point into their backyard from his bedroom window (when we're supposed to be looking for birds) and say BAM BAM BAM BAM! Then the other day it dawned on me; he means BILL AND MARY.

I'm so happy my little guy has a Mr. and Mrs. Chater too!

Something's wrong with my face

I was walking through the kitchen to get something, and I had to pass Matthew in his highchair. As I was walking by him, he looks right at me and points to my face and says "uh-oh"!

Yet another complex to add to my list!