Halloween: Ryan was so Superman and Matt was supposed to be Spiderman... but Matt decided instead to be a jerk and let his terrible twos get the best of him. So, instead, Ryan was Superman and during the day Matt was Eminem (wore a wifebeater) and at night he was Hugh Hefner (wore his pajamas while passing out candy). Ryan also wore the lobster costume from last year. Quite cute.
Food: Ryan is eating some formula now and has eaten, in addition to rice cereal, apples, pears, squash, carrots, and bananas. Hi is not great with a spoon yet though - doesn't seem to get the concept of opening wide for food. So that's a little tricky. He also is picky about bottles, but getting a little better. Still doesn't really take a pacifier, and when he does he doesn't keep it in his mouth long. He likes to pretend to chew when there's no food in his mouth. He gums everything and puts everything straight to his mouth. Matt eats anything and everything. Piggy piggy. He has mastered drinking from a cup (so banned totally from sippy cups) and feeds himself with a spoon and fork - sometimes without much mess. His latest obsession during dinner is to stir his drink since he watched us mixing strawberry milk for us. Now everything, water even, gets stirred. That's a little messier.
Talking: Ryan is squawking still, but starting to make some mmmmm sounds. C'mon "momma"! Matt is a jerk here, too. He says words, but only when HE wants to. We will try to get him to talk and encourage him and blah blah blah. Then just when we think he won't ever talk he'll bust out a "nose" or "socks" or "shoes" or "off" or "kite" or whatever. We'll get excited and try to get him to repeat it for the other parent and he'll just look at us and say something like, "dadadadadadadadadpppppttthhhhhhhhhhht."
Helping: Matt is a great helper. He takes his socks off for us (as well as Ryan's and our socks, whether we want him to or not), he throws diapers away (and has tried to throw other things away that we'd rather not be trash), and helps to feed Ryan and wipe his mouth. He will put things back when we ask (sometimes) and likes to flush the toilet and shut doors for us. Oh, and he loves locking doors, including the front door's deadbolt (much to the dismay of Jimmy who got locked out when he stepped out to his car when he was here with Matt alone... thankfully he could get in through the garage... just picture Jimmy's face when he realized it was locked and looked in the house to see his proud toddler walking away from the door...). Ryan isn't very helpful other than making sure I don't sleep for too long. He doesn't want me to get lazy, apparently. Thanks buddy.
Toys: Matt loves to build stuff, make music, put his puzzles together, and play with the flashlight. For building, he loves any blocks, especially really big vinyl ones I borrow from the Parents as Teachers lending library. For music, he likes a zylophone I borrowed as well as rattles and drum-like instruments (and of course the piano at Christina's house... he's always playing that when I show up). He has gotten really good at his puzzles. If we make siren sounds he will run and grab his puzzle that has a firetruck, cop car, ambulance, etc. and bring it to us. We dump it out and he can put all the pieces back in - accurately and pretty quickly. He also does his sea creatures puzzle pretty quickly. He just got a flashlight at Thanksgiving and loves turning it on and off. When he turns it off he'll often say "off" and when it's on and he sees the light on the ceiling he'll sometimes laugh. Oh, and Matt LOVES a video I got him. It's meant to help with words and vocabulary. If he's in a bad mood we can put the video in and he instantly is mesmerized and will behave. He'll also bring us the DVD package or the remotes for us to turn it on. Jimmy and I have it memorized he's watched it so many times... He still loves his blanky and is a pacifier addict (though he'll just hand them to us without fuss many times, so maybe it won't be too hard to kick the habit). Ryan loves the exersaucer and jumparoo as well as anything that Matt is playing with at the moment. He loves to grab cheeks, necks, noses, and hair. He has a monkey that instantly makes him smile, and a lion that plays music that also makes him pretty happy.
Physical feats: Ryan is looking like he is getting close to at least scooching backwards. He'll be crawling before we know it... Matt is still a beast, of course. He is so fast going up and down the stairs. He loves to gallpw, dance, and ride on Jimmy's shoulders while pretending to be a rider on a horse. He is fearless, much to my dismay.
Health: Both boys are healthy. Ryan had a mild cold/cough for maybe a week, but that's about all the illness around our place (knock on wood). Ryan thankfully hasn't had issues with constipation with the transition to formula and food. Whew.
This is all that is coming to mind right now. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but at least this is better than nothing. If I'm missing something I should share or you want to know something in particular, let me know.
