My cutie

Eh, most of you are my facebook friends and have seen these videos already.  But some of you are not, and I needed something to put on my blog, so here's some cuteness.

This one is Matthew's latest craze--talking on the phone. It's his favorite pastime, and really, it doesn't matter if the object in his hand is actually a phone, he'll still have a little chit chat on it.  I've been told on facebook that at the end of the conversation it sounds like he says "ok, love you too, bye".  I've re-listened, and it really does sound like that.  I have a hard time believing my boy is suddenly speaking sentences after being so far behind in speech all this time, but I've always heard there's often a talking "explosion" suddenly.  Maybe this is his?

This next video is oh so difficult to see since it's so dark, but we were just having fun and Matthew was just being a show off.  He knows more body parts than that, I just ended it early.  Suddenly my boy is brilliant. Brilliant I tell you.  He can also put together a 6-piece puzzle now.  True story.

Well, he can't stack blocks...

but he can do this:

Yes, yes--he has a playroom full of toys. He would much rather play with the food in the pantry.

Clearly quite proud of his accomplishments.

(when he was done I told him it was time to clean up. He put every single bottle or package back in the pantry.  Not in the right place, but I was still most impressed.)

Cooling off

Yesterday we got a reprieve from the heat.  Matthew played with his buddy Tyler in his little pool in their backyard.

Tyler loved splashing Matthew, although Matthew was not a fan.

He got over it pretty quickly though.

Later on, we went to the community pool in our neighborhood and had so much fun swimming.

                                                        It's going to be a great summer!

Backyard fun!

Texas

Despite the humidity that will instantly frizz your hair and drench your clothes, I am loving life in Texas!  I'm not sure exactly what it is, but this has been, by far, the easiest adjustment yet.  Perhaps it's the family living in the same neighborhood (my cousin and her family).  Or the awesome friends in the same neighborhood.  Or the many, many options of things to do here.  Either way, it's so much different from small-town Oregon, in a good way.

So, what's been going on with us? 

For one, I joined a playgroup.  It's a neighborhood group, that has 76 members (or something like that) on the facebook group.  Wow that's different from Oregon!  Matthew and I went to the playground get together this week.  There were about 9 moms and their kids.  Matthew enjoyed running around!  It was great.

Secondly, we got a family membership to the nearby gym.  This is the largest gym I've ever stepped foot in, with 3 pools, a spa, a cafe and TONS of classes and equipment.  And most importantly, a child care room!  For $6 a month, Matthew can spend up to 2 hours a day in the child care room, use the pools with us, take toddler classes (well, those cost extra) and pretty much be a member with us! Best to start him young!   After only a week I can tell you that this is perhaps the best thing that could happen to all of us.  It's no secret, if you're not blind, that I STILL have baby weight (and then some) to get rid of.  With the year+ of major foot problems, the pregnancy and loss, and they hypothyrodism (finally, an answer!) I am like a big inflated, frumpy mom.  The beauty of the gym is I can find things to do that don't hurt my foot, and I think I may become a spinning adict (cycle class that will push your limits and make sure you're showering in your own sweat).  Mike has been going to the gym every morning before work (he's a better person than I to get up at 4:30 to go), and I'm sure this will make him feel better too.  Finally, Matthew seems to have a blast hanging with the other toddlers.  He has no problem just running right into the room and cannot be bothered with telling me goodbye. That's SO Matthew--what an easy-going kid.  And finally, something completely foreign to me, I get almost 2 hours to MYSELF a day.  I get to shower without an audience. PURE bliss.

It's not all fun and games though.  We've had a few surprises this week.

First, there's the snake.  OH the snake.  I have a crazy, irrational fear of all snakes. I don't care the size, I don't care if it's poisonous or "harmless", whatever. I hate them.  So when we had a rather large visitor slithering across the street, into our yard and settling by our front door, the reaction I had was...well, not pretty.  I was pretty sure I'd never be able to leave the house again, although obviously I have. 
Here he is in all his glory...don't look if you're scared.  I get nervous just looking at these pictures:

So yup, no fun.  As far as I can tell, he's gone now.  And as it turns out he is completely harmless (ha!). I don't plan on making friends with him anytime soon.

And finally, my interesting day yesterday.  Oh boy did I have a level 5 freak out complete with tears and all.  I went into the garage (from the house, it's right off the laundry room) to put something away.  Matthew followed me, but was left in the laundry room. As he was playing with the door handle to try and get into the garage with me, he managed to lock the door.  I tried and tried to get him to unlock it, but he just started crying and didn't know what to do.  I guess I'm a bit paranoid when I'm at home, because man did I have the house locked up.  There was NO way in.  Matthew was crying hysterically, bright red in the face, losing his cool.  That's when I lost it. He looked so scared it was killing me.  Luckly there was someone parked nearby who I knew (she works for the company who built our house) and she helped me.  One of the builders came by and we tried to find a way in with no luck.  Because we knew a locksmith would take a while, we finally decided to break a window--which took some work since they're double-paned.  Anway, I got in to Matthew and the window was replaced the same day and we're all fine.  It took a while for Matthew to calm down, he kept thinking I was going to leave him and freaking out.  At one point he just sat in the chair chanting "ok. ok. ok. ok. ok." It broke my heart to see how scared he was.

So that's it.  Life in Texas is fun and interesting!