First days of school

Emmy started P3, 2nd grade, on September 1st. She is having a good year so far!

All of the children in her class last year have returned for the new school year, and three new students have joined the class. The new little girl visited last spring for a day, and Emmy and she instantly connected then, and picked right up when school started. Emmy is excited to have another girl who is "little, like me!" Emmy is one of the smallest in her class and she likes having a pal her size.

Overall, she has a good class. Her teacher from P2 told me the other day she really misses their class, they are a wonderful group. Her teacher this year is also lovely and she said that when the kids came into class the first day they all said "Good morning Ms. Edyta, how are you?" which Ms. Magda taught them to do last year. She loved it, and I love that they not only were taught that, they remembered!  She likes her teacher this year, she knew her already, so that was nice. It is the first time that she can remember starting a new school year as an "experienced" student from that school. The last time this happened was in CO when she four months in the 3 year old class when we moved there, so that fall she started Pre-K back at the same school. Anyways, it was nice for both of us this year, we knew the routine, she knew the children and the students, I knew other parents. It has been a good transition.

Waiting on the opening ceremony to start. 

Two handsome dudes. Matthew was as patient as one could expect a 2 year old to be during a very long ceremony. Thankfully it was on the playground, and there were other little friends running around. 

Emmy chose KFC for supper that night. Then she got sick overnight and had to miss school the next day. We aren't having KFC again for awhile. 

 And then, Mr. Matthew started preschool! He's such a big boy! Originally I thought he would not be starting until the end of September, when their new building was ready, but when I went to go pay the deposit and fill out paperwork, the director said, oh he can start Monday! That was on a Monday, so then the teacher in the class said to bring him an hour or two the rest of the week for "adaptation". So, I took him again Tuesday and Wednesday while Emmy was still in Summer camp. Then that Thursday was the first day of her school, so we did not go to the preschool. And, unfortunately, Emmy woke up Thursday night and threw up. So, Friday we all stayed home. The next week, he went for a few hours each day before he finally stayed for naptime. By the 2nd week, he was waving good-bye to me and walking on down the hall on his own! His best pal is named Hania and he seems to be doing great. They are warm and kind. He has a music class and the learn some English and some German. Several other families from the barracks send their children to this school, so it is a good place to be.

This is the main building of the preschool. 

And this is where his class is. There was a change in the Polish law, so now kids can stay in the kindergartens a little longer, so they needed more space at his school. They opened a 2nd building nearby for the littlest ones. It is very nice! 

Getting help with his inside shoes from his big sister. 

Matthew is 18 months old!

Matthew is 16, 17, 18 months old!

So, as usual, I began this post weeks ago, preparing to do a nice little update on our little dude. Fast forward, and he turned 18 months old this week!

Adorable bear outside my window one cold January day. 

I love morning snuggles with this boy. They don't happen so often any more now that he is not nursing.
It is a bittersweet end. 

He frequently joins us in the bathroom and sits on the step stool.

He went through a phase in January when he'd learned how to turn the lights switches off and on, so he did it frequently. A friend kept him one evening for me and she said our neighbors must have thought we were trying to communicate through Morse code. 

Dying laughing at his sister. No one can make him laugh quite like she can. 

This captures his personality so well. 

Sick baby snuggles. He brought me the wrap so he could have ups. 

Why yes, that is a bag of dog food he's spilled on the floor. At least he tried to help clean it up? 

Shopping at Castorama. 

He loves the playground at Emmy's school. 

He has been such a good baby and now toddler, but like all kids, he has his grumpy moments.

Being silly with Daddy.

Friday night pizza and movie night. He looked so grow up to me on this night, sitting on the footstool and eating his pizza like a big boy.

Baby-wearing. He's going to be such a great daddy some day! He loves to play in Emmy's room with her dolls.

"Helping" with the laundry. I had brought his hamper downstairs to wash and it was in the hallway and he emptied it and brought his clothes into the living room. He kept putting the clothes on the little footstool and they kept falling off. 

The boy loves a hat. Even fancy pink hats. 

He gets in the the pantry and rearranges things for me. Clearly, it needs some help. 

I found him adding pepper to his snack. 

Then he climbed on up onto the table, of course. 

I adore that I caught this face. 

So silly. 

I rock him to sleep as often
as he will let me. 

It may be cliche and I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I cannot believe how fast they grow up. Maybe it is because he is my last baby, maybe it is partly because of losing Sara Hawley, but I'm extremely emotional about this boy growing up. Plus, he's really sweet and I want him to stay this way FOREVER.

So, at now 18 months, Matthew loves balls, balloons, playing outside and picking up rocks and tiny pinecones.

He loves his red shoes! 

He adores his big sister.

He loves the dog.

He loves his red shoes.

He likes to wear hats, and he wears them well.

He does this adorable little shoulder shimmy shake when he asks to watch Bubble Guppies. 

He loves to read and he will happily sit there while you read to him.

His love of balls shines when he shows off his throwing and kicking skills.

He gives really great hugs.

He loves putting on chapstick and hand lotion.

Bedtime stories with Daddy 26 Feb.

When Charles went away in February, all of the sudden he
became VERY clingy to me. At first I did not realize why, but now I'm pretty sure it was because Charles left for a week, then another week, and then he was gone again in March for a week. It has gotten better, but it was to the point that even when the baby-sitters came (whom he adores) he would not stay in another room and play with them while I did some work. It made getting anything accomplished difficult. Fortunately, it is a lot better now.

He is in LOVE with his DaDa. He always has been happy with either of us, but he seems more enamored with Charles lately.  Whenever we drive onto the Barracks for any reason, he realizes where we are and he immediately says DADA!! When Charles came back from one of his trips, he arrived back at work around midday, so he changed into his uniform and worked until we came to pick Emmy up from the bus. He was so happy to see Charles, and when Charles started to head back into his building to change into civilian clothes to go home, Matthew SCREAMED. He had to go in with Daddy, would not let him out of his sight. Most nights we tag-team bedtime and I read a chapter book with Emmy and he puts Matthew to bed. The other night I decided I wanted some Matty snuggles at bedtime and tried to put him down and after a few minutes, it was obvious that I would not do, Daddy needed to come. He is happy with me all day, he goes down for naps just fine for me, but at night if Daddy is home, he wants only Daddy!


He has been signing for several months, and he signs more, milk, water, please, down (when he wants you to put him down or to go downstairs), bath, sleep, Mama, thank you, book/read, all done and probably a few more I'm forgetting.

He is definitely talking a good bit and repeating things. "Ball" was his first word besides Mama or Dada. Then came balloon, Rags, Emmy (or what sounds kind of like it), more, bottle ("ba-ba"), please,, this. We know says outside, shoes, "Bubbles" for Bubble Guppies, his favorite show, hat, book, eyes, hair, and he repeats things frequently. More and more there is something new that we can distinguish that he says independently. Charles says his Southern roots show when he manages to make one syllable words, like "ball," multi-syllabic.

He also says "tak", which is Polish for "yes", and instead of saying no, he says "naj", which is Danish (sounds like n-eye). Remember, his best pal Claire is Danish! He has also picked up "mere" which is "more" in Danish and "den der" which is "that one".

He has entered that toddler phase of not eating much, or at least not eating consistently. This is super frustrating, but I guess we should not be surprised. He has gotten a little pickier, so we hope this will level back off and not be come as bad as Emmy (who will not eat any vegetables, and rarely wills he voluntarily try something new/ prepared differently than she is used to).

I would say his favorite foods are clementines, peanut butter, spinach (when he's in the right mood, he does love the spinach pizza from our favorite pizza places and spinach pierogis), eggs, beans, mushrooms, jam or jelly, and ketchup. That's not all he eats, mind you, but those are his faves. I think his absolute favorite food is probably ketchup, which should make Aunt Mary Ann proud.

He does not seem to be a big fan of potatoes, so Charles and I are not sure he is really ours. Ha! Matthew's current has reminded us of how much we dislike this age when it comes to eating. I asked Charles what foods Matthew really doesn't like and he looked at me with a blank stare and said "it varies from one bite to the next, you know that."  I laughed, but it's true! The boy will eat something for a few bites, then decide a bite is no good and spit it out, which is so annoying. I do not like the spitting out food phase.

Just hanging around in a fun new t-shirt from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Lucas. 

Oh how this boy has my heart! 

Talking on his new "phone" (it's really a remote control) that Aunt Beth and Uncle Griff sent him. 

Picking up pinecones and handing them to Mama.

He likes to take bottles out of the pantry, then put them back in. 

Fancy hat and necklace are appropriate snack-eating attire.

It's been a delightful 18th months with this boy so far. A piece of our family will always be missing, but Mr. Matthew certainly has filled a huge void and brought us so much joy!

Matthew's first bike ride

The weather was finally slightly warm enough for a bike ride, so Charles loaded up the kids in the bike trailer. It was Matthew's first ride, and Emmy was so excited for him to come along.

We'd already purchased a helmet for him awhile back, so he was all ready to roll. He really loved wearing the helmet, and carried it around the house for a few days afterwards.

We did realize that, unfortunately, they are both too big to fit into the trailer very comfortably together. Emmy could be in there on her own, but she's so big she was a bit crammed in there next to Matthew. It is bittersweet that now he is big enough to go along, she is too big to be in with him. But, she is also greatly improving her biking skills and she says now she can ride alongside Daddy while Matthew rides in the trailer. They are both growing up!

Enjoying a snack for the road.

And they're off! 

Matthew also wore a new pair of shoes today for the ride. He also adored his new shoes, and after they came inside and shoes were off, he went and got them and brought them to us to put back on!