Happy Birthday Daddy!

I know he doesn't get mentioned too much on this blog but he is the one who made Matteo possible (and so darned cute, if I do say so myself) so I thought we should definitely send some birthday love to Daddy today! It seems like he always has to work on his birthday no matter what day it's on, so he's sleeping right now but as soon as 4 o'clock rolls around I know he'll be up and playing with Matteo and giving in to his endless requests to give Nyo a cookie.

I know he'd roll his eyes and get embarassed if I got too sappy so I'll just say Happy Birthday, thank you for being the best husband and daddy in the world and we love you very, very much.

Just don't think you're sleeping in cause it's your birthday.

Just a little teaser...

Get ready to check your e-mail boxes on Monday cause it will be stuffed full of Matteo-holiday-and-wedding cuteness (if I get a chance to upload all the pictures to our Yahoo album, that is). In the meantime, here are a few pics to tide you over the New Year holiday!

Giving Daddy his present on Christmas morning:


Playing in Great-Grandpa Ray's truck:



Enjoying a little drink during a bath in the sink (ooh, that rhymes!):


Snuggled up with Daddy in his brand new Universities of Iowa and Minnesota blanket:

No comment?

Matteo wanted me to tell you all that he is a little sad that he does and says all these cute things just for his loyal blog readers and no one ever posts a little comment! (Okay, Karisa did one a while ago, I'll give you that)
I know there are at least two people who read this (Hi Mom and JT!) so speak up! You don't even have to get a new password or anything- just click on the link that says "0 comments" and you can post.
And I'll be really embarassed if we still have no comments even after I'm begging for them.

That is all.

Edited to add: Duh, I guess you did have to sign in to comment but I fixed the settings and now you don't!
Jenni's wedding and Christmas photos to come soon!

A chip by any other name...

Since we have been using signing so much with Matteo, his verbal communication has been a little slow to develop but has really been picking up in the last few weeks and months. Most of his words are still pretty unintelligible to others but there is one word he has been saying lately that is pretty darn clear, isn't what he means, could get him into trouble, and cracks us up every time.

Matteo has started saying "chips," as in he wants to eat some. Except he switched the "ch" and "p" sounds, and the "p" actually comes out more like a "b." If that is too confusing, I'll just say it: the clearest word in my sweet little boy's vocabulary is "bitch." I'm sure he'll sort it out soon enough; he is already sounding much clearer on some other words. But in the meantime, don't get offended if he calls you a bitch with a big sweet smile on his face- he's just looking for a snack.

Sleeping Beauty

Where did this big boy come from and what did he do with my baby???

Nah!!

Matteo will be 20 months old on the 14th of this month but apparently he thinks he is going to be two soon, which, now that I think about it, might be our own darn fault for teaching him to hold up the two fingers to show how old he'll be.

How do I know this? He learned a new word this past week. NO! Actually, it's more like "Nah!" He's very sweet about it; it's not like a screaming tantrum-y NO! but I'm afraid this might not always be the case. Steve was asking him which book he wanted to read and it went something like this:

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar?"

"Nah."

"Doggies?"

"Nah."

"Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?"

"Nah."

"Clifford Takes a Bath?"

"Nah."

And so on...

Yesterday he also started crying real, big, wet tears when he wanted to do something he wasn't supposed to. I know this is totally normal for toddlers but he will usually whine and fuss a little and then move on. Not yesterday. It was full on crying as if he had gotten his shots or, you know, we tried to put his pajamas on.

I think the first meltdown was because we wouldn't let him play with the stockings over the fireplace. And the second time he wanted to play with some scissors. We are mean, mean parents. Today hasn't been so bad but I'm sure the tantrums will get worse before they get better. Oh well, at least they're good for some cute pictures.