Mad Face

At dinner one night a few weeks ago, Eli was expressing his displeasure over something we had told him by screwing up his face and exhaling sharply out of his nose. We called it his mad face and he kept doing it for a bit to make us laugh. Then we hear sharp little exhalations from Matea in her highchair and look over to see . . .

Now Matea makes this face quite often, usually when she's upset at me for something. Here she is, mad that I unplugged the printer so she couldn't play with it . . .

I'm glad she's learning, but I'm not so thrilled that Eli taught Matea his mad face.  At least it showed Eli that what he does affects what Matea does. Still, not so happy when my kids whip out the "mad face" at me, especially when they do it at the same time!

33

Well, as of yesterday I'm 33. Since, for the last few months I thought I was turning 34, this feels like kind of a bonus age to me. I'm younger than I thought, woo hoo!

As I've been talking about being 33 the thought has been pricking my consciousness over and over again, quickly, fleetingly . . . Jesus was only 33 when he died. Then the thought is gone, the significance fades, the moment of "wow" is over.

But Mom has the kids this morning, I've got a cup of coffee in my new, personalized travel mug courtesy of Jon for my birthday (it's cool looking, yep), and I've been spending more time thinking about that.

33. To think of having my life end NOW? But I've barely started living! There's so much I want to do, to see, to accomplish. I can't imagine having to leave my family, friends now . . . at 33.

Yet, Jesus CHOSE to give his life, at only 33. For me . . . for you. He didn't have to, it certainly wasn't fair that he take punishment for things he hadn't even done, yet he chose to become a man, chose to become the sacrifice we need, chose to be separated from God so we don't have to be. Wow.  At 33.

Jesus accomplished all the goals for his earthly existence, he did what he needed and wanted to do.  In his time, in God's time.  And at 33.  

As we've been studying John in BSF, and James in our small group, I've been hit over and over with my selfishness. I don't have the inner core of joy because I choose to let my selfishness rob it from me. Every time I get miffed over silly things - Eli didn't listen (he's 4!), Matea took everything out of the pantry AGAIN, Jon is a few minutes later for dinner, things didn't go exactly as I wanted them to - it's MY selfishness withdrawing from my well of joy and peace. Jesus and I are having a lot in common the last few weeks - we're both choosing me.  A lot. But Jesus taught sacrifice, denial, loving others first, letting God's Spirit move you, guide you, lead you, to become new, not stuck in the old self and selfishness.

Jesus chose me at 33, so, at 33, I'm choosing him all over again. I want to get rid of the me and let it be all him. I want his joy, his peace, his love, his compassion to be flowing in me again. A stream that is pure and not polluted by my selfishness. Jesus gave EVERYTHING he had at the time he was my age. At 33. Wow.  I think I'll stay in that moment a little longer.

15 months

Well, our little baby is 15 months old (almost 16 truth be told). Matea is such a fun and spunky little thing, with her own personality and opinions. I've not blogged nearly as much as I did when Eli was her age, so here are some (long, very long) thoughts for my own sake, if no one elses!

• Matea's walking everywhere, almost running, and climbing like a monkey. She would prefer to not be carried at all if she doesn't have to be.

Yep, I AM as cute as a button!

• She loves throwing balls (and toys) and has good form and distance. :) And when she is displeased she throws the first thing she gets her hands on.  She's just catching on to the fact that throwing her pacifier doesn't affect Mommy as much as it affects her though.
• She adores her blanky and rejects other substitutes. I wish I'd bought many more of her big polka-dotted red blanket when they were on clearance at Carter's.

Maybe I'll wear my blanky like this at my wedding . . .

• She LOVES LOVES LOVES shoes and clothes, and constantly carries our shoes around the house. She has also managed to figure out drawers, in particular her dresser drawers. Which, of course, hold this little girls' dream . . . CLOTHES! She unloads her drawers at least three times a day so I don't bother to fold her clothes any more. I've moved the things I don't want unloaded to the top drawers and I just throw all her clothes back in the drawers in a jumble. This is horrifying to me on so many levels, yet I don't have good storage in the closet for them, don't want to fold them over and over, and don't want to take away a diversion which often keeps her occupied for 45 minutes to an hour at a time (yes, THAT LONG!). So, her clothes are a mess for now.
• She also has a great love for accessories - specifically anything that can go around her neck as a necklace. This of course is a big no no and keeps me on alert constantly. If she can find Eli's purple timer on a string (we try keep it up high but it finds its way to her level occasionally) then she is soooooo happy. When she does that I think she looks like that guy Flava Flav rapper guy from when I was in high school, who wore that huge clock around his neck. Either way, we're always on the lookout for things Matea will find interesting to put around her neck.

• As far as her stats, she is a little peanut still. She is 20 pounds (20th percentile) and 30 inches (40th percentile). Unfortunately, that means that she has been dropping percentiles and we need to go in for a weight check before her 18 month appointment. We're supposed to get her extra calories almost any way we can (though I don't agree that I should just slap extra butter and sugar in everything she eats; I don't want to instill unhealthy preferences at such a young age!). So I'm looking for creative ways to get her extra calories. She does love to feed herself, and makes quite a fun mess doing it. :)

I heard yogurt is good for the skin so I'm giving it a try.

• Matea has 12 teeth now, including four molars (the last corner of one is coming in so she's drooling again). She doesn't have that many empty spots on her chompers!
• Matea is certainly expressive but not particularly verbal (at least compared to what Eli was at this age). She says mama, dada, shuss (for shoes), moo, rrrr (for what a lion says), ball (but only for the big green ball Eli got for his birthday), sometimes nana for banana, and shhh. When Eli and Matea were both screeching at each other at dinner one night, Jon introduced "shhh" to her, and she picked right up on it.  She gets what she wants though, and her little grunts and mutters have great expression to them.
• Matea knows her body parts (eye, nose, head, hair, feet, belly button, hands) but only sometimes chooses to respond when you ask her (a little woman already!).  She thinks it's hilarious to see Mommy, Daddy, and Eli's belly buttons.
• The cutest thing is when she sees a cow she gets excited and goes "mmmmmmmoo." And when she's a dog walking outside she's almost beside her self with joy.
• Matea is getting more interested in books now and will actually listen to short stories, if you let her turn the pages. It's fun to read to her now, and she'll listen to maybe four or five stories in a row at bedtime  -as long as she picks them out. If you choose them then you're out of luck. Of course, her choosing them involves throwing them ALL on the floor first and then choosing, but oh well! Neat she is not!
• Matea will give kisses, but only to Mommy reliably, and then twice to Eli last week. She comes at you with her mouth all the way open though, so you're not sure if she's going to devour you or kiss you.

Get a kiss . . .

Give a kiss!

• One of her interesting quirks lately - she will walk backwards and back herself up to the couch/chair/etc. and then lean backwards and rest on, just pleased as punch. I don't why she does it or gets such a kick out of it, but she does!

These backbends keep me limber. 

• Matea loves playing with her house (well, Eli got it for his first birthday but he said Matea could have it now). A favorite game is hiding her stuffed lion in the mailbox, finding him, and growling. Hours of entertainment there! Also, playing peek-a-boo above the top of it. She also likes standing on the little platform on the back, and climbing on our stepstools (in the pantry and in her and Eli's bathroom in particular).

Peek-a-boo! You didn't see that coming!

Who rang my doorbell?

• Matea has a fascination with the trash can, and is constantly finding things in the trash cans all around the house and then bringing things to me. If she can eat something in the trash she will. Yuck. So, our trash is frequently on top of the kitchen counter. Looks funny, but keeps it out of her hands!
• Matea will follow directions, as Jon posted previously. She will get her shoes, find her sippy cups, bring balls, trains, books when asked, etc. Her favorite though is bringing Eli his underwear when he's getting dressed. :)
• When we put the easel up downstairs we discovered that Matea loves to draw with chalk on it. She will draw, erase it, draw, erase, etc. She also likes to scribble with crayons already. Eli never liked those things at that age so I never thought of getting them out for her before.
• Her activeness and curiousness is necessitating the use of "no" more often. And invariably when she hears it she starts bawling and is beside herself. It doesn't matter if it was side calmly or with a raised voice, she hates the word no! A sensitive soul or a girl who doesn't want to be told what to do? Time will tell . . . (though I'm thinking the not being told what to do part).

And here are a few more shots of our adorable princess. We love her so much!

Painting his own football

When we were at Meijer's WEEKS ago, we happened to go down an aisle with clearance crafts. Eli spotted a kit to paint your own football. Originally $20 it was marked down to $4.99! We snapped it up, and I hid it in the top of his closet until football season was in swing. Then last week when we were bored one morning we got out the football and our creative ideas got flowing.

Of course, coming from a long line of Michigan grads we had to make it a Michigan football with a block "M" on the side. And then Eli directed the rest of what I was supposed to paint and what he painted. It turned out really well, much to my surprise. And as an added bonus, it came with its own little air pump which we used to pump up the rest of our deflated soccer balls, football, and kickballs. What a great deal for $4.99! I only wish there had been more on the shelf.

Our "M" is sketched out and ready to get filled in.

One side done! On the right is a scene, by Eli, of Michigan players tackling people. On the left is the field, and "Go Blue", with "Go" in red, despite Mommy's arguments that it should be in blue or yellow. Mommy got the reminder that "this is MY football, Mommy!"

Other side done: Elijah did all the painting except his name. On the left is the Michigan team playing, then in the middle and right are their "enemies." This prompted a discussion that the people we play football against are not our enemies, simply our rivals (though on game day emotions may indicate otherwise, hehe). I did not prompt him with the color choices at all and was, in fact, at the kitchen island making lunch. Still, he managed to pick out scarlet and  made his own grey (Ohio State) and then picked green and white (Michigan State) as our "enemies" . . . I mean rivals. :) He also added pink, so I'm not sure who that was supposed to be.

Do you think he's excited at all?

"Hail to the Victors" . . . complete with arm motions. We're all in for Michigan in this house, can't you tell? :)

  

Sliding!

A few weekends ago when we were at Grandma Amanda's house, she got up Jon's old slide from when he was a kid. We used to have it at our house in Canton, but then it went back to her house when we were living at my parents. Well, we have room for the slide again, so Grandma got it up, dusted it off, and put it together for the kids. And the kids are ESTATIC about the slide.

At first Matea needed a lot of coaching on how to get up the slide, up the ladder, to hold on once she got to the top, etc. But within one day she had figured out how to get up the slide independently, and within two days she had mastered the ladder. Now she's a pro! And Eli takes turns with her very nicely and helps her if she needs it as well. This means that Mommy can be unpacking books in the basement while Eli and Matea play and I don't have to be helping Matea up and down the slide. Being nearby is good enough.

Now, usually every day, we spend about an hour or more in the basement (sometimes several times a day) and the kids slide, play trains, draw, play in the fort, make obstacle courses, and just have fun! Matea thinks it's really fun to roll balls and toys down the slide, and Eli likes setting up his bowling pins at the bottom and then knocking them over with his body when he slides down. The slide is a great addition to our playroom basement, so thank you for letting us take it back here Grandma Amanda!

Eli on the slide then . . .

And Eli on the slide now!

I'm not so sure about this . . .

Hey, this IS fun!

I can't quite make it to the top this way.

Much easier without my pants on.

This is AWESOME!

Trying to learn the ladder . . . maybe I'll wait on that for later.

Oh yeah, a little sliding before bed!

Eli's "helping" Matea . . . resulting in a face smack into the slide, but he was trying to help.

I made it!

Here's the tricky part - standing at the top!

And, Matea's patented hand-holding-on-as-long-as-she-can-grip!

Eli discovered his polar bear jammies made great sliding clothes. He zips right down, especially when he's on his tummy!