"When I was 6 years old..."

Yes, this has been the start to a lot of Matthew's conversations lately. We will be in the car, driving home at the end of the day, and I'll hear something along the lines of "Mama, when I was 6 years old I drove a big, BIG tractor!" or "Mama, when I was 6 years old I climbed up, up, up, up and then JUMPED!!" My response is usually "Wow, that's pretty cool!" However, in the interests of education, I will sometimes ask him when he was how old?? Have you been 6 years old yet??

Side note: I decided after looking at the last posting that my page looks really boring without pictures to go with the update... so I will work to have pictures near the top of each posting to liven things up... Back to the update.

I'm not sure why he has taken this huge fascination with the age of 6, but he has it. It may be needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, his imagination is running rampant these days. He carries on whole conversations with I don't know who (too many different characters to keep straight really). And then there are the times when those conversations are with me... or at least some version of me. It seems like we are always changing characters... he is David and I'm Goliath; he is Tweety and I am Sylvester; he is Ariel and I am Ursula; he is Aladdin and I am Abu; he is Jane and I am Dragon; I am Tuffy and he is Jerry... do you get the picture yet?? And have you caught a theme in there? Sometimes I wonder if God isn't using Matthew to teach me a lesson. Lord knows I need those lessons - but they can be really hard to take from a "6" year old. Seriously - is there a reason that my son has me be the "bad" character??

I am sure most of you reading this are saying I'm over-reacting. But - since this is my first stint at being a parent - I really have to wonder if I am getting it right. I tell myself it is normal for a child to listen to anyone but their parents - so it makes sense that he behaves better when I am not the one keeping him in line. He just spent the last three days with my friend Kate. She does such a wonderful job with children - it is a blessing in my eyes. Matthew will actually stop and change his actions when Kate just sends him a look. Oh for that kind of power!! Or maybe I am looking for that kind of response... shows a genuine respect don't you think?

The posting was started in the morning and throughout the day I have added a sentence or two as time allows. Most of these postings are done while I am at work. You think it sounds bad, but today my work consists of making sure the client is happy and waiting for something to go wrong... so far nothing has! (And it should remain that way - I love these easy gigs!!) I may whine at times about working a weekend, but I can be so productive at the same time. I get to update all of you about Matthew ~ I was able to send out updated schedules for the next two weeks of activity in the conference center ~ I was even able to update some web stuff in preparation for the trip I have coming up to Toronto. I know there was a point when I first started this paragraph, but now for the life of me I can't think where it was supposed to go.

Hey!!! I remembered... since this post is being done throughout the day - I can add more things as I think of them. I happened to talk with Mom and Matthew and learned that Matthew was eating lunch... pretending he was a moose... bending over to eat, not using his fork or even his hands... I did say something earlier about his imagination, right??

(And yes, I realize I am using Matthew's name now... despite all of the weirdos out there, I got tired of always writing the little one, little guy, big guy, whatever... too impersonal, ya know?)

That's all for this time... hope everyone is doing well. Feel free to post a comment anytime... I'd love to hear from you.

It's Christmas Time!!

Well - I know this is getting posted after the Christmas season... but at least something is going to get put up on the site this month!!

Hopefully my Christmas cards will be mailed out soon. They have a new picture of Matthew in them... and all my grand ideas of how he would help this year. I believe the line in the letter went something like "Some of his favorite things to do these days are coloring, reading books (okay – having them read to him), and licking envelopes. We have been working to write his name also. So I decided that he could really help this year with our cards. While the text might be the same on all the letters we send out, I can guarantee an original by him. He colored the pictures at the top of the letter, and signed his own name on the cards."

The name signing he did - - the coloring of the letters... not so much. Apparently coloring doesn't apply to anything other than his two favorite coloring books right now. So it means I will still be hand writing into all the cards something about good intentions and all.

More recently however - I can remember how great it was to talk on the phone as a child. Some would say I still love talking on the phone - and yes, I can talk through a cell phone battery in one call. It takes a little over an hour for it to happen. (In case any of you really wanted to know.) And apparently - I have passed this joy to onto the little one. He will pull out a one of my old phones and have me tell him the phone number of whomever he wants to talk to. Then he has the conversation. It is so funny to hear him tell Grandpa about what he is doing at home, or Uncle Paul about something in a Scooby Doo movie.

To end - We had a good time, seeing family and friends during the season. I put some pictures in here that have been taken over the past month or so. Enjoy...