The Incredible Hulk

Perhaps a better title for this blog is: "Are you pooping or just happy to see me". Matthew does this thing when he is very excited. It is hard to describe. Imagine a body builder's pose, leaning forward with both arms in front, biceps and shoulders clenched. For those of you who have seen old Saturday Night Lives with Hans and Frans.. it is the pose right after they say, "We're going to PUMP you up!". Hans and Franz is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger (before he became governor of California).

While Matthew does his bodybuilder pose he makes this guttural grunt. At first I thought that Matthew was pooping.. but Tony thinks it is his way of expressing extreme excitement. (Of course Tony thinks this because Matthew does this most often when Tony first gets home from work.) We are trying to capture Matthew's pose and grunt on video, but it is a spontaneous act that we cannot always predict. If we do capture it we will post it on a future blog. We refer to this expression as Matthew's hulk imitation. Perhaps we have been feeding him too much green guacamole.



UPDATE: We captured Matthew's Hulk

Deda and the Easter Ducky

Matthew enjoyed a nice visit from his Deda this past Friday. Matthew showed him his non-traditional crawling. His Deda brought him a cute little Easter duck for a present. Tony and I both looked at the duck and immediately thought of a good name for him.. Collin.. named after Matthew's friend Collin (see past blogs) Here is how the duck reminded us of Matthew's friend Collin (1) He is cute, (2) He is blonde, and (3) he has spikey hair.

Holy Guacamole!

Matthew had his first taste of Mexican food today (unless you count the daily potato and egg breakfast tacos I ate while he was in the womb). I fed him avocado this evening. He really seemed to like it. He fussed when I ran out of it so I quickly made some more of his special breast milk guacamole--I prefer my guac with onions and jalapenos but I decided that Matthew wasn't ready for that. From what I hear from my friend Laura I should expect a green diaper surprise soon. Too bad I didn't feed him guacamole yesterday in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

Matthew's Friend Collin

I have mentioned Matthew's friend Collin several times but have not really blogged about what a great time they had last weekend. My friend from high school, Laura, and her 6 month old son, Collin (he is 2 weeks older than Matthew) visited us last weekend March 8th. They had fun looking at each other on the blanket on the floor. Laura and I have very similar senses of humor so we played baby races to see who's son could make it to the edge of the room the fastest. Neither of the babies had any interest in competing. Matthew was fascinated by Collin's shoes and Collin was fascinated by Matthew's ability to make very LOUD noises (he is used to playing with girls his age). After our time on the blanket, Laura and I took the little ones to the park where Matthew went into an infant swing for the first time. It wasn't Collin's first time.. he played it "way cool" with his sunglasses.

its been a while since the last update...

Dad here. Both mommy and I have been really busy as of late and we've been remiss about blogging. Matthew has been doing new things and experiencing new things every week. This week, he had his first taste of yams. You judge for yourself if he likes them or not.


Matthew has also been in the beginning stages of crawling for the last few weeks...and sliding backwards like his friend Collin (but we have not caught Matthew leaving the room). He would try to crawl by roll on one side and raise that knee into the air. Sometimes, he would roll over since he lifts the leg too high. Maybe he thinks he's a doggy. :-) He would start arching his back, raising his butt into the air but not managing to get his legs under him...until yesterday and now he can rock back and forth. After a few bouts of an uncooperative baby, we managed to get this short video today:


I read today that Collin has started doing the same thing yesterday. Not that this a competition or anything... :-)

Half Year Party Video Montage

I say in the title that this is a party celebrating Matthew's half year birthday, but it is actually a celebration of Tony taking the time to edit the video from the past couple of weeks.

Video 1) First Cereal.. Matthew's editorial.. "It tastes good but the packaging isn't as nice".

Video 2) Warning: this next video contains gratuitous raspberries.

6 Month Well Baby Check-Up--No Need for Crying

Today I took Matthew for his 6 Month Well Baby Exam. It went very smoothly. The nurse saw us immediately and took Matthew's stats: 19lbs 8 oz. (75-90%) and 29 inches (off the charts-Surprise Surprise!). While we waited to see the doc, Matthew had a lot of fun playing with the white paper that they use to cover up the examination table. He loved the crinkling and the wadding up. He did it so much that I rolled out some new paper for him.. he did the same to the new paper. We repeated this sequence one more time and then the doctor came in when Matthew was surrounded by the mess that we made. (Note to self: bring video camera next time)

The doc said that Matthew is looking great. He has excellent fine and gross motor skills for his age. ("gross" motor skills isn't referring to the pooping I learned). She also said that he is ready for solid foods. She told me cereal, pureed fruit and vegetables will work. I have already spoken to my friend Laura whose 6 month old son, Collin, is already eating these foods. She directed me to this great website: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ This website gives instructions about how to make homemade baby food. We will start off with cereal tonight and then progress to other foods. The doc even mentioned that giving him a bagel or teething biscuit will be fine so that he can practice gnawing on something.

After the doc was finished the nurse came in with three syringes. (Notice in the photo above that Matthew has 3 "owies" with bandages on them). I spoke to Matthew while he got his three shots. After each shot he looked at me as if to say, "Should I cry now, Mommy?" of course I said my trademark, "No need for crying." Surprisingly, it worked.. he didn't cry. I am just hoping that this phrase will work in the future when Matthew is in his terrible twos and is deciding whether or not to have a temper tantrum. Only time will tell.