Toddlers are Terrific

Sometimes I wish I could completely freeze him at this perfect age, but then I’d miss out on all the future fun things he’ll learn how to do!

So, random bits of fun cuteness, courtesy of 16 month old Matthew:

1. He absolutely thinks the dog is underfed.  No matter what he’s eating, he will always share with Murphy – even bacon!  Poor Murphy is very conflicted about this.  He has a choice between running away from the maniacal toddler yelling “dah-dah-dah-dah” (“dah” is Matthew’s attempt at saying “dog”) or risking chokehold hugs in exchange for sharing the contents of the snack cup.

2. He hums.  Like all the time.  Mostly “twinkle twinkle little star” (or the alphabet song, hard to say without words) but also “frere jacques”, “old macdonald” and other unidentified (yet) snippets of things.

3. The organ sound on the digital piano is his most very favorite sound, and he will bang out long, loud, discordant chords and laugh maniacally.  Pretty sure he’s got the whole “mad scientist evil organ music” thing down.

4. When we listen to songs from my latest musical in the car, and they get to that ending chord hit (the “button”) he giggles hysterically.  Piano glissandos ending in a big octave hit cause the same reaction.  He does it *every single time*.  I think it’s like the auditory equivalent to a jack-in-the-box: predictable, but still somewhat surprising.

Mr. Matthew Monkey Pants

Mr. Matthew Monkey Pants

I was practicing piano for a new show earlier, and Matthew was quietly (well, not so quietly) playing with some of his new percussion instruments behind me.  (He has an uncanny sense of rhythm, so this was not as hard as it sounds.)  Halfway through the piece I suddenly realized he’d gotten all quiet.

And giggly.

Fortunately, I had the camera on the back of the piano (one of the few places left that’s out of his reach) because I turned around and saw this…

20150108_window_gazing

Mind you, there’s a perfectly accessible matching window just on the other side of the couch.  No table in front of it, and it’s exactly the same view.

Apparently, Matthew cannot wait to be taller.

So quiet…

Everyone has gone back to work and school and Matthew and Murphy are both napping.  It’s so quiet after two weeks of everyone being home and together.  Matthew spent the morning running to the window every time a car went by, saying “buh? buh?” and looking for the school bus.  I’m apparently not as much fun to play with as his sisters!

Most years I’m eager for the return of routines after the break, but this year I would gladly have kept everyone home for another week or two!

Project 365, Shoot 2015

Project 365, Shoot 2015

In an attempt to revive my blog, capture some memories, and become a better photographer, I have joined both Shoot 2015 and Project 365.

The first assignment for Shoot 2015 was to take a selfie as a profile photo.  I am not much into taking selfies – and to be fair, I set the camera up on the tripod and composed the shot but Carolyn actually pushed the button so I wouldn’t have to mess with the timer, so maybe it’s not technically quite a selfie?  Honestly, I’m generally not much into having pictures of myself taken, so it was all kinds of uncomfortable to fulfill this assignment!  Black and white because the colors were distracting.  (And I have this fantasy that it softens the double chin.)

Assignment 1: take a selfie.
Assignment 1: take a selfie.

I hereby resolve to get in the picture more with my kids this year!