My Matthew

Ah! Where has the time gone? I thought I was doing better at posting, and all of a sudden it has been three weeks. I haven't talked much about Matthew lately, so I thought I would share a quick update about the first Musketeer.

Matthew is such a great kid. He has so many fun qualities. One of my favorite things about him is that he loves to laugh (tickle fights are common at our house). He likes to play games, any kind of board game, computer game, or imaginary, and the faster he can run the better. We spend a lot of our afternoons doing bike and running races down our driveway. One day when we were playing duck-duck-goose, he was having a hard time staying ahead of Ryan. He got a little frustrated, but then looked at me and smiled. "I guess I'll just have to put on my fast legs," he says.

His computer game knowledge is amazing. We probably let him play a little more often than he should, but even if that weren't the case I don't think he would be any different. The kid has the mind of a steel trap. Nothing escapes his observation and he can practically memorize something he sees within one viewing. His listening skills are the same in that regard and he can therefore recall anything you say to him, for better or worse. He tells me stories about things we talked about several months ago. It's hard for my tired brain to remember sometimes. We told him that we would take the family to see Toy Story 3 in the theaters when it came out. I am reminded every day that June 18th is coming soon. And August can't come soon enough for him to start kindergarten (still a little too close for comfort for me.)

He is still very interested in anything Star Wars or Lego related. He and Ryan will rotate through all the Star Wars characters on any given day. He also likes to reconstruct his legos to make new and better space craft. He comes up with some great stuff. He will occasionally play with cars or other toys. One time he was playing with a little knight person. I was checking my email when he came to me and asked if he could show me something. He proceeded to pull off the knight's hair to reveal its "brains," a fuzz-ball he just happened to find and decided it would make a great addition to his empty-headed guy. Nice.

He has always loved reading and we have been practicing some words, but all of a sudden his interest has increased and his knowledge has literally exploded. He tries to read everything he sees and can usually read the word or come pretty close. He still spells phonetically, but knows enough that he can figure out a word if it is spelled vocally. Kevin and I have started speaking in Spanish around him when we need to communicate grown-up information that Matthew doesn't need to know. I'm sure he'll figure that out too someday.

Matthew just finished playing soccer and he LOVED it. He couldn't wait for the next game to come and was pretty sad when the season was over.

The best thing about watching Matthew play was his smile. He wasn't the best player on the team as far as his skill-set goes, but he was always smiling.

I asked him one day if he might want to try another sport. He was hesitant at first. I was just curious, so I started throwing out suggestions. "What about basketball?" He gave me a weird look and said he doesn't think he would be very good at basketball. "Maybe baseball......or golf," he says. I didn't think the kid even knew what golf was.

A few other fun things about Matthew:

He is learning how to ride a bike. He almost has it down. We are just working on the notion that momentum keeps you going and upright.

He has decided he is too old for baths and prefers showers.

He is excellent at sneaking contraband. The best place to find something missing is under his bed.

Matthew is a great helper and older brother. He is always willing to get me something if my hands are tied. Just the other day I was watching the kids out the window while I finished up the dinner dishes. I watched as Zachary pointed to the swing and Matthew lifted him on the swing and started to push him. I actually got a little teary-eyed watching. I can't believe how big my oldest is getting.