Biology Meets LIfe

So we all know how to make a baby -- it's pretty much all taught in fifth grade health class and every year after that until end of high school. When I got married, everyone told me it takes about a year to get pregnant so plan early. Obviously, it didn't take that long for us. We were experts at it from the getko. People that didn't know us from before have asked me how long did it take us. I always find it strange - I just figure you figure out when you ovulate and then just have a lot of intercourse around then if you are not certain exact day. Obviously, we did not take that approach since we figure it would be hard and we had time to wait.

Anyhow so the biology part seems very simple, but why is it so hard to raise a baby? It seems to me that they should just have the same manuel for taking care of one. I have read a lot of baby books from baby "experts." It just seems like these experts can't figure out why Mattie doesn't sleep through the night, not eat meals properly, and why does he just cry for everything. It seems like, nature should only allow people who knows how to be Mommies and Daddies to procreate.

Mattie's New Communication

As many of you know, Mattie is pretty slow at everything. He rolled late, crawled late, walked late, and as expected at 17.5 months, still no words. Even "ma ma" may be a stretch since he calls anyone that if he wants something from them.

Since I have been home with him, we started to sign more words. Before we moved here, he could only do "milk" consistently. This last week, he has been signing, "done", "more", "juice", "shoes", and today he learned "light." Everything is a little Mattiefied. Mattie can't make a fist so he uses open palm and he can't use his pinky so he uses his index finger instead.

He also learned his body parts better. We started on our car ride to Toronto. Now he knows nose, eyes, mouth, tummy, stinky feet, and hands. I think part of the problem with Mattie is he isn't very coordinated. He had a really hard time pointing to his eyes. He has to start with his nose and slowly slide it up. It's pretty funny.

Now we are trying to potty train full time again. He is right about 50% of the time. I think the problem is he tells me too early and when he sits on the toilet and nothing comes out he tells me he is done and wants to come off. So we have been trying to adjust our time. BUT he is also a tricky boy. He doesn't like nap time so he will tell me he wants milk, go to potty, read... whatever to delay the inevitable.

Well, these are Mattie's latest tricks.. stay tune for next episode of Mattie Tricks.

Mattie

Toronto, Canada

We finally made it to Toronto... with our carload of stuff. Mattie did very well the whole ride. He only threw up twice because he was upset and then we had Peter sat in the back with him and then he is all good. He learned where his nose is (although if you ask him where are your eyes, he still points to his nose). We had to make multiple emergency stops due to Mattie's potty breaks --- and false alarms. Our best one was at this Nature Conservatory parking lot and outside of Red Lobster parking lot.

There was only 1 mishap... Peter got stopped by a police for speeding. I couldn't believe they gave him a ticket for going 10 miles over the speed limit on a highway. The dumb thing is the ticket was for $40 but the court fees and other fees are $65. Anyhow, Peter was bitter the whole way about that. What can I say? I am just the better driver!

Our new condo has nothing... so far we ordered a bed, bedroom set... and lots of little problems with the condo. Mattie has all his toys and a crib... which I wonder how much he will actually use. Now we are all still sleeping on the floor.

Well, that's all for now...