Well, Thanksgiving was wonderful. We went to Mount Airy and visited with all of the family. Matti enjoyed meeting some new cousins on the Seivers side of the family. We also had dinner with the Marions which is always a blast. Soon after Thanksgiving I started planning Matti 1st birthday party.
On December 13th Matthew and I threw Matti her First Birthday in Mount Airy at Nana Bonnie's house which was a blast. We had mostly family and a few friends there. Matti seemed to enjoy herself although she had no idea that the event was for her. She was dressed in a princess tutu, tights, and a onsie. Matti had her own little birthday cake and destroyed it pretty quickly, she also had a lot of balloons, and a banner stating Happy Birthday.
She received many cool gifts. She seemed to understand how to rip into her gifts. That was not a problem, but she seemed to be more interested in the paper than the gifts. Thanks to everyone for making that day so special.
Here are a couple of Pictures from her Birthday party.
When we returned home that Sunday and got Matti out of her car seat she was extremely hot. We thought the car seat and the warm car might have been the problem until an hour later she seemed to be even warmer than before. I took her temp and it was 102.5. Of course I freaked out a little and called the on call doctor. I spoke with an advice nurse who gave me some info and told me how to lower her fever. By Monday morning Matti's temp was still 102.1 so I took her to the doctor. He thought Matti had a cold and also said just because she does not have an ear infection today does not mean they cannot get inflamed over night. By Wednesday, the child still had a fever of 102.5 and back to the doctor again. This time it was an ear infection and sinusitis. Finally all of that cleared up just in time for Christmas.
We went to Hickory for a day to visit with he Newton's and then to Mount Airy to visit with the Seivers and Marion's for Christmas. Matti once again received several cool gifts and loved everything she received, especially opening the presents. She was so expressive in showing her interest in the gifts. It cracked me up. She is my little actress. She loves to put on a show.
After Christmas, Matti started in her new Toddler (12-18 months)class at school. She did not really progress much until she started this new class at school. Almost overnight I saw a completely different child emerge. She started going through separation and stranger anxiety all over again which made it hard to drop her off every morning. She also started going through a fussy and clingy phase where I had to be on top of her constantly and if I moved she would cry. She has accomplished so many different milestones I hope I do not leave any out. She says dada and mama to the appropriate parent, she also says "ooooooo" for hello when picking up the telephone, she also says bla for block, ba for bottle (which we are currently off the bottle except at night and on whole milk), Dug for dog, dat for that, and Nana of course for Nana, and Na for No and bal for ball and wave and say bye bye. She makes more sounds for words that I just have not figured out what she is saying yet. She jabbers all the time talking in her own little language while looking right at you. Her conversations are so funny. She is also into everything and the word "No" will make her cry at the drop of a hat. If you tell her "No" she will lie down on the floor and put her head down and cry like someone had hurt her. That tears me up, but I know she has to learn when she is not supposed to do something. She also points to everything and says "Dat". So I will tell her what the item is and what it is used for. She is also starting to really enjoy books. She has several touch books that make noise if you touch a part of the book. I used to take Matti's finger and press the bottom to make a noise and now she will take my finger and press my finger down on the bottom to make the noise. If we give her a brush she will brush her hair, tries to brush her own teeth for a while and now she does not want any part of the toothbrush. She wants to brush our hair with it instead. She likes to try to put her shoes on her own feet and just the other morning she saw her coat hanging on the chair and tried to put it on. She could not do it by herself so she brought it to me. I put it on her and she waved and said bye bye as if we needed to go to school.I swear she wore that coat around all morning. If the phone rings she will stop what she is doing and walk over to where the phone is and point to it. Sometimes if I am busy I do not answer it and she will stare me down until I tell her that I will get it later. She was also turning the TV off and on (we have now fixed that problem). She would cut the tv off and then scurry away because she knew she was not supposed to touch the TV and look at me and point to the remote to turn it back on. She would get bent out of shape if I did not cut it back on. Matti also helps do laundry by pulling clothes out of the dryer for me and she likes to unfold them when I get a pile folded and hand them back to me with a smile. Yesterday I was emptying out the dishwasher and she started handing me dishes out of it. Some where so big compared to her I could not help, but laugh. She is such the little helper. Also we have started to notice when Matti is hungry she will automatically head over to the high chair and start to point and tries to climb up into the high chair herself. And then there is climbing-already- She wants to climb on the furniture, up the stairs, etc. Mom bought her a wagon for her overnight trip there last weekend and she would climb in the wagon by herself and start rocking so someone would push her. I could go on and on about everything, but I have to admit so much has happened over the last four to five weeks I cannot keep up with it all now.
The big step in Matti's milestone progress is that she has started walking. I mean, walking everywhere and sometimes so fast I can barely catch her. The funny thing is you can tell she is so excited by the look on her face. She even swings her hands around and squeals with delight! I have noticed since she started walking she is not as clingy and is a lot more independent. She just goes her own way and if she needs me she just walks right over to me and pulls on my pants.
Matti has also had pink eye twice and two colds since she was sick in December so I have been out of work a lot with her home sick so I have not had much time on the computer lately. The updates from now on will be more frequent.
Matti finally got to have her one year check on on her 13 month bday which was Jan 17th. At that time she weighs 22 pounds and 4 ounces and is 30 inches long. Her chubby thighs are slowly starting to dwindle away. I miss those little chubby baby legs. She of course hated her shots and screamed before the doctor even stuck her. OUCH!!!!! She finally has two front teeth now and she looks so much like a little girl and not like a baby anymore. She has a huge gap in between her front teeth that gives me the giggles when she smiles really big. Matthew says her two front teeth are like Lauren Hutton.
Whew, with all that said we are finally up to this past weekend. Matti had her first overnight trip without Mama or Dada. Matti spent the night with Nana Bonnie and Papa Lane on Saturday night so I could take Matthew out for his birthday. Nana and papa bought Matti a wagon and pulled her around everywhere. The full report when we came in to pick her up on Sunday was she did not miss me at all and she was an "Angel". She sort of looked a little funny to see us again. Almost like, you mean I have to go back home with these people. Oh well, she gave me a big ol kiss right in the mouth so I really know she missed us.
I am posting a video of her walking. It is not the best video, but right now it was the best I could do.
I promise to keep this blog updated better. Hope you enjoy.
Here is Matti posing in the scarf that nana made for her.
Here is Matti posing in the wagon that nana and papa bought for her.
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