Matthew

Today is Matthew's 5th birthday

My little man brings so much joy to my life

Matthew came in to this world 3 1/2 weeks early at 8lbs 2oz. He suffered from what the nurses jokingly call "wimpy white boy syndrome" basically white males develop slower than any other race or sex. His lungs weren't mature and he had to stay in the NICU for two weeks on oxygen. They air evac'ed him from Chandler Regional to Banner Desert (then Desert Sam) at 2 days old. My nurse gave me a beautiful and so-soft teddy bear from the Bombay company for me to hold since I had to stay a little longer in the original hospital and couldn't go with him. Although I had been strong and seemingly calm through the whole ordeal, I bawled when she gave it to me. I hugged that bear all night and cried.

One of the first things we noticed about Matthew is that he is all boy. He is a happy little monkey and wants to climb on and jump off of any surface he can. He breaks everything. Also, the poor kid has smelled like a boy from birth. No amount of soap, lotion or oil would make him smell non-boy (Aaron describes this smell as wet dog. I describe it as just boy). As a baby, when he had nothing better to do, he would screech. He wasn't happy or sad, he was just bored. We called him our little teradactyl.

Matthew has the perfect head. When you are near Matthew you want to rub his head. it's just the perfect shape for you to palm. He has done much to try and discourage the perfect formation of said head through various falls and bonks, but it remains to this day, the perfect shaped head. He even has had it stapled and glued. still nice. I remember when he had it stapled at age 3, his uncle Brian was with Aaron and Matthew at the hospital. Brian, being a doctor, was told by the resident dr that he could just remove the staples himself after 7 days and was given a tool to do so. Well, since Uncle Brian had to leave town before 7 days were up, it fell upon me to remove the staples with the tool. I did it wrong and instead of the staples coming out, they dug into his head. I know I know, bad mother. blah blah.... It took them forever to get the pieces of staples out and they finally had to resort to using a pair of the janitors huge wrenchy clippery thingies to get them out since non of their medical equipment could undo my stupidity. Poor Matthew did a lot of crying that day. But he still loved me. I know. He told me so.

Matthew is loving. My little Matthew has the biggest heart. Whenever he's with me at the bank and they give him a sticker, he says "Can I have one for my sister, too, please?" Or if I ever get an icecream for him and I to share he tells me we can't eat it all because we have to share some with Megan when she gets out of school. Matthew gives out compliments just like his daddy. I'll come into the living room after getting ready in the morning and he'll say "wow, mom, you look pretty today." or "Mom, your hair looks nice," or "mom, I like your shirt." Once I did Megan's hair for church or something fancy and Matthew said "Wow, Megan you look beautiful just like Rapunzel." You can bet she ate that right up. One of my favorite things is when I'm sitting at the computer or reading him a book and he reaches up and plays with my hair really gently.

Matthew loves music. I love that if I send the kids to their rooms to get dressed or play, childrens singing soon fills my house. They make up whatever words to familiar tunes or sing the Beatles or Journey or Ben Kweller..... Matthew has the sweetest little voice and listens to all the songs Megan sings us from her school music class. When he's playing he will practice singing them. He usually won't perform on demand but he knows them and loves to sing. Every time we get in the car he says, "put on the beatles put on the beatles" over and over and over. i usually snap at him that I am and to stop asking me! Either that or that it's my turn to pick the music, which is met with much dismay from the back seat. Whenever I Wanna hold Your Hand comes on, he has to be holding Megan's or my hand.

Matthew loves his daddy. I don't think I realized how much Matthew looks up to his dad until about 2 years ago. We were in the living room and i noticed that Matthew and Aaron were sitting in the exact same position. Aaron would move his leg and Matthew would move his, too. Aaron's arm would rest on the back of the couch and Matthew tried to position his the same way. I thought it was so cute and touching. It's been that way ever since. Whatever Aaron is interested in, Matthew is obsessed with, hence the Beatles. Matthew loves to spend time with Aaron even if it is just laying on his dad's chest and watching him play a video game.

Matthew loves to read (be read to). He will sit still as long as you want. All you have to do is be reading to him. He loves stories. He loves letters and if he recognizes a letter he'll point it out and say "Hey! It's the letter B! It's the letter B, mom. Mom, it's the letter B!" (He says it until he gets a response from me- which can take a while if I'm thinking about something else) He also will pretend to read. he follows the words with his finger and says the memorized words and wants us all to be so impressed that he can read (we go along with it). His smile just beams when we recognize him for being able to read.

Matthew is a good boy. The other day Matthew was out playing with the neighbor boys and their cousins who were in town for Christmas. They were having a really fun time and then Matthew came running in and asked if he could go to the park with them. I said "no, Matthew, Daddy will be home soon and then we're going to eat. I don't have time to go with you and you can't go without a parent." Matthew told me that the other kids wanted to go and their parents weren't going, but I still said no. He went out to play with whatever kids were left. about 15 minutes later I hadn't heard anything from him and I couldn't see anyone outside when I peeked out my window and over the back wall. I thought I was going to have to go get him from the park and was working myself into a tizzy when I walked out the door and called in my loudest mad voice, "MATTHEW!!!!" his cute little head popped up from behind the wall. My heart melted. No one from the group of kids had stayed, so he had stayed and played with toys alone, because his mom said no. I told him to come to me and I wrapped him up in a huge hug and told him that I was so proud of him for being obedient and that he was for sure on Santa's nice list.

I love my little Matthew. I'm sure that I baby him too much. He is 5 after all, but I don't care. He'll be my baby forever and I wish time would just stand still for a little while so I can fully enjoy this time with him.

Happy Birthday, Bubby! I love you T H I S much!

Love, Mom.