Mommy Song

Maybe my sense of humor has been warped by mommyhood, but I think this is hilarious. I hope you do, too!

One Shirt

Matthew only has one shirt. He wears it every day, except when it's in the wash. Then he just hangs around naked and pees on the floor. That's not exactly true, but from the looks of the photos I've taken over the last couple of weeks, it looks like it might be. The photos shown here were taken on three different, non-consecutive days, I promise. Lately the funny Matthew story of choice is the one about the butt-slap. I'll explain: Matthew likes to barge in on me while I'm taking a shower. He leans in and pushes the bathroom door open with both hands, then saunters over to the shower where he grabs the shower curtain and tosses it aside as if he were playing a giant game of peek-a-boo. He beams when he sees that his hunch was correct. So Mommy IS in the shower. I knew it!
The next time he comes in, he is usually carrying something that he'd like to put in the shower with me: a block, one of my hiking boots, his electric drum. Once he pulls the shower curtain back and drops in the next item, he looks from me to it in a desperate game of tennis hoping that I will hand him his toy back. When I don't make a move to help him, he usually saunters away to find something else to add to the Mommy-soup he's making.
Matthew barged in on me again the other day after I had just stepped out of the shower. A bit confused, he sucked on the toy he was going to throw in the shower and watched me brush my teeth. Convinced I wasn't going to continue the shower game, he slapped my butt and walked out of the bathroom as if to say, "Good game, Mom. I'm outta here."
Jeff thought that story was very funny, but my recent favorite is the surprise I got when Matthew came walking in to the living room wearing my black boots while his father sang, "These boots are make for walkin'..." I died. Matthew looked so funny trying to make his way in my boots - and he'd already taken them off before I could stop laughing long enough to take a picture!

Baby's Room

We've spent a lot of time lately hanging out in Matthew's room. He loves it in there. It's definitely the coolest place in the house, both because of it's orientation and the air conditioner. With the Hawaiian summer the way it is, we spend a lot of time in this room these days. His favorite thing to do these days is play "Pillows", a game that involves him lying down and us covering him up with pillows. Then he breaks out of the pillow pile like a strong-man-contest-winner. It's great. I've always loved the view from Matthew's room. When he was very young and we spent many, many hours nursing, I would marvel at the beauty I could see from his small window. The trade winds blow almost constantly, bouncing the bright green palm trees just enough to give glimpses of the teal mountains on the other side of the valley. Even when things were at their worst, I found so much peace in watching those palm trees sway.Now that Matthew can walk, he's moved on to reading. He's very smart. He especially loves Goodnight Gorilla because pretty much the only words in it are goodnight and gorilla. He also likes to read the name-plate that his Aunt Sina painted just for him. All of the words these days come out as "ba" or "da", but I know that he understands. Especially when that little gorilla sneaks right back in to the zoo keepers bed! That part cracks us up. I haven't been blogging much lately because we've been living a lot. Last night, I was out until 2AM with our friend and babysitter, Connie. I promised her that I would go out one night before she leaves for graduate school in Seattle. We've never been out together, so she had no idea that I can hold my own on the dance floor. We found ourselves at the only country bar in Hawaii and I found out that I haven't forgotten everything I ever knew about dancing. We two-stepped the night away and I thanked Jeff in my sleep this morning when he kept Matthew quiet while Mama slept in. Now I'm thinking that I might need to do that again soon...

Relay for Life

Tonight I took Matthew to the Honolulu Relay for Life. When he went last year, he was in utero. This time, he was able to walk the track on his own. It's hard to believe how much can change in a year. While Matthew has grown bigger and stronger, there are other children who have not been so lucky during the past twelve months. This year, I am most humbled by and grateful for the recovery of my young cousin, Julia. Once Matthew found this balloon, there was no going back. I know he's probably not supposed to play with balloons or string, but I just didn't have the heart to take it away. Plus, I kept assuming that it was going to pop. Instead, when I peeled his sleeping body out of the carseat tonight, he was still clutching the mostly-deflated balloon. We had a wonderful time, and I'm so proud of and thankful for my little boy!

First Haircut

Today I gave Matthew his first haircut! Jeff is out of town for a couple of weeks, but I just couldn't wait until he got home. Matthew's curls were driving him nuts - and making him even hotter than the Hawaii summer is already. So, I chased him around the lanai today with his daddy's clippers and a comb. Considering I'm not a barber, I think I did a pretty good job, don't you?

Good Will

Today I went Good Will Toy Hunting. I found a great dump truck and some cool plastic bowling pins. On the walk back to the car, I spotted a beautiful patch of grass, so Matthew and I decided to try out our new toys. While Matthew enjoyed the dump truck, I tried to learn to juggle bowling pins. It's a good thing that they're plastic!

Five Years

Five years ago today, I met Jeff in a little bar on the Redneck Riviera. That night I asked him to be my boyfriend and changed my life forever. I never could have imagined the happiness it would bring.
Today we celebrated by having lunch at the Kahala Hotel. They have a dolphin lagoon and beautiful beachfront property. We've come a long way in five years! I'm looking forward to a hundred more...