Happy 5th Birthday, Mateo!

We are almost a month into having a 5 year old. And what a month it's been...possibly the hardest one so far? Or do I say that every month.

I just read last year's post. We ended up going in December to Plopsaland with his cousin as a very delayed birthday gift. It was perfect! I think it was 18 degrees that day!

Mateo wears a size 30 shoe and most of his clothes still fit from last year, so I am expecting a growth spurt. I think he is 118 cm and weighs about 19 kg. Pretty thin.

He LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH some time the beginning of March. I picked him up from school and he hadn't even noticed. I am guessing he ate it. Then he lost the 2nd one when we were in London. Again, he didn't have the tooth. 4 are quite loose, so hopefullly he'll have one to put under his pillow. 

I decided I want to find a child triathalon event. Mateo can bike quite well. We can go together. He had a year of swimming lessons. Can't quite swim alone yet, but he's not scared at all and does really well. We are planning to enroll him in another year of lessons.

Normally every evening there are tears and protests when Mateo comes to the table. Probably just another way he knows he can bug me... But most of the time he ends up liking it. Right now he can eat a lot! Often for breakfast he has 2 or 3 pieces of toast, a yogurt and fruit. A few weeks ago in the evening it was 5 pieces of bread! Plus the fruit and yogurt. I sometimes don't know what else to give him. (hence my growth spurt expectation)

Mateo had the opportunity to practice his English with my sister, his cousins and my mom. I'm really proud of him! It's funny to hear his English with a Flemish accent or his literal translations.

Naps are now of the past. Occassionally he falls asleep in the car, but that messes up bedtime. If we know we'll be out later than normal and he's having a rough day, I'll sometimes have him lay down, but that doesn't happen more than 1x per week.

Next week school starts again. Yippie! He's looking forward to it. He went a few days this summer to a day camp and last week he went 4 days to a sport camp. Something he always enjoys.

I waited until my mom was here to do his birthday party. He was invited to a few classmates parties during the year, so he knew he wanted to invite some for his. I had said we'd only do boys and not all of them. When we were on our family vacation we sang to him and on the actual day we were at a wedding, so he was with all of his friends and family and he received 2 little Nerf guns from us. After drinking his first can of Coke and getting a present from the bride and being sung to, he was as happy as could be. Mom made his cake (brownies per his request) and cupcakes. She actually helped out with everything. Hubby was home sick a few days, so the afternoon of the party he ended up being there, which worked out great. The boys were a tad harder than I had expected. Oops. 7 boys and 3 adults. Everyone seemed to have a good time, so we were happy. I am still enjoying the frozen brownies...

Mateo's big present was a trampoline. It also counts as Liora' s birthday present, but we gave it now. 

What else can we say? I feel like anything else I write may be taken wrongly, so I'll stop here with nice photos. Hopefully there are a few more posts before next year!

With Grandma. 5 years!

Last day of school. June 30

Aunt Grace

Canadian Cousins

Went skiing in Switzerland

Celebrating his half birthday at school

Letters To Our Children // September // Mateo

Today was the first day of school. In Belgium they go to school from September 1st until June 30th.  I was pretty excited about school! Mateo seemed to have forgotten a bit about it. We left the 2nd week of June on vacation, so he had a long summer.

Daddy came to school with us today, which was special for Mateo. The school is celebrating 50 years, so they had a party-theme going on. Each child had their photo in front of an old timer. Curious to see them!

Liora seemed to sense the excitement. I decided to dress her up also for some photos. She loved seeing all the kids. I'm sure she wishes she could go. Next September...

Mateo is starting 2de kleuterklas or 2nd kindergarten.  For those who don't know, here they start school at 2.5 in a preschool class, then age 3, 4, & 5 are kindergarten.

Happy 4th Birthday

Yesterday was the original Baby Belgium's 4th birthday! It was fun because he realized that he was finally 4. It was actually a peaceful day. Mateo had slept at Oma's the night before and we picked him up in the evening. There I gave him the card from my parents and a present. 

We had a little party in Canada when we were visiting. A few little friends and some family. A cute cake and some gifts. It was perfect. No stress.

Last Saturday we celebrated here with M's cousin together with the family that wasn't on vacation.

I decided instead of getting him a gift, we will plan a trip to an amusement park, just him and us parents.  The kid has been showered a month long with gifts. He didn't even realize that he didn't get to open anything from us. I did get him a €2 toy I'll give him when he wakes up.

The 4 year photos are still coming. He needs a haircut first *grin*

Babycenter told me basically that this year should be better than last year. Sounds good! Independence and understanding what's going on. Sounds like we are on track! (I just read what I wrote last year. I hoped we'd be conflict free...oh, dear. We deal with lots of conflict every day between the two kids)

I'm finding out Mateo is more sensitive than I thought. Maybe not to me, but to the rest of the world. He can tell if someone looks funny at him or if they say something hurtful (although it doesn't seem to register that he shouldn't treat people that way).

He's very active and good at sports. He loves his bike and now we've tried a few times where he bikes alone side us biking.  He will be attending 2 sport camps in August and we hope to enroll him in gymnastics when school starts. Something to burn off that energy.

I find him loud, but actually, compared to other kids, he's not much of a talker.

My last post was about his language skills. He's speaking more and more English, so that just makes me so happy.

Eating? Well, kind of hit and miss. Lots of discussion. Probably not what's supposed to happen according to one theory or another, but I hate hearing when he's in bed that he's hungry. Also, when I see an empty plate after all the discussion, I figure he really was hungry and needed the food I "forced" him to eat.  Not a big milk drinker, but neither am I. He loves fruit and does eat most veggies. No mushrooms or tomatoes, but tomatoes are a genetic thing...

Sleep. At night still about 11-12 hours. And a nap when we are driving in the afternoon or once or twice a week.

Mateo is still a big boy. Wears size 5/6, has size 28 (11?) shoes. He weighs 18.3 kg/40.3 lbs. Height still needs to be measured. What is funny is that he and his girl cousin who is 14 months older keep weighing EXACTLY the same. The last 3 times I've weighed they they have been on the dot the same.

We are very happy with our boy. I shouldn't say little, because he doesn't like that. I am going to try to enjoy this year, because I have a feeling after next year, everything won't be as cute and he won't be as excited over all the little things in life.

Fun at Grandma's

At least this child loves flying

Griffith Observatory

We {heart} California

His happiest place on earth, the ocean

Growing up! Santa Monica Pier

Made with love by mommy

Someone is THREE!

You've already seen photos of the cake, now to hear about the birthday boy.  We are transitioning from the terrible twos to the terrific threes *fingers crossed*

He's 101 cm / 3 ft 4 in and 16.3 kg / 36 lbs and wears a size 26 / 9 shoe. At the end of the school year he was the tallest in his class and had the biggest feet.

Eating
He's still a decent eater, although he is easily distracted and will often say he's done just so he can play, but then we run into problems when he is in bed. He then realizes that he is hungry. I am so glad he likes fruit!  The YES veggies are corn, green beans, beets occassionally, sweet potatoes, raw bell pepper, cauliflower and broccoli. The NO ones are mushrooms, zucchini and tomatoes, along with kidney beans and onions.  Carrots are inbetween.  He loves his 'boterhammen' (untoasted toast). He would be happy to eat that every day, although it is always an issue with the crusts. His favorite spread is chocolate (kind of like his mommy in that area).  He is allowed a cup of chocolate milk every morning.  He doesn't seem to really like milk, so I don't force it, since I am also not a milk drinker, but, again, like me, he loves yogurt, so I figure he gets calcium that way.  Overall I am happy with his eating. Only sometimes not with the fights we have to make him try a bite.  I asked him when we went grocery shopping what we should get. He answered, "Apples, bananas...and chocolate."

Sleeping
Part of the reason this post is delayed is because around his birthday we were having sleeping issues. I am going to say they are done now. The last 2 weeks he has been taking naps again! And since we moved there have almost no fights (beside last night) to get him to stay in his bed and sleep. He doesn't wake up at night and normally is awake at 7:45. He goes down anywhere between 7:00 and 10:00 (depending on if he napped, if we are out and if he is behaving).

Potty Training
I think the worst is over! Since his birthday. Literally on the day itself, he started going #2 on the potty and going ALONE and SAYING that he needed to go ON TIME! It makes for one super happy mommy here.  Not sure what happened today, because we had two poopy accidents, but for the last 3 weeks there have been maybe 1 or 2 accidents and I have been very brave and not put on any diapers when we were out and about, at church, visiting friends or when he was away 4 days (I sent the potty with him). I'm so proud of him! He totally gets it now. So my great advice (now that I can give it) is to NOT force it.  We are working on nap time and I'm not worried about nights. Sometimes he's dry other mornings not.

Talking
Every day I say I need to write down what he says. He is really talking now. In general is he a quieter fellow. He likes to observe. I don't mind if he is a quieter kid. His teacher also said that at the end of the school year. I asked how it was with the 2 languages and she said she didn't notice any problem. She mentioned that he doesn't talk a lot, but he definately talks when he needs something.

I think it is so cute right now the words and phrases he is saying. He is also starting to use his imagination, so I hear him talking to his animals or cars. Often it's about Mama, Papa, Oria (Liora) or Hanne and Lise. 

I noticed he often says a P for K. Petchup. Pamer. Poffee.  I'm sure I've said it before, he understands both languages perfectly, but he speaks 95% Dutch.  Hopefully speaking English will come...Yesterday I did notice he said 'cars' to my mom instead of 'autos.' I'm not sure if it was on purpose, coincidence or because he's now seen Cars 1001 times.  He is into talking on Skype now. It is pretty cute. Yesterday he was saying whole sentences to my mom, but some I couldn't even understand.

He is starting to grasp concepts, which makes him really seem more grown up. For example,  his daddy was putting on his pjs and they were too big, so we put other ones and he said, "It's better, yeah?" I was so surprised to hear him figure that out. He now always is saying what he likes or doesn't. "Ik vind het niet leuk" of "Het is leuk, huh?"  He also gets if I go "grrr" that something is wrong and he says, "Wat is, Mama?"

And the questions have begun...right at a handy time with us doing some projects in the house. "Wat doe jij?" "Wat is dat?" " Repeat 10x..."What are you doing?" "What's that?"  And then he likes to know where everyone is. Where's Liora? Where's Daddy?  I am waiting fohttp://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/3-to-4-year-old-milestonesr "Why?"

Motorically
Advanced gross motor skills  :)  He is a pro on his balance bike, can pedal on some things, climbing stairs and slides is NOT a problem. I always laugh when I read that he should be able to throw and kick a ball. He mastered that before he could walk... At the indoor playgrounds he is always on the 6+ toys right along with his cousins.  The fine motor skills I haven't noticed as much. He can turn the pages in a book no problem, but I never let him play with scissors, so I'm not sure how he is at that. He enjoys drawing and is just now starting to say what he is drawing.

Personality
Mateo is a happy fellow. Smiling even when he shouldn't be.  He is a super social kid. LOVES to be around people.  He really enjoys school and is kind of bored when he is home with just mommy and his sister.  I am sometimes surprised at how good he does in new social situations. Last month we were in Germany and he went to Sunday school with his little friend. I asked him if he wanted to go and he said no, but I took him anyways and stepped out when they were praying. Apparently he was a perfect angel. I would have been scared as a little kid to do that.  Yesterday he started a sport camp for 2 weeks and it was the same story.

Three things that are important for me for him are that he is Respectful, Responsible, & Independent. The latter 2 are coming along ok. The last one maybe a little too well...  To me we have a lot of work in the RESPECT corner. Respecting his parents, sister, toys, rules...the good news in this area is that apparently he behaves when he is with other people (when his parents, and especially his mother, are away). 

We have an extremely stubborn little fellow on our hands. I've already read Dr. Dobson's Raising a Strong-willed Child and I think I need to reread it.  His strong will and jealousy issues make for many daily conflicts. Hopefully by next year we will be conflict free. Hahahaha

32 Months

March 22nd

Every few days I have a nagging feeling of 'I'm supposed to do something today, what is it?' Then I remember, I need to update the blog...Um,  that feeling must've been coming and going for a month, because I realized we are 2 days past Mateo's 32 month mark. I planned on posting for 31 months! So, that is basically how my whole life feels. Like I am always trying to get caught up and when I finally do I realize how much time has flown by and I need to start working on the next thing.

Eating
Mateo is doing so much better with his eating! That bottle issue solved a lot! He is even drinking some water or plain milk. Our rule is that he is allowed a chocolate milk cup in the morning and then he takes watered down juice or water to school. The rest of the day we kind of see how it goes/what we have in the house. Breakfast goes smoother when he has been awake a bit. He eats oatmeal very well and likes cinnamon roll oatmeal (I mean, who wouldn't?). Following the advice of my MIL, I added a little Splenda on his carrots and he ate 2 whole ones! Mateo learned his 2nd week of school about food and utensils. Since then he wants to try to eat with a knife and asks for a 'mife.' Often I have him eat his sandwich at school, so he can play outside PLUS someone else can clean up his mess.

Jules is the class doll. He takes turns of who he gets to visit each weekend.

Sleeping
Maybe the reason I didn't get to his 31 month post was because of the serious sleeping issues we were having. They are mostly solved. Everyone told me 'Once he goes to school, he will sleep more/longer.' *wrong* Not with this kid. I decided to give up fighting on naps every day. I basically figure he takes one every 2nd day and it is only after he has had a good dose of play time after lunch, then he is allowed to read in bed. Most of the time he falls asleep, if not, I get 30 minutes of quiet time. Nights are also going better. He was sick with an awful cough and that was waking us all up. I guess I don't need to post about all the fights and fits we have been through. The good news is that he doesn't ever ask for his pacifier and most nights now he goes nicely to sleep. Bedtime is between 7:00-8:00 and he is awake around 7:00.

Talking
Everyday he is saying new things. I feel like being my brother's sister (aka interpreter) helped prepare me. I understand what Mateo says, but realize others don't. It is a mix of the 2 languages and then lots of mispronounced words. I noticed in the wekeend that he says N's as M's. So Memo is that cute, little, orange fish.  I am realizing now how 'behind' he seems in his speech. I sometimes worry if the teacher can understand him, but she said it is going fine at school, so I guess he can communicate his needs. I also realized that I am underestimating how much he understands and remembers, because he doesn't speak so clearly. BUT, a proud parent moment was when I was telling the story of Noah (I started feeling like a bad parent a few weeks ago that we weren't telling Bible stories, so I pulled out his beginner Bible and we now try to do one story a night) and he said "All done regen (rain)!" I was shocked. I then realized that Daddy must've read it already, but I also realized that Mateo listened and remembered what it was about!

School
We both love it, not sure about the school and teachers *wink*. Mateo has gone a few full days. I think I'll try 1-2/week. Normally he is there from 8:45-1:00. He seems to be learning a lot. Like I said, he doesn't say much about what he does, but then he surprises me with new words and actions (such as putting soap on his hands while washing, wiping his own nose, putting on his jacket).

...it is now 5 days later, so I have lost my train of thought!

Things to remember
-He says 'ikke doen' for EVERYTHING. He wants to do everything himself, until it doesn't work and then he starts whining.

-Rode his balance bike for the first time today

-Went to the Zoo for the first time Feb 15th.

-Had antibiotics for a nasty cough. He had an ear and eye infection at the same time.

-Has grown out of all his size 86 pants and needs 98 shirts for the length.

-I finally got size 5 diapers. We were having some issues with the 4's, but I think it was more the brand.

He was a zebra for Carnaval.

Mateo's First Day of School-Feb 3, 2013

With this post I figured out how to download multiple photos from Dropbox, how to make a photobook in under 10 minutes, how to share an un-ordered book from Shutterfly (I thought it was a nicer way to share photos instead of just posting 40 of nearly the same thing). I see now some of the colors are hard to read. That is the disadvantage of making a book so quickly. Mateo has now gone 4 half days to school. It starts at 8:45 and I get him at 11:55. He eats and goes to bed around 1:00 for about 2 hours. He is not to the age where he tells much about his day. I asked the teacher and she said he has a hard time sitting for group story time (no surprise there), but that he is doing well. He is making friends and has never cried.

Click here to view this photo book larger

You'll love Shutterfly's award-winning photo books. Try it today.

30 months = 2.5 years = SCHOOL AGE

Today Mateo is 2.5 years old. I had already asked his cousin (bestie) to come spend the night when I realized what a special day it was. So we had a little 'appy do you' ('party' in Mateo language).

After a 1 minute search on Pinterest (this morning...), I decided a half cake was in order. Since mommy is on a diet, this was a perfect excuse to have some chocolate. How can I *not* celebrate this important day. I had fun at the little party and so did the 2 toddlers. Or are they preschoolers?

I removed Liora's banner and hung up a blue one that ways 'Party Time!' We had cake, they each got a present and we had music. Fun, fun, fun...

Actually having a party today was probably just as good for mommy as for Mateo. It has been a ROUGH week. A big week, so actually a good week in a weird way.  The reason it was good for me is it make me reflect on how much I love my little man.

Last week I decided it was time to be strict with bottle and pacifier usage. I also took out the crib, so Mateo had more space to play. That meant he had to sleep in the big bed. No more switching back and forth.

Loving his jungle animals

Last week went well until this:

What an artist I am-hehe

Broken computer screen! From his pacifier. We decided an appropriate punishment would be to take it away. We have been putting it off for over a year. Always another vacation coming up, mom and dad going away, new baby, etc. Finally.we.did.it.  He is doing better in one way than expected. He does not really ask for it. What I did not think about is that he would have a hard time sleeping. Hard time as in a FIGHT, DRAMA, TEARS, YOU-NAME-IT.  Since Sunday almost every bed time has been a drawn out process.  Once he falls asleep he is then awake earlier than normal or after an hour nap. He has been very grumpy and defiant all week. But...*drum roll* we are pacifier and bottle free! Next up potty training.

 

He starts school February 4th. Mommy has to admit she is pretty excited about this. Potty training will commence sometime in February after he sees other kids at school doing it.

 

Next week we go for his height/weight/overall check-up.

 

 

Now some photos of the day...

Half a cake for a half birthday

Loves chocolate like his mommy does

Such goofs

He copies everything she does...

Goofballs

His banner. Playing with their gifts

She is 14 months older and they look the same height.

29 months

Mateo is really hard to photograph right now...

Well, actually in a lot of aspects he is really hard right now.

I know becoming a big brother is a big change, so I try to have grace.

His eating is terrible. He only will drink milk if it is chocolate milk. He doesn't like yogurt with pieces anymore. If he is mad he will throw full bowls on the ground. Etc, etc, etc...

Naps are continually being shortened. A normal nap is now 1.5 hours. He goes to bed around 9 at night and sleeps about 12 hours. He wants the door open when he goes to sleep. Normally we shut it when we go to bed, but if he wakes up and realized, there is a lot of screaming until we come open it again.

He can be super sweet with his sister, but is not to be trusted. He BIT her fingers last week! I was so mad...

Baths have been a struggle for a few weeks (thankfully he put up no fight today, only because I said he could watch Cars after). He pooped and peed in the bath and has been freaked to go back in.

When mom was here we watched Planes with Mateo and he loved it. He started noticing every plane in the sky and would constantly say 'plane' and 'fly.' The next week we showed him Cars and the next week Cars 2. It is so cute how obsessed he is with them. It is funny once you are aware, how much you see them. His aunt gave him a stocking with McQueen and Mater. He always is saying 'Een' and 'Toe Mate.'  Grandpa had recorded a Cars book for him last Christmas and he was not very interested, but now he reads/listens to it the entire day.

Mateo now climbs out of his bed. Actually, I do not mind very much. He knows when he has to sleep he needs to stay in. He comes out of bed when he is ready and stands at the gate and calls me.

He has also gone upstairs or downstairs alone a few times to play, which actually was nice to not have to drag him along with the baby.  Yesterday it was cute at first, but later a mess, I came down and he had found 'breakfast.' A bowl of corn in the fridge. He was sitting nicely at the table eating it, which I was fine with. BUT when I was on the phone, he started strewing handfuls around the living room!  That was less cute.

I can't even remember all the words he says how. It is all coming together finally! It is pretty funny how he mixes the languages. Good thing both of his parents understand both.  This week he said 'Ik wil walken' (I want to walk, but he said it in Dutch with a 'Dutchified' English verb).  Now when he copies what we say it actually comes out the right way. He discovered the microphone his daddy has, so he likes to sing while daddy plays.

Helping with Liora's 1 month photos

Singing Happy Birthday

Mateo 28 months

This was another big month. Not only was grandma here for 3 weeks, but Mateo became a big brother! He is a good big brother. He likes to give his sister kisses and hold her for no longer than 10 seconds. He always checks where she is hanging out and double checks when we go out that she is going with us. He still has a hard time with her name, but we know who he is talking about.

Poor kid has been inside more this month than the past few months. He LOVES being outside, even if it is cold and raining.

His vocabulary is exploding. Every day I am hearing new words. I feel like I am reliving my past. I am his interpreter, like I was my brother's when he was young. I know what Mateo is trying to say or what words he says for certain things.

He loves all things to do with transportation. Cars, trains, busses, trucks, bikes, boats and planes (He love the movie by that name). He also loves monkeys and elephants. Surprising in how many things they appear. We even bought a monkey and an elephant chocolate at the bakery.

Mateo is capable of sleeping in a normal bed, but he basically decides to do whatever the opposite is of what we want. If we put him in the crib, he wants to climb out, if he is in the big bed, he asks to sleep in the crib...I guess that is basically how everything is with him at this stage. He wants to be the boss.

Eating has been totally off.  One day he eats 3 pieces of toast, the next day he won't touch it. Yesterday he didn't want yogurt, today he had it for snack, lunch and took one out after dinner. GRRRR....I try not to be frustrated and forcing him doesn't work. Tricking him only works some times and takes so much effort.

Adjusting

Mom left this morning, so I think 'real life' will now begin. I have lots to blog about, but we will see when I get to it. So until I am back, here is a recent photo and a few precious video clips. Everyone asks how Mateo is doing. The videos show his best side! 95% of the time he has been great! He is just not into getting his photo taken, so we had a hard time getting a good one of grandma and her 2 grandkids or a family photo at our early Thanksgiving celebration.

 



This morning

 

Not impressed with her headband