Thank you to everyone for all of the great gifts! Matthew is blissfully happy with all of his new stuff (and even has a few more presents from mom and dad to unwrap in the future). Thanks especially for the toys that talk or sing or play annoying songs! ;-)
Here are just a few (of the many!) pictures we took in hopes of a great Christmas card picture! The poor boy had four of us trying to make him smile and laugh and was a bit overwhelmed by the end of the whole thing! Anything for a good picture, though, right??
Right around when Matt turned 14 months old, he fell in love with trucks, completely out of the blue! He saw and heard every truck, everywhere! His favorite book became his tractor book and his favorite toy became this huge CAT truck! He carried it all around the house for a few weeks straight and did everything with one hand so he didn't have to put it down. We even made the mistake of letting him bring it in the bath tub (and then had to poke holes in the tires to get the water out)! He has since branched out a bit from this truck, but it is still up there in his top five favorites!
Matt loves to try on mom and dad's hats, and of course, the one time I get it on video, he's wearing a pink one!! :-) It's possible I am biased, but I think he is just the cutest kid ever!
"What am I supposed to do here? Hmmm...What's in the big bucket?"
"What are these? What do I do with them?"
"Oh, this I know. A lolipop! Yum!"
"So I must eat this other one too, right?"
"Ok, I'm ready to go home!"
Matthew does not miss a trick. He sees and hears everything...and I mean everything! He has been hearing and pointing out airplanes for awhile now. If he hears one, and he'll let you know that he hears one by yelling or grunting or pointing, he will continue this yelling or grunting or pointing until you acknowledge him with "Yes Matt, I hear the airplane too." This summer, we had lots of fun laying on the deck and watching airplanes fly overhead! However, just because we are not outside much any longer doesn't mean he doesn't still hear them. This picture is from a week or two ago when he heard an airplane while standing in the kitchen! And now, even if we don't hear one, if you ask where an airplane flies, he'll answer by either throwing his head back to look up or pointing up or both!
Matthew's newest thing is climbing and standing on top of anything at all! He climbs on stools, couches, toy boxes, and coffee tables. He attempts to climb onto beds, cribs, tables, and highchairs. He stands on books, blocks, baskets, toys, and just about anything he can fit his little foot on. His latest, and most inventive, is putting two things together and standing on those. Here he was on the front porch, trying to stand on a big cardboard stacking block. It kept caving in, so he decided to put this piece of wood (which says "The Blanchard's") on top of it. I wish I had a video of the noise he made when he accomplished this feat. He was so proud of himself! 
Unfortunately, Matt has not been feeling well over the last few days (even though he's been a trooper everywhere we bring him). He's been stuffy for a few days and started coughing pretty good over the weekend. He had a rough night last night and we found out this morning at the doctor's office that he has an ear infection in his right ear. We started some antibiotics today, so hopefully tonight will be a better night! We just watched the Red Sox get their butts kicked and are going to bed depressed...
We try to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible these days because thoughts of the long winter ahead are scary! We take lots of walks - in the stroller, the backpack, the wagon, or the toy car; we visit many different playgrounds - in Framingham, Hopkinton, Wellesley and Sherborn; and we play in the backyard - with our sandbox, our little house, and our swing set. As long as it's not raining, we get outside for at least part of the day, everyday! We've actually been known to go out in the rain once in awhile too. We even sing "Swinging in the Rain."
