Mattimeo (age 4.5)
Favorite foods: yogurt, apples, chocolate, blueberry crepes, cookies, apple sauce, mac and cheese, ravioli and bunny-o's
Favorite music: Dragon racing music, Twenty Trucks music, Life is a Highway, Planes Fire and Rescue music,
Favorite things to watch: How to Train Your Dragon movies and shows and Wild Kratts
Favorite books: How to Train your Dragon Series, My Father's Dragon Trilogy, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Popper's Penguins, The Magic Tree House Series, anything by Dr. Seuss, Super Duck, well any book in our house pretty much. Both of these kids are avid readers.
Mattimeo has grown into a confident little boy. He is able to express himself well, he's empathetic and kind, sometimes fiery (he's working on not bursting into flames so readily), cautious, immensely curious, utterly imaginative, inquisitive, funny and goofy, and so full of love and snuggles. I love this little boy and can never get enough of his antics, the adventures we play out together, his desire to be held and hugged, and his love of learning. He is really starting to love the school part of homeschooling and daily asks if we can sit down and do some school work. He has been learning a new letter each week (we are at U now, so we are nearly at the end). His artwork is becoming less abstract and more construed (still very simple and heart-meltingly adorable). He is constantly sounding words outloud phonetically to try to figure out which letter they start with, and makes sure to have me point at the words as we read books. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually started reading soon. He's easily memorizes books, poems, and songs and recites them quite dynamically. He likes to help around the house by feeding Mobius every morning and night, clearing of his spot at the table, helping to put away toys and books, and sweeping. He chooses his own clothes almost everyday and his favorite things to wear are his superhero shirts, the monster pants I knit for him, and his comfy pants. He started taking professional violin lessons a couple weeks ago and has been doing a great job about practicing everyday...even on days when he doesn't feel like it, and is already beginning to learn his first song. He is continuing to do Martial Arts and has grown more serious and focused; you can tell he is trying his best and wants to learn. He just has such a fun time in that class. He's been having a little time away from us each week at his friend Noah's house so that he can practice being independent...he does awesome with this. As a toddler, Meo tended to be more of a quiet and independent player, though he got along fine with others. Now, with friends that he likes and is comfortable with, he is confident and outgoing. He tends to take leadership roles but is also open to suggestions. He can still be quiet around people he doesn't know or doesn't connect with as well, but I am the exact same way...and he still talks and has fun with these people. But it's really beautiful to see him around his best of friends. It is especially to see Link and Meo play together. They can really communicate and play together well now and sometimes will for hours at a time. They play trucks and make believe. Meo makes up games and Link follows his lead. They have their battles and screaming matches of course, but the majority of the time they are the best of friends and attached at the hip.
Link (age 2)
Favorite foods: yogurt, cheese, bananas, raisins, applesauce, cheez-its, mac and cheese, blueberry pancakes, blueberry crepes, muffins
Favorite music: French children's music, Twenty Trucks music, Mike Doughty, music together cds, classical music
Favorite books: Any book about planes, trains, trucks, or cars (Goodnight Construction Site, Little Blue Truck, Trains by Byron Barton, etc), our collection of French books (especially Ours Brun Ours Brun and the Little Pim animals book), alphabet books and counting books, Super Duck, hmmm well he actually just love all the books. He will just hand us every book on the shelf until we tell him it's time to do something else.
Link is a mover! Usually the first thing someone says when they meet him for the first time, or if they hadn't seen him in a while is "boy, he's fast". That he is. When we take walks in the forest, Link is always the trail blazer these days, with me walking briskly behind, calling back to Meo to catch up (Meo is always busy being imaginative and often is engaged in adventures with sticks and climbing various rocks). Link is very busy, curious, and outgoing. So whenever we go places, he's quite fearless. He jumps rights in and starts doing all the things (Meo is more cautious so this has been an adjustment for me). He easily plays with other kids. Link loves to be silly and laughs lots and lots. He also can be quite firey and has started a "NO" phase which I could do without. We usually respond with "NO THANK YOU!" to which he generally appeases us. He can run and run and play and play and go and go without slowing down. It's pretty impressive really. This means at night though, ever since he was a wee newborn babe, he could almost never just be laid down to sleep. He needs help to be still! In the afternoon he falls asleep held in my arms while I read chapter books to Meo. At night, Robbie wears him down in a carrier. Whenever I put him to sleep without holding him, he always insists on taking my hand and holding it against his chest. He just really wants that pressure of being held still. As you can imagine, with all this activity there was a point where I feared he would be such a physical being that he would be hard to teach with things like books. But, very happily, I was wrong. There are two things Link really sits still for. Snuggling/nursing and reading/school. He LOVES books. Short board books, super long picture books...he even enjoys listening to the chapter books I read Meo while he drifts off to sleep. Half the time he runs over to me it's with a book in his hand that he wants me to read to him. A fun thing nowadays is that Meo has a good number of books memorized and will help me out when I am busy making a meal by telling Link "I'll read that book to you" and Link is content to sit with his big brother and be read to. Meo knows the books so well that he corrects me when I misread pages sometimes. I'm so happy that both of these boys are so passionate about reading. It's incredible. And although Link is only 2 and I am certainly not doing any formal school stuff with him, he loves helping Meo with his school work and has been picking up on lots of things. Like the alphabet. He's kind of obsessed with pointed to the letters in all the words he sees and trying to figure out what the letters are. The crazy thing is, he's right at least 50% of the time. I have not been pushing the learning of letters on them...it's just something they've really gotten excited about and ask me to do with them a lot lately. Another cool thing about Link is that he's really into learning French. We started a little "French class" in our house with some friends recently. We've only had two classes and already Link knows all his farm animals in French, understands when I ask him questions about those animals in french, and is singing several French songs. Which makes me realize I need to correct myself. There is another time Link sits still...when I turn on his French music or some classical music he is really into he will just sometimes sit down and listen intently for long stretches of time. Meo has been doing great with his French too, which is very exciting. Link is just especially interested because he initiates practicing and reading and singing in French often throughout the day. Link is a joy. He's starting to show his ability to be truly empathetic and gives the most wonderful hugs and is will do kind things to appease his brother...sometimes. He certainly stands up for himself when he feels he needs to as well. I love when he asks to hold my hand when we go places together, and how he always wants to snuggle on my lap when we read or watch a show. The last thing I will mention about Link right now is how much he loves animals. Both of the boys love animals. Meo loves to learn about animals and look at them, admire them. Link does all those things but he also loves to make contact with them. He is always the one with his hand out ready to hold the salamander I found under the log and he gets excited to pet the dogs we meet. Meo is a little more weary. This might just be indicative of their very different personality types though. I love how much they love animals though!
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