Dear Matthew
I just had to quickly jot this down. Because it was a real 'my kid will never do that because I'm the perfect parent' failure. And it's funny.
We were out the back and I was trying to hussle you inside so we could take Soda to the park. I picked you up to speed things up but somehow managed to drop your dummy while doing so. Without thinking I said 'shit!' It wasn't done loudly, just a passing comment at the situation. And lo and behold, what comes out of my little parrot's mouth but a very certain 'shit'. And I couldn't very well tell you off about it because hash tag hypocrite. So I just laughed silently to myself and carried on. I figure I don't swear often so I doubt you'll say it again but if you do I can only blame myself (or your dad, but mostly he just screams obscenities at the tv when the Eagles are playing).
Speaking of surprising language, you also tried to sing row, row, row your boat to me tonight and have a vocabulary of about 120 words (I stopped counting at 100). Not bad for 18 months! Not surprised we raised a chatterbox though, and over the moon about it. I love being able to communicate with you! Makes life so much easier. You're also starting to acquire quite a few two word sentences such as 'all gone', 'some more' and 'where's gone?' So proud of my little genius :)
Love you monkey Matthew,
Mum xxx
P.S. Random (mostly) recent photos below. Just because.
Dear Matthew
Every night before we go to bed, you and I head into the bathroom to brush your teeth.
I've tried to make this a fun time, because it's never easy to brush a toddler's teeth and so I've tried to associate it with laughter so that you'll be more willing to oblige me sticking a toothbrush in your mouth and moving it around everywhere! So I tickle you and we giggle lots. I've also taught you to make an 'aaahhhh' sound so that you open up nice and wide.
For some reason you like to hold every toothbrush that we have in the house while we do it (about six, don't ask me why we have so many in a three person house) and like to brush my teeth for me while we're at it too. You also like to stick your head under the tap to drink water and always come up smiling :)
Hopefully all this teeth cleaning prevents any cavities building up, especially around your lip tie.
Thanks for being a fun teeth-brusherer. It's so nice to have a good laugh every night before we settle down for cuddles and ni nise.
Love you Matteus,
Mum xxx
P.S. The bruises and scratches in the photos below are from when we were playing out the back and you refused to let me help you down the stairs. So I went down them to play with Soda, turned around a second later and you were at the bottom of the stairs on your back, whoops!
Dear Matthew
I'm not sure if I've told you about 'The Joy of Quilting' previously, but it's our family quilting group with family members from all over the world which was formed in honour of your great grandmother (grandma's mum). Her name was Joy and after she passed away we all decided to create a family Christmas quilt that would be passed through the family, with a patch made by each member who would like to contribute. Once everyone had finished their patch for the family quilt we decided to keep the tradition going by making more patches for more quilts. Starting from the oldest member, we each chose a theme (eg. Home, under the sea, equality, cats and dogs, butterflies and flowers) and each of us makes a patch towards that person's themed quilt (I hope this is making sense!).
Anyway! A couple of weekends ago Aunty Steph hosted us at her house in Yunderup for a quilting weekend. There was quite a few of us- Aunty Steph, Uncle Bruno, grandma, gramps, Lisa, Lily, Alex, Joseph, Leo, Joey, Kate, Dusty, Anna, Aunty Robyn and you and me. Lucky you got to play with the twins, Alex and Lily on Aunty Steph's blow up castle while us adults sewed like crazy.
I managed to get 2.5 patches completed (I'm about two years behind so have a bit of catching up to do but I'll get there). As a group we finished/mostly finished 22 patches. Not bad really! But the best part was catching up with our family, just sitting next to each other and talking. And thinking how much grandma (your great-grandmother) would have loved it.
I wish you had known Joy. She was the real matriarch of the Haynes family and I miss her. The last time I saw her was when I made a quick trip up to Port Hedland in 2011 for her 89th birthday (it was to be her last). I remember walking out of her room at the nursing home and she shouted 'I love you all!' to which we replied 'We love you too'. When we go to Port Hedland in August I'll show you where her spirit calls home.
Love you Matty,
Mum xxx
