The Kind of Things Nathan Does When He’s Bored

He’s in His Prime!

Matthew has turned eleven! Although sometimes I forget how old he is because he small for his age, he really is on the cusp of being a young man!

As usual, we had a threefold celebration. We celebrated with my family last Sunday. It was also the day we celebrated Chinese New Year so Matthew opted for Chinese almond cookies rather than cake. We did arrange them in a big eleven and we even stuck candles in them. Matthew, who is determined so show everyone that he really isn’t a little boy anymore, even lit his own candles…although he did accidentally blow a bunch out when he blew out the first match. 😉

Matthew’s real birthday was yesterday and we had a little celebration at home. We stacked up doughnuts, lit some more candles, and sang again. We also gave him his presents. He got a little Bluetooth speaker, BYU socks and  BYU football jersey from Kevin and I, a new set of ukulele strings from Nathan and a ukulele stand from Malia.

Today he had a shindig with some of his besties. He wanted to go bowling so he invited a handful of cronies and we fed them lunch and cupcakes before Kevin took them to the bowling alley. Easy party for me, fun party for Matthew!

I remember that when Matthew was born, I thought I had boys all figured out. I already had two so adding another to the mix would be no big deal, right? I also recall that Matthew totally threw me for a loop. He was, and still is, his own person. His interests are different from both Daniel’s and Nathan’s and he has his own way of doing just about everything. But honestly, it is a good thing. He is stubborn and determined and doesn’t let much of anything get in his way. He is forging his own path and is the child that reminded me how to laugh. I love him for that. I had gotten far too serious by the time he came around and he made every day an adventure. He has been an amazing addition to our family and in spite of the struggles that have come along with all his allergies, I definitely wouldn’t trade him for someone else.

It Was a Love/Hate Thing

Over the past few years, Daniel and Nathan have gotten a lot braver about trying new foods and have discovered that they like many of the new things they try. Matthew is also a bit braver, but still errs on the side of caution. Malia is still firmly in her picky food stage as well as her allergen induced caution. As a result, I was enormously surprised when she actually agreed to try several new (to her) things this evening. The first was wontons, which got an enthusiastic thumbs up. The second was a piece of gau (which I love and which is totally weird to anyone who wasn’t raised on it). She was enthusiastic at the outset but quickly decided that it “isn’t right.” I was fine with that, proud of her for at least trying it. I thought she had finished it but was proven wrong when I discovered ten minutes later that she was still holding it in her mouth. I gave her a napkin to spit it out and then she moved on to Chinese Almond Cookies.

So gau was a no go, but she loves wontons!

Apparently, Santa Chose Just the Right Present This Year