A Blast From The Past

I came across these pictures on our daycare website from almost three years ago. I particularly love that half the kids in this first picture have their fingers in their noses:

Today's Matthew Gems

First, let's start things off right with a pic:

Second, let's get going with a little artistic work from little man himself:

This is a picture that Matthew drew at preschool yesterday . Matthew is on the right with a warm Mr. Sunshine beaming on and Matthew's friend Koy is on the left. And yes, Koy is five years old, with a real, live mowhawk that his mother uses Elmer's Glue to stick up all spiky and 4 inches high.

True Statements

Here are some gems from Matthew in the last 12 hours.

"Hey Shelley! What are these?" as he points to a box of tampons on the kitchen table, of course. "Um, go ask your mom." "what are they called!?!" "TAMPONS!" .... (pitter patter to living room) "HEY MOM! can I have a Pampon!" "no! play your video game, kid!"

Matthew often sleeps on the floor beside my bed, and he often ends up practically underneath my bed. Last night, I could feel his little feet pushing underneath my mattress:

"Matthew, please stop kicking my bed."

"Mom, I'm not. You must just have gas."

This kid slays me, every day. and I love him all the more for it.

A birthday is a perfect time to start!

Can you feel the love? If you can't, then you may want to check your pulse. Matthew told everyone his mommy was turning 23 today. I sure love you, Matthew. Reverse those numbers and you've got it straight.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get this kid to cooperate and smile for a picture? Let me just clue you in...

(If your nose is itching, just scratch it, dude.) (If you can't contain yourself, by all means, stick your tongue out, go ahead.)

If your mom finally gets you to smile, ain't no big thang that she's shamelessly taking self portraits in the car, in the fire lane in front of the Dollar Tree... you're too little to be embarassed, and dang it, it's my birthday, I'll take pics if I wanna!