When we got home, and I was taking him out of his car seat, he said, “Want a piece of meat?” Interestingly enough, Woody says this line to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, but of course, the line is “Want a piece of me?”

When I replied, “No, I don’t want a piece of meat.” He responded with, “Want a piece of cheese?”

Matteo is doing very well with his potty training. He wears pull-ups every day and sits on the toilet or stands next to it to do his business. Though we are quite pleased with his progress, he is still working on mastering the poop part. Sometimes we make it, sometimes we don’t.

Matteo turns two in a couple of weeks. Has it really been two years? In May, Christopher turns four. Time certainly flies…

Christopher seems to have hit a milestone of his own. He no longer throws a fit when we go to school in the morning. Of course, now that I write this, he will regress. Ugh. Seriously, though, he has been very mature about it.

Here is a recent family photo…

Christopher: “May I have some jelly beans, Daddy.”
Dad or Daddy: “No.”
Christopher: “But why?” or “Why not?”
We take this opportunity to explain that you cannot eat jelly beans for breakfast, or lunch or every day for that matter.

This morning, while Mike was getting dressed and I was getting Matteo dressed, Christopher said he was “going to play a little bit.” Yet, he was very, very quiet. I realized pretty quickly what he was doing. As I called to him, Mike went to the living room to find Christopher sitting on a chair eating jelly beans. We threw the bag in the trash. I know…we are terrible Dads. Whatever…

When I entered the living room, said goodbye to Mike, who was departing for work, I turned to Christopher and said, “you cannot eat jelly beans for breakfast.” He looked at me and replied, “I only ate two, Daddy” as if I was making a big deal out of nothing.

Smart kid…

We have been waiting for this day; it has arrived. We are looking to the incessant “why not, Dad (or Daddy)?” eventually to be followed by the ever popular, “Because I said so!”

Yes, we are turning into our parents.

Fortunately, at the moment, he seems to be satisfied with our responses to his inquiries.

Christopher, Matteo and I made a few video clips to send to Uncle NeNe hoping to guilt him into a visit. I put three of them together to share…

Pizza sickness from Mike and Michael on Vimeo.

With Christopher’s probable-but-less-likely case of pneumonia and less-likely-but-more-probable ear infection and chest cold and Dad’s and Daddy’s bronchitis, we have neither had time nor the energy to document Matteo’s first steps. We captured a couple of steps on video, but by the time Mike and I started feeling well, Matteo was walking more and more.

After returning home from the doctor’s office this morning, Matteo was cruising along the furniture to get from one place to another. As he neared the end of the family room, he let go. He walked from the family room to the kitchen – about 10 feet.

Huge milestone… Are we ready?

Anticipating Matteo to wake, expecting a bottle.

Yesterday, we fed Matteo the last bottle from the last can of powdered infant formula. For the last month, we have been mixing 1/2 formula and half milk in anticipation of this day. Today, we plan to implement the switch to an all-milk sippy cup. He drinks water from a sippy all day long. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Waiting…

Today, Matteo took his first BART ride into San Francisco to meet Dad for lunch. The platforms were quiet, the trains were empty, and the ride was quick.

What is it with babies/toddlers and their affinity for remotes and phones? Clearly, Matteo has the idea of what the remote does, but he cannot seem to get it to work. In time…