Friends and Family Friday--Matthew

This is my Matthew. This child was (and still is) such a suprise! I don't mean that we didn't know he was coming--I mean his HUGE personality and all of his "Matthewness." How do I say what I love about him in just 10 entries??? I'll give it a whirl!
1. Matthew is full-on, full-blast, all Matthew, all the time. He doesn't do anything half-hearted. He truly gives everything he does 110%. I could go on and on about this personality trait, but he amazes me. In a way, it reminds me of my dad, because he is much the same in this characteristic. Matthew is such an amazing boy (I know--I'm his mom) and I love him. I don't think that everyone "gets" this about him--just how much he feels about all that he does--how he really puts himself into what he's doing. I don't know if I'm saying this very well, but it's been quite an amazing experience to watch him grow every day.
2. This kind of goes with #1, but Matthew has an incredibly strong will. This has definitely made life interesting, and I have NO idea where he gets this from (uh hem--sarcasm here). I know that this will serve him well in his life, but it can be a challenge to "shape" it constructively at times.
3. He has always been interested in cars, wheels, and transportation in general. When he was a baby--before he could talk, I'm thinking around 8-12 months old, he would sit in the back of the car and watch all the other cars, just watch and watch and watch. When he was able to start manipulating things, he would lay on the floor with his head right on the floor to get as close to eye-level as he could, and move the wheels of anything--the pack n play, the rolling cart, his vaccuum cleaner--anything. When I got him his first toy cars, it was like heaven. I still have those two cars and pictures of him playing with them. Now, he has at least 100 cars and loves them just as much. He knows every single one, and needs certain ones at certain times. He still loves to watch cars and knows all the manufacturers and their symbols. Again--I could go on and on. He has the same sort of love of airplanes and LOVES to fly. When he gets to fly with Mike and Todd, I think he might explode from happiness. This has been so fun and amazing to watch.
4. He loves his family. He prays for everyone every night. The sweetest thing I've ever heard is Matthew saying at a totally unexpected time "I wuv you, Mommy." and giving me a huge hug.
5. He's protective of Molly. (First of all--THANK GOD--I hope this continues FOREVER and EVER!!!!) Now, he can be rough with her, pick her up and carry her, even smack her now and then, but if another kid even gets close to her, he's RIGHT there. There have been a few times that we've been out playing and someone goes up to Molly. He'll run over and say "that's MY baby sister," pick her up and bring her to me, or take her far away from them.
When we're driving, I look in the back seat and they are almost always holding hands. He hugs her and kisses her and "pets" her all the time.
6. Now this one, I KNOW he gets from Mike, because they are exactly the same in this: whatever Matthew is thinking shows right on his face. If he doesn't like something, you know it--it's right there on his face. There is no lying, no need to talk--all I have to do is look at his face and I KNOW what he thinks.
7. He's hilarious. I'm talking seriously funny. This child will be the class clown, I am sure. He loves to make people laugh, and when they do, watch out. He's gotten all the encouragement that he needs. In our nighttime routine, Matthew says his prayer and then he wants me to say one. One night I said "God, thank you so much for Matthew's funniness. He makes me laugh every day." When I said that, I could literally FEEL him swell with happiness and he said "Thank you, Mommy!" with such enthusiasm, it was precious. He loves, loves, loves to be silly.
8. One of his favorite things to do is lay in bed or on the couch at night, cuddle, and watch a show (right now his favorite in the whole entire world is Scooby Doo). I LOVE it! He loves to get a blanket and snuggle up and watch. I don't even really watch the show, I'm just sitting there in utter happiness because he's letting me love on him.
9. I love the little quirks in his speech--just the way he says certain words. Like "orange" is "ornge," "sprinklers" are "sprinkuhlers," "Fuddruckers" is "funworkers," etc. It's just cute and so Matthew.
10. OK--he's into potty talk. I really discourage it, ignore it, pretty much do anything I can to have him not do it, mostly because it's not good in public. BUT--I secretly think it's hilarious. He'll insert "poop, poopie, poo poo, and poo" into anything possible. One day, he was talking about going to the grocery store, and then he said "let's go to the poo poo store." He stopped and kind of thought for a minute and then said "Well that would be quite a store!"
I love him, love him, love him more than I ever thought possible. And I thank God every day that I'm his mom.