So.. what's been happening you ask? Well, life resumes as per normal after our very relaxing 2 week break in Sydney and the Hunter Valley. We enjoyed ourselves a great deal catching up with friends and family while we were there. Matthew especially loved chasing 'Whoa Whoa' (our golden lab) around daily and receiving early Christmas presents from Nanna and Pop. Not so relaxing was for us was Matthew's disturbed sleep during the 2 weeks, we probably only had 2 nights where he slept through! To complicate matters, Matthew also battled a viral infection which meant fever, coughing and generally being super clingy. We were very fortunate to have had grandparents on hand most days to help with looking after him.
There are lots of pictures from our trip away... here are a couple of my favourites.
His little canines (cuspids) on the top also made a sudden appearance during the end of our stay - which makes a total of 14 teeth visible. There should be 16 in a couple more weeks with the bottom canines erupting. The next and final lot of milk teeth will be his 2nd molars and they should make an appearance at around 24 months.
We've been back a week now and I'm glad to report that all remnants of the virus seems to have gone away and Matthew almost back to his normal self. I say 'almost' normal because, he seems to be a different boy lately. He's decided that using the blocks to build towers can be as fun as knocking them down. Playing with his shape sorter used to frustrate him, now he'll patiently work the pieces through without problem and when he's done will ask me to politely 'open' the sorter again so he can start over. After months of repetition trying to teach him primary colours (red, blue, yellow...), he's just put two and two together and his gorgeous big eyes light up like he's had an epiphone! There are other little changes which I've observed too, he now suffers from separation anxiety, particularly when he's away from me. It manifested itself while we were in Sydney. Before this I used to be able to step away for hours and it wouldnt bother Matthew in the slightest. It's all part of his development the experts say, along with the temper tantrums which we've had occasion to experience as well. All part of Matthew growing up I suppose...
Over the next couple of weeks, Matthew will transition from attending JWT Playgym to Kindermusik and Duncan will take him to have toddler swim classes on weekends. Matthew clearly loves dancing, music and swimming. Come next year, Matthew will begin first term at Pre-Nursery school (Jan 4 to Mar 12).
