matthew tricks

Matthew has a few new tricks -- climbing and clapping! He now climbs on everything, with his favorite being the kitchen table, because this is where he can really wreck havoc -- especially around meal time when the table is all set and there's food to be had! He also likes to hurry and escape the confines of his high chair after a meal so that he can crawl up there and get into everyone's leftovers. This drives me crazy! Since he already knows how to push chairs around, I am really dreading the coming day when he puts together pushing chairs around and climbing -- nothing will be safe then! He also surprised us the other day at the park when he quickly climbed the curvy ladder to get to the slide! Quite frankly, we've been lucky that he hasn't discovered climbing earlier since he's been walking around for months and has been plenty tall enough and limber enough to climb.

His other trick is clapping. Not that this is new, of course, but that he now claps for himself whenever he does something good! For example, after he throws his diaper in the trash (which he loves to do!) he claps! When he puts a toy in the toy box, he claps! When he brings us his shoes, he claps! When he eats a cracker, he claps! When he gets told he's being a good boy, he claps! You get the idea. Clap for yourself! This is a pretty cute trick, so I hope clapping stays around for awhile, unlike climbing the kitchen table...