Matthew's dictated letter to Santa (and I quote):

"Dear Santa,

Can I please have a crane for Christmas? A crane for worker men. I don't want a crane, I want a fire truck.

Can Zachary please have a baby ducky toy?

Daddy wants a sled.

Mommy -- she wants a green farmer hat.

Santa wanted a sled.

Daddy wants a digger for digging in the snow. I want a digger too. I want a crane too. I want a roller truck from Santa. I want a boat from Santa -- in my tub for playing.

A good Santa. Thank you, Santa."

~ Matthew, 3 years old
Nov. 27, 2006

After nursing ZJ this morning, Matthew approached and demanded that I feed his special teddy bear, Green Bear as well. I declined this request, so Matthew proceeded to nurse Green Bear, himself. What a special little boy!

IT'S SNOWING!!! Which means I'm like a cow to a salt-lick...just can't get enough of it! And boy does this just fuel the fire that is Jenny and the Holiday Season!! Mike said yesterday that he actually feels 'sorry' for Thanksgiving -- no carols, not too many decorations, sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, it totally gets the shaft. I feel on the other hand, that Thanksgiving is wonderful because it's the kick-off for the holidays! In case you were unaware, I'm just a wee bit of a Christmas nut. It is a part of myself that just cannot be denied; my Christmas-obsession plays a vital role in making up the essence of Jenny, the Jenessence. And Matthew, I am happy to share, is beginning to experience this excitement for himself. Yesterday, Matthew practically drooled with anticipation standing at the gate in his room during 'quiet time' while Mike and I were out in the living room putting out decorations. Matthew kept calling to me, "How 'bout I get on my apron [that he wears when helping in the kitchen, you see] and come and help? It's OK with me. I'll be all done with quiet time now and help? It's a good idea? It's OK with me!" He is my kid, after all.

Zachary expresses his excitement in a different way -- howling like a howler monkey. Now, I've never actually heard a howler monkey, but I imagine it would sound something like our excited (rather vocal and teething) nearly seven month-old. It is not uncommon for Mike or myself to break out into applause in the middle of a meal -- Zachary will stop screaming mid-howl if someone starts to clap; it's the funniest thing. We had some friends over for dinner the other night, and apparently Zach was not receiving enough attention [the kid LOVES a crowd...focused on him, and him alone. He is my kid, after all.], so conversation was sporadically interrupted by a cacophony of spontaneous clapped cadences. Never a dull (or quiet) moment in the Martin household.

We've joined a gym, and I'm FREAKISHLY excited about it! In case you aren't quite in-the-know (or live in a cave sans la television) it's been a bit rainy in Seattle lately, and therefore I haven't been able to run outside for quite a while. Now, don't think that joining a gym was just an impulsive commitment, we've been planning on it for some time -- that it would actually be my Christmas present. But we realized that to really make it worth it (and to help my mental stability), we'd join sooner rather than later. Thankfully, we got a great deal and I couldn't be happier about it. They have a phenomenal Kid's Club too (definitely a selling point) -- complete with a separate baby area, a huge padded play structure, pretend play kitchen, etc., and of course lots of great trucks (a requirement). And this is how impressive the childcare people are: I set Zachary down in his car seat and put the diaper bag on the floor next to him while I got Matthew all settled in with the trucks; upon returning to Zach, the diaper bag was gone. I asked Lisa, one of the child care peoples, where my bag was, and she said, "Oh, we moved it up on to the shelf since the shoulder straps are a strangulation hazard." Yeah! That's what I say -- you TELL me I'm being unsafe! Anyway, I'm (obviously) just a tad excited about the whole scenario. Perhaps, the most exciting aspect of this whole situation is that our memberships come with five sessions with a personal trainer for each of us. Mike mentioned that he'd be prefer if I had a female trainer if possible (while I really don't care either way just want someone who will be good for me). Anyway, when I sat down with the manager to schedule our first training sessions, he recommended that we get matched up with a trainer based on personality and time availability. So, here's the irony: I've been paired up with a large dude DeShaun and Mike was paired up with a petite little gal Rachelle! Now, apparently because Mike played varsity football he knows everything there is to know about fitness and weight-lifting and (I roughly quote), he 'doesn't think a personal trainer could push him any harder than he pushes himself.' I've been assured that Ms. Rachelle will kick his butt, and I can't wait to hear about it! :) I met DeShaun and he's AWESOME! -- super nice and funny. I have my first session with him on Monday, so we'll see how it goes. This past Monday, I got up at 4:50am (what was I thinking?!) and attended my first ever hour-long spin class (again, what was I thinking?!). About 20 minutes into this intense stationary-cycling class I thought I was either going to hurl or pass-out and tried to determine which would be less embarrassing. At any rate, I survived and somehow was, thankfully, still able to walk afterwards.

We've got us a big-boy-underpants wearing boy!!! Matthew has stayed dry for the last several days, so we finally took the plunge and went underwear-shopping. I'm sad to report that Matthew was fairly disappointed with the selection of truck-themed unmentionables. He eventually settled on some Bob the Builder themed but without much excitement or enthusiasm. In the end, he has been pleased with his selection. He put on a pair and, walking backwards up to the full-length mirror in our room, exclaimed, "Bob on my bum!" with a pat-pat on his rear to solidify the deal. So far, we have remained accident free; though I'm sure it's only a matter of time. We haven't ventured too far from home just to be safe. His latest response when I ask him (100 times a day) if he needs to go potty is, "No, Mom. Not yet....not yet." He's doing very well though and it's very exciting!

Poor Zachary has not had such an exciting week. His first tooth did cut through on Halloween (more of a trick than a treat), and at his six month check-up yesterday, the little pumpkin received five shots plus his flu shot. Ouch! He took it like a champ and pretty much slept the day away afterwards. He weighed in at 14 lbs. 10.5 oz. (10th percentile for weight) and is 28 inches long (90-95th percentile for height)!! He's one tall and thin boy. The doctor was pretty amused by how active he is (jumping on my lap and giggling away while he was examined, not really holding still...at all). The doc. wished me luck (oye!) and said that he wouldn't be surprised if Zachary is crawling and cruising by his 9 month check-up. He also surmised that this little kiddo's going to keep us plenty busy!

Well, we survived Halloween with only one major incident of scarring-for-life trauma. As we were leaving a house where we had just trick-or-treated, another crew was coming in and Matthew looked up into the face of a very scary monster-mask-wearing boy. Our poor child let out the most horrific scream and just started to sob and shake all over. We got him calmed down and reminded him over and over 'it's pretend...it was just a boy in a costume' etc. Once Matthew could talk again he said, "that monster boy really freaked me out. He was totally freaky." Dr. Phil is now on speed dial. Anyway, he came home and went poo-poo in the potty...guess he literally got the crap scared out of him! Poor sweetie. He's been doing well on the potty front though and got to pick out some big boy underpants at the store today. He went with Bob the Builder though he was disappointed they didn't have a more truck-themed selection to choose from.

Zachary is a nonstop drooling, teething machine. He celebrated Halloween with his first little dagger tooth finally breaking through his bottom gum. What a treat!