Spud Rules

I Can Totally Climb Out of My Crib If I Want To

2009-01-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

The title pretty much says it all for this one. I've heard Mom and Dad talking about it here and there the last couple months - wondering if I could climb out of my bed and when the time was coming that my good morning "Dada!" would be a face-to-face surprise rather than me yelling it from my room.

Well, I haven't done that yet, but I can totally climb out of my crib if I want to. For now I'm content to just stay there and let Mom or Dad come and get me when I'm done sleeping. Or put me there when I've done something they don't like. They always say "this is a Time Out", which I guess is when I'm supposed to practice yelling my head off. Kind of like the Emergency Broadcast System tests, you know?

But I can totally climb out if I want to. I'd been hiding it, but I got carried away this morning getting out of bed, when dad and I were having some fun throwing toys out of the crib (me) and throwing them back (dad). For some reason one of those giant exercise balls was in my room and I wanted him to throw it in but he seemed to think that wasn't the greatest idea. So I threw my blankie over in the corner and when he turned his head to pick it up I just hopped over the rail and climbed down and grabbed the ball. No biggie.

I think the cat's out of the bag though - Dad's a disappointingly alert guy at times, and I think he noticed that he hadn't lifted me out and yet there I was on the ground. He tried to play it off [Ed: Yes - I kind of like thinking that he'll stay in his bed if I put him there] but he was kind of looking at me funny. I'll keep you posted on what happens tomorrow morning.

Flashback Time

2008-11-25T18:46:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you've fallen victim to this, but apparently my Dad loves to take pictures of people when they've fallen asleep. He's got quite the collection, going back to college! You should really see some of the one's he's got of Mom when she falls asleep on an airplane, because she tends to sleep with her mouth wiiiide open when she falls asleep sitting up like that. They're hilarious! Just don't let Mom catch you looking at them. Oh boy, does she get mad. And then it turns into "I thought you deleted that?!?" and Dad's mumbling something about "found a backup copy" and I'm getting sent off to bed. Hey! Is it my fault that the pictures are funny?

Well, enough about Mom. I think she reads this sometimes and I don't want to give anything away. And I'm kidding about getting sent off to bed - we've got a cool bedtime ritual that we do absolutely every night. But that's just for me and Mom and Dad (and occasionally a visiting Grandma or Aunt Melinda) so we'll leave it at that.

Because this is about me! I was sick with a cold last week and I fell asleep on the couch one night. Naturally, Dad grabbed his camera. That turned into this week's Sunday Spud pictures, but it also turned into the flashback machine, because the new pictures look just like some of the very first pictures anyone ever took of me.

First Flashback: Sunday Spud #1 vs. Sunday Spud #116. See the resemblance? Granted, in #116 I've got a bit of a rash going on my face. But that's what happens when you've got snot running out if your nose all day long! I think it's pretty cool to see me at two hours old and then at 2 years, 2 months, 13 days, 21 hours old. My hair has changed, but it's still me!
Though where are my eyebrows in the first picture? Did somebody shave them? Sounds like something Dad might have done to somebody sleeping back in college... [Ed: Nope, just drew on people with markers.]

Second Flashback: One of Mom's favorite pictures of me ever from when I was just shy of my three month birthday (top) vs. the picture from this weekend (bottom). You can see I take up a lot more of the couch now, and I don't sleep spread-eagled any more. It's still me though. A lot more of me is leg now!

Election Night!

2008-11-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, this election thing seems pretty big. It's all Mom & Dad (and Grandma, and anyone else I run into on the street) have been talking about for the last couple days.

Election night is finally here, and it looks like I'm going to get to stay up late! This is so cool. Plus, I get to watch "Dinestines" [Ed: Little Einsteins] on my travel DVD player while Mom and Dad are monopolizing the big TV. Actually, that looks like the Backyardigans - one of my other discs. They're really fun too!

I got to drink all the juice I wanted, because Mom and Dad were drinking "Mommy and Daddy Juice" for the evening too. I tried their juice a little bit, but I didn't like it as much. Dad was playing on the laptop with something called Facebook all night, and every now and then he'd laugh really hard at something and Mom and I would look at him and wonder what was wrong with him now? He's always laughing at funny times when no one else is. Happy guy, I guess?

Anyway, later on, they got all excited because a guy named Obama won. I can see why - that's a really fun name to say! o-BAAAAA-ma! Obama obama obama obama. Actually, if you really want to hear somebody say that name funny, you should hear our Governator Ahhnold say this guys name. I can't do an Austrian accent very well yet, but you can probably imagine him saying "Senatuh O-BAW-muh". Though I kinda think that Ahnold doesn't like him very much for some reason. Not sure why - he seems like a nice enough guy!

However you say his name, it seemed like quite the big deal. There were people on TV crying and stuff. Grownups even! The only time I've seen that before was that one time when I ran full speed into Dad and headbutted him right in the [Ed: Okay, that's enough out of you. Stick to the topic please!]

Sheesh. Dad's grumpy this morning. It was a big night. Mom and Dad tried to explain that sometimes people cry when they're happy, but I'm not really sure how that works. I only cry when something hurts or if I'm not getting my way. When I'm happy? Not sure why I'd cry then.

Maybe I'll understand when I'm older.

Good Stick

2008-10-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

You ever get a really good stick?
Itchy has.
(Itchy is my dog, in case you've forgotten)
[Ed: Matty renamed Josie to Itchy for some reason]
She had a good one the other day, and I watched her for a little while.
And then I figured - Hey! Josie and I do a lot of the same things. We play tug-of-war with a rope, we throw the frisbee, we run around the yard yelping like crazy people, why not chew on sticks together too? So I gave it a try.

It wasn't bad. I used a little one, since I don't have long teeth like Josie. But it was definitely a good stick.

[Ed: inspired by an item from one of our favorite books: If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You - True portraits of dogs, by Valerie Shaff and Roy Blount Jr.]

Good stick.
Got a good stick.
A real
good
Stick.
Getting all the good
Out of this good
Stick
That's in
This
good
Stick.

Sit 'n Spin!

2008-10-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

I got a sit 'n spin awhile ago - I think last Christmas. Never really got too into it, other than as something to stand on while trying to reach a light switch. It's good for that. And I guess it's got some good tunes too.

But lately - I've been getting into the Sit 'n Spin a lot more. Sometimes I try doing it the way you're supposed to, sometimes I just turn on the music (all you have to do is spin it) and then dance to the music. (You can hear the music in the video below.)

But my favorite is my own special way of spinning - check out the video below. This is me doing my own lay 'n spin styley. [Note that I've got my cup of milk handy for when I need refreshment]

The Sunday Spud turns 100!

2008-10-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Spud has been going for 100 weeks now! And to celebrate, Dad figured out how to put little slide shows here in the blog post. Isn't he smart! Hope you enjoy these, and you can always see the full photo album by clicking on the links on the right hand side.

And for you smarty-pants that count the pictures and notice that there are more than 100 pictures - good for you. But you've got to understand that the slideshow updates automatically, so it'll keep getting longer every time Dad adds pictures to the slide show.

Russian Rumors 4 - Max!!!

2008-09-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but I'm a huge fan of the Max & Ruby show on TV. That Max is such a clever little bunny! Handsome too, as you can see in the picture to the right.

So you can guess how excited I was when it turned out that Dad has a friend living in St. Petersburg, and his name is Max!!! Wow! Who knew that Dad was so cool? (Max writes some of the software that Dad uses at work, in case you're curious.)

Max has a wife named Lena, and she was really nice too. For some reason that I'm not telling anyone, I re-named her "Money". That's just going to be my secret for now. But whatever I was calling them (I got Max's name right of course), they helped us be tourists for our last two days in St. Petersburg. Here's a picture of Max and Lena and Mom (and I think I'm in the stroller, but I'm sleeping, so it's not worth mentioning). They all have cups of hot wine that Lena made, which was good because it was a cold day. I only got a little taste of the hot wine, but it was really good, and Lena promised to send Dad the recipe, so hopefully I'll get to try it again soon.

It was a lot of fun! We went to the House of some guy named Peter, which was out in the country, I think because that's the only place that it was safe to build so many fountains. You wouldn't believe how many there were! It was really cool - don't get me wrong, but I think there are something like 20 different fountains in this guy's yard, and that's not counting the big one that's built into the house. That fountain is pretty neat too, though I'm a little bit worried about what the golden man at the bottom is doing to the lion - I think he might be hurting it!! You must get funny ideas when you live in a house that big.

Max said that when he was little, he lived near this Peter House [Peterhof] and that it was closed in the winter time, but there were gaps in the fence where he and his friends could sneak through and play in the fountains. He said he even got to go behind the fountains and look at all the fancy pipes that brought the water from a nearby lake. Just like something Max the bunny would do! I wonder if I change my name to Max if I'd be that cool too? It wouldn't be a big change - I've already got two of the letters!

It was a good thing we had Max & Lena with us, because once we got back to the city from the fountain guy's house, they took us to get some Russian donuts at a special shop that's famous for making the best ones in town. They were sooooo good! I think Dad ate more than his share - maybe six or so. I only got two, so I'm feeling kind of left out.

Then, the next day, we all went to the Peter & Paul Fortress, which was a kind of on an island by itself. What is it with naming things Peter in this city? Is that the only name that people use around here? Other than MAX, of course! We also went for what Max called a "student lunch" which was some blinis, and Mom got a baked potato. That was really good! And I got to sit on my own stool like a big boy.

Dad says that Max comes to our country every now and then, so hopefully I'll get to see him again

Russian Rumors 3 - I'm Very Concerned about Cats

2008-09-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

So we're touring St. Petersburg, Russia now, and it's a very beautiful city - lots of canals and really cool architecture. Dad says it looks a bit like Paris, with Amsterdam's canals thrown in. I guess that's what happens when you build a city in a swamp!

But enough about the city - I'm worried about the cats! And dogs to some extent, but I know from Itchy [Ed: Josie's current mis-pronounced name] at home that they can take care of themselves. Cats, I'm not so sure about. And I keep seeing them everywhere here in Russia - don't they have homes? I guess they're probably doing okay here - we actually got to see a kitty cat catch it's lunch one day back in Moscow which was a lot of fun, though I kind of felt bad for the little bird that turned into the lunch. And in a convent no less? Aren't those supposed to be safe havens or something. Maybe that's just from vampires.

Anyway. We were walking down the street here in St. Petersburg this afternoon and I saw a cat walking around, which is pretty much normal, but then I saw it go under some parked cars like it was going to walk out into the street! And EVERYBODY knows that you don't walk out into the street without holding Mom or Dad's hand, so I started calling to the cat "Watch out! Watch Out! Safe safe safe Oh no oh no oh no oh no!!!" [Ed: yes, really]

I don't know if the cat didn't speak English or what, but it just ignored me, and to make matters worse, Dad started pushing the stroller the other direction down the sidewalk and so I don't know what happened to the kitty.

I hope they're okay.

Russian Rumors 1 - I Love Choo-Choos!!!

2008-09-08T05:26:00.001-07:00

Quick note to start off my blogging from Russia (on my birthday, no less!).

I LOVE CHOO CHOOS!!!!!!

And by extension, I love Moscow. It seems like everywhere we go, we're taking a choo-choo, and on the really good trips, TWO choo-choos! (And on the really bad trips that leave Dad in a bad mood and staring at his map a lot, three or four choo-choos...) The best part is when they pull into the station. First there's the big wind coming, and then I can hear it, then the headlights, and then the actual train! That's when I start bouncing out of my stroller, yelling "'nother one! 'nother choo-choo!" just in case anybody on the platform missed the train's arrival (and speaks English).

Other than the choo-choos, Moscow seems like any other big city, with lots of flowers. I'm in my stroller a lot of the time, but when I get out and run around, I always make sure to stop and smell them. And chase the pigieons, of course.

I should be back with more soon - need to tell you about my birthday, assuming Mom & Dad have something good up their sleeves. And we fly to St. Petersburg tomorrow evening, so if nothing else, I'll have another airplane ride to talk about! Maybe I'll try to figure out which I like better - airplanes or choo-choos?

Dad says this reminds him of college

2008-09-01T00:32:00.001-07:00

I'm not exactly sure what that means. Or maybe I don't understand college? I thought it was kind of like my school, only with more learning, less snacking, and less playground time?

It any case, this picture makes Dad laugh, so I guess I can put it on my blog. I'm learning it pays to keep him happy!

Where did the Summer go?

2008-08-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

Wow! Did I have a busy summer. So busy that I haven't managed to sit down and type up anything with Dad (my fearless stenographer) since the end of May.

So, once again I'm just trying to catch up. Three big events:
- We went to Chicago for a family reunion with Dad's parents and brother and my cousins! We were actually outside Chicago in a place called Galena, which is apparently where Mom & Dad got married, way back a long time ago. We didn't go see the church or anything, but they seemed to think it was a big deal.
My two boy cousins (Luke & Adam) are older than me, but they were really nice and we played together a lot. They have a little sister Sarah who is just starting to walk so she didn't really keep up as much. One of the neatest things of the trip was finally seeing fireflies! I'd been reading about them since I was a little baby, and even have a special book that lights up, but I'd never seen them in person. Dad and I stayed up late one night and then went out and caught a bunch of them in a jar. That was the coolest thing ever! I spent the rest of the trip demonstrating to anyone that would watch how Dad was catching them.
After we left Galena, we went to see my Grandpa Petrow, Uncle Wes, and cousin Makayla that trip, which was really cool.

Luke, Me, and Adam (my boy cousins)

Me demonstrating how Dad catches fireflies

- Mom, Grammy, and I went to visit Grammy's dad at his lake cabin in upper Minnesota (Dad didn't have enough vacation days to go). Great-grandpa's cabin was really cool and I had a lot of fun playing at the edge of the lake. Though in general, I think I missed Dad or something because Mom says I was "quite a pill" for most of the trip. Not sure what that means, but I don't think it's good. On the plus side, I learned that if I scream long and loud enough, Mom lets me sleep in bed with her! Sadly, that only seems to work when we're away from home.

- Lastly, I had another early birthday party! It was a lot more fun this year because this year I understand what the whole present thing is about. We decided to have everybody help open the presents so that all the other kids (Vanessa, Elijah, Vera, Jessica, Chloe, Tenaya, Alyssa, and Kiernan) could be involved, but I still got to do a lot of it. I got all kinds of cool stuff!

I did a better (or worse, depending on your perspective!) job with my
cake and ice cream this year.

So are you wondering why I'm having an early birthday party again? Because we're off to Russia for my real birthday! Last year we had my real birthday on the Great Wall of China, and this year it's going to be Red Square in Moscow. No, I'm not being raised a Communist - they're just cool places to go see! Though Dad did say something about not going to another Communist country for my next birthday. I'll have to see what I can come up with.

How To Eat Mini Wheats

2008-05-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

So we were doing a pre-production meeting over breakfast for an upcoming post on the morning ritual that Dad and I have going, and it turned out that nobody on the production team knew the proper way to eat Mini Wheats. (Yes, we have production meetings for these. You don't think we just take some pictures, write the text, and throw these up on the web do you? Crazy talk!)

Once I was done instructing the production team on how to eat Mini Wheats, we decided that we should probably get a post online sharing that wisdom with the rest of the world. Can't leave the rest of you in ignorance now can we?

So how do you eat Mini Wheats? It's really quite simple - there are only the two steps:

1. Suck out the milk. There is no better milk in the world than milk sucked out of a Mini Wheat. Plus, it stops the soggy-fication process on the Mini Wheat itself.

2. Once you've sucked the milk out of all the Mini Wheats in the bowl (notice that there is no milk in the bowl), then go back through and actually eat the Mini Wheats. And Cheerios, if you've got 'em.

Oh, and I don't actually eat Kellogg's Mini Wheats - I prefer the Kashi Autumn Wheat version. But they wouldn't give any money for the product placement, so I shifted the title to Mini Wheats. Plus, "mini wheat" was one of my first five or so words, believe it or not, so I still call 'em that anyway, regardless of the brand.

[Editors note: Yes, he really does eat them this way, and yes, "mini wee" was one of his very first words. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.]

A Boy, A Dog, and a Hose

2008-05-17T13:43:00.003-07:00

Really doesn't get much cuter than this, does it?

The Zoo and My Grandpa

2008-03-22T10:09:00.001-07:00

I took my Grandpa Johnston to the zoo today! He's visiting from the Chicago area because it's cold and snowy there and I'm here.

Before Dad can jump in with an editor's note nitpicking the details, yes, he is actually Mom's Grandpa Johnston, which makes him my Great-Grandpa Johnston. Or G-G-Pa as Mom sometimes says. But really, that's quite a mouthful for everyone, and so I just call him Grandpa. All my Grandpas have different last names anyway, so why not?

Anyway, I took him to the zoo today and showed him around. Mom and Grandma Petrow came along too, since I can't drive. (Yes, my Grandma, who is Grandpa Johnston's daughter. What is this, some kind of genealogy blog?!?)

We had lots of fun showing Grandpa around. He'd never heard a lion roar up close before, and man, were they putting on a show for him. Wonder if they thought Grandpa was a threat to take their women or something? Because he could - he's a really cool old guy! He gets up and walks a couple miles every morning, which means that he's in better shape at 88 years old than about 60% of the country, regardless of age.

We also went and saw the flamingos, and I took some time to explain to Grandpa everything I knew about them. He said that they have loons and bald eagles at his lake house in Minnesota, but that's not quite the same, so he leaned over and listened patiently.

It was a really fun day!

Stop and Smell the Roses

2008-03-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you've just got to stop and smell the roses.

Or the grass, as the case may be.

Just a friendly reminder from your neighborhood philosopher toddler.

My Calamity-Filled Life

2008-03-07T02:39:00.000-08:00

You might think from reading my little stories here that I have a pretty good life. Heck - there are even pictures showing me having a pretty good life. Going to the zoo. Going to China.

But let me tell you - there are a heck of a lot of little calamities in my life too. Which I've been trying to point out to Mom and Dad here lately, but they just don't seem to be getting it. Maybe I'm trying too hard?

Is this making any sense? Let me try a few examples?

- Dropping some cereal over the side of the tray on my high chair. "Uh-oh"
- Putting on my shirt. "Uh-oh"
- Taking off my shirt. "Uh-oh"
- Petting Josie (the dog) too hard. "Uh-oh"
- Walking through the front door. "Uh-oh".
- Standing up under the kitchen table and bonking my head. "Uh-oh".
- Eating a blueberry. "Uh-oh"
- Finishing my milk. "Uh-oh"

You see what I mean? It's tough being me

The Zoo and an Egg

2008-02-18T22:25:00.000-08:00

We went to the zoo!

We went to the zoo!

Okay, okay... Dad always makes me point out that we actually go to the "Wild Animal Park" and that the "zoo" is a different thing entirely. That's what I get for being the offspring of an engineer I guess. Though I do kind of wonder how he can want to be so precise in naming things and so completely messy around the house? I mean really... Sometimes it seems like he makes a bigger mess than I do! And I'm the small boy!

Anyway. Where was I? Oh that's right, the ZOO. (Take that, Dad!)

Mom got us all annual memberships to the ZOO. [Editor's note: Membership actually covers both the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. So there!] And that means that we can go to the zoo anytime we want to! Which has been a couple times a week here lately because Mom is really enjoying seeing the lions. There is a family with seven little lion cubs! They have two Mommies and only one Daddy, which I don't really understand, but Mom says I shouldn't worry about too much. The cubs are really cool though - they are right about my size and jump around all over the place. I'd really like to play with them, but I can't get through the glass. (You can learn more about the Lion Camp at their website.)

One day on the way home from the zoo, we stopped at an ostrich farm and bought an ostrich egg. Or maybe I should say that Mom bought an ostrich egg. I don't have any money and even if I did I don't think I'd spend it on an ostrich egg. I'd buy the whole ostrich and ride it around the neighborhood.

Turns out that all you can do with an egg is eat it, which we proceeded to do the following weekend when we had my Aunt Melinda and Dad's friend John (Shiple) staying at the house. I guess Mom figure that we needed backup on eating the egg. And it turned out she was right - Dad was finishing the leftovers for breakfast all week. (Dad remembers their tour guide in Kenya saying that an ostrich egg was "a party!". Guess he meant that you need a whole party of people to eat one.)

At this point, I'll just shift to pictures, because this is one you've got to see to believe.

Mom prepares to attack with a large, heavy kitchen knife.

Slo-mo shot of the shell cracking off.

Mom finally got through! Time to dump it into a really big (12") frying pan to scramble it up.

Scramble scramble scramble (this was some hard work for Mom!)

The finished product. Ostrich Egg Scramble with ham, onions, green peppers and cheddar cheese. Pretty good, and it feeds twelve!

Matty vs. The Trashcan

2008-02-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Mom's nice trashcan in the kitchen. It's a very nice trashcan - shiny and new, or at least only a couple years old. And in case you're wondering, yes, almost everything in the kitchen is "Mom's" since she does most of the cooking in there. Though Dad did make me some pancakes using his mom's recipe this morning, and they were really good! (He says that those of you who have had those pancakes before might understand why he keeps eying my diaper fearfully today. Something about a "cleansing" from all the whole wheat and rolled oats in the recipe?)

Anyway, Mom's got a nice trashcan, pictured above.

Sadly, it's not quite as nice as it used to be.

I was cruising around the kitchen at top speed - one of my favorite things to do these days, when I tripped on something. Mom claims it was a toy that someone left laying around, but I'm not too sure about it - I think she's kind of upset about the trashcan. In any case, I tripped. And the trashcan kind of broke my fall. Or at least my head's fall.

So now there's a nice dent in the side of the trashcan.

Dad thinks that this is the funniest thing ever - that my head is hard enough to dent a metal trashcan. Personally, I think he maybe could be a little more worried about my personal well-being, but he just laughed his head off when he saw it.

He did eventually calm down enough to take a picture of my head, which didn't really look too bad, though it kind of hurt for a couple days.

Me, I just wonder where I got a head this hard, you know? I mean, it had to come from somewhere! I'll keep you posted on whether I can figure out where it came from.

I'm back! (Where have I been?)

2008-01-13T13:54:00.001-08:00

I'm sure you're all wondering where I've been for the last four months since we got back from China. Sorry I haven't been keeping up with my writing, but Mom & Dad and I have been traveling all over the country, and staying pretty darn busy. Travels, holidays, holidays during travels - we've been doing it all.

Where have I been?

- Late October trip to Chicago to visit my Great-Grandma Johnston (Mom's Grandma), since she wasn't feeling very well. I also got to meet my second cousin Will, who's just a month or so younger than I am. I showed him how to walk!
- Mid-November trip back to Chicago for G-G-ma Johnston's funeral. It was kind of sad, but I got to eat a lot of cookies, which was cool. And we got to meet Grammy Petrow's boyfriend Doug! He seemed very nice, though I wasn't feeling very well when I met him and didn't get to play with him much. And Cousin Will was doing very well with his walking.
- Right after that trip, we had Thanksgiving at home in San Diego with just a very small group, partly because just about everyone I know (including me!) had the flu. And Mom thought I was just throwing up because of too many cookies...
- Then Dad went back to Chicago (again!) for work in late November.
- Mom & Dad and I went to Washington D.C. in early December. Dad was going there for a work conference, but we also added in a trip up to Hershey, PA to visit my Great-Grandma Griffith (Dad's Grandma). We played with my cars - she held them for me and I'd come trade with her when I wanted a new car. Then we went to Washington D.C., where I met a cute little girl named Maddie (short for Madeleine), who is the daughter of some good friends of Mom & Dad - Rosemary & Terry. She was only four months old at the time, so I couldn't teach her how to walk. Mom & I spent the week touring Washington D.C.. We took lots of pictures and will get them online here sometime soon. And I'll include a link here, of course. The last item on the trip was to go visit the house that Dad grew up in in Manassas, VA. I slept through that, but the pictures look cool, and those are online already here.
- Phew! That was quite a trip!
- So we were home for a week, and then we went to Orlando, FL to visit Dad's parents for Christmas. That was a lot of fun - they have a cool house and a cool yard and even a pool! We also went and visited Ewan's house - his parent's are Joel and Jenn, and Dad has known Joel since they were my age! They both grew up in those houses you saw in Manassas. But enough about them. Ewan is a month younger than me - like my Cousin Will, so I was showing him how to walk too. He showed me how to eat! And I thought I ate a lot of food. We had a lot of fun playing, and Dad says he'll get those pictures online soon too.
- What's left? New Year's was at home again this year, and I put on my special outfit from our Christmas card. I was ready to party! Dad went to Chicago right after that for work again, and that pretty much brings us up-to-date!

Wow. That was supposed to be a quick recap! I didn't realize we'd been on the road so much. I don't think we have any trips planned here anytime soon - none that I'm going on, anyway. That means I'll have more time to keep up with my writing, so I'll be back here soon. (And Dad claims that he's going to do a better job of keeping the Sunday Spud pictures up-to-date. We still take them every week, but he hasn't been getting them posted online.)

See you soon!

China Tales 3 - A Great (Wall) First Birthday

2007-09-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

I've been alive for one whole year!

Started out just eating, sleeping, and pooping. But now I'm up to walking, talking, and flying to China! (And did I mention that I have four teeth now?)

Well as you can tell, I'm pretty excited. And that's only partly because of the birthday party that Mom & Dad threw for me today. I mean, life is pretty good here in China, seeing as how I'm the most popular person wherever I go and all. But today, my parents really topped themselves. Almost makes me think that Mom planned this whole China trip around today?

What'd we do? We went and walked on the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China. THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. And this is just my first birthday?!? I'll say it one more time - The Great Wall of China. I mean - how cool is that?!?

There's not a lot more to tell, - I'll let the pictures below tell the rest of the story. We came, we took a ski lift up to the Wall, we saw, we partied, we climbed stairs (okay, Dad did most of the climbing for the two of us), and we took a tobaggon ride back down to the parking area. That's right, a tobaggon. A small, wheeled sled that Dad and I sat on top of. Dad had a brake (which he used a bit too much in my opinion), and that was our only control for a five minute ride from the top of the mountain where the Great Wall is back down to the parking area. Pictures are below, and probably shouldn't be viewed by the more safety-conscious among you. Dad actually took video too, but we haven't gotten that online yet.

Before we get to all the pictures (which are also in Mom & Dad's China photo album, in case you're curious), I should get to the matter of the cake. We had a small piece of pineapple upside-down cake that Mom bought in a little shop with us when we were partying on the Great Wall. But then later that night when we got back to the hotel, they had a whole real birthday cake with candles and icing and everything waiting for us! Man, was that a cool hotel. So we had some cake, sang a little song, and then I hit the sack.

But man - what a birthday!

I'll let pictures tell most of the rest of the story.

Mom, Dad, and me, on the Great Wall:

Dad is great at climbing stairs!

Tobaggan time!

Mom got this last one as we headed off down the hill

China Tales 2 - Livin' Like a Rock Star

2007-09-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

We made it to Beijing safely and found our hotel, which is this totally cool, authentic place off of some tiny alleys, which they claim are actually the local streets in the old part of town, but I know an alley when I see one, and this is an alley. But that was cool - the room has this fancy four-poster bed with orange silk hanging all around - totally awesome! Starting to think that Mom & Dad might be okay to travel with after all.

The next morning it was off to see the Forbidden City. Which I think we saw, but I was surrounded by my adoring fans for much of the day, so it was kind of hard to tell.

I mean - I got some of this in Hong Kong, but here it's just gotten ridiculous! It started when some lady on the city bus gave me a little stuffed animal. Then we were walking from the bus stop to the Forbidden City and people would come up and say hi and want to take pictures with me. And then we got to the Forbidden City itself, and it was just a mob scene. Take pictures with them. Let them touch my leg and say "how chubby". A couple ladies wanted to hold me even, but I kinda drew the line at that and let my feelings be known on the matter.

I mean WOW! Now I know how Brad and Angelina must feel. But at least people aren't always tryng to grab their cheeks and stuff.

So Mom & Dad adopted a strategy of keeping moving, which seemed to work pretty well. Saw the Forbidden City in record time, and then it was over to Tian'anmen Square, where they let me out of the backpack and turned me loose. Another mob scene! It's been kinda funny and kinda wierd, but overall it was really cool to see that stuff.

That evening, after some napping, we went to a local restaurant that the hotel recommended and had some amazing Chinese food. Pork something something, some chicken something something, a corn, pine nuts, and cucumber dish, and the best fried rice that Mom has ever had. Great stuff!

Then it was back to the hotel for more sleeping. All theis adoration can really take it out of a person, you know?

Today it was off to the Summer Palace, and more of the same. I tell you - these people can't get enough of me! Maybe we can go someplace more secluded tomorrow.

China Tales 1 - A Bit of a Rough Start

2007-09-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

I'm off to China with the parents in tow. We're doing well now, but we got off to a bit of a rough start I'm sorry to say. Kind of makes me wonder if I chose the wrong people to take this trip with - we'll have to see how the rest of the trip goes.

Things started to go awry when we got to the airport and realized that there had been a slight AM vs. PM mixup on reading the flight times on the tickets. We were 12 hours late for our flight! Details details. But Mom showed her traveler's stripes then, and in a move worthy of the Amazing Race, got our tickets changed for a flight the next day, but then got us on standby for a flight that was only an hour or so away. Lots of running back and forth between the Delta and Korean Air ticket counters ensued, but in the end, we were off!

The flight was okay - I got to watch Shrek the Third and some other animated movies along the way, so that was kind of neat. Though there was no sound at my seat? Not sure if it had something to do with those things Dad kept sticking on my head, but they were so uncomfortable, I don't know how anybody else was wearing them. Anyway, I slept a little, but not a lot, and so my the time we reached Seoul, I wasn't quite feeling myself.

To cut a long story a little shorter, we caught our flight to Hong Kong, and made it to the hotel without any difficulty, just before midnight local time. I slept a little bit then, since it was dark, but helloooooo - it's the middle of the afternoon as far as my body is concerned. Prime party time!

That led to me and Mom and Dad wandering the lobby of the hotel at about 5:30 am (local time) in search of some fun. Dad spotted a coffee and tea service and thought that sounded good, and I agreed. He poured me a cup and set it on a low table and went back for something else [a lid to the cup], and naturally I grabbed my tea off the table. But there was no lid on it yet, so I spilled it down my front.

Boy, did that hurt!

Well Dad snatched me up, muttered something about that not being my tea after all, and we raced for the bathroom for some cold water, flinging off my monkey backpack/leash and shirt as we went.

Well, again, to cut a long story slightly shorter, by the time we got to the bathroom, I had a broken blister the size of a silver dollar and a couple of other really red spots on my tummy, and so it was off the the emergency room we went. My first trip to a hospital since I was born! And let me tell you - if you're ever going to have a medical emergency in a hotel in a foreign country, make sure that its the InterContinental in Hong Kong. They sent someone to the hospital with us to translate and facilitate, and we were in and out of the emergency room in about an hour. Try doing that in America! And thankfully, this being Hong Kong, lots of people spoke English at the hospital anyway.

The prognosis was pretty good, actually - keep the blistered area covered with gauze pads, give me children's Tylenol, keep the area dry, and I should be pretty much good as new in 5-6 days. I'm a fast healer at this young age!

I'm glad to report that it has been uphill from there. Literally! Back to the hotel for a nap, and then off to see see Victoria Peak. I was feeling fine, so it was into the backpack on Dad's back. Minor difficulties there with finding the base of the tram - Dad thinks we might have walked halfway up, and then back down before we found it, but it really wasn't that bad, beacuse there are these cool outdoor escalators. San Francisco could use some of these! (Though you'll notice that Dad was still pretty sweaty by the time we made it.)

After seeing the sights and getting some lunch at the peak, we headed back down and then got in some more napping. Lots more napping. In fact, believe it or not, I fell asleep in the Saddle on the walk back to the hotel! They woke me up for dinner, but then it was down for the night, I'd had a pretty eventful day after all!

Anyway, today its off to Beijing for five days. And yes, I double-checked the flight times with Mom. I'll write more from there!

My Parents Understood Their First Word!

2007-08-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of them!

I was starting to wonder if they really could talk. I mean, I hear them making sounds all the time to each other, and sometimes they even seem to be directed at me, but their vocabulary seems to be pretty limited. I think they can say "no", and I think they've learned my name finally, though Dad continues to use a pretty wide variety of words when referring to me. (See this earlier post to see what I'm talking about.)

But I digress. Mom and Dad have finally understood their first word in Matthewese! They've figured out that when I say "Da", I'm referring to Dad. It took them awhile, but eventually they noticed that I'm usually looking at Dad when I say it, and I don't really say it much while he's away at work, unless he happens to come up in conversation with other kids.

So that's good. But the sad part is that they seem to be such slow learners with respect to Matthewese vocabulary. Like often when I say "Da", Mom will respond with "Ma", which doesn't make any sense at all. Why would "please pass that cantaloupe" be a good response for "Dad"? I mean, he does have a big round head, but other than that it doesn't make much sense.

Stay tuned for more vocabulary. Maybe now that they've got their first word down, things will go a little faster?

Speaking of vocabulary, we're off to China on Saturday! Stay tuned for updates - I'll try to get online over there whenever possible.

Dad says: "Mingtian women yao zuo feiji qu Zhong guo"

Which actually means "we fly to China tomorrow", because he doesn't know how to say "day after tomorrow" in Mandarin.

Zaijian! (goodbye)

Birthday cake?

2007-08-22T10:47:00.001-07:00

Me? Eating birthday cake?

What makes you say that?

Why? Do you have some?

Know where I can get some more?

Err... I mean...

I've heard it's good, is all.

Kids talking at the playground and stuff.

Okay, so yes, maybe I've had some birthday cake.

We had a little party this past weekend to celebrate my first birthday, since I'll be in China for my actual first birthday. I'll get some more pictures and stories from the party online soon.

Just as soon as my brain cells stop vibrating.

The Sunday Spud has moved!

2007-08-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

47 weeks in and we're running out of the free storage over at Flickr. Man, those guys are cheapskates! What kind of world have I been born into? Isn't there supposed to be free e-mail, free blogging, and free photo galleries as far as the eye can see?

Thank goodness for Google. If you click on the Sunday Spud links over to the right, they'll take you to the new home of the Sunday Spud.

Dad says that he'll get all my old (non-Sunday Spud) pictures moved over there when he gets a chance. Mom advises against holding your breath on that one, though I'm not entirely sure what she means by that. I haven't tried holding my breath yet - I wonder what that'll feel like?

Dad chimes back in to say that he'll at least get new pictures of my adventures online at Google/PicasaWeb here soon. Mom didn't have any comments about breathing on that one, so I guess you can breathe however you like.

Walking Is Easy

2007-07-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Just put the Saddle on Dad, and away we go! What's the big deal that everybody's making about learning to walk? I think the only hard part is getting Dad to go where I want him to. I tried doing like we saw cowboys doing on that TV show - where they'd nudge the horses with their knees to get them to go left or right, but all I could reach was the frame of the Saddle, so Dad wasn't too responsive. I did get his elbow a couple times, but that just made him whiny, and he still didn't turn. I think I need a Dad Whisperer or something to get him straightened out.

Plus, he kept hogging the tube to the Camelbak, so I was thirsty all day. (The reservoir sits between me and his back - pretty cool!)

As for walking without Dad's assistance, I'm doing pretty well with that too. I think my current record is 19 steps before I fall, but I was moving pretty quickly at that point and my stats-keepers aren't 100% sure on that number. In any case, I've definitely got the whole "First Steps" thing out of the way.

Speaking of "First Steps", you wouldn't believe the issues I had with Dad on that one. People would ask him if I was walking yet and he'd go off on tangents about "well... what exactly does 'first steps' mean? Can he be holding on to somebody's hand? How many steps does it have to be to qualify?" Leave that up to the engineer to clutter up a baby's milestones. Thankfully, I think we can all agree that we've got that out of the way at this point.

Oh, and speaking of milestones, I'm up to two teeth now! Got a matched set - one tooth on top and bottom of my front teeth. And man, did it hurt when I bit my hand - you could see the teeth marks for a couple hours. Got to remember to only bite other people's hands.

They call me "Matty One-Tooth"

2007-06-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing the words "he got his first tooth!". Not entirely sure what all the fuss is about. I know there's something different going on with my lower jaw - I keep sticking out my tongue to feel what's going on there. Maybe it's a "tooth"?

Also, people keep sticking their fingers in my mouth, and I'm not entirely sure that this is a good thing. I mean, I'm all in favor of my fingers going in my mouth, and anything else that I think is small enough, but why does everybody else think they should stick their fingers in my mouth. Don't they have mouths of their own?

[Editors note: No pictures yet, because it just barely broke through the gum. Looks like the top two front teeth aren't far behind.]

In other news, Mom & Dad made their first call to Poison Control. Very exciting! Wasn't anything too bad - I was taking apart a humidifier that was sitting in the corner of their room since Dad had his cold last week and I found some funny smelling stuff (Vicks Vapor something) in a tiny cup inside the humidifier. And like I said - I'm all in favor of sticking small things in my mouth. Boy, did that ever taste bad! Fortunately, I spilled most of it on my shirt, and there was only a tiny bit left anyway, so no harm done to me. (Poison Control said I'd need to have gotten a whole teaspoon before anyone should worry.)

Does this mean I can buy beer?

2007-06-14T15:07:00.001-07:00

I've got a passport now! Not really my best picture - I thought the camera guy was going to count to three and then take the picture, but he took it on three. So now I'm stuck with this picture for the next five years.

But that's okay - the other kids at the library reading (play) group are totally impressed. One boy thought that this meant I could buy beer now, but I'm not so sure about that. Besides - I don't think any of us could get a bottlecap off anyway.

Why do I have this? Mom and Dad are plotting a trip to China for my first birthday present. Apparently I'm going to be taking a stroll on the Great Wall of China on my birthday. Personally, I'm thinking that this is just as much a present for Mom for everything she's been through in the last year, but I'm game -this should be fun! Dad is attempting to learn some Mandarin (Chinese) for the trip - he's still cranky from a trip to Kenya a couple years ago when he felt like not speaking Swahili was a huge disadvantage in various negotiations so he's decided to learn as much Mandarin as possible. He says he's doing pretty well with it, but its all Greek to me.

Dude! Check me out!

2007-06-05T22:21:00.001-07:00

I'm standing!

I'm standing!

I'm standing!

For at least a couple seconds here!

Quick - get a picture!

Man oh man - once I get the hang of this, there's no end to the trouble I can get into.

Cleanup on Aisle 6

2007-05-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

So yes, I'm sort of feeding myself now.

And yes, that leads to a lot more cleanup time after feedings.

And no, I'm not remotely a fan of that cleanup time. But man are those chicken sticks good! (They're kind of little mini hot dogs.) I'm not so good with the cooked carrots yet - they tend to end up very mushed on the way to my mouth. Cheerios are no problem, though they tend to end up stuck to my chin once I get things really messy. Who knew that oat flour plus baby saliva = glue?

Also, if you look near my hairline closely on your right. No, my right. Left? Thanks for that one dad... (He doesn't know his left from his right either...) Okay - your right. Near the part, okay? Anyway, you can see the remains of my first good bruise. Nothing too terrible, though at the time I was screaming like my head was about to cave in (and dad's eardrums nearly gave out) - that bruise was just the result of me tipping over near a table leg and clipping that on my way down to the ground. Aahhhh... the perils of learning to walk! I'm "cruising" quite nicely now, but actually letting go and standing on my own tends to lead to me sitting (on my own) in rather short order.

That's it for now. We're on our way to Chicago this weekend to visit family, so I'm sure we'll have lots more pictures and stories after that.

Something is different...

2007-04-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

The careful observer may notice something slightly different about Dad's Sunday Spud picture this week. (The full physique one, not the head shot.) I asked him to reproduce it here so that we could discuss some of the changes.

First, there's the obvious one that I have clothes on this week. (Hopefully you do realize that this isn't the first time in my life that I've had clothes on.) I figured I was going to have to stop showing off my amazing body at some point, and this week seemed as good as any...

Since there's that other minor change that I'm not taking this laying down anymore! It's time to stand up for my rights! Or at least my pictures. No, this isn't a trick photo, I really can stand up by myself already. Or at least without help from any people - I'd be in big trouble without that ottoman behind me!

That said, I've got a whole new repertoire of tricks - crawling all around the house, sitting up by myself, and pulling myself up to standing. (Mom & Dad are looking pretty worried these days...) That's it for now, but I'll be back shortly with some more tales of my adventures now that I'm going mobile.

Mama Didn't Raise No Punk Rocker

2007-03-11T21:58:00.000-07:00

But thankfully my SuperNanny Carmen and Dad have more of an appreciation for the finer things in life (like mohawk hair-dos).

Ahhh... really takes me back, to six months ago when I got my first mohawk. Dad tried to duplicate that picture (from the warming table, just hours after I arrived in this world) below. I've got my eyes open this time, but I think it works pretty well - you can definitely tell it's me!

So yes, I'm now six months old (as of March 8th - Dad's a little slow getting my writings online sometimes). I'm still rapidly expanding, though I might be slowing down just a tad. I only added 1 inch and 2 pounds in the last whole month - now 28.5 inches and 21.5 pounds. Mom says I'm moving on to some solid foods soon (and you can see that in a recent Sunday Spud, says Dad) but so far I'm enjoying the formula wayyyy more than the rice cereal. Dad says he's tried it and has to agree.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

Mmmm.... Valentines! I sure do like valentines. Thanks go to my neighbor Elijah - he gave me my first valentine, and boy was it ever tasty. Mom & Dad thought that I might need to apologize to Eli for eating his valentine, but I figure that he's still a little kid and so he'll understand. They took it away shortly after taking these pictures, saying something silly about construction paper not being good for my tummy. Ridiculous! Everything is good for my tummy. How else could I be growing as fast as I am?

Speaking of growing. Check out the picture below with Mom. I think I'm almost half as tall as her now. This was taken a couple days ago on my five month birthday. I'm now tipping the scales at about 19.5 pounds and 27.5 inches. Yes, I'm going to be too big for my car seat soon. Do you think I'll get to sit up front like a real person then? I'm kind of getting tired of going backwards in the car - I sure hope that my next seat lets me face forward.

News Flash: Feet discovered at ends of legs!

2007-01-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

Stop the presses! I recently made an amazing discovery: There are feet at the end of my legs! Will the wonders never cease?

It was a great day. Dad had put me on the changing table to do something or another (he claims that I'd soiled my diaper but I never saw any proof...), and suddenly I saw these things flying around in the air above me. Naturally, I displayed my cat-like reflexes and grabbed ahold of them, only to discover that they were attached to the end of my legs!

I already knew that I had knees - I'd been grabbing them for awhile, and using them while I'm on my tummy to try to scoot around (no luck there yet). But now here's these things down below the knees?!? Well, I'm not one to argue, and as you can see from the picture, I'm not one to let go either. If those guys are available, I'm grabbing them! I think they might be what I'm standing on when I practice standing, but frankly, I'm not sure since I can't look down or else I lose my balance. Maybe they're useful for something other than just grabbing with my hands?

Yes, I have a thingy on my forehead

2007-01-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

And no, it's not because my dad dropped me. (Not yet, anyway...)

I enterered the world with this nice one, though it was partially covered by my hair back then. Sadly, my hair fell out, so everybody's been staring at this for the last month or so. Anyway, it's called a strawberry hemangioma and it was getting bigger for the first couple months, but Mom & Dad think it's getting smaller now.

Dad thinks that the doctor said that it was going to keep getting smaller and should be gone by the end of the year or so, but he's not really sure because I was busy howling for food while the doctor was explaining that. (Doctor didn't stand a chance.) So he's not sure what she said, but you can believe that he's not going to leave the house without formula again anytime soon! (You can bet that neither Mom nor my Supernanny Carmen wouldn't have made that mistake...)

Identity Crisis

2007-01-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

Dad seems to be a little confused about my name. So far, he has referred to me as:

- Matthew
- Matt
- Mattie
- Spud
- Spudley
- Flappy
- Squirmy
- Sir Poops-a-lot
- Stinky
- Stinky McStinkerson
- Mr. Stiffy (Stop it. That's when the bottle is interrupted. Arms and legs out. Arch Back. Bottle comes back. It's like magic.)
- Fish Boy
- Beefy
- Mr. Ed (when I'm stomping my one foot in my bouncy seat)
- Mattie-pan

Do you think he needs help or something?

Oh. And it's my four month birthday! Wondering why Dad calls me Beefy? 17 pounds, 26.5 inches. I'm Huge!

I slept through the night!

2006-11-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

Mark the date folks: November 7, 2006. Just shy of my two-month birthday, slept from 10:30pm to 7:30am the next morning. A replay:

- Dad's alarm went off for him to get up and go to work
- Dad: "Did you get up and feed him in the middle of the night?"
- Mom: "No, didn't you?"
- Me: "[thumb sucking sounds]"

So Dad came to check on me:
Now I'm not guaranteeing that this is going to happen every night. Heck, Mom & Dad aren't even sure that I didn't spend an hour or two screaming in the middle of the night - an extra glass of wine with dinner can lead to missing minor details like that. But hey - extra beauty sleep is always a good thing, even when you're as cute as I am!

Belated Visitors Post #1

2006-11-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I got behind. I'm having enough trouble keeping up with Dad taking the Sunday Spud pictures every week.

Actual date of this - 9/24/06 or so.

So I had some visitors here at the house! Strangely, as much as they were happy about the visitors, Mom & Dad only took pictures of a couple of them. Go figure.

We'll start with my Aunt Melinda and her boyfriend Ely. Cool folks - they've been around a couple times now. Ely is a really funny guy, but he seems to be slightly sad these days because of something called "UCLA football".

Of course my Grandma Petrow is here whenever she can fit me into her jet-setter lifestyle.

Then Preetam came for a visit, and brought food for Mom & Dad to boot! It's a real shame that she and Jim are moving to Atlanta. Heck, I've never even met this Jim Sawyer character, though his name seems to figure prominently in some of Dad's favorite stories. (Jim was out of town the weekend Preetam came by.)

After that (and you'll forgive me if I have this sequence off - I'm still coming to terms with the whole concept of time), our neighbors the Frandsens came by. The Mom and Dad at their house are named Eric and Joanne, and they've got two little children - Elijah, who is 3 years old, and Tenaya, who had her first birthay in mid-October. I didn't get to see Tenaya when they came to visit, because she had a slight cold, and apparently my immune system isn't quite working yet. Details, details. But I did get to go to her first birthday party, even though I don't have any pictures to prove it. My first big coming-out party and Mom & Dad didn't even take a camera?!?

Finally, to finish this catching up post, Mom & Dad finally got out their camera when our friends the Lu's came by. That'd be Henry and Elaine, and a little girl who's just a little bit over 1 year old name Chloe. Henry & Chloe had a picnic on the couch while I hung out with Elaine. They're really nice!

That's it for Belated Visitors Post #1. Stay tuned for more to follow !

I'm outta here!

2006-09-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

(The hospital that is...)

Here's me leaving the hospital with Mom.

So yes, I'm afraid I'm a bit late with this post, since I left the hospital a week ago. I'm almost two weeks old already for crying out loud! (Which I can do quite nicely, thank you very much.) See, there were actually a few minor complications after I made my grand entrance, like Mom needing an emergency hysterectomy (whatever that is) due to some major hemorrhaging (whatever that is) after the delivery (I know what that is - that was my grand entrance!).

As you can see, I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but apparently the gist of it is that I'm going have Mom & Dad's full attention for quite a long time, unless they go off and adopt a sibling for me. I gather that Mom nearly died, but I'm thinking that that's because of the vampire bite (look closely at the above picture) she got on her neck more than anything. As you can see, I'm not buying Dad's stories about IVs and blood transfusions - I know a vampire bite when I see one! Apparently she's supposed to have a pretty quick recovery (like a C-section, whatever THAT is) now that she's out of the hospital. As long as she doesn't turn into a vampire, of course.

(In case you're wondering about why I'm just mentioning this now, Mom didn't want me to have to share the limelight for the big announcement. Isn't she great?!?)

Anyway, we got back to the house on the Wednesday after I was born, and we've been getting settled in since then. Mom's been making a speedy recovery, and is even fitting into some of her clothes again, as you can see in the picture below. For awhile there, I thought her entire wardrobe consisted of hospital gowns. Which is cool if that's what you're into, but I'm given to understand that my Mom is a snappier dresser than that.

Anyway, now that we're getting settled in here more, I'll try to get a little more regular with the posts. At very least to tell you, my adoring public, about new pictures that are up in the photo albums.

Which reminds me! Dad has hatched this new project he's calling the Weekly Spud. He wants to take two pictures of me every Sunday - one portrait shot and one of my entire awe-inspiring physique, and post them up on the photo albums. There are currently just two pictures of each (I'm only two weeks old, see), but it should be cool as time passes. (Dad freely admits that he got the idea from the guy doing the Daily Photo Project. That guy has taken a picture of himself everyday for about eight years! Check him out at his website. Though I've got to warn you - he's got a pretty scary mustache right now.)

That's it for now. I'll talk to you soon. And now that we're starting to get out and about, I'm looking forward to meeting you all!

Hi! My name is Matthew

2006-09-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hi! My name is Matthew Brann. Thank you for coming to see me.

I was born yesterday, September 8th, 2006, at 11:40 pm. Sure, it was a week late, but I've got all my parts in working order, and am told I'm cute as a button. My parents tell me that that means I'm an exact combination of Dad (the procrastinator) and Mom (the perfectionist).

Tale 'o the tape?
Weight: 9 lbs, 9 oz
Length: 21 3/4 inches

The nursery staff is a bunch of comedians. When they saw me, after they finished ooh-ing and ahh-ing over how cute I was, they said that two-month old babies were down the hall. Hah!

Well, it's been a trying couple of days, so that's all I've got to say for now. Please come back and see me in a couple days - I'm sure I'll have more to say soon. Also, be sure to check out the "Photo Album" link over on the right side. That takes you over to Flickr, where you can see a bunch more photos of me. Because it's all about me!!!

"Now?"

2006-08-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

"Not yet, Spud. Be patient. Look at a picture. This'll be your room."

Last ultrasound

2006-07-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

We went for an ultrasound today! Mom & Dad were peeking in on me again. They figured out my secret weapon for kneeing Mom in the ribs - my be-hind! They figured out that I'm kind of on my side - arms and legs to Mom's right, back along her left side.

Then Mom went to see the doctor lady and the doctor told her I was a lot bigger than before - in fact I'm no longer a barely-above-average size. I'm quite large! She's hoping that means I'm long and skinny like Dad was, because the alternative doesn't sound too appealing...

Gettin' started

2006-06-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

My first post.

This is my dog!

Her name is Josie.

Dad says this picture was taken when she was a pup, before she grew into her tongue.

I wonder if I'll have to grow into my tongue too?