The Office

Mateo has been very talkative lately. He has to put his two cents in about everything! He gets a very serious look on his face when he's trying to convey an especially important point. ;-)



He's also a little giggler these days...it's pretty darn cute!



Today, Mateo and mommy met Kaye for lunch at the Taste restaurant at the Seattle Art Museum. They stopped by for a chat with Ambika and Clay, and then visited everyone at mommy's office. They were excited to see how much Mateo has grown!

This week, Mateo also went to PEPS to discuss language development (he's practicing as we type).

New Friends

Mateo has been spending lots of time with friends lately. On Friday, he went to Alki with Makayla, Jack and Aunt Kris. Makayla showed off her scooting prowess on her princess scooter while Jack and Mateo put their mommies at their beck and call. Everyone lunched at Alki Bakery.


Aunt Kris gave Mateo lots of hugs.


Later that afternoon, Mateo made his first of several trips to Ikea with mommy and daddy in search of a daybed for the office. He became quite adept at navigating the "Accents" section.

Mateo helped daddy work this weekend. He is quite the little typist. He, mommy and daddy made another trip to Ikea on Sunday and finally got some furniture! Sunday night, he met Jen for the first time. She was visiting from Boulder.



Today, Mateo met Nate and Denny and spent some time with Ryan in their new house in North Seattle. He's excited to spend more time with his new friends!

Surfin' USA

Mateo loves the Beach Boys. When his mommy sings "Surfer Girl" or "Surfin' USA," he giggles and squeals. He also loves playing airplane on his mommy's knees.

Today, Mateo lunched with Brooke and mommy at Nordstrom Cafe downtown. He refused to take a nap, but he held off from fussing to make a good impression.



After lunch, mommy took Mateo home to meet Lacy. She was visiting from McCall, Idaho. Lacy, Mateo and mommy went for coffee at Cafe Ladro and took a long walk at Lincoln Park. It was such a beautiful day!

Valentines and Everything After

Last Friday, Mateo's grandparents and Aunt Kelsey came over from Wenatchee to see him. Aunt Kelsey went out with friends, and Mateo's grandparents entertained him while his parents went out to dinner at the Stumbling Goat.

He bounced with Grandpa on the yoga ball (one of his new favorite pastimes).


Valentine's Day was very eventful. First, Mateo brunched at Endolyne Joe's with his parents, grandparents, Aunt Kelsey and Tasha. He wore his special puppy love shirt and the pink socks his Grandma gave him (don't tell Grandma, but he probably won't wear them again ;-)).




After brunch, Mateo went with Grandpa, Grandma, mommy and daddy to the Seattle Public Library. Grandpa wanted to peruse old directories to find the address of HIS grandparents. They left the library and went to the West Seattle Cemetery to see if Mateo's great-great-grandparents' graves were there. That was a bust, so the group drove to Marine View Drive to see the spot where Mateo's great-great-grandparents lived when they came to the Seattle area from Wisconsin (via Dawson, among other places) in the 1930s. It was a very educational day.

On Sunday, Mateo met up with Uncle Bryon and Aunt Mary at Luna Park Cafe. Sadly, cousin MacKenna wasn't with them, but he enjoyed himself nonetheless.



Mateo got some more horsey time with Aunt Kelsey before they went back to Wenatchee.


Yesterday, Mateo tried out his spin garden for tummy time.


He and mommy took the dogs for a walk.

Today is a mellow day. Mateo and mommy plan to go to the drugstore to get daddy some cold medicine. Other than that, they will relax at home.

Mateo Is 3 Months Old!

Mateo is three months old today!!! He's been making fun, new cooing noises lately, grabbing at his giraffe and ring toys, and babbling up a storm. He easily rolls front to back now, and can push himself up on his hands while laying on his tummy. He's been showing off his stellar head control lately, too! What a big boy!

Mateo's friend, Shawn, came to West Seattle today for lunch and a nice, long walk at the beach. First, mommy, Mateo and Shawn had lunch at the Luna Park. After a big lunch, they went for a 2 hour walk on the path to Alki beach. Shawn bought coffee at Alki Cafe for he and mommy while Mateo napped in his stroller.

PEPS Ahoy

The weather in Seattle has been really wonky. Yesterday, Mateo planned to meet some babies from his PEPS group at the movie theater in Columbia City to see "The Reader." He donned his Heartbreaker t-shirt for the occasion. However, a couple hours before the movie, it started snowing!





Thank goodness Aunt Kelsey made a trip to Seattle to entertain Mateo on the snowy day! Instead of the movies, Mateo played with Aunt Kelsey and made some fun trips around the table (stellar views of the light fixture).



Mateo also had some quality time with his beloved Stim Mobile. He spends oodles of time looking at the mobile, talking to the pictures, smiling and kicking around.



Today, Mateo woke up early (unfortunately for mommy). He played on his mat and grabbed at his Sophie Giraffe toy. He even got the toy into his mouth a few times to gnaw at it!



He played horsey with Aunt Kelsey, took an extremely short nap (30 minutes), and then got ready to head out to PEPS group.



At the group, Mateo played with the other babies while the mommies talked about keeping your relationship healthy.



Randomly, (especially after the freak snow storm the day before), it was warmish and cloudlessly sunny today in Seattle. As a result, after PEPS, Mateo and his friend, baby Patrick, took a walk with their mommies at Lincoln Park. Another busy day for Mateo!

Manic Monday

Yesterday, Mateo spent some time at home doing laundry, grocery shopping on Amazonfresh, and resting. Okay, okay - he napped while mommy did laundry and grocery-shopped...but he was kind enough to take an actual, honest-to-goodness nap instead of his usual 20 or 30 minute faux "fooled you" nap.

He and mommy also read lots of stories yesterday. Mateo's special copy of "Miffy Va a Nadar" arrived yesterday, and he couldn't wait to hear more about Miffy's travails in Spanish.

Sunday night, Mateo slept 9 hours straight! It was amazing. That marked the second night in a row that Mateo gave mommy more than 8 hours. He's such a good boy! Last night was a 7.5 hour night, but still phenomenal. Hopefully, this is a trend?!

Weekend in Los Angeles

Mateo has a lot to report in this entry. Last Friday, he got up very early and took his first plane trip to Los Angeles to meet all his relatives and see his Auntie G and grandparents. He did well on the plane flight. While he decided to nap for only 45 minutes, he was able to rest on the empty seat between mommy and daddy.



Upon arriving in L.A., he spent some time with Aunt Mari, Aunt Lola, Grandpa and Graminoni. He got lots of kisses and hugs.





When Mateo's other aunties and uncle Ray arrived, it was a free-for-all! Mateo felt like a star fending off flashbulbs and paparazzi!



In L.A., the sun finally came out and Mateo went for a walk with his grandparents, had lunch at California Grill, and walked around the mall with Auntie G, Grandpa and Graminoni. He thoroughly enjoyed himself!



Later that afternoon, Amy made the trek from Woodland Hills to see Mateo. He and Amy visited for a bit then mommy and Amy went for a cup of coffee and to catch up.



On Sunday, Mateo took his second plane trip ever to head back to Seattle. There wasn't a vacant middle seat, so Mateo's mommy held him the whole time. He was a little fussier this time, but he made it! When we got back to Seattle, we went down to Southcenter for dinner and to exchange a present from Mateo's Aunt Nena that was too small. Mateo had lots of fun in L.A. and misses everyone. He knows he'll see them soon!

Bellevue, Baby

Mateo had a great time today hanging out with Auntie Kris, Makayla and Jackson at Bellevue Square. He shopped 'til he dropped, and then Makayla, Jack and Mateo went to Build-A-Bear workshop and created some new stuffed friends! Since Mateo is a little monkey boy, he got a little monkey friend.



After BAB, Kris, mommy and the kids lunched at Nordstrom Cafe. Mateo was really tired, so he and mommy went home for a nap. Tonight, Mateo needs to pack for his trip to L.A.! The plane leaves tomorrow morning, bright and early!

Busy Bee

Whew! Another busy day. This morning, after hanging out on his play mat, Mateo's mom cut his fingernails for the first time. Mateo was calm throughout, though his mommy was a little freaked out by it. Those are some tiny nails!



After the nail clip, Mateo got dressed and he and mommy went to the mom and baby group (PEPS) to play with the other babies and talk about brain development. He got to see some of his little friends - good times!

After the group, Mateo decided to take advantage of the sunny day. He bundled up, collected mommy, and they took a long walk to Target and got some travel essentials. Mateo got a little fussy in Target - he agrees with his Grampa Juan - it's just too quiet in that store! Where's the music?!

Look Ma, No Hands!

Finally - Mateo gets to use his Bumbo! He's holding his head up so well, and he wanted to show off his skills by trying out the Bumbo Babysitter this afternoon. Just look at him go!

Sunny Days

Mateo had another busy day! He's becoming quite the social butterfly. In a last minute decision (after foregoing a trip to the DMV), Mateo and his mommy went downtown and surprised Ambika, who he hadn't seen since right after New Year's Eve. He was even kind enough to let mommy and Ambika catch up, since they hadn't chatted in so long. We went to a restaurant called Mexico. While he didn't partake of the food, he quite enjoyed the fancy light fixtures! He also did some more shopping to prepare for his first airplane trip to Los Angeles. He's excited to see his aunties and grandparents!





It was a gorgeous, sunny day in Seattle, so Mateo convinced his mom to go for another long walk. As you can see, he loved it!

Walkin' Shoes

Today, Mateo went shopping and took a nice, long walk with mommy down to the playfields. It was in the mid-50s, bright and sunny! He got some snazzy new clothes today, since he has already outgrown his 0-3 month stuff.

Mateo decided that he would only nap for one hour the entire day to keep mommy on her toes!

Little Reader

Mateo likes to read! He especially likes his Miffy and Poppy books, but he likes all sorts of stories. He thinks it's entertaining when his mommy uses funny voices for the different characters.

Leader of the Pack

Mateo loves his Dutch and Dexter! He has two doggie friends who live with him and like to hang out. While he's not quite big enough to play with the dog boys, soon he'll be able to terrorize them! ;-)

Superbowl Roll

Yesterday, Mateo went to Kate and Brandon's to watch the superbowl. He played with his friend Ryan (or rather he watched Ryan toddle around). It was lots of fun!

This morning, Mateo rolled from front to back 3 times during tummy time! At first, it seemed like an accident, but he repeated the performance twice more!

Lincoln Park

Yesterday, Mateo brunched at Luna Park Cafe (he had breastmilk while mom and dad enjoyed some tasty eggs) and went to Lincoln Park to enjoy the beautiful, sunny, and somewhat warm weather! Despite the sun, he bundled up in his teddy bear hat for the excursion. He wanted to show off his smiling abilities as well!

Wenatchee or Bust

This past week, Mateo was in Wenatchee hanging out with his grandparents and Aunt Kelsey. It was a fun week, and being with the grandparents allowed Mateo's mommy to get some exercise and have some mommy time. While in Wenatchee, Mateo did lots of fun things, like lunching with the ladies, shopping, looking at the light fixtures (a favorite activity, and there are plenty of interesting ones on Chatham Hill), and doing some flying Wallendas with his grandpa. On Wednesday of last week, while watching his grandpa make some seriously funny faces and noises, Mateo giggled for the first time! It was the excitement of the day! We're pretty sure it wasn't gas. ;-) All that activity required a nap to refuel.