As I mentioned before, every year, while on vacation, the boys seem to hit new stages in development.  I’ve also mentioned in the past that Matthew had been slow in his speech development and is very difficult to understand, at times.  During this years vacation, it seems, Matthew has taken huge strides in this area.

In the week before heading to Wildwood, Matthew would eat and eat and eat, giving every indication of a growth spurt.  Well, it seems that new areas of his little brain have suddenly turned on (this is the best way Andrea and I can describe it).  Not only has his speech been significantly clearer, but he is using a bunch of words he never used before, he is putting together very long sentences and putting together some very clear thoughts.  In addition, he has suddenly become scared in the dark, makes us close his closet and doesn’t like to be left in a room by himself, all indications to me that he has developed his imagination more.

One of the side effects of him talking more (and a week of vacation where the boys were constantly together) is more fighting between him and Benjamin.  They have gotten into full blown arguments on a range of subjects.  Ben is use to not having to compete with anyone to talk, but now Matthew has become more of a chatterbox and it has frustrated him.  It has gotten to the point where I had had to tell them both to just stop talking to each other because they couldn’t agree on anything.

It is very exciting to see Matthew “wake up” and has been loads of fun.  Andrea and I have been recording him because it is so cute and fun.  (I intended to post those recordings here, but I need to upgrade my account with WordPress first and I haven’t had a chance to do that.)  It really warms our hearts because it has been worrisome, at times, wondering if he would ever become easier to understand.

One of my favorite quotes from Matt came out of this.  Matthew did a project that included silhouette stickers of different sea animals.  Ben kept trying to tell Matt that the different animals were not what they really were because he has a new interest in certain animals.  So, for example, Ben really likes Sperm Whales now and kept saying, “Lets pretend the shark sticker is a whale.”  Matthew didn’t like that because he picked out the stickers because they were animals he likes.  Well, finally, Matthew yells to me, “Benjamin isn’t trusting me.”

When Ben tried to defend himself, Matthew replied, “Your not trusting me.  All you are doing is keep talking and that’s not fair.”  Very cute.

Also, Matthew has taken to replying to questions with “Yup” (pronounced Yee-UP) and “Nope” (Noop).  Very cute.