Five Favorites: Matthew Edition

This edition of "Five Favorites" is all about Mr. Matthew and the things that currently make him giddy. This post will be linking up with many other wonderful blogs at Moxie Wife.

Matthew is our vivacious, energetic, and incredibly stubborn first born. This crazy little kid likes to get up early in the morning and chatters/runs around/drives his parents crazy pretty much nonstop until he finally passes out from exhaustion around bedtime. Lately, Matthew's five favorite things have been...

1) Trains. Matthew loves everything and anything to do with trains. The obsession began on his 2nd birthday when a dear friend gifted him with a Thomas the Train playset. Ever since, this little toddler will squeal with excitement at the sight of train engines, freight cars, train tracks, and anyone resembling Mr. Conductor. He sleeps with his trains and is convinced that his Daddy works at "the Dieselworks."

2) Pretzel M&Ms. Out of all the candy we have been using to try to entice Matthew into using the potty on his own, nothing has gotten his little behind into the bathroom quicker than these little chocolate-covered pretzel nuggets. Unfortunately, the second we finished off the bag, his potty training seemed to take a few steps backwards. We might have to pick up another bag at the store so our lazy son will try a little harder to familiarize himself with his porcelain throne.

3) Mr. Potato Head. After playing with this vintage toy at a friend's house a couple months ago, little Matthew has been enamored with Mr. Potato Head. We ended up buying him his own as a "gift" from Baby Emma shortly before her arrival and ever since then, the creepy thing has been a staple on his nightstand. He is very specific about how he wants Mr. Potato Head's face arranged. He wants nothing to do with the glasses, orientates the nose upside-down, and carefully places the eyebrows just below the eyes almost as if they were meant to be an odd little mustache. He gets very perturbed if anyone touches or tries to fix the facial arrangement he has carefully selected. Oh, and he does not call it "Mr. Potato Head." To him, it is a "Veggie Tale Head."

4) Hot Dogs. My child eats a disgusting amount of hotdogs. He begs for them whenever we are at the store and now that it is grilling season I am running out of excuses not to get them. They are cheap and he turns up his nose at most other meats. Plus, it's a super easy, quick dinner to just chuck in the microwave, nuke for a couple seconds, and then toss onto a plate with a couple carrot sticks (the vegetables make it a perfectly healthy meal, right?). The first time Paul grilled hotdogs for Matthew, the kid ended up consuming four. For the record, I was not present to temper his consumption and Paul got an earful for it later.

5) The Beach. Matthew has come a long way from that tiny little baby who was deathly afraid of water. Now, his favorite place to hang is the beach. He loves to dig in the sand, throw rocks in the water, look for fish, and chase seagulls. As soon as the weather started to finally warm up after a chilly winter season, he got out his little green plastic bucket and shovel and asked me: "Mommy...I go the beach?" I could not resist. We all packed up and headed to the beach even though it was still a nippy 58 degrees. The little kid dug in the sand and tossed stones about until my frozen toes could not take it any more. I may have had to drag him back to the car. The kid just does not realize that he has many, many beach days ahead of him this summer.