Loyalty issues

Our nephew, Matthew, has been staying with us for the past few weeks. He spends his evenings and weekends with us, and Grandpa comes over during the day to watch him while Guy and I work. Twice this week Grandpa has had other commitments and Matthew has gone to a friend of mine’s house for the day. I was worried that he may be upset to stay there but instead has had a total blast. When I picked him up on Wednesday I reached into her truck to get him out of his car seat and he immediately reached out for her. I am so glad he is having such a fun time at her house but a little sad he doesn’t see me and immediately jump for joy. When I pick him up his face freezes and I can see a thought bubble pop out of the side of his head that says, “Shit. She’s here.”

Matthew rarely eats anything. He is very picky and if he had it his way, he would live on a diet of Cheetos and an occasional waffle. I make sure he takes a daily child vitamin and drinks one pediasure a day to ensure he has all the nutrients he needs, but I would love to get him to eat more and have family dinners with us. Well apparently the food at Kristen’s is more appealing than mine because today I got this picture:

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That is him scarfing a grilled cheese sandwich into his mouth. She says he ate damn near the whole thing. She also says he ate a pop tart this morning after I had already fed him a waffle. THEN, he asked for seconds.

Matthew also refuses to smile for the camera. The closest I can get is seeing him laugh and trying to snap a photo quickly without him catching onto what I’m trying to do. That is not saying he doesn’t smile, he actually smiles and laughs a lot, it’s getting him to do it in front of a camera. Recently, the closest I’ve come to a smile is this:

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Then today Kristen sent me this:

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Do you see the other boy in the photo with him? That is Kristen’s son, Logan. I believe he is the magic fun plant that is growing at her house and why Matthew loves it there so much. Logan is a couple of years older and I think Matthew looks up to him and tries to emulate him. Hence the eating and smiling for pictures. Hopefully he can spend enough time over there that he also catches onto going pee in the potty. Pretty please, Matthew?