pretty picture

Andrew drew this beautiful picture for me. He sat down at his table and started asking for his colors (or collers as he says it), so I set him up with some markers and a piece of paper. I fully expected him to color anything but the paper (like he normally does), but I let him be and went into the kitchen. A couple of minutes later I hear, "Mommy, Mommy! I color! I color!" as he ran up to me and gave me the picture. It was so sweet!

Look-alike Meter

I won! I won! My baby looks more like me! It has been officially settled, thanks to http://www.myheritage.com/ (and my friend Reagan who put this on her blog).

Andrew's first month of preschool

Andrew's teacher, Miss Bethany, takes pictures during class and emails them to the parents so we can see a little of what they did while they were there. I love that!

These are the pictures that Andrew showed up in. I only have pictures of the 1, 2 and 4th days (he only goes once a week). There weren't any good pictures of Andrew from the 3rd day. If you click on the collages, you can get a closer look at the pictures.

September 3rd - first day! Is Andrew doing yoga on the rug?


September 17th

September 24th

(I had to crop a couple of kids out of the last picture, so Andrew would fit into the collage.)

Have you ever bitten into a crabapple?

After repeatedly asking Andrew not to put the crabapple in his mouth, I finally gave up and used this opportunity as a learning experience.

Here he is picking the perfect crabapple...



...and here he is after biting into the crabapple. He's trying to get the crabapple and the horrible taste out of his mouth.


If you've never bitten into one, they are SOOOO bitter! My jaw is tingling and my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

My Mommy

Melt my heart! When I picked Andrew up from preschool today, he walked out with a smile on his face and I could hear him quietly (and tiredly) saying "My Mommy, My Mommy" as he hurried towards me. He is so sweet.

Would you like some ketchup with that?

Andrew's new love is ketchup. After many, many months of being a great eater, Andrew started to turn on me and has become quite the picky eater. Grrr... But, I think I pulled one over on him when I had the brilliant idea to squirt some ketchup on his plate and showed him how to dip his chicken into it. I was tired of preparing food for him that he used to always eat and now all of a sudden wouldn't. It totally worked! I don't even care that he dips his green beans in his ketchup or his bread, or whatever else is on his plate. If it gets him to eat his meat and veggies, then so be it. Score one for Mommy!

Did I say toddler bed woes?

It may have taken Andrew 1 hour and 20 mintues to fall asleep for his nap yesterday, but once he did, he slept for over an hour and a half. Last night he didn't give me any trouble at all, and he slept all night like he normally does. What an easy transition! I opened his bedroom door a little after 7 this morning and when he woke up around 7:30 he walked to the top of the stairs and stood in front of the gate holding his piggy saying "downstairs? downstairs?"

(As you can see, it took a lot to keep Andrew happy in his new bed.)

toddler bed woes

Today is the day that I decided to convert Andrew's crib into a toddler bed. I actually tried about 2 1/2 weeks ago, but I couldn't find the correct hardware, so I just took it as a sign that it wasn't the right time. But, over the weekend I found the bolts to be used to convert the crib to a toddler bed and when I found myself bored this morning, I decided today was the day Andrew would start sleeping in a toddler bed.

It's 1:30. Andrew's went down for his nap at 12:30...and he still isn't asleep. He isn't crying and screaming and throwing a fit because his bed looks different. He is enjoying his new freedom to leave his room and wander the hall, read books, play with his stuffed animals, anything but take a nap.

Okay, as I was typing this I heard a lot of commotion in the hallway. Andrew was crawling around (so I wouldn't notice?) and in my stern voice I tried to tell him to get back to bed. It was so hard not to smile, though. I'm not used to my Andrew wandering around the hallway when he's supposed to be napping. I thought he seemed like a big boy when I dropped him off at his first day of preschool, but now that he isn't confined to his crib, he definitely seems like a big boy now. I had to close the door this time. It is now 1:40. Wish me luck!

two very important words

Andrew has mastered the word please, and has therefore mastered the art of manipulation. There are times when he can be pretty demanding and screams "PweEEse!!!" Those are times where I can ignore him and go about my business. But, the other 99% of the time when there is something Andrew wants, whether it's more crackers or for me to stack a lego onto his tower (for example), all he has to do is look at me with his beautiful blue eyes and in his sweetest voice simply say, "puhwease???" Yeah...it's pretty hard and painful to say No to that.

The second word that has become ever present in Andrew's vocabulary, primarily on Saturdays and Sundays, is FOOTBALL! I love it.

Suh-Suh-Suh...P!

Andrew has an alphabet puzzle and it has helped him to learn most of his letters. At some point during the learning process, when Andrew had trouble with a letter I found myself helping him by saying something like, "buh-buh-buh-B" or "kuh-kuh-kuh-K." Tonight Andrew would pick up a letter, stare at it for a second while he thought about it, and then he would say (very seriously), "suh-suh-suh-P. suh-suh-suh-M. suh-suh-suh-O." He did this for every letter he knew. I found it to be pretty freakin' hilarious.

so confused

In our effort to teach Andrew his colors, we have managed to confuse the heck out of him. He definitely knows blue, but he seems to have a hard time with the rest. He knows yellow most of the time, but as soon as I think he has it down, he'll call a green Lego yellow or a red Lego yellow. Tonight, out of nowhere, Andrew ran up to our red living room wall and with all of the conviction a 21-month old can have, Andrew yelled..."Yellow!" We busted out laughing and yelled Red!!!! back at him.

First day of preschool

Today was Andrew's first day of preschool. I signed him up way back in February when registration started and all Spring and Summer I second guessed myself. I had doubts as to whether or not it was a good idea to send him to preschool at such a young age. Most kids entering a 2-year old class have to turn 2 by September 1st. This particular preschool has two 2-year old classes, a young 2's (turn 2 by January 1st) and an older 2's (turn 2 by September 1st). Andrew, of course, fits into the young 2's class. Up until about a month ago I questioned my decision to send him to preschool, but then I started to get more excited about it and I knew that it would benefit him in so many ways...at the very least it would be an opportunity for him to be around other kids his age and to (tear) separate himself from his Mama.

So, today was the big day. I didn't know what to expect from Andrew. I was excited and a little nervous about how he would react. The preschool's open house was a week ago and he met his teachers and saw his classroom, but I didn't know if it would be familiar to him today. When Miss Bethany came out to the car to get him (she comes out to each car as opposed to the moms dropping off the kids inside...it's easier on the kids that way) Andrew became really shy and turned away from her. Miss Bethany was great, though. She talked to Andrew, took his hand, and in a blink of an eye Andrew started walking towards his preschool, holding his teacher's hand, with barely a glance in my direction. He looked like such a big boy. Miss Bethany said he cried a little, but only after some other kids started crying, and it didn't last very long. Andrew had a great first day of preschool, and he was exhausted afterwards.

This was my attempt to get a nice picture of Andrew before leaving for preschool. He was trying to find a way to escape the backyard.


My baby heading off to preschool...