What makes Andrew, Andrew

It's impossible for me to completely capture Andrew's personality in a blog post, but there are so many things that he does that make me smile, laugh, cringe, sigh, etc., etc. and he's changing every day, that I thought I would try and capture some of it here so I can look back one day and remember.
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If I ask him if he wants something or wants to do something and he doesn't want it...he responds, "No, I not" very matter-of-factly.

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Timeouts have become a fun game. For Andrew, not me.

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Doesn't like to be messy. If food, paint, etc. gets on his fingers, he politely says "towel, please." He will hold out his hand and ask for a towel until I get it.

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When his bowl of yogurt gets down to where the sides of the bowl need to be scraped, he will ask for help. As soon as I take the spoon, his mouth flies open (wide open) until the spoon enters his mouth.

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Opens and closes doors over and over again and says, "Hewoa!" and "Bye! Day! 'kay?" (as in Bye! Have a good day! Okay?")

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He says "Yo baby, Yo baby" for some strange reason.

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When the dryer buzzes, he shouts..."Dryer!"

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Loves trains even though he doesn't have any. Hoo-hoo train changed to Choo-choo train in the matter of seconds. I was actually sad when I heard Andrew correct himself.

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Loves the movie March of the Penguins. It's a documentary.

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His favorite toy (other than cars) is the ball popper. (Oh, the ball popper...I've never seen a kid so obsessed with a toy.) "Poppa? Poppa?"
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He hates blankets being put on him at night. I have to sneak in and put a couple on him before I go to bed. Sometimes if Andrew stirs and wakes up enough to know what's going on he'll scowl at me and say, No! I have to let him be, but if I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom and think about it, I'll sneak in his room and try again. I'm usually successful.

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He often says your welcome in place of thank you.

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If he gets frustrated about not getting his way Andrew either whines, cries or puts his fingers in his mouth and spits.

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Hates water being poured over his head.

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Refuses to sit down in the bathtub.

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Knows all of his letters by sight.

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Can sometimes count to 12, but in stages. Like 1-5 and then 8-12. Anything above 12 is

"ah-teen, ah-teen..."

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If he does something he's proud of, he shouts, "I did it!!"

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Takes a basket of cars to bed with him. I always take it out of his bed when I do my last check on him. In the morning (pretty much every morning) when he's talking in his bed after waking up, I hear him saying, "Uh-oh! Cars. Fall!"

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His word for basket is backets.
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One of his favorite shows, Super Why, used to be called "Why Why". Now, it's "Suter Why."
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Me: What does a duck say, Andrew?
Andrew: Cack! Cack! Cack!
Me: What does a pig say?
Andrew: O-oink, O-oink
Me: What does a frog say?
Andrew: Riddit, riddit...riddit, riddit
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When I drop Andrew off for preschool, he walks away with his teacher and looks back at me, waves, and says "Bye, Mommy!"
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Occasionally calls me Mom. Mom...mom....mom. He'll do this until I respond. He sounds so old when he calls me Mom.
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If food or something else falls onto the ground, he'll say "Uh-oh mess!" He sometimes drops or spills something on purpose just to say that.
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If Andrew wants to watch tv he says, TD mote (TV remote).
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Doesn't always know the difference between off and on.
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When he isn't calling me Mommy, Mom or Loren Daddy, he calls us Sweetie.
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Andrew says good-night to the baby at night by lifting up my shirt and poking my belly, and he says, "poke" while he pokes my belly.
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I try to teach Andrew to blow his nose when it's running by holding a kleenex up to his nose. I tell him to blow. Instead of blowing his nose, he says, "blow...blow."
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His favorite song is If Your Happy & You Know it Clap Your Hands.

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There's so much that makes Andrew, Andrew. This was a little glimpse into this 2-year old's world. He's a happy, smart, loving little boy who can get frustrated and frustrates me sometimes, but I wouldn't trade him for anything!


(I'm publishing this post knowing that I'm probably leaving something out. I may add to it in the next couple of days. Like I said, It's a glimpse.)

Head Bonk

Let me just say, I can't believe he did that!

This morning I was sitting on the living room floor happily wrapping a few Christmas gifts. Andrew was alternating between entertaining himself or helping me. He walked up to me and started circling me a little. He was staring at my face or head. He said something that I later figured out to be "bonk", but I didn't know what he was talking about. I had my hair up in a ponytail and an elastic headband around my head to keep the fly-aways out of my face. At the time I thought he was looking at the headband. I didn't know. I just knew he was acting a little strange, but he had a smile on his face and didn't think much of it. I continuted with what I was doing...my head was down concentrating on what I was cutting or taping. All of a sudden Andrew walks up beside my and he head-butts me! I then realized what he had been saying because as he bonked me in the head, he said, "Bonk!"

What?! My response was, "Andrew! Not nice. You don't do that. Where did you learn that? Where did you learn that?" I didn't get a response, but he looked a little ashamed and delicately touched my head. I think he was sorry. I still can't believe he did that.

I finally figured out what he has been saying!

For about a week or so Andrew has been ending a stament or question with a word that sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't figure out for the life of me what he was saying. Being that he's 2, his words don't always come out the way they should. Anyway, I finally figured out that he was saying Sweetie. Like "Up, sweetie?" It's usually more like, "Up, sweeeetie?!" or "Take cars, Sweeeetie?!" "More milk, sweeeetie?!" I realized that I call him Sweetie much more than I call him by his own name and it rubbed off a little. It's really cute, but it makes it much harder to say no to him when necessary.

Christmas is in the air!

Christmas tree shopping...

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our first snow...

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This is just a cute Christmas picture.

I caught Andrew trying to take ornaments off of the tree.

(Andrew strategically placed the bears under the tree)

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only 24 more days...

Great Grandpa & his Great Grandkids

Thanksgiving was at my house this year. My whole family was here...my Mom; my Grandpa (my dad's dad); my brother Jeff and his wife Kendra; my sister Sarah, her boyfriend Shaun, and their two kids Raven and Layla. It was quite a crowd for someone who isn't used to entertaining. This is a great picture of my Grandpa (who is 87 by the way) with his 3 Great Grandchildren - Layla (18 months), Andrew (2) and Raven (6).

Preschool Thanksgiving Program (Nov. 25th)

This video is long, but oh-so-cute. Andrew's preschool class "sang" a few songs during the preschool Thanksgiving program. During the program I thought some of the kids were singing, but once I played the video back, I realized that all of the singing was coming from kids in other classes (in the audience). There was a big screen behind them that was noticed during their performance. Andrew very proudly pointed himself out and also called the big screen a tv. I was very impressed that Andrew stayed still up there. I had no idea what to expect from him. Again, it was oh-so-cute.

hoo-hoo train

Here's a cute video of Andrew playing with his cars. He says "hoo-hoo train" instead of choo-choo train.

baby #2

(Me at nearly 20 weeks. This picture was taken a few days before the ultrasound, but it was close enough to include here.)

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***************************I'm a Boy!!************************

Yesterday was my 20 week visit and I had my routine ultrasound. Baby looks great. I only gained 9 pounds in 4 weeks. Ha! Oops. My doctor just smiled and laughed, so that's what I'll do...smile and laugh. All is well. I feel baby moving around more each day. I'm sure it won't be too long before he's packing some powerful punches and hiccupping non-stop. I can't wait!

Car obsession

Andrew loves his cars. When it's time to go to bed he quickly grabs as many as he can before I take him upstairs. They stay in his crib and he often has one in his hand while he's sleeping.

(this was earlier tonight at bedtime)

looking rather dapper

Andrew's 2-year picture

Baby Belly

The other day I was explaining to Andrew for the upteenth time that there is a baby in Mommy's belly. He finally seemed to grasp the concept (as much as a 2-year old can) and said "baby belly". I just figured he was repeating what I said. Today, out of the blue (without any coaching, that is) I pointed to my belly and asked Andrew if he knew what was in Mommy's belly. He looked at my belly and said, "the baby belly." How cute is that?

Visting the Doctor

Andrew had his 2-year Doctor's appointment this morning. Since he hadn't been to the doctor in six months, I was anxious to see how he was doing and how much he had grown.

Holy Cow!

I'll get to the stats in a minute, but Andrew flipped out when it was time to get on the scale. He had no problem walking down the hallway in his diaper, but he wouldn't step on the scale for anything. Not even with a toy or a sticker. Nothing. He wouldn't sit in the smaller seat-scale (meant for babies) either. The solution? Mom, why don't you stand on the scale with Andrew and then get off, put Andrew down, we'll weigh you, and then subtract the difference. Seriously? Do you really think my pregnant self wants to get on the scale at the pediatrician's office? Not. even. a. little. bit. But, I swallowed my pride and did it anyway, knowing full well that it was the only way to get Andrew weighed. So we stood on the scale together, along with two trucks that Andrew refused to put down. And then I had to get on the scale all by myself. I swear that scale was 5 pounds off, too! Anyway, this isn't about me.

Weight: 29.4 pounds (7oth percentile)
Keep in mind the ordeal we went through to get any number, plus there were 2 trucks on the scale with us. His Dr. said he's probably anywhere from the 50th-7oth percentile.

Height: 36 inches (85th percenile)
Andrew was in the middle of a fit when he had to lay down on the table, so I'm not even sure his height is entirely accurate. But, I'll take it. My baby is 3 feet tall!

Head: 48.5 centimeters (50th percentile) - whatever that means

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For reference, at 18 months...

Weight: 24 1/4 pounds (30th percentile)

Height: 32.75 inches (70th percentile)

Head: 48 centimeters (60th percentile) - again, whatever that means

Before we left the Doctor's office Andrew threw several more fits...when his ears were checked, when his mouth/throat were checked, when flu mist was shot up his nose, when he got a shot (that he was supposed to get 1 or 2 appointments ago), when we started to leave and he saw the scale again and went running back to the room. I lost count. When the nurse or doctor wasn't trying to touch him or have him do something he didn't want to do, Andrew had a grand ol' time at the Doctor's office. He made himself comfortable at a little table with Noah's Arc (or something like that) and ate goldfish crackers and was happy as can be.

I can't wait to do it again!

I was lucky enough to get my flu shot while we were there, too.

Dancing

Here's a video of Andrew dancing to some silly songs at the Children's Museum. Sorry about the back shot. If I recorded him from the front he would have stopped dancing. :)

Happy Birthday to Andrew!

It was a cold, rainy, nasty day...so we went to the Children's Museum for Andrew's birthday! Let me back-up. First, we opened presents around 8:30/9:00 this morning. Andrew was very excited to get some new toys and goodies. We left by 9:45 for the museum. We packed snacks, and lunches and we didn't have much of a plan. We were good to go. I have never seen Andrew so excited to be anywhere. Ever. We took him to the Children's Museum once before back in April. I don't know if he recognized the place or if we talked it up too much, but he shouted "play! play!" as soon as we walked into the building, and we weren't even near any play areas yet. He didn't know what to do with himself. We made our way to various rooms and spent nearly 3 hours there, with a break for lunch at about 11:30. Andrew was so tired, but he would have stayed all day if it was up to him.

Andrew took a snooze on the way home and forfeited his true nap. By about 3:00 we decided to go ahead and have cake and icecream, for fear he would be wired if we waited until after dinner. Andrew took one bite of icing and 2 bites of cake and that was it. He then decided he would rather play with the cake. The sheet of cake. I decided to let him.

The rest of the day he played with his new toys (and we all watched a little football). It was a Happy Birthday for Andrew! Enjoy all the many pictures. :)

Unwrapping some of the gifts...

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at the museum...

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Andrew stared and stared at the aquarium and said, "shishies" over and over again. He was pretty tired at this point.

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sleepy birthday boy

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Oh, the cake...

Ironically, Andrew made a mess of the cake without making that big of a mess. Whenever he got icing on his fingers he asked for a towel, which was several times. Oh, and the crying picture was the result of me taking the cake away before it got out of hand. After that reaction I gave it back to him. It's just cake.

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It was a good day!

So Random...

Andrew and I were sitting at the kitchen table this afternoon while he ate lunch and I sifted through his preschool papers. I asked Andrew, "so what did you do at preschool today?" Knowing that his language skills aren't developed enough, I didn't expect much of an answer, if any. He looked at me and then without moving his head looked to one side, then another, then back at me and shouted, "Grass!"

Really?

"I Wear My Sunglasses at Night..."

Trick-or-Treat!

Andrew had a ball on Halloween. He refused to walk up to anyone's house. Some people were kind enough to give him candy anyway. He really enjoyed the walk around the neighborhood and staring -and I mean staring- at all of the other trick-or-treaters. We walked for less than an hour and then decided to hang out on our front porch and pass out candy. Andrew really liked seeing all of the trick-or-treaters come to him; he waved and said "Hi!" He kept himself busy going through the candy bowl and lining up the different items along the front porch railing.

He was the cutest dragon I have ever seen!

Andrew has perfected the word suckers. I'm proud to say he now pronounces it correctly. I have no idea why he is so hyper here. He didn't have any suckers - or sugar for that matter.

(press play)

(By the way, a dining room table is going in this room. That's why it's empty.)

Bye bye sippies, bye bye??

This is Andrew's collection of sippy cups. I'm a marketer's dream when it comes to sippy cups! I tried darn close to all of them. I don't know how kids and parents got by without sippy cups back in the day. Did kids drink at all? The ones on the far left Andrew started out with at 10 months and the ones on the far right he stopped using maybe a month ago. The lids were thrown away on some because they had been used so much, but they were a hard plastic, shaped similar to the other sippies. The only ones I would consider to be a waste of money are the Nuby ones with a soft spout like a bottle (in the 2nd and 3rd rows). I didn't like those at all.

Now Andrew is using these...

Today Andrew decided he didn't want his straw and lid on his cup. Feeling brave, I took it off and walla!

Got milk??

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We'll still be using the straw cups for awhile. I'm not about to give those up yet.

Andrew and I were in the basement this morning. He was sitting at his table and I was crouched beside it on the floor watching him. Out of nowhere, Andrew gets up off of his chair and walks to me and says, "Hu, hu" (translation: hug). I put my arms out and he gave me a hug. Then he walked back towards his chair and said, "Thank you!"

Melt my heart.

Please forgive Andrew

He still has a little trouble pronouncing his letters and words correctly. He pronounces cup..."puck", spoon..."poon" and fork..."fick" to give you a few examples. However, this post isn't about all of the other mispronounced words, it's about one in particular...the BIG one. We were at Barnes & Noble this morning. I didn't have my head on straight when I left the house and forgot the most important thing...a snack. A snack is always my saving grace when I take Andrew shopping. He started demanding crackers. Yikes! I remembered that I had a couple of dum-dum suckers in my purse from the nice guy at Ashley Furniture (from last week). I gave Andrew one and it kept him occupied and happy for the remainder of the trip. When we were at the checkout, Andrew was in his stroller, happily sucking on his dum-dum sucker when he pulled it out of his mouth, proudly waved it in my direction and said,

............................"Mommy! F***er!".............................

Legos in the Bathtub?

I was in a hurry this morning and decided to put Andrew in the bathtub with his big tub of legos while I took a shower. (Thanks, Nikki, for this idea!) I had low expecations and thought he would hate it and try to climb out. I didn't have a plan for what I would do if he did climb out, but I thought I would try it. He stayed in the tub the whole time! While I was showering I heard Andrew naming the colors of his legos. As soon as I turned the shower off Andrew said to me...

Andrew: "All done?"

me: "Yep. All done."

Andrew: "All clean?"

me (laughing): "Yes. I'm all clean."

Andrew: "Thank you."

No joke.

I seem to have left out an important detail...

For those of you who don't already know...I'm pregnant!!!! 15 weeks tomorrow. The baby is due April 15th. Andrew and his baby brother or baby sister will be right about 29 months apart...2 grades apart. I think I'm over the yucky sick feeling that the 1st trimester is blessed with. Finally!

So, that's that!

Stuckey Farm

I was feeling spontaneous today, so Andrew and I took a little drive up to Stuckey Farm, an apple orchard, in Sheridan in the afternoon. It was a beautiful drive. As much as I love Carmel, it was nice to get out and remind myself what most of Indiana looks like. The farm sits on the Hamilton/Boone County line just north of SR 32.

After we walked around for awhile I remembered that I hadn't given Andrew a snack yet. I asked him if he wanted his fishies (golfish crackers) and he plopped right down on the ground and didn't want to move. I let him chill for a few minutes, but we had apples to pick, so he eventually got up and got in on the action. Andrew loved seeing all of the apples. Unfortunately he kept trying to "pick" the apples from the ground (the rotten and/or bruised ones) and the ones he managed to get off of a tree he threw on the ground. A couple of his made it to the bag, but he mostly walked with me and let me do the picking. It was a lot of fun! I think we were there walking around for about an hour-and-a-half. Andrew was worn out. Towards the end when we were making our way back up to the front of the orchard I started to go down another row of apple trees and Andrew said, "Nooo." He was done. He said, "All done. Bye, bye apples." How cute.

We left with a bunch of apples and only spent $4.05!

round one: complete

I made Andrew oatmeal muffins and he loved them. They stayed down, egg and all.

I made meatloaf tonight, which contains egg, but Andrew wouldn't touch it. I guess I'll have to stick to the sweet stuff.

What a great report card!

Today when I picked Andrew up from preschool his teacher, Miss Bethany, said that he was all smiles the whole day (he hasn't cried at all the last 2 times I've dropped him off). She went on to say that he did really well during circle time and repeated everything the teachers' said...numbers, days of the week and even the months, and he repeated all of the kids names as they went around the circle!

I'm so proud of him! Andrew really likes to learn. Sometimes when I'm telling him something I catch him looking at me very intently like he's studying my every word. I have to be careful, though. Last night when I realized I forgot something I said, "Oh shoot" and guess what came out of Andrew's mouth right afterwards! Yep..."oh shoot." He said it once or twice this morning as well, so he didn't forget it overnight. He's a little parrot these days.

Pumpkinfest 2008

The Pumpkinfest has quickly become a tradition for us. There are many activities for kids to enjoy, some of which Andrew didn't get to this year, and some of which he didn't quite enjoy as much as he will next year or the year after.

Andrew loved playing in the cornboxes (there were 2 different ones) and walking along the hay bales. He was a little too small for the big trikes and vehicles, but he gave it a go. He also loved the jungle gym.

The "pumpkin patch" was interesting because Andrew treated the pumpkins like balls and threw them. Luckily none were sacrificed. Andrew loved watching the cloggers and applauded their every step. When they were done with their show, Andrew was upset and ran towards the stage yelling, "Feet! Feet!" Hilarious (except I only got the story from Loren because I took a restroom break.) The corn maze will be for another year. Andrew got as far as the first fork and high-tailed it out of there.

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A look back: Andrew picking out his pumpkin at the Pumpkinfest one year ago...

October pictures

I finally posted some pictures for the month of October in the picture album...

http://picasaweb.google.com/heatheranngarrison/October2008#

I am EGG-static!!

Andrew was supposed to wait until he turned 2 to be tested for an egg alergy again. Me, being the impatient mother (although, I have been very patient dealing with this allergy until now), decided to call his pediatrician last Wednesday and asked if it would be possible to test him earlier. I didn't know if there was any significance to age 2, and with eggs being banned from his preschool class because of Andrew, and the fact that I wanted to know if I could bake him a real birthday cake for his birthday, I just had to know for sure if he was actually still allergic to eggs. His birthday was only a little over a month away. So, I called and was told that I could take him to the lab and have him tested. I took Andrew on Thursday. His blood was drawn. By the way, Andrew was a perfect angel! He didn't even flinch when the needle was stuck in his arm. I held him, bracing myself for a reaction, but nothing. He cared more about the cars in the parking lot that he could see from the window. I've been waiting for a phone call ever since and it finally came today at 12:30. It was a negative!!!! I am so excited. I have to admit I'm still scared to give him anything with eggs, but I'm ready for it. A negative is a negative...he should be fine. However, he hasn't eaten anything with eggs since January, so I will be nervous when I give him his first bite of an egg-containing food. Wish me luck! I have to give him something that has eggs baked in it first, not straight-up eggs. I wonder if I even have anything on hand...

corn for dinner

My Mr. Picky toddler ate corn for dinner last night. Corn. A whole lot of corn. I actually made this chicken rice casserole dish in the crockpot (my rediscovered new best friend) that I thought was pretty darn good. Andrew had a much different opinon. I think he let a spoonful touch his tongue, but that was as far as it got. He may have eaten a tiny bite or two of his roll, maybe a couple bit-size peaches (how can you refuse peaches?), but mostly it was corn. And milk.

I feel young again

This guy came to my door yesterday trying to get my business. It's not important, but he was from Classic Cleaners. The beginning of our conversation went like this...

guy: "Hello. I'm sorry. Are you the owner of the house? Or are you...?"

me: (kind of annoyed) "I'm the owner of the house."

I wish I would have given the guy a chance to answer the question, "Or are you...?" Are you the babysitter? Are you the daughter (of the owners of the house)? Are you the maid? Hmmm...I'm curious. Although I was a little annoyed that he asked me that, I have to say I was a little flattered. It was one day before my 29 1/2 year birthday. I needed a little boost and leave it to the Classic Cleaners guy to give me one. Thank you Mr. Classic Cleaners. Sorry I don't remember your name.

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...

Piggy

Andrew has this stuffed pig that my mom gave him when he was first born. When you push on one of it's hands it starts in on "This little piggy went to the market..." The feet light up and move back and forth during "wee, wee, wee, all the way home." It's cute. In the past couple of weeks it has become a fixture in Andrew's crib. Most days I hear the pig talking over and over and over again while Andrew should be sleeping. Tonight Andrew grabbed one of my toes and said, "piggy! wee, wee, wee, wee..."

I just wanted some Arby's

I decided that I had to have Arby's for lunch today. I couldn't tell you that last time I ate fast food. It's been a really long time, but today was my day to enjoy some Arby's. Mmmmm....
We set out a little after 11:00, and after swinging by Lowe's, we made our way to the Arby's drive-thru. Wow, was Arby's the place to be or what? The drive-thru line was quite long, but I soon discovered that there were 2 ordering lanes. Why? I'm not sure. I suppose your food is ordered sooner, and probably cooked & bagged sooner, but 2 ordering lanes that condense to one lane to pay and pick up your food causes a bit of congestion and confusion. Maybe I was the only one confused since I don't frequent the fast-food joints very often. I was still waiting my turn to inch up to the speaker when I started to squint my eyes to read the menu board. Cheeseburger? Since when did Arby's start carrying cheeseburgers? It has been a long time. Maybe I'm out of the loop. It took me a few seconds, but then I nearly slapped my forehead when I realized I was in the McDonald's drive-thru!! No...I couldn't have. Arby's was next door! For about a mili-second I entertained the thought of getting McDonald's instead since I had already spent about 5 mintues in the drive-thru line. However, I really wanted a Chicken, Bacon, & Swiss sandwich from Arby's. I did not want a McDonald's cheeseburger. I did not want a Big Mac. I did not want a Filet of Are You Sure that's Fish? sandwich from McDonald's. But, how was I going to get myself out of this mess of cars? I found myself waiting next to the speaker while I was trying to find a little room to squeeze my beast through while avoiding cars on the left and right and the landscaping in front of me. I kept hearing "May I help you?" come from the speaker. I didn't respond. What was I going to say? Sorry, I accidentally got in the wrong drive-thru line. Who does that anyway? Oh, yeah...ME! I just pretended not to hear the lady and hoped the car in front of me would quickly move enough so I could sneak by. Thankfully, it did...barely. I snuck out of the McDonald's drive-thru and then went next door to Arby's where there was hardly a line at all. I soon had what I came for and put the ordeal behind me as I enjoyed my Chicken Bacon and Swiss sandwich from Arby's.

a couple of funny things today

1) Andrew insisted on having me put his socks on his hands at naptime. Not just one or two, but all 8 of them. After me thinking it was a bad idea (I was afraid they would be too tight and his hands would fall asleep) and after him throwing a full blown fit, I gave in and put 4 socks on each hand. Once he got what he wanted, he fell asleep right away.




2) Andrew and I were outside after dinner. I filled up a plastic container (about 2 feet long by 6-8 inches tall) with water. Andrew played in it for awhile while I stood with the hose and watered some of the grass. I went to the back of the yard and with my back to Andrew I glanced in his direction. By that time he wandered off to play with some rocks. I went back to what I was doing and less than a minute later I heard Andrew whining and crying. I quickly looked and he wasn't where I last saw him. He had fallen backwards into the plastic container full of water! His legs and arms were hanging out, but he couldn't move. He was so upset, but I (and the neighbor who was sitting on her deck) couldn't help but laugh at the poor guy.