Andrew,
Wow! What a couple months this has been for you - you change daily and I'm constantly amazed at what you know and do. The biggest news from this month is that you are talking!!! Since the new year (the past 2 weeks, really), it's like you've just decided to start saying words. You are in the parrot phase, and will repeat almost any word we tell you, including the most wonderful word in the world - Mama!! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear you say that. There are many words you say consistently - more, juice (Oh, how you love juice! More on this later...), hi, whoa, dog, water, bath, night-night, bye, up, down, all done. You'll also repeat many words we say. It's shocking and I know that we need to be very careful what we say around you! You are trying to say new things every day and I can't wait until we can have conversations. You are even trying to say Grandma (nama) and Grandpa (bapa). One of my favorite things that you say is "Love you!". Every night before bed we go around and you say "lalu" to daddy and Grandma Karen before bed. You'll also say it to me before I leave in the morning, and my heart just bursts with love each time! You are such a sweet boy and I love the fact that you can tell us more of what you are thinking now.
You are still adventurous and into everything. Your favorite toys are still the ones that aren't toys at all, i.e. anything you can reach out of our kitchen drawers! (Advice for future parents of toddlers - invest in a dishwasher that locks! He thinks it's a free-for-all now that he can open the door on his own.) You have started throwing things away again. One day we were looking all over for a sippy cup, only to have Grandma Karen find it the next morning in the trash can! You have funny little habits like putting socks on you hands. Grandpa and Grandma Riley bought you mittens for Christmas (which may be useful if we ever have any cold weather) that you REFUSE to wear. However, if I am putting laundry away you will grab for your socks and stick them on your hands and walk around with them! I guess that will work if it ever gets cold, but I wonder what the neighbors will think! Andrew, you are so smart, and I'm pretty sure we're in trouble when you get older. Daddy has been working on setting up our surround sound speakers around the TV downstairs. You love to get back behind the TV and fiddle with the wires - of course we always are redirecting you. Today you were back there with your Woody doll (from Toy Story), and you had his hand out touching things. When we got you out from back there, you look at us as if to say - "What? It was Woody touching it, not me!"
You are still in love with reading! I am so proud that you are turning into such a reader! (And I say that to myself often as I reread If You Give a Cat a Cupcake or David Goes to School for the eleventy-billionth time!) You still love the David books most of all (we got more for Christmas, including these awesome Diaper David Board Books) and you also love the If You Give a ________ a ________ series (we have the Cat/Cupcake and the Pig/Party variety). But really you love to sit and listen to most books, and are starting to get interested in magazines as well. Grandma Debbie got you a subscription to Highlights magazine for pre-schoolers, and you love to look at the pictures and listen to the short stories (they are just the right length for your attention span). Sometimes you'll even bring me Daddy's cop magazines and ask me to read them to you! Not my idea of a great read, but you just love to sit and read with us.
You have started singing a lot! You will be playing by yourself and singing a song to yourself while you play. I'm not sure if they are your own compositions or a song you've heard before. Sometimes it sounds like songs that we sing to you! You also love when we sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and you can do the hand motions - it is adorable! Your personality grows every day. Before our meals we say a prayer together. At the end of the prayer, after we say 'amen', you will throw your hands in the air and shout "Amen!". It is hilarious!
You are become slightly less of a picky eater. You are just inconsistent with your eating - some days you clean your plate and are constantly saying 'more'. Other days it's a struggle to get you to eat anything! One thing you love is juice. I didn't want to give you juice originally - it's mostly sugar and better to get nutrients from real fruit. But you didn't ever drink much water, and we started giving you a little bit of juice with some water in it, and now you're obsessed! First thing in the morning you will run to the fridge and say "juice, juice". I think you say that word better than any other because you're so motivated to get it!
Just in the past couple of days you have started sleeping with your boppy pillow. We've talked on and off about buying you a pillow, but you've never shown any interest. Your boppy has been stashed beside the glider since we stopped nursing, just for lack of a better place to store it. The other night you dragged it out and made me put it into your crib. Now you love to cuddle up with it! You lay on your belly with your head right in the middle pillow part of the boppy; you then curl up the rest of your body up in the middle part (where it would go around my body). It's precious! This afternoon after your nap you still seemed tired, so I brought it out on the couch and you cuddled in it for awhile until you woke up.
Andrew - you are such an amazing blessing, and we are so lucky to be your parents! These past couple of months you continue to impress us with your sweetness, intelligence, and adventurous spirit. I can't wait to see what this next month brings!
And now for some pictures!
These pictures are from the Great Mailcart Breakdown of 2011... He was given this mailcart walker from his good friend Matthew for Christmas in 2010. I swear that it has been his favorite toy of all time! He LOVES to run around the house with that thing! He also loves to take off the doors on the front and sit or stand in it. Apparently it's not made to hold a toddler's weight and and one day while he was rolling it the wheel just rolled right off! I wasn't there, but Daddy and Grandpa Ray said it was hilarious! He spent a lot of time that evening trying to fix it.
Squinty face - the look we get when we say or do something he doesn't like. You can also ask him to squint his eyes and he'll make this face!
Cutie!
Horrible quality picture, but he is just so cute and happy!
He loves to wear our shoes and walk around the house! Daddy's work boots are especially fun!
Sitting on the dog bed eating Cheerios straight from the bag - isn't this how everyone snacks?
Sock on his hand and a toilet brush in the other... (Mom of the Year! However, when you are trying to cook dinner by yourself with a toddler, sometimes you let them play with strange things to entertain them!)
Love those big brown eyes!
Um, thanks Andrew, but I think I'll pass on whatever you've mixed up there!
Oh yeah! Andrew's a talker now! What a big boy! I can't wait to hear what he has to say. I love the socks on the hands picture and the last picture with his mixing bowl! Haha. Boys will be boys right?
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