April 21, 2015 (3 Years, 2 Month)

Andrew loves our new baby chicks! When we first got them he was vey concerned about where they were going to poop and if they might poop on him. When deciding on names his top picks were train, bus, and tractor. He also suggested fan, owl, and plate.

 

 

Andrew had a very happy Easter! When we decorated eggs he dyed all of his green, which is now his favorite color (blue has been downgraded to second favorite color).

 

 

Andrew had fun finding eggs at our neighborhood egg hunt and even met he Easter bunny. He was reluctant to get his picture taken with the Easter bunny but later kept trying to touch his tail.

 

 

 

Andrew found a special Easter basket that the Easter Bunny hid under his bed. It was filled with all kinds of fun things (Thomas the Train hat, kite, bubbles) but he was most excited about the jellybeans!

 

 

During Easter Sunday service Andrew had fun coloring, eating snacks, crawling under the chairs, and trying to run away from Mom and Dad.

 

On Alex's birthday, Andrew was more than happy to help Alex play with his balloons, eat his cake, and open his presents.

 

 

 

 

Andrew loves sensory exploration and can play happily for hours with scoops and trucks. We have used rice, oats. cloud dough, lentils, mixed dry beans and of course sand.

 

 

 

Andrew continues to crack us up with his choice of sleep positions. He always takes his blue blankey and lots of toys to bed with him such as his gray engine, bus, puppy, Thomas the train, lego trains, matchbox cars, and other stuffies. He usually parks his trains and cars in their shed (i.e. under his pillow) or in the crack between his mattress and the wall.

 

 

 

 

 Andrew is becoming very social, he loves having his little friends come over for daycare and always gets excited to meet new friends at the park. He is learning to greet other kids with "Hi, I'm Andrew, what's your name?" Instead of "What's your name? What's your name???" And then refusing to tell them his name.

 

Andrew often reenacts scenes from books, shows, real life, or his imagination when playing with his toys. Some of my recent favorites are: "Are you going to eat me?" "No, I'm not going to eat you." "Okay  good, lets play." and "Poop." "Why did say you poop? Do you have to go potty?" "No I just like to say it." "Yucky!"

 

Andrew picks out his own clothes and dresses himself most days. His outfits don't usually match but he is getting better. He almost always wears sweat pants and refers to regular pants as "church clothes."

 

Andrew likes to make up silly games to play with his friends. Some favorites are "Monster Hide" (run down the hall and pretend you are hiding from a monster), "Monster Dark" (similar to monster hide but with the addition of hiding in a dark room), "That Chasing Game" (run around and chase each other then roll around on the floor giggling), "That Flying Game" (throw stuffies in the air and pretend they are flying), and "That Jellybean Game" (drive cars or trucks around and pretend they are stuck in jellybeans, other variations include mud and peanut butter)

 

To Andrew, anything that happened in the past happened yesterday. This can get confusing when he is talking about something that happened several weeks or months ago. His memory is quite good!

 

February 21, 2015 (3 Years!)

Andrew is 3 years old!!! How did that happen?? He had an awesome birthday that started with waking up to a decorated living room filled with balloons. He had a really fun party visiting with his family, playing with his cousins, eating a Thomas the Train themed cake, and of course opening presents.

Andrew has been experiencing intense emotions. He isn't just hungry, he is "Sooooo hungry." He isn't just thirsty, he is "Sooooo thirsty." He doesn't just want to watch TV, he is "Sooooo TV." He doesn't just want to eat a muffin, he is "Sooooo muffin."

Andrew has broadened his horizons, television-wise. In addition to watching Thomas the Train, now also likes to watch Dinosaur Train and Chuggington. Okay so I guess he hasn't broadened his horizons too much!

Andrew uses, possibly overuses, the phrases "oopsie daisy" and thanks to Chuggington, "oh bumper!"

In addition to scribbling, Andrew likes to trace his hand and draw circles, the letter H, and rainbows.

Andrew likes to give you an end of his blankey to hold while he leads you around the house to pretend to visit various family members. Grandma lives in his bedroom, Aunt Rachel lives in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom, Aunt Mary lives in the kitchen, etc.

Andrew likes to have Mommy and Daddy close their eyes and pretend to be asleep so he can wake us up by making a loud noise either with a shaker bottle or any other noisy toy.

January 21, 2015 (2 Years, 11 months)

 

The stomach flu hit our family hard over Christmas and Andrew by far had the worst of it; he was sick for 2 and half weeks straight. In an effort to cheer him up from being sick and stuck at home under quarantine we tried a new activity: painting in the tub. It was a HUGE hit!

 

Being sick definitely put a damper on Christmas this year but we still enjoyed our family time together rand exchanged gifts. Andrew received Tinker Toys, play pots and pans, bath tub ABCs, and Thomas the Train PJs.

 

Andrew can now open the gate that blocks off the kitchen and tries to sneak food from the fridge and cupboards without getting caught. Unfortunately for him the chair he has to drag over to the counter from the kitchen table is less than quiet and always gives him away. He is especially obsessed with yogurt lately.

 

After recovering from the stomach flu, Andrew's appetite came back with a vengeance. Every morning at 4am we woke up to the sounds of him raiding the kitchen. Throughout the day he would plead in a sad voice that he is "sooooooo hungry" even if he just finished a meal or snack.

 

Andrew loves movie nights with Daddy because it usually means popcorn. If Daddy accidentally drops a piece of popcorn on its way to his mouth Andrew is quick to snatch it up, not wanting to waste even a kernel. Daddy thought it was a funny game. :)

 

Andrew has been putting up a fight against naptime which either means an unexpected nap in a strange place or a really early bedtime.

 

Andrew's favorite toys is still his old beat up gray engine and he continues to take it everywhere. Someday I will make a collage of all the pictures we have of him with it.

 

It turns out couch cushions on the floor can make for a fun filled day. When Andrew threw his beanie baby kangaroo up in the air and it got stuck up on the curtain rod he decided to build a tower of cushions so he could reach it and get it down.

 

When Daddy came home he helped the boys to make a cushion fort.

 

Then they used them to make a bed on the floor for a movie night.

Andrew loves playing in the snow when we get a chance to get outside. We took him sledding on a hill at the neighborhood park which was pretty small and slow but Andrew loved it and thought it was really exciting.

 



Is anyone surprised that Andrew wanted to make a snow train? Here is the Polar Express right in our front yard!

Now that Andrew is taller he is getting really good at pedaling his trike. He is still working on steering.

December 21, 2014 (2 Years, 10 months)

The stomach flu bug hit our house hard towards the end of December and somehow in the chaos I forgot to publish my draft from December 21 so here it is now.

Andrew helped Mommy build a snowman. He was really proud of it at first but after a couple days every time he would see it out the window he would say that he didn't like his snowman. Of course by that time it had turned to really hard snow/ice so there was nothing to be done until it melted on its own.

Andrew loved helping Daddy remodel our bathroom. He was a big "helper!"

Andrew loves to play with play dough. When I'm not looking he has a habit of grabbing toys and playing with them in his play dough or putting the play dough on the floor and stepping on it.

Andrew's favorite question to ask is "What you talking bout?" followed closely by "Why you talking bout dat?"

Andrew is a very active, high energy, enthusiastic child. Mom is trying to teach him how to express his excitement in positive rather than negative ways because sometimes he gets so wound up he can't control himself.

Andrew likes to run up and down the hallway with Mommy or Daddy, once you start it is hard to convince him to stop or take a break.

Andrew can now sing the entire alphabet in order although he does often forget tuvwx skipping right from S to YZ. He also can correctly identify most letters and is starting to learn letter sounds.

Andrew is already starting to feel the cabin fever that comes with winter. When we get a chance to go on an outing he is very reluctant to leave and has had more than one kicking and screaming fit for Mommy.

Andrew got to have lunch with Daddy at work. Now when Daddy leaves in the morning Andrew says he needs to go to work with him.

November 21, 2014 (2 Years, 9 months)

Andrew was a penguin for Halloween. After his brother got a hand me down penguin costume from his cousin, Andrew decided he wanted to be a penguin too. He enjoyed lots of Halloween activities including the Fall Festival in Baraboo, Trunk or Treats, and trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Andrew sometimes has a hard time deciding what he wants, when he is given two options he usually wants both. "Andrew, do you want to play upstairs or downstairs?" "Upstairs AND downstairs!" "Andrew do you want your dinner hot or cold?" "Hot AND cold!"

Andrew likes to dance, which to him means run around the room in circles until he falls down laughing.

Andrew continues to make us laugh with his unusual sleep positions.

Andrew had his second dental visit, the dentist said he has very nice teeth! He was scared by ended up doing really well.

Andrew has taken more interest in learning his ABCs and 123s. He can sing the whole alphabet song; he usually gets distracted before he gets all the way through and sometimes sings out of order or misses a couple letters but he does know all parts. He can count to fourteen. He is also starting to be able to recognize and point out some letters and numbers when he sees them in world on signs, toys, etc. He usually correctly identifies A, I, O, S, W, 1, and 8 and sometimes others.

Andrew is getting much better at putting together jigsaw puzzles and is really proud of himself when he is able to put one together without any help.

Whenever Andrew is given the choice of what color he wants, he almost always chooses pink. Pink plate, pink marker, pink cart at the grocery store, pink paper, etc. The only exception is when it comes to his vitamins in which case he insists on purple.

Andrew isn't letting the cold weather get him down. If I tell him its too cold to play outside he replies simply that he'll just put on his snow pants to keep him warm. He also insists on wearing both his hats that his aunt crocheted for him last year.

October 21, 2014 (2 Years, 8 months)

The highlight of October was definitely our visit to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom. Andrew was so excited to see all the trains and go for a train ride, every time he saw another train he excitedly pointed "Ooh look at that one! Look at that one!"

 

 

Andrew is such a tall kid he already outgrew his toddler bed so Daddy built him a twin bed. He really likes it, especially because it came with a Thomas the Train pillow. After a couple days we added legs so now he can play under his bed which is also pretty exciting.

 

 

 

 

 Andrew doesn't always play with things the way I expect, for example, instead of playing with the play dough on the table he decided to put it on the floor and stand on it.

 

 

Andrew loves raking leaves and making a big pile to jump and play in. Of course he has to bring his gray train engine along for the fun!

 

 

Andrew got the idea from his cousin to add Butt on to the end of everyone's names, i.e. Mommy-Butt, Daddy-Butt, Alex-Butt, Grandma-Butt. He also decided to start calling my Jamie. I'm not sure which I prefer.

 

Andrew continues to be the world's messiest eater. He likes to rub his hands all over the table to "wash it," he takes food off his plate so he can cut it directly on the table, he uses his hands to shovel food into his mouth which inevitably leads to food all over his shirt, chair, and floor, and just in general does whatever he can to make what he proudly declares "a giant mess!"

 

Andrew can count to eleven. He can say the alphabet up to g.

September 21, 2014 (2 Years, 7 Months)

Andrew is becoming very inquisitive always asking questions, a few of his favorites are "What are you doing?" "What is that?" "What's in there?" and "Where's my train?"

Andrew continues his obsession with trains and still takes his gray train engine with him pretty much everywhere including the car, zoo, park, tricycle rides, grocery store, and bed.

We went on a weekend getaway to Milwauke with Andrew's Aunt Jen, Uncle Dave, and cousin Sammy. Andrew's favorite part of the Milwaukee Public Museum was running down the long hallways and in the open areas, good thing it wasn't busy! Our hotel had a kiddie swimming pool where the boys had fun playing and splashing around. Andrew still avoids water features like fountains and spraying water. Andrew was afraid to go down the slide until a couple girls came and he felt the need to show off for them, then he realized it was fun and wanted to go down again and again. The boys definitely wore themselves out, they passed out snuggling while watching a movie. The next day we visited the zoo. Andrew enjoyed seeing all the animals especially the giraffes but the train ride was by far the highlight of the day.

Andrew is doing awesome with potty training! The other day after going number 2 Andrew informed me that his poopie was swimmin' in his peepee. Yup.

I asked Andrew if he would like a muffin and he responded that he wanted 2 muffins and 2 cookies. Looks like he got his Daddy's appetite and his Mommy's sweet tooth!

We went camping at Pride of America and Andrew loved every minute of it: splashing in the lake, playing in the sand, swimming in the pool, eating ice cream, napping outside, roasting marshmallows, and sleeping in the tent. We definitely are looking forward to many more family campouts.

Andrew helped us pick apples at the Door Creek Orchard. This year he was more concerned about pulling the wagon than picking the apples though.

 

 

If I hear Andrew go in the bathroom and shut the door I know I am going to find trouble. He likes to fill up the sink with soapy water and wash whatever he can get his hands on.

 

 Andrew can finally reach the pedals on his tricycle and now loves to ride it down the sidewalk.