Andrew at age 2

Andrew celebrated his second birthday at the end of October. Way to go, Andrew!

He continues to be an active, engaging, friendly and mischievous little boy. He adores his older brother and enjoys playing with any wheeled object. He's fearless when it comes to leaping onto pillows on the floor and enjoys climbing ladders of any height.

He is incredibly verbal and has been speaking in full sentences since about 22 months of age. Some of my recent favorite sentences are: "Mommy, I don't like my pillow" (said grumpily at the end of a nap), "Look, you don't have your glasses on" (said as I put him to sleep, wearing contacts), "Mommy, you don't like the skin?" (said to me as I zested a lemon for cookies).

Andrew is extremely good-natured, and whether he's meeting new people, being knocked about by Sam or brought along on errands, he's generally quite happy. He has continued to enjoy the co-op preschool he attends with Sam and likes playing with the other 2 year old siblings. He participates in in free play and snack time with the 3 year olds, so I suspect he'll be staying for all of circle time by the end of the school year.

Over Thanksgiving break from school, Andrew became potty trained (woohoo!). Mom (or Dad) has to remember to take him to the bathroom frequently, but he goes without much fuss and remains dry in-between times. He particularly likes his underwear with the character Mater from the Cars movie. Mom just gets a kick out of the fact that his underwear is smaller than the size of one of her socks.

For Halloween this year, Sam was a road (his request) and Andrew was a street sign. We chose the sign "No Stopping Anytime" for him. That just about sums up Andrew at age 2.

Sam's Preschool

Sam, Andrew and I began a co-op preschool three weeks ago. Sam is enrolled, but Andrew is allowed to attend and can participate in most aspects. While his attention span is still a little short for circle time, he plays well around the big kids with the wheeled toys, sandbox, Legos and other areas. The first day that we went was a whirlwind of learning new things (all Moms work at a station and all the new moms have a lot of learning to do to keep the school running). However, Andrew jumped right in with two feet and LOVED playing there. At the end, I said it was time to go, and hoped to excite him with the prospect of a sandwich in the car (after all, ending at 12pm brought us to lunchtime and very close to his 12:30pm naptime). Andrew stubbornly told me, "No car, no sandwich, no home." He wanted to stay at preschool! I think since then he's started to realize that it's a place we will go back to frequently but most days when I announced we're going to preschool, he says "Yay!!" and claps his hands. :)

Who's boy?

At church the other day, Dave was holding Andrew and someone came up and said to Andrew, "Are you Daddy's boy?" Andrew replied, "No!" Then they said, "Oh, are you Mommy's boy?" Andrew's quick response was "No, Sam's boy"

Needless to say, Andrew adores his older brother and they have great fun playing together these days (when not being territorial about toys). When people ask him his name, his first response is still "Sam." We've gotta work on that one before he confuses too many more people... :)

Sentences

Andrew is now starting to string three words together, so I think we can officially say he's speaking in sentences at 20 months. First he put two together and said "Slow down" as his brother went careening around the house on a ride-on car. He also proudly says "big truck," not just truck.

My favorite, however, was his first three-word sentence: "Thank you, Mommy." Awww, now doesn't that just warm your heart?

"18-month" statistics

Andrew's 18-month doctor appointment happened when he was more like 19.5 months, but nonetheless, here are his stats:

Weight: 23 lb 14 oz (20%)
Height: 33.25 inches (68%)
Head circumference: 47.75 cm (44%)

So he's still a tall and skinny munchkin!

Seeeek!

Andrew is now 19 months old and he loves to play hide and seek just like Sam does. But he really only has one hiding spot - behind the blackout curtains in our bedroom. He tucks himself in and all you can see are a small bump and two little sets of toes peeking out. It is an ideal spot, though because you still get a great view out of the sliding glass doors and he'll hang out for a good 5 minutes at a time given the opportunity. The other day he even wandered downstairs by himself, brought a chair into the curtains with him and sat down. He cracks me up. :)

Gab gab gab

Andrew has been picking up words left and right and is turning into quite the talker. I've lost count of how many words he can say...at about 16 months Sam and I counted 30 words Andrew could say but now at 17 months, I'd guess he's up at 50 or 60 easily. Many center around food (yogurt, crackers, cheese, milk are favorites). He recently added "Grandma" and "Sam" to his vocabulary, though Grandpa and Aunts and Uncles are also called "Grandma." Refrains of "Mommy, daddy, mommy, daddy" are his favorite, along with shouts of "some" or "bite" if you are eating or drinking anything intriguing. Last month he started to throw tantrums occasionally, but either it didn't work or his communication has improved and he's less frustrated with getting his point across. Overall he's a happy, jovial toddler who is inquisitive, affectionate and clever.

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Andrew's 15 month stats

Weight: 21 lb 10.8 oz, 15%
Height: 31.75 in, 75%
Head circumference: 46 cm, 20%

No wonder I get so tired running with them in the stroller...kid weight alone is 58 lbs!

Andrew at 15.5 months

Andrew's climbing is starting to mellow out a bit as he approaches 16 months. He is now quite steady on our couch and understands not to roll off unless there are pillows under and he is playing 'leaves' with his brother. He adores doing anything his brother does and also going for long walks around public places. Occasionally he looks back for Mom or Dad, but generally he just keeps going. He's a fairly good eater and has taken a recent interest in milk, much to his Mom's delight. He is happy-go-lucky by nature but will let his brother know if there is something that he really doesn't want taken away. Andrew and Sam enjoy laughing with each other and Andrew seems even to enjoy the little 'wrestling' matches they have on occasion. It's not exactly a fair fight yet and Mom often intervenes to prevent perceived threat of injury, but Andrew could care less about possible danger. He has an increasing passion for buckles and doesn't let an unbuckled buckle pass him by. He loves bath time and also his swim lessons, even if he's often shivering by the end (he needs more body fat!). Andrew continues to delight us in new ways every day and we are blessed to have him in our lives. As Sam says when he hugs Andrew: "I love you soooo much Andrew."

The climber is back

Early on Andrew worried me with his climbing ability, then it tapered off. Well, in the last week Andrew has mastered going up and down stairs safely, climbing onto our couches and just now, climbing onto our dining room chairs. I even tried to push the chair all the way under the table to make it difficult (or so I thought). He still climbed up and just stayed low under the table on the seat. Crazy! He seems to have a fairly good sense of balance and how to avoid falling, but he's not quite 15 months old. I can feel my gray hairs forming as I watch him run along our couch.