Andrew at nearly 3 years old

It's been a while since I blogged, so I have several updates on Andrew and what he's like just a month before his third birthday.

First of all, this kid is a talker! He is extremely verbal and amazes me with his command of not just vocabulary but grammar as well. He's mastered his past tense and plurals for the most part and I think after being corrected about the few parts he gets wrong, he really does remember the next time.

That's probably due in part to his amazing memorization skills. He's been reciting grace at dinner time for about 6 months now ("Bless us O Lord, in these thy gifts...") and never fails to amuse me with the special voice he adopts for such renditions. I still need to catch it on video... He's also well on his way to memorizing the Lord's Prayer we say at bedtime as well, with "trespasses" among the words he nails every time. He's also singing songs from memory and definitely has most if not all of our Curious George books memorized. It's just amazing to see in this little guy 33 inches tall. :)

Andrew also adores his big brother. They were the best of buddies over the summer as we had time off from coop preschool and they were each other's primary playmates. Sam does a pretty good job of playing nicely with Andrew and I've noticed in particularly recently that Sam manages Andrew quite well. Andrew will still tend to cry or kick when he gets upset, but Sam can usually talk him down from it and distract him in a way that leads them both back towards cooperative play. It's pretty neat to see.

Andrew's dexterity has also improved a lot. He can put together the little Lego pieces and cut out pictures like Sam and put on his own clothes when properly inspired. Despite some concerns about putting his socks on the wrong feet, he does quite well putting on his own socks and shoes.

He's also very adept at expressing his emotions. We visited my family in the Bay Area in August and one particular conversation sticks in my mind. We saw my brother in the street as he was getting ready to leave for work and his sons waving from the sidewalk. Andrew saw his cousins and said "I'm so glad to see them!" Then he saw his uncle and I explained he would come say hello but then he has to leave for work and Andrew said "That makes me so sad." His stories now often recount how he was sad and happy by various things.

Lastly, Andrew seems to be quite the thrill-seeker. He loves swinging super high in the swings and even though some of the 4-D shows at Legoland scare him, he requests to see them over and over. It works well since Sam usually doesn't want to try something new for the first time and Andrew is usually happy to jump out in front. We'll see what happens once Andrew is big enough to ride the roller coasters...