Blog

Making pizza on a Friday night for dinner. Daddy is using those old skills and showing us how it’s done! 

Trying on sunglasses with mommy, daddy and Aunt Cathy at the mall! 

With the ever approaching arrival of Baby P #2, we’ve been working on getting Andrew’s new big boy room together. After a bit of planning, lots of painting, a little crafting and LOTS of train assembling by Daddy, Andrew’s room is about ready for move in day!

Drum roll….. here it is! Initials and cars above his bed. Pinterest inspired, Mommy created!Reading nook. Canvas poster courtesy of Aunt Kiki.Window pane from the Fear family and signs from Aunt Kiki. Very happy how this one turned out!Lamp filled with Andy’s old derby cars and wooden cars painted for Andrew by Andy’s grandma, Gigi!Coat rack I painted and redid from a rummage sale find!And the piece de resistance, a working train running along his room! Andy spent hours assembling his old trains, building a bridge, laying track, installing lights and making his son the envy of all his friends! Video to come soon!

On November 17, 2016 Andrew William celebrated his 2nd birthday! I’ve said it at least 100 times in the last few weeks but it boggles my mind that our little man is already two years old. How did that happen!?! In a blink of an eye he went from my newborn baby to a funny, energetic, little boy! At this pace he’ll be off to college in about 4 months.

So what’s Andrew up to at 24 months? Andrew weighs 30.5 lbs and is 36.5 inches tall. Most pediatricians can predict how tall a child will be by doubling their height at two years old. Using this formula, Andy is ‘satisfied’ to learn that Andrew will be about 6′ 1”. Daddy is just hoping for anything above 6 feet tall but only time will tell…. He wears size 2T clothes and still sleeps on his crib; though will be transitioning to a ‘big boy bed’ VERY shortly.

Andrew attends The Palmer School and is in the Toddler 1 class. His teachers are Miss Maryanna, Miss Anna and Miss Danka. His best buddies are Austin, JP and Abby S.. He giggles on the way to school and runs in most mornings yelling ‘Hi buddies! Good morning!’

Andrew is OBSESSED with all things trains, cars, trucks and buses. Honestly, if it has wheels there is a 99.659% Andrew will love it. Almost equal to his love of cars and trains is his affection for books. While most of the time it is near impossible to get Andrew to sit still, he loves to read books. He’ll easily sit for 30-45-60 minutes and listen to anything you’re up for reading to him. His favorites right now are ‘Hello Baby’, ‘I’m a Big Brother’ (catching a trend….), ‘I Knew You Could’, ‘The Little Engine that Could’ and ‘The Potty Train’ (seeing the other trend?) and ‘Goodnight Digger.’ Andrew has also developed a strong love and affinity for all things Thomas the Train, Bob the Builder and Daniel Tiger. He also loves to dance and sing songs. His favorite is currently the ‘Wheels on the Bus.’

Andrew is still a pretty picky eater. I’d love to share that he’s open to trying new things but his diet unfortunately consists mostly of yogurt, applesauce, bunnies (similar to goldfish), peanut butter sandwiches, spinach bites, chicken nuggets, shredded cheese, toast and pizza. My saving grace is that he loves smoothies and juice. For whatever reason he loves my spinach, kale, fruit, ‘looks gross, tastes great’ juice. Take your wins where you can get them!

In the last few months, the biggest change in Andrew is his speech! It’s truly exploded in the recent weeks where he’s putting phrases together, repeating what you say and understanding concepts and his surrounding environment more and more. My favorite is when he comes up to you (unprompted) and says ‘Yove (love) You.’

He runs, not walks, loves being with other kids, possesses a natural curiosity and quest for fun and has the sweetest dimples I’ve seen. He keeps us on our toes, tires us out and brings boundless joy into our world. We are truly blessed and can’t wait to see what the next trip around the sun brings for this little man. Happy 2nd birthday Andrew William! 

Andrews subtle way of asking for another story. 

I signed Andrew up for a program called ‘Turtle Back Tots’ which was a great excuse to play hooky this morning and head to the Turtle Back Zoo. We met Courtney and Austin there and started our morning with a train ride and walk around the zoo to see the animals. Andrew loved the leopard, llama, cranes and chickens. But of course the playground was his favorite. Shocker.

We then headed over to the education center for the toddler program. Andrew got to do a craft (NOT interested in that), see pictures of animals who hibernate, hear a story and see three animals; a snake, turtle and chicken up close. He LOVED the story and was wide eyed when the animals came out. Though his favorite part was when the chicken ‘relieved’ itself on the floor. Andrew proceeded to tell everyone, ‘chicken poop! chicken poop!’. While slightly embarrassing in the moment, I’ll certainly cherish these memories always! Success!