Happy 14th Month Birthday!

Andrew is still pretty active and very happy. He keeps me on my toes. He loves to play especially outside. Andrew loves to pick up rocks and dirt(sometimes trying to put them in his mouth). He loves to pick grass, flowers, leaves, or whatever else he can find too. When inside, he really enjoys playing with his trucks and cars. Andrew motorboats to imitate the vehicles revving. He still loves to look at books especially the ones with trucks and cars.

His favorite word is probably "dada". He even calls me "dada" now too. He will say "mama" occasionally, but it takes some coaxing or he has to be really tired or want me bad enough. After some work, we got him saying "mama" more often now. He has begun to say his own version of Ngoai. The easiest way I can explain is that it is pronounced closed to "why", but he says "wah." It's better than nothing. He is also really funny now when signing "please". When he wants something badly, he excitedly signs rubbing his tummy very fast and if he wants something really badly, he rubs his belly with both hands. Too cute!

Andrew pretty much calls every animal "ro ro" for dog. When we see real dogs, he says "ro ro" very quickly and points at them. Andrew loves to pat dogs especially the dogs of our neighbors. We have been trying to teach him the other animals, but no such luck yet. He loves to look for dogs and birds though. We have spent a good deal of time walking after birds in parking lots! He has started to recognize pigs too.

Andrew is really grasping the idea as to time and routine. For example, in the mornings when he wakes up, he will immediately say and look for "Dada". I get sad if I have to tell him that Daddy has already left for work--and Andrew will get sad too. Sometimes, he wants to go downstairs to look for him. On the mornings when James hasn't left for work yet, Andrew will want him to hold him and can get pretty upset when James has to leave. It just breaks my heart. Then, in the afternoon when it is around time for James to come home, when Andrew hears the door alarm chime, he looks towards the stairs and calls out "dada" too. If we are upstairs in his room or our room, he will look toward the door waiting for him to come through.

Andrew is still our little dancing machine. He loves to dance to all kinds of music--slow or fast. Almost daily, Andrew will start to dance next to our computers. He is asking for us to play music on Windows Media Player so he can see the visualizations. Andrew will also dance when he hears some music on the TV or on the ipod or when we are in the car...whenever the beat catches his fancy. It's so cute too when Andrew just starts to dance for people randomly without any music on especially girls. Maybe this is the beginning of his dating ritual or something. Either way, he shakes his hips and puts his hands up. I will have to post a video of it soon.

As for eating, Andrew loves adult food and drinks. He will want to eat and drink anything we do. For breakfast, he will eat Eggos like his daddy, but I have started giving him things like toast with butter or PB&J. For lunch and dinner, he loves chicken nuggets and french fries. Andrew also likes pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches. One of his favorite things to eat is dim sum. We go to a restaurant called Yum Yum Cafe in Rice Village; and Andrew eats so well. He loves the shrimp eggroll, dumplings, steamed buns, beef rice roll, and asparagus. Sometimes, he will eat faster than we can put it on his plastic placemat! And Andrew loves him some sweets--candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, all of it! But I am a proud mother that I can say that Andrew still loves fruits and vegetables. He likes berries, grapes, and mangos quite a bit. As for veggies, he loves carrots, corn, squash, and broccoli still. Sometimes, he chooses fruit and veggies over meat.

He is growing so fast and learning so much; and not enough time for Mommy to write about them all. Anyhow, here are pictures taken from our balcony tonight.