Happy 16th Month Birthday!

Well, Daddy jokes that Andrew is now 1 and 1/3 years old. He grows up more and more each day--sometimes too fast for Mommy. Who am I kidding?! It's more like always too fast for Mommy!

For a while now, Andrew has loved to pretend that he is an adult. But now, it is becoming more evident everyday. In the beginning, it was drinking out of a cup versus a bottle or sippy cup or eating table food versus his baby food. Lately, he has gotten more interested in not just eating what we eat, but how we eat it. One time, we were have chicken wings; Andrew didn't want to eat the little pieces I had cut off for him, but instead hold it and eat it off the bone. Another time, he wanted to eat corn on the cob off the cob. And then, there was the ribs last the other night.

Andrew still loves drinking out of cups (he doesn't drink from a bottle anymore, but does normally drink out of sippy cups), but likes to hold it by himself. Usually, there is no drink in the cup or a very small amount. But he still likes to pretend or try to drink from a cup especially in the tub.

Lately, Andrew doesn't like to eat in his high chair for the entire meal. He will sit and eat nice for a while (depending upon how much he likes the meal). But after a while, he wants down and either will walk around and continue eating or want to sit in someone's lap and eat. Sometimes, we will let him sit by himself and eat off the table, but we don't trust that very much.

Speaking of eating, Andrew likes meat, but loves shrimp especially in dim sum and Pei Wei's honey seared shrimp. A.J. luckily still loves veggies like broccoli and corn. Andrew also enjoys peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, donuts, and Eggo waffles for breakfast. He can almost say donut by saying "do da." Andrew also still likes to eat grilled cheese sandwiches. Lastly, the little guy loves all sweets, especially ice cream even more so since we had been giving him quite a bit during the whole HFMD saga.

Andrew has eight teeth--four up and four down. Another thing we have been working on is brushing his teeth. Most of the time, he likes to brush them, but I think he already realizes that his kid toothbrush is different than ours. So sometimes, he will want to use ours instead. I also think he knows that his toothpaste is different too.

In terms of communicating, Andrew says "ooon" for oink. He also says "unn" like a grunt for "uncle." I have plans to keep at him to learn the "cle" part so he can say the whole thing. Instead of saying "mama" like before, he also likes to use a British accent when he refers to me and says "mum". It's too cute! As for signing, Andrew will pump his fist up for "up", i.e. to be picked up. This is his way of pointing up, which is what I have been trying to teach him, but for some reason, he won't stick his finger out. For a while now, he has been pumping his fist up and down for "train" to mimic pulling a horn of a train.

Drew still likes to read books, but now he would sometimes just rather flip through the pages and identify the things he knows like cars, dogs, balls, and animals. I love it when he kisses the book on his own volition. Andrew now plays with his Thomas track, but will sometimes pull it apart and have a hard time pushing and pulling the trains around the track properly. He still loves to play with his diecast cars. He still loves his rocking horse that he got from Brennan, but now he Drew can climb up and rock himself though we get scared about him falling off as he will sometimes rock with no hands. He can get himself down too...although it can be a very scary looking dismount. Our son still loves to clean with the broom. His latest thing is to get the dustpan and pretend to empty it in the trash can.

Andrew is more into television now. We try to limit how much he watches it, but he will want to watch more than what we want. I typically let him watch PBS in the mornings with breakfast. Andrew loves the cartoon Super Why!, especially the song played at the end, and Sesame Street. He also loves the "Hot Dog" song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He loves the Sesame Street DVD that we got from Jenny particulary when Telly sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We do try to minimize the TV watching by playing the songs on the iPod, but unfortunately, that doesn't always work.

As for motor skills, Drew's climbing has greatly improved. He can climb up onto our couches and dining room chairs. Also, he has gotten much better about climbing down the stairs. We have tried to teach him to go downstairs stomach down feet first, but he has always wanted to walk down like we do. But lately, he will actually do it how we have showed him. However, at some point, he will turn back around and try to walk down. He can also ride some of his riding toys and is able to move it around Fred Flintstone style.

Andrew still loves tubby time. He has learned to blow bubbles in the tub and drink out of the faucet. Also, he will put water in the cups we have in there and then pour it out. We have added jugs to the onslaught of tub toys and he loves pouring with those. We have tried taking showers with him, but he isn't the biggest fan of the water in his face. However, he is getting better about it. After tubby, Andrew also likes to help me rub lotion on his body. I will put a dab on his body and he will smear it around. This has been a good way to test his knowledge of his body parts.

When we put him down the night, we ask him if he's ready for the crib. Now, he will point to it; and we will lay him down in it. Then, he will lay down and fall asleep. Normally, Andrew takes one nap a day. And Andrew takes after Mommy by being able to fall asleep in car rides.

One bad thing that has come about is that Andrew can be quite tempermental. He knows what he wants and will fight to get his way. I don't think that James and I are this tempermental. We joke that he got it from Papa who has a temper on him (but has gotten much better over the years). When he does get mad, he will knit his brows when he gets upset. It's so cute that it's hard to stay mad at him. Unfortunately, other times when he gets mad, he will pull hair or hit. I don't know where he learned it because we do neither to him. We try telling him no hit or no pull, but he won't stop. We will have to keep working on him to stop this behavior. I hope he learns it soon enough!

Additionally, Andrew can be very possessive of his mother and her things. One tme Papa was holding my purse before we left their house and Andrew went after him and said "mum." Another time, Daddy was holding the camera; and Andrew subsequently says "mum" again. It's sad that he thinks it's solely mine because I take so many pictures. And yet another time, Daddy was talking on my cell phone with Nonna. Andrew proceeded to grab the phone and give it to me as if returning to me. Sometimes when he has my cell phone, he will bring it to me and say "Ngoai" because he is used to me calling her in the mornings. You can see the creature of habit lurking in!

But for the most part, our son is still a good kid. He is getting harder as he learns more stuff, but I hope that he will learn that he can't get everything he wants and to be patient. But these are things we will have to work on and teach him. Even though he can be a punk at times, we still love him!

Here is our sixteenth month old dressed to root on the Longhorns for the CWS. Hook 'em and happy birthday!