Happy 17th Month Birthday!

The last month, Andrew is still growing into a little boy. He is still pretty happy and active for the most part, but he has definitely developed a temper and will fuss when he doesn't get his way. He will also scream--at times, just because and at other times, because he's mad. Fun, fun, fun We try to tell him "no screaming." Sometimes, I will also put my index finger on his mouth to shush him--sometimes, it works; sometimes, it doesn't. But I have to admit that he doesn't cry for too long, which I am relieved about. Most times, the tantrum only lasts a couple of minutes; and then, he will be back to normal.

Some of Andrew's new words are:

• Says "o" for open;
• Says "huu" for help;
• Says "ho" for hot while sticking out his palm as if trying to feel the heat--we would do the same to show him that pots and pans, food, the oven, etc. were hot. But sometimes, now when he sees a pot or pan, he thinks it hot and we tell him "not yet";
• Says "na" for snacks;
• Says "grr" for bear;
• Sometimes, I think I hear him say "raff" for giraffe, but it's not consistent. But he can pick the animal out of our Little People set so I know he recognizes it; and
• Makes a "pfft pfft" sound for a bunny rabbit, but it is very similar to his fish face (I tried teaching him by making the sound with an overbite as if it was the bunny's two front teeth). So now, I am trying to teach him to stick his fingers on the top of his head for the bunny ears.

In trying to remember everything that Andrew does, I tend to miss things with my sucky memory. For example, I am not sure if I have mentioned that Andrew will say "ba" for book (along with the other million things "ba" means) and "wa wa" for water (I think for at least the last two months or so). As for new sign language, we are trying to teach Andrew "thank you." He will do it sometimes, but it looks more like he is blowing kisses.

He is learning his body parts. Andrew knows his head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet, tummy, and belly button. I love when we ask him to show us his tummy or belly button...he will lift up his shirt. Also, if you hand Andrew a towel or napkin and tell him to clean his hands and face, he will. Mommy loves this!

Andrew still loves the same songs, but has added a few more to the list. I made him a CD for the car and he loves it. One of his new favorites is The Wheels on the Bus and is starting to learn the motions and noises to it. He also likes SteveSongs's So Many Shapes from PBS. Then of course, he loves him The Black Eyed Peas' Boom Boom Pow.

As for playing, Andrew still throughly enjoys playing with his Thomas trains. He can pull/push the whole train around the track including a hill--sometimes making it the whole way around without the train derailing or separating (sometimes like eight cars--I did have to hide some of them because he was making them too long and wasn't able to move them successfully). When they were getting derailed, he would start to whine, but that's how it came about that we taught him to ask for "help". He also knows how to link them together and rotate them if the magnetic poles don't match up. Andrew is getting better at puzzles. He can't put them in the spot, but he knows where they goes. He tries to slide them around, but doesn't quite have down fitting the pieces in exactly.

He has been able to open the doors in our house for a while now, but now really thinks the pantry door is the gateway to paradise. He will go and open it and start looking for food. If you offer him something he doesn't want, he will wag his finger. If you hit the jackpot, he will sign for eat and/or grab it. Also, he has opened the refrigerator door once so far. We suspect it is just a matter of time before we have to baby proof that as well.

Also, he has been able to give objects to people if we tell him, but now, he will take it upon himself to return items back to their owners. And not just Mommy's stuff either, he knows people's different cell phones, Ngoai's purse, and sometimes Dad's and Mom's shoes.

He has gotten much better about biting and chewing. He has improved on taking smaller bites and not choking on food. But unfortunately, we still have instances where he still chokes on his food! :( But as for eating, we still have days of great eating and other days of not-so-great eating. Andrew pretty much eats the same things still (we need to try out some more things). However, he seems to be liking kolaches better than donut holes as of late.

Andrew is still good about helping to clean up. When we play with toys that I have put in ziploc bags, Andrew will help me put them back into the bags when I ask him too. A few times when I start doing it by myself, he will just come up and start helping. He does with his bag of blocks too. I think he thinks it is a game and not a chore. I am sure that will change soon enough.

Andrew is still improving on sleeping in his crib even without rigid sleep training or using the crying it out method. He has slept in his crib until 6 or 7am; then, Mommy is ever so happy to bring him into our bed. Andrew will use his sippy cup as his security blanket in the crib when going night night. He will tuck it under his arm or lay on top of it. Sometimes, we have to wait quite a while before we can confisicate it back. As for napping, Andrew is pretty much down to only one nap, but luckily it is usually longer than an hour--typically one and a half to two hours.

Anyways, that's enough for now. Happy 17th Month Birthday to our little boy!