I am happy to say that over the last month, Andrew's speech has vastly improved. He can now say more two syllable words, such as airplane and Anh Thu, but he also talks in simple sentences, such as "Mama, sit down" and "Eat please." We are so happy with how his speech is continuing to improve. We don't know if it was the hearing improvement, speech therapy, that he came into on his own, or a combination of the three, but we are just tickled pink no matter what the cause.
As for eating, he loves to eat pizza, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, ice cream, oranges, fruit snacks, and Cheetos. For breakfast, he usually asks for doughnuts, which he only gets once a week. I also get him kolaches and try to get him to eat that first before the doughnuts. There are times when he eats the sausage more than the doughnut much to Mommy's delight. Andrew is great about drinking milk, especially chocolate milk. Sometimes, he doesn't want to drink juice or water.
His favorites toys are trains, cement mixers, fire trucks, and police cars (or as he refers to them as "po po". Oops!) :) Drew also loves to pretend to ride a train be it in his train tent or on pillows on the floor. Lately, I will pretend to wait at the train depot. Next, Andrew will yell "all aboard" and punch my ticket. Then, Andrew will tell me where the train is going--usually Anh Thu's house, Papa's and Ngoai's house, Nonna's house, the zoo, or the museum. I love seeing how well Andrew can pretend. He does very well in Gymboree following along with the week's curriculum and pretending along with the lesson. And Andrew is still big into drawing and coloring. His hand control is definitely improving; and as such, he's able to control the crayon much better.
One new thing this past month is that Andrew's new favorite color is green. He loves to wear green clothes, color with green, and point out green things, such as cars and trucks. He gets so happy when he sees a green garbage truck! Oh, how easily amused Andrew can get. I am sure it's just a phase and that he will go back to liking blue or move onto another color. I am going to have to try to persuade him to like a certain shade of orange!!
Lately, as we are getting ready to tuck Andrew into bed, he will go into our room and get the baby monitor and pillow for me to lay down on in the hallway. It's so sweet to think of Mama's needs, but there is a little part of me that questions whether he is just trying to stall. Though, he could stall bed time by many other methods that don't concern Mama. We still say prayers before night night; Andrew will say "Amen" at the end of the Lord's Prayer and also a little prayer to Buddha.
Andrew knows count from 1-10, but sometimes, skips numbers. He also knows some letters, such as A, B, T, and O. On a less serious note, we have also taught Andrew to give double knuckles (bump both fists) and rub hugs.
He is really good about remembering who gave him what. For example, if you ask him who gave him his Polar Express train, he will answer "Nonna." Or if you ask him who gave him his Thomas lighthouse, he says "Uncle." One thing that cracks me up and ponders me a little is that if Daddy and Mommy gave him a toy and we ask him who gave it to him, 9 out of 10 times, he says Daddy!!
We have been working on Andrew's sharing with others. Some days, he is great about sharing offering up whatever to whomever. But other days, it takes some real prodding to get him to share. Usually, it is me threatening to put him or the toy in question in time out. Sadly, Andrew is still hitting and pushing. Time outs and my telling him to keep his hands to himself don't seem to do the trick either. We have even left places after he misbehaves, but that doesn't seem to be working either. I think a large part of it is that he cannot communicate his frustration and he instead acts out physically and quite aggressively. As such, I have tried to explain to him that if he is upset, that he needs to walk away or come to me. I don't know how much of this is sinking in though!! Hopefully, he will come around soon!
At first, when I asked him if he wanted to go to school, Andrew would always say "no." But now sometimes, he says actually says "yes." Usually, this is followed by "Mama" which I think he means to say that I will be going with him. My response is that I will be the one dropping him off and picking him up. We shall find out in a few months.
Below are pictures of my 26th month old out in Anh Thu's backyard. Too bad he won't go into the hot tub (he's scared of the jets) and the pool is still too cold.
Happy 26th Month Birthday, Andrew! Daddy and Mommy love you to the moon and back!
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