Happy 43rd Month Birthday to Andrew!!
Andrew's sentences get better and even funnier. Sometimes at naps, he'll yell from his room, "I sleep upstairs. You wait for me to come back down." Quite a bit, he says "I don't have this one before" or "I don't have this for a really long time" especially when it comes to toys. Drew is also getting a little more attitude and will tell us very firmly "I do it myself" or "No, I don't!" He also likes to say "next time" a lot like we should do something or eat something "next time". He will also give us the responses "yup" and "nope", but we keep reiterating "yes, please", "yes, ma'am/sir", or "yes, Mommy/Daddy". He is getting really good when asking for something and asking "May I...?" Drew is also been saying "I sorry" more and more espcially before I can reprimand for something he did wrong.
And we must watch too much weather news on TV because Andrew once said "I watch rain storms" when they were talking about Hurricane Irene. Additionally, Andrew has been adding the "-y" to words like "I go poopy" or "I want my blankey". He will also tell us "my tummy hurt", "I'm sick", or "I'm not feeling good."
Andrew also likes to tell us "I don't want to go to school", but doesn't give us too much trouble when we tell him he has to go. And then, he will end up having a great time and want to do it again. It was the same with gymnastics! Punk!
Drew has always been a big fan of
Jesus Loves Me and
This is the Day, but lately, I hear him singing it all the time. It really does fill my heart with joy that he is learning to love God and Jesus. On the other side of it, he still likes Last Friday Night. He also loves the
Fireman Sam theme and likes all four versions I have found on youtube.
Andrew is more into my smartphone playing
Angry Birds and a train game where you draw tracks with your fingers as well as coloring in an app called
Zebra Paint. He has also been playing
Moron Test which I downloaded for Cara and Emma and memorizes the answers. His favorite part is building the snowman. He also likes to watch me play
Words with Friends and will try to put letters on the board and proceed to tell me it's a word.
He loves to eat oranges. But he is quickly becoming more of a carnivore. Andrew will still eat his fruits and vegetables, but meat usually makes up most of his meals with maybe the exception of noodles. He loves to interject that meat will make him "grow big and strong". For breakfast, he usually asks for Eggo waffles and Toaster Strudel.
Our resident outdoorsman constantly asks to go to the park and in particular, ones with fireman poles. He'll even ask for some by name such as Fire Truck Park, Pumpkin Park, Cherryhurst Park and the Civic Center. Since it's not as hot anymore, we've been trying to oblige him. Andrew continues to enjoy soccer and talks about how many goal he has scored. We try to tell him it's not just about scoring goals, but just that he try his best.
He's really into his body lately telling us things like "I need to brush my teeth" or how his boo boos are "healing and getting better".
Andrew is becoming more and more independent. He has gotten better at dressing himself. Also, he is able to open the car doors from both the inside and outside. He has also learned to unbuckle the buckle that goes across his chest in his car seat. And gratefully, he is getting much better at telling us when he has to go to the potty; and we are having much less accidents.
Drew talks a lot about the holidays mainly about they are going to be. The ones he talks about the most are Halloween, Christmas, and his birthday. He will want to talk about what costume he wants for Halloween (firefighter is the front runner), what theme/decorations he wants for the Christmas tree (train, Longhorns, Disney, and fire trucks), and what theme he wants for his birthday party (fire trucks pirates, and airplanes).
Our LEGO maniac still enjoys building things over and over again. I think he actually plays with LEGOs more than trains now, but probably not as much as fire trucks. Andrew is still working on putting them together per the instructions. Usually we do one side and tell him to do the same to the other side basically mirroring what we do. But is getting better and better about free building things like trains, cars, and trucks. He usually will ask us "you help me?" like if he is having problems snapping the pieces together.
One of his favorite things to play is firefighters. Andrew will put on his fireman uniform and I will wear the helmet. Then, we will pretend the couches are the fire trucks or ambulances and answer an emergency call. We will run to the coffee table or other couch and pretend to put out the fire or rescue stuffed animals that are trapped in the fire. Then, we will take them to the hospital.
The artist in him has been drawing airports with control towers, fuel tankers, luggage carts. He will draw trains along with train stations, signals, and tracks. He learned how to draw flowers after I showed him to draw them for Ngoai's birthday card. Drew draws fire stations with fire trucks and can write out "fire" as I spell it out for him. He is also drawing beaches, houses with garages (usually ours), and sometimes his school (with a cross on top). We have been working on his letters either on blank paper, worksheets from the internet, or a workbook we brought; and he is doing really good with writing them.
Andrew has been asking to take more trips. He will tell us who he wants to go visit and where they live. He knows that Anh Thu lives in Vegas, Nonna in San Antonio, and Granddad, Uncle John and Uncle Foo live in Austin. Then, Drew will ask why they live far away and usually tell him it's where they work to keep it simple for him.
Drew is getting acclimated to the new school year and seems to be loving it. He tells me that he plays on the playground and in the sandbox. And he seems to be learning the names of his classmates. Usually every morning, he will ask if it's a short day (Monday) or a long day (the rest of the week). He likes Mondays because he doesn't have to sleep at school.
Andrew still is fighting sleep especially naps now. He will even tell us "No take nap. I go to bed early." But when we do try to put him down for bed no matter what time it is, he will always try to stall. He is getting pretty bad about yelling "I love you!" and telling us that he is either hungry or thirsty. And he will say that he is "really hungry" and "really thirsty". When he finally settles down, he makes sure he has Matty Bear.
My sweet boy has been saying "I love you" a lot more and on his own too, especially when we are dropping him off at school and of course, at night before bed. I don't like when he does it at night as a stall tactic, but usually he is just being sweet and I love it.
Andrew still misses his little brother as we all do. He mainly asks us "When Matthew come back?" We just tell him that Matthew is in Heaven and he won't be able to come back. He will also say that "Matthew in Heaven with Jesus." He is still asking questions and trying to understand, but we know it will take time. We have been so proud of him in how he is handling everything. It really amazes me how resilient he is.
Anyways, Happy 43rd Birthday, Andrew! We love you so much!! Thank you for all the joy and love you bring to our lives!
Here are some more shots from this morning's soccer game.