Andrew's favorite songs right now are Party Rock, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Feliz Navidad, and Jingle Bells. We have been also reading a lot more Christmas books with Christmas a little over a month away such as The Polar Express and Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Andrew talks a lot about when he grows up. Before he wouldn't ever say what he was going to be. But lately, he has been saying that he is going to be a fireman when he grows up. However,sometimes, he goes back and says he isn't sure. Also before, he said he was going to marry me, but lately, he will go back and forth between getting married and not.
Some of Andrew's sayings include "I'm just kidding" and "I'm just playing". And when he gets in trouble, he will tell us that he will do whatever wrongdoing "never again" or in terms of what he needs to be doing, he will "do it every day". We also get a lot of "I love you" especially when going to bed, when he's in trouble, or when I am about to leave his classroom at school in the morning.
Drew is very much into what is going on in his world especially what activities he has. He is very excited about Christmas and asks all the time "when is going to be?" He will also ask about when Halloween, Thanksgiving, his birthday, and the book fair are going to occur as well. He asks us why Halloween isn't everyday. When Drew talks about Thanksgiving, he talks a lot about how he is going to eat turkey. He has said earlier that he is thankful for toys and food. Nice to see he has his priorities straight!? But lately when asked, he will go into a list of our family and then friends. Much better!! He can't wait to wear pajamas to school for the book fair because he still remembers it from last year. And he is so stoked about our upcoming trip to Vegas. He is looking forward to seeing his cousins again.
Also, he totally is loving his new class this year--his teachers and classmates. He especially loves Super Tuesdays. I can't express how much he looks forward to this day every week!
With this enthusiasm, we are making a concerted effort of teaching Andrew the days of the week. We have talked to him about them before, but we are trying to get him to learn them and what we do on those days. Andrew likes to help with his calendar and really gets into moving the Today marker.
In terms of drawing, Andrew still draws trains, but now will draw them with pumpkins (from Halloween), flowers, Christmas trees, and Christmas lights. He will also put double digit numbers in them versus just putting a number 1 for Thomas. He also likes to draw Christmas trees with gifts underneath them. He also still draws airports, fire stations, buildings on fire, fire chief trucks, and ambulances.
As for learning, he can write pretty much all of the letters of the alphabet when you ask him. But he does need some help on some like "s" and "z". He mixes up lowercase "b" and "d" quite a lot. He can write his name and loves to write it as "Andrew L." because there was a little boy in this class also named Andrew. And even though this boy has since moved away, he still wants to put the "L" on the end. He is also learning how to spell "train". He will ask us how to spell "airport" and "fire" when he draws.
Andrew is getting more hooked into Apple and plays on his iPad quite a bit. We still have him apps where he traces and writes his letters and numbers. He is really into this coloring app where you color pictures kind of like in a "Paint by Numbers" fashion. They have number and letters in both upper and lower case. There is another app that Andrew likes where you can draw your own pictures that you can use stamps. And his favorite one is a mound of dirt that looks like poop and makes a fart -like sound. We are trying to minimize his use of this one and try to encourage to do other stamps that aren't as crass.
He is also very sensitive especially when it comes to being in trouble. When we are talking about any wrongdoings, he might interject "I don't want to talk about it anymore" or "Mom, stop talking about it!" And if he hits me either accidentally or deliberately, he will kiss my boo boos or cheek in an attempt to placate the situation and make nice.
Also, we have notice that Andrew is more verbal about his associative memories. He will remember all these things like going places with certain people and eating certain food at a restaurant.
Andrew continues to learn more independence. He can do the chest buckle of his car seat, but is not all the way able to do the metal buckle at his waist. He is putting on his shoes and can strap him. He is getting better about dressing himself all the time. He is not shy about telling us "I do it myself!"
His choice of shows have been primarily Fireman Sam and Team Umizoomi. He is also watching more full length movies. We are watching more Disney movies especially Peter Pan, Jungle Book, and 101 Dalmations.
Gymnastics has been very well received in our household. Andrew has so much for the hour that we go every week. They have been working on forward rolls, the bars, and balance beam. His absolute favorites are the trampoline and foam pit. No surprise there. Coach Gabby has been so great. She is very sweet, but is such a great teacher.
Andrew still is enjoying soccer and will talk about playing each Saturday and how many goals he going to score. He likes to kick the ball around the house, but not as much as he probably should practice. And one thing we have noticed is the camaraderie with the team. Andrew is more into his teammates and will cheer them on when he's off the field.
In the realm of eating, Andrew is loving grilled cheese sandwiches. So much so that I think he might ask for them everyday and usually, I have to deter him and suggest something else. When I ask him what he wants for lunch at school, I think he answers grilled cheese sandwiches at least three times a week. We did add pizza Lunchables into the repertoire and his teachers say he doesn't make too big a mess with is. He is still eating a lot of pizza and noodles. He loves the chicken lo mein with broccoli added in from Pei Wei. Andrew is becoming ever more the carnivore and says quite frequently "I want meat" and that meat makes him "big and strong" and then flexes his muscles to show us. His favorite meat is probably beef especially the Korean bulgogi. One night, I made chicken cordon bleu and told him to eat the ham and he proceeds to tell me that "ham is not real pork!" One of his favorite snacks now is popcorn especially when we are having movie night. But he still enjoys Goldfish, strawberries, and Nilla wafers with milk. As for drinks, he is drinking more milk and water and not as much juice. He also likes hot chocolate when it's cold.
Bedtime is much better, but not perfect. Some nights, he is good without yelling or coming out, but other nights, forget it. He will use every stall tactic in the book. It's a work in progress for us, but as he gets older, he does improve. We still read books before bedtime usually accompanied by a night night snack. Then, he likes to listen to music, which we are okay with since it acts as background noise. Andrew has a lot of stuffed animals in his room, but lately, he makes sure that Matty Bear and Riggs are with him.
In terms of potty training, things are progressing well. He is pretty good about telling us "I need to go pee!" and darts off to the bathroom. But we do have to remind him now and then. Andrew is so weird about privacy. When he pees, he doesn't even bother to close the door, but when he has a BM, he stills asks for privacy and now wants the door all the way closed. Andrew has also moved from pull-ups to underwear during the day even at school. He had an accident the first day, but none since then!! Drew still wears pull-ups at night, but he is dry 60-70% of the time.
Our sweet boy is still working through losing his little brother as we all are. When he sees me crying he will ask why or ask me why I am sad. One time, he wiped my tears and then ran to get me a tissue paper. There have been times when all of a sudden, he gets sad and starts to cry. He will then say that "I miss Matthew". Normally, this happens right before bed, but it has happen at other random times. He says all the time "I miss Matthew" and that Matthew is "with Jesus". He still asks when Matthew is coming back and we have to talk them through the sad fact that his brother won't be coming back to us. More recently, he will ask about when we will have a new baby and why is there no baby in my stomach. We told him we have to wait to see what the doctors say before we can try to have another baby.
Andrew does talk more through his grief. We talk about why the doctors couldn't fix his boo boos especially in reference to how come they can fix some boo boos, but not others. He talks to us about how Matthew is in Heaven with God and Jesus. And he will mention the balloon release we did last month and about the commitment ceremony, the mausoleum, and cemetary--two words that no three year old should know. And every time we pass St. Vincent de Paul he says that is where we prayed for Matthew and how Cara, Emma, and Brennan were there (because they played together at the reception after).
Here's another picture of our little boy from the park today. Happy 45th Birthday, Drew! We love you so much!
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