I can't believe Andrew is two years old. We have a little boy now and not a little baby! Some days I look at him and am taken back by the little human being living with us. His personality is totally coming out too! He's usually very happy and very lively. There are so many times that I hear comments about how happy he is, which makes me very happy to hear. He is a little ball of energy, which makes him a handful, but still very fun. And I can't really say anything because he probably gets the hyperness from me. Paybacks, I guess! He is definitely in his terrible two's stage with tantrums, but thankfully, they aren't too numerous or too terrible. I find it funny how he can get so upset about something so trivial. Sometimes, I have to stop myself from laughing at him during his tantrums. He doesn't listen all the time, but is somewhat obedient. He definitely tests the limits!! But all in all, he's a good kid and a joy to parent. I have to say this, he sure makes things more interesting!! I wouldn't trade him for the world.
Andrew still loves playing with his trains. He loves making them really long and moving them around the track especially through tunnels and over the bridges. Drew is also really big into stickers and drawing. We draw and color all the time especially trains! He will tell me to draw people him in the trains such as Drew, Daddy, and Mommy. Andrew also likes getting stamped (and doing stamps) and temporary tattoos. One of his big things now is to to line things up as if to make trains, such as pillows, crackers, crayons, and laundry baskets.
Drew's culinary talents continue to grow. He is always willing to help us in the kitchen--stirring food, pouring in ingredients, and putting cheese on his pizza. He still pretends to stir and cook, but now he likes to get water out of the refrigerator dispenser. He will also pretend it's ice cream like soft serve ice cream. He really loves to pour water and in and out of cups and bowls. Sometimes, he is really good about not making a mess, but other times, he gets a little too crazy with it. Thus, we try to keep pouring for bathtime.
Andrew's viewing choices have changed lately. He doesn't watch as much Sesame Street or Thomas anymore. But recently, he has been more into Dora and Diego. We recorded one episode of each where there are trains; and he loves them. We watch them all the time. His favorite part of Dora is Swiper. He laughs so hard when he says "Aw man." Go figure our kid likes the "villian" of the show! He also likes to watch "Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express" after nap time while he is still waking up.
Andrew's talking is definitely improving. We have started speech therapy and feel that it's helping {more on this later}. We have been working on sounds and techniques of teaching speech, such as a pacing board and showing him how sounds are derived from our mouths. I think it's been good because I think it has boosted Andrew's confidence on speaking. He will try to make whatever sounds we ask. I am hoping that his speech continues to improve. We can only hope so with the therapy and ear tubes. In addition, Andrew will say "Drew" or "me" like when someone says they are going somewhere or doing something as if to say "Drew too" or "me too". Andrew will also say "Aw Man" from Swiper in Dora the Explorer. Often, Andrew will try to repeat words that we say. Some of the our favorites are "crap" and "gross". I guess we really need to start watching what we are saying!
In terms of eating and drinking, Andrew has been eating a lot of waffles, PB&J, and pizza. Drew still is very good about his dim sum, shrimp, dumplings, and noodles (with either spaghetti or alfredo). He drinks lots of milk mixed with Pediasure especially chocolate, but still not gaining that much weight!? He doesn't eat as much fruits and vegetables as he used to, which makes me a little sad. But I am hoping we can turn that around. Some days he eats great and other days, he eats not so great.
Andrew is still a good helper and loves to help with the laundry. He will put his clothes in the hamper before bath. But he also loves to bring down the hamper with Daddy and put them in the washer and dryer. Drew also loves to help put things in trash even without us telling him. He just up and takes whatever trash we have and takes it to the trash can. He does this a lot with his dirty wet diapers (I don't let him take the poopy ones) and food wrappers.
He is so funny about showing people his big boy bed. He remembers who has seen his bed and if they haven't, he will grab their hands and take them up to his room. When you ask him if you can sleep in the bed with him, he says no. Little punk!
Lately, Andrew has been preferring showers to baths. I don't know if it's because it's something out of the ordinary or because he's scared we might turn the jets back on. We totally learned our lesson on that one! Trust me, it will be a long time before we "surprise" him with the jets again!
Unfortunately, Andrew has started hitting again. It mainly is towards kids who Andrew is not familiar with or when he feels defensive like if they are wanting the same thing as him or have the thing he wants. When he misbehaves, we send him to time out. Sometimes, he knows he's in trouble, but other times, he thinks it's fun to be there. Sometimes, when he knows he did something wrong, he will walk over and put himself in time out because he know he's already headed there. Sometimes, he is good about sitting nicely, but other times, he just gets up and walks away like he was never in trouble to begin with. Punk!! I don't think he fully understands punishment and that time outs aren't fun, but hopefully soon, he will comprehend it and take it more seriously.
But on the side of good behavior, one of my favorite things about Andrew is how sweet he can be. True, I make him give him morning and afternoon kisses and million of other kisses and hug throughout the day. But sometimes on his own accord without any prodding from me, he will kiss and hug me. He will just come up and to me and hug me from behind or kiss me. I love it!! I more than love it! He is good about doing this to other people too. I am so happy he's affectionate especially because I know there will come a time where he won't want to love on me anymore. That is going to break my heart. Daddy has also taught Andrew to give shout outs--where Andrew points to whomever and says "shout out" but it somes out just "shaa". He loves giving knuckles to people over high fives. He will say "boom", but still won't blow it up. I don't have any clue as to why not!
For night night, we have started saying the "Our Father" before bedtime. Andrew will put his hands together to pray and say "amen". As for falling asleep, he likes me to sing him lullabies. I don't know why since I have a terrible voice, but I guess he doesn't know any better. His current favorties are
I've Been Working on the Railroad,
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the alphabet song.
Happy 2nd Birthday to our big boy and here's to many, many more! We love you so much! Thanks for making the last two years of our lives so amazing!
