Andrew is still very big into his Thomas and Geotrax trains. And sometimes, he will even play with them on the hardwood floors rather than the tracks. He loves his emergency vehicles and garbage truck diecast cars too. Drew still thoroughly enjoys reading books especially at night time. Some of his current favorites are the Berenstein Bears All Aboard book and any of the Max and Ruby books. His favorite shows are Max and Ruby and more recently, Team Umizoomi .
Andrew's speech continues to improve and we are so proud of him and how far he's come along. He will say words on his own that we might not have said recently. He says lots of sentences now and is speaking more intelligibly. He is also getting much better at singing songs and will often sing to himself in the bathtub and car seat. Usually it's Happy Birthday to you. He also sings I've Been Working on the Railroad, which is probably his favorite song to sing in the car. Drew is also starting to sing his ABCs. We sing it with him when he brushes his teeth or when applying his temporary tattoos. Andrew also likes I Like Trucks that we heard in Gymboree and we try to do the accompanying dance at home (I have tried to record it, but Andrew will usually just stop whatever he is doing when I pull out the camcorder).
He is also getting much better at counting to ten, but will sometimes forget the number five. He will go from four to eight. But if he can remember five, he will remember six and seven. He has also learned the colors yellow, orange, and purple. He almost has black and white down too.
With regards with his sleeping, he has been sleeping very well considering. He usually get about ten hours of sleep at night. For naps, his average is an hour and a half, but we do get some two hours nap. Woo hoo!!And with regards to the vomiting, unfortunately, we haven't made any headway here. We still don't know what's causing Andrew to throw up as much as he does. It's very irregular in that he won't throw up for a week, but then throw up every other day the next week. We are still talking to the GI specialist about what to do next, but are also looking into seeing about whether Andrew might have allergies, which might be attributing to some of the vomiting. Andrew has been coughing after waking up in the morning or after naps and at other times, sporadically. We thought this might be more of a GI issue, but now we are thinking, it might be related to Andrew having allergies. Anyways, we pray everyday that we figure these issues out soon. It's been very frustrating dealing with this for so long. We so badly want an answer so we can figure out a solution and try to get Andrew better.
In regards to potty training, we haven't pushed the subject much since we didn't want to put too much onto Andrew with us trying to get him adjusted to school first. He will go pee in the potty probably once a day usually before bath time. And there have been a few times when he will tell us when he needs to pee versus us asking him and then saying yes or no. And instead of toys as rewards, he gets temporary tattoos. Toys were just getting too expensive so we are saving them for pooping in the potty for which he still has no inclination to going poo poo in the potty though even with bribery. One day, he was really wanting this Cars ramp that I had bought a while back, but I had said he could get only for pooing in the potty. So, he sat on the toilet and tried to push some poo out, but couldn't. He must have sat there for at least fifteen minutes. I even told him not too worry about it and he could try again later, but he was persistent. Unfortunately, nothing happened. I almost wanted to give him the toy for effort! We will revisit potty training more when he is fully adjusted to school.
One of his new favorite snacks are Nutter Butters, but his favorites are still the Welch's Fruit Snacks, which he still likes to eat for his night night snack most nights. Andrew has been willingly eating broccoli because of the Berenstein Bears Going Out to Eat Book. Andrew also loves to eat scrambled eggs. He will even pick them out in fried rice. He also loves to eat ham, egg, and cheese tacos especially the shredded cheese. He will sometimes like to eat the taco rolled up, but usually, he will have the tortilla open and eat out of it. His favorite above all else is still cheese though!
Andrew is definitely becoming more independent. For example, he likes to walk by himself without holding hands. But we are adamant about being precautious at intersections and streets and make him hold hands, which he abides by. We do play the red light, green light game with him trying to make it more fun. We will let him run a little loose when we say "green light" and he is supposed to stop when we say "red light". We also say that he's supposed to slow down when we say "yellow light", which basically means for him to walk instead of run. He plays along with sometimes, but not always unfortunately. We definitely want to cultivate Andrew's independence, but it's definitely hard to let go sometimes. Andrew is able and very much into getting his own water from refrigerator. He will use the step stool usually, but is able to tippy toe and get it without the use of the step stool. He also knows how to change the settings from water and ice.
Our little sous chef still loves to help in the kitchen. Lately, on the weekends, we will make waffles and Andrew is such a willing sous chef. He pours in the flour, milk, and vanilla, but knows that Daddy or Mommy are the only ones to crack the eggs. And then, he will help to stir sometimes making a little mess, but not too bad. He also loves to add blueberries or chocolate chips too.
Andrew is more aware of sizes and quantity. When we get him a drink in a cup, we would just put a little in there so we wouldn't spill too much. But now, he asks for "big water" or when he gets his own water at the fridge, he says "big water" and will fill the cup up to pretty much full or full. There are some instances when we are eating where Andrew examines the size of the food and will keep the bigger piece for himself and give us the smaller piece. He is still very social and enjoys with playing with his friends. He really likes to follow the other kids and imitate them. He loves to play pretend trains with him though they don't always follow suit. He doesn't understand that people wouldn't want to play trains all day everyday. Shocker, right?!
Drew is still very big on togetherness. He wants everyone to play together, everyone to go wherever together, everyone to eat together, etc. He will even give a little roll call just to make sure. For example, he will tell us who he would like to sit where at the table or where we sat the night before especially if we had guests. He will also tell us who went with him to certain places such as who rode the Metro Rail with him. Funny kid.
Along with this, Andrew is also a little dictator as to who needs to sit where, who should play with what toy, who will read what book, who is going to put him night night, etc. Sometimes, we can sway him, but other times, he's pretty adamant. And sometimes, we don't care so we just oblige him. We do have a little punk on our hands. Daddy and Mommy alternate nights to put Andrew down after night night books. And whomever's turn it may be that night, Andrew will want the other parent to stay upstairs. We obliged him one night, but then changed his mind again. We learned our lesson and tell him there are no refunds or exchanges!
Our little boy is also very much a procrastinator, or rather a staller. He will plead to us for "two more minutes". And even then after the two minutes, he will want another two minutes. We have started to use the timer on the microwave and my cell phone. Apparently, the beeping makes it more official sometimes making Andrew more compliant.
Andrew's temper and whining is still very prevalent. But when we ignore the tantrums, he will stop faster. We will also tell him to stop crying and talk like a big boy, which sometimes works. But all in all, we totally expect Andrew to throw fits and be irrational--it's part of the Terribles 2s, right?! But thankfully, he's not too crazy with them. Hopefully, they get better with time.
And for all the frustrations we may feel, we know we are blessed to have Andrew. For all the tantrums, there are so much more laughs and smiles. He is still a very happy kid who likes to play and is very sweet. I love that he is so affectionate, loving, and caring.
Andrew, you make your daddy and mommy so happy. We love you more each day and are so lucky to be your parents. We have loved watching you every day since you came into our lifes and we look forward to watching you every day hereafter. Happy Birthday, loves!
Here are two videos of Andrew from the past month that show his love of trucks.
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