Our little boy continues to be a little dictator! Whenever he says he wants something, he will almost always add "right now." For example, the one phrase we have been hearing a lot is "Santa Claus come our house right now." Of if we bring up a trip that we have taken or a place we have gone too, he will say he wants to go back "right now." We will tell him "another day" or a day specifically if it applies and he usually is complacent, but not always. He definitely needs to work on being more patient!
Andrew can still be very sweet and kind with a hint of evil streak. But the angel usually outweighs and outnumbers the little misfit. One morning, Ngoai and I took Andrew to H Mart, a local Korean supermarket, where they were handing out samples of dumplings. I get two--one for Andrew and one for me, but I don't eat mine so Andrew can eat it if he wants. Well, he eats his and then we notice he is just holding the second one. We tell him to eat it, but he says "Papa." We had told him that Papa was on the way to our house and I guess he figured he would save it for him. So sweet!
He's still a little procrastinator, but he's a lot better at playing the game now. When we tell him to go do something, he will usually reply "two minutes." But if we say no, he will come back with a new offer of "one minute." And he's so cute because he will put however many fingers up close to his face by his nose. And lately, he will up the ante and start with "five minutes" as his first offer and work his way down accordingly. Already the negotiator...maybe he would make a good attorney!? Ha!
Another way that Andrew procrastinates is at bedtime when we are reading him books. We have been letting him pick out five books and have noticed that he will pick out the longer books! And of course, once we finish five books, he will try to ask for "one more." And then there are times when he asks to go play downstairs in an effort to buy more time before going to bed.
And speaking of sleeping, we unfortunately have had a harder time putting him down for bed lately. Before, we were able to just tuck him in, leave the room, go downstairs, and wait for him to fall asleep. There were times when he would come downstairs, but it was working for the most part. But lately, he will have a fit if we leave the room. We have compromised by staying with him in his room after lights out for ten to twenty minutes. And then after that, we will leave the room. And usually, he still cries for us. We have tried to ease him back into putting himself to sleep by going to our room or the hallway. And usually, Daddy lets Drew off easy by falling asleep on the floor next to his bed. Hopefully, we can work out a better routine for all of us!
Moreover, another thing at bedtime that is new is that Andrew likes to have his back rubbed or for us to hold him. In regards to "holding" him, he either wants us to hold his hand, put our arm around him, or lay with him and snuggle him. Usually, we will only do it for a little while, maybe five minutes.
Unfortunately, there hasn't been too much progress in the way of potty training; and Daddy and I are to blame for that in that we don't push him as much as we should. He will still pee in the toilet before baths usually and occasionally throughout the day. But as much as we ask him to go poop in the potty, forget it. He has no interest whatsoever still.
However, Andrew's speech and vocabulary are still coming along nicely. He repeats so much of what we say and is able to construct his own sentences even more so. His pronounciation is progressing as well being able to pronounce some final consonants on words such as the letters t, p, and n. But by far, my favorite thing he says is "I love you too, Mama" usually in response to "I love you, Andrew." But for the most part, he will still say "love you", but when I get the full sentence, I am in heaven!
I am totally loving Andrew's little sayings that he whips out to our surprise. When he opened one of Nonna's Christmas present, he said "Oh, my!" And then, he will out of blue, say "boo" for something that he doesn't like or approve of like "boo for traffic" (that's all my doing).
We have been trying to teach Andrew to say "excuse me" at appropriate times, such as burping and farting and then when someone or something is in his way. He first said it on his own when my train was blocking his train on the track. And there have been several instances when he will say it after he burps or farts. It's been also funny because I will hear him say "excuse me", but not hear the burp or the fart!
The little man tries to emulate us all the time. He likes to think he can do adult things like drink coffee and beer. Yeah, it's a little sad, I know. We have explained to him that both beverages are for adults and he's too young to drink them. And he's complacent with not being able to drink them, but he will still talk about it. He loves to say "I drink coffee" and pretends to make them in the bath too. No big deal, right?! I wish beer was a little more simple. During one of our speech therapy sessions, one of the flash cards had a bottle of soda pop for the word "pop". And what does our little boy say?! "Beer, I drink beer!" Luckily, the therapist thought it was very funny and not mortified.
On the more innocent side, I am so happy with how much Andrew sings now. He picks up more and more words all the time. And something that always brings a smile to my face is when I hear Andrew singing to himself like in the bath or when he will sing Down by the Station when he is playing trains. Thankfully, he still asks for us to play The Eyes of Texas for him.
Andrew is also inquisitive. He asks "What is that?" all the time too especially like in books or on the TV. Additionally, he continuously asks "That sound?" or more recently, "What's that sound?" And the funny thing is that he normally knows what the answer is, but just likes to ask it for whatever reason. We will ask him back "What is it?" and he will tell us. Maybe he is just so use to us asking him these types of questions, he is just trying to mimic us again.
He still loves Max & Ruby, both the books and the show. He picks to watch it more than anything. His favorite books are The Polar Express and The Little Engine That Could. When we go up any kind of hill, he will say "I think I can, I think I can." He also loves watching videos (like The Polar Express trailer on YouTube) and playing games on our phones and is even learning how to work them both since I have a touch screen and Daddy has a trackball.
Andrew still plays with his Thomas and GeoTrax trains a ton, but is also really getting into and building with Lego Duplos and Thomas MegaBlox. He's been drawing a lot lately too. When I draw a train for him, he will draw circles for the wheels and coal and stick figures for the engineer and passengers. He will ask me to draw garbage trucks for him and then he will draw the trash cans and garbagemen on the back of the trucks and the driver too. He will also draw a big rectangle with windows for an airport. He will draw three circles on top of one another for a snowman and then add his face, buttons, and stick arms. He will ask me to draw a Christmas tree and he will then draw ornaments (and trains) on the tree and a star on top. Daddy has also been letting him play Wii bowling. Andrew doesn't have a perfect form nor know how to do the buttons perfectly. One of these days, I will get a video of this.
Andrew totally loves school now and asks for more school all the time. He says that he loves music, motor and chapel. And he does a pretty good job of learning the songs trying to sing along and doing the actions that correspond. Daddy and I know he is learning so much from his teachers and classmates and are so glad he is so happy with them as well.
Drew grows more and more independent and able to do things for himself more. He can get his own cup, move the step stool, and get his own water from the fridge. He does a pretty good job of drinking from a cup now too (school has definitely helped with that one). He can take off most of his clothes (not buttons) and can get himself in and out of our garden tub. And one of the cutest things that Andrew does now is when he takes off his shoes and socks, he will tuck his socks into his shoes and go put them away either downstairs by the bench in the entryway or by his table where shoes end up sometimes.
We do have a little daredevil on our hands who is getting more brazen. He will climb on anything and everything he can. One of the mornings we were in Austin, he just leapt off Uncle Anh Tuan's ping pong table and landed on his two feet on the tile from about two and a half feet up. Sometimes, he really has no fear!! I have to worry about this as his mother in fear of it getting worse as he grows up! Eek!?
Andrew is still very big on togetherness. When we give him the option of Mommy or Daddy, he will more often than not reply "both". He also likes to say "all [of] us."
The boy also likes eating oatmeal again especially with fresh fruit. He still loves pizza, Alfredo noodles, and fruit (such as blueberries and oranges). And he loves drinking strawberry and chocolate milk. He loves Yogurtland and asks for it almost every time we drive past it. He orders pistachio flavor since it's green and sometimes asks for strawberry yogurt with blueberries, strawberries, chocolate chips, sprinkles, and now gummy bears thanks to Evan).
Andrew is totally into Christmas this year and is so excited about Santa coming to our house. He loves looking at Christmas lights and decorations and will say "Christmastime" when he does. His favorite tunes are Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. When Andrew wakes up in the morning and comes downstairs, never fail does he turn on the Christmas lights. He also wants to turn on the outdoor lights on our balcony, but we tell him only when it's dark. Andrew loves helping put ornaments on our tree as well. At first, he wanted to only put them on the bottom of the tree, but lately, likes to stand on the chair and put them up high. He will point out Baby Jesus in the manger and the nativity scene when he sees them.
Here's our little man tonight on Christmas Eve.
Andrew is totally into Christmas this year and is so excited about Santa coming to our house. He loves looking at Christmas lights and decorations and will say "Christmastime" when he does. His favorite tunes are Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. When Andrew wakes up in the morning and comes downstairs, never fail does he turn on the Christmas lights. He also wants to turn on the outdoor lights on our balcony, but we tell him only when it's dark. Andrew loves helping put ornaments on our tree as well. At first, he wanted to only put them on the bottom of the tree, but lately, likes to stand on the chair and put them up high. He will point out Baby Jesus in the manger and the nativity scene when he sees them.
Here's our little man tonight on Christmas Eve.
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