Our four old continues to be quite precocious, is acting like a little boy instead of the baby we brought home four years ago, and is learning even more independence. I really love this age because he is like a sponge with learning new things.
Andrew still loves to draw and we pass many minutes with him drawing to his heart's content on white paper. He still draws trains, but is also drawing more police cars, bad guys, airplanes, and helicopters. He has even starting playing with me on this game on the iPad like
Pictionary called
Draw Something. And he does a pretty darn good job I must say! I normally tell my partner that Andrew is drawing and let him draw his picture first. Then, I draw mine. And more often than not, my partner can guess the word from his drawing!
As for movies, one of his more recent favorites is the cartoon version of
The Lorax every since we watched it in the theaters. We also let him watch
Shrek one night and he loved Donkey and the dragon. He liked it so much that we let him watch
Shrek 2 and he enjoyed that one as well. We also showed him Lilo & Stitch and he was cracking up laughing so much during the movie.
Some of the things that he's been saying lately include "that be good" and "here we go". He loves to add "so" into his sentences..."I'm so hungry" or "I'm so sorry!" A few times, he has said things like "I know it because it's in my mind", "I remember it because it's in my brain", and "I know it because it's in my brain".
Andrew is pretty good about asking "May I have" so and so and saying "please", but we do have to remind him at times. He still likes to say "no, please" versus "no, thank you", but it's livable.
We also hear a lot of "ottay?". He's been working on his "k" and "g" sounds at speech therapy and they are coming along nicely. He is able to put the "k" on the ends of works, but we are still working with him when they are at the beginning and in the middle. We have only worked on the "g" at the ends of words thus far.
There is some of the four year old attitude showing unfortunately. Andrew has squabbled to us "Yeah, I do!" or "I'm not talking about that!". One time at night, he came downstairs and I immediately told him he needed to go back to his room. He yelled out "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Dad!"
There have been a couple of times when he has had peed in his pants and he has pleaded with James "don't tell Mom". But usually, he confesses anyway thankfully.
One day after he woke up, he asked "Ngoai come here?" and I said that I didn't think so. And then, I asked why he asked that to which he replied "because I love her." Aww, so sweet!!
Additionally, I am back to being "Mommy" instead of "Mom"...at least for the moment! We will see how long it will last! But we do hear a lot of "Mom/Dad?!...I love you."
And he's started to wink at us when he says something funny or cute! He totally got that from me, but it cracks me up every time he does it!
Andrew still plays with LEGOs and Cars 2 toys. He is also playing more of the Wii. He gets better all the time. One time, he got a strike in Wii Bowling and cried out "That's what I'm talking about!" James and I just about died. Andrew is improving in tennis and can even serve now and has also begun playing boxing.
Andrew still loves to ride bike. One day, he saw our neighbors, Mr. Josh's and Mrs. Monica's bikes and the lights on their bikes. He asked us if we could buy him some lights for his bike as well. So, one day we were at Academy and picked him out a set with one white light and one red light. He also picked out a Lightning McQueen horn.
Andrew is very good about putting on his helmet and he just has to turn on his lights. Drew likes to honk his horn a little too much so we have told him that he can honk it one time and then it's primarily to warn us in case strangers try to get him. One time, James and he rode their bikes to the park where we play tennis at and ever since then, Andrew asks to do it again. And when he rides his bike anywhere, he always asks "You keep an eye on me?"
He has also really enjoyed having Papa live with us. Every day, he asks when Papa is going to get home. Andrew loves playing with him as much as he loves eating what Papa cooks for us. And he infatuated with how Papa rides the bus into Downtown.
Our avid traveler frequently asks about going back to Vegas and New York as well as going to Korea. He says he wants to visit Anh Thu and the kids in Vegas and ride the subway again in NYC. One day, I was joking with him and asked if he would rather Korean barbecue in Korea or thit nuong in Vietnam. The traitor picked Korean, but I can't blame him either.
Another time, he said that he wanted to go to Colorado and I asked him why as this is not one of his typical destination requests. He said he wanted to ride the train there. And then I remembered that we had picked up a brochure somewhere advertising a steam train there and that was what he was referring to!
Andrew has been ever the carnivore eating a ton of meat. When eating, he will say "I love meat" and put up his arms to show his muscles. He still loves thit nuong and Mongolian Beef from Pei Wei. He especially enjoys this soy sauce dip with water and sugar that Ngoai and Papa made one time and loves to have it whenever we offer it to him.
Everything else dietwise is about the same. He still loves Nilla wafers and ask for them for snack at school and at night especially with milk. Though, he is also ordering less and less nuggets from Chick Fil A and pretty much always orders a chicken sandwich from there. And he is very adamant about no pickles!
Bedtime is still going well. Most nights, he does a pretty good job of putting himself to bed. One thing he started doing lately is taking socks out of his drawer and putting them on his feet. And usually, he ends up taking them off because his feet get hot. He also loves listening to the CD I made him with a bunch of songs from the
Cars movies.
We have also stopped putting pull ups on him at night. There have been a few accidents here and there, but he's usually dry. And when he wakes up, he will proceed to tell us "I sleep a long time."
In the morning, Andrew usually starts off by yelling across the hall "Mom!!!" Then, he will say "come here" and "lay with me". Usually, this is also followed by "rub my back?" He loves getting his back rubbed whenever he's trying to go to sleep.
He still takes naps, but skips more and more nowadays, which was inevitable. So, I tell him he can just rest quietly in his room. Some days, it doesn't go over so well and he comes out of his room. But there are days when he ends up falling asleep. And if he doesn't take a nap, he likes to state to us "I'm resting".
As for becoming more independent, Andrew is making good strides. He usually puts his own clothes on and proudly says "I get dressed all by myself." He loves to tell us "I can do it myself." We are giving him reward stickers for positive reinforcement including staying dry at night or doing well in school or gymnastics. We have a chart that I made up with rows of five stars. And he gets to put his reward sticker on top of a star when he earns it. And when he reaches the end of the row, he gets to pick out a prize either a small toy or a snack like frozen yogurt or ice cream.
The past month, he's still been talking nonstop about his birthday and his birthday party--both past and future. He told us that "This be the greatest birthday I ever had!" And he's already asking us "When I going to be six?" He tells me all the things he wants for his birthday when we go shopping. He already has said that he wants an airplane party and for Papa to make airplanes out of cardboard like he did with the cars. Hmm, I don't think so, but nice try, kiddo!
One day, he asked me "You be happy when I'm grown up" because I keep saying I am going to be a little sad when he turns four. It's a sweet idea, but I don't think I am going to like him growing up!!
Andrew loves the soundtracks from the
Cars movies. His most favorites are
Real Gone and
Life is a Highway. In addition, Andrew's choice in current music is definitely influenced by me. We usually listen to the pop stations in the car. He likes Foster the People's
Pumped Up Kicks, but thankfully, he doesn't know all the works or the meaning of the song. And I don't sing the word "bullet" or "guns" either.
One day, on our drive to school, I told Andrew "I love you." Then, he quickly replies back "I love you...like a love song" as in the Selena Gomez song. I was taken aback, but quickly realized what he was referring to and was so shocked and giddy!! So cute!
Andrew says that he wants another baby and sometimes asks for two babies. And it stands to reason that he finally asked how we get babies in the mommies' stomachs. I just told him that the parents pray for God to give them a baby and hopefully, He blesses us with one.
We have also starting to talk to him about all of us going to grief counseling. We have told him that he can talk about Matthew or anything that he wants to. We just said it's a place that you can talk about what you are thinking or feeling. When I asked him if he feels okay talking about Matthew, he said "I don't understand it a lot" and "why can't I see Heaven?" So I told him that the therapist will help us to understand and he seemed okay with that. He is such a trooper!!
Andrew, we love you so much! Happy Birthday--4 years and 1 month!!
