Andrew @ 20 months

I didn’t do a 19 months post, simply because there wasn’t much new from the previous month! But now that he’s even older, here’s what’s up with the little boy:
He has finally gotten interested in books and will sit up on the couch with a stack and flip through them quietly for long amounts of time! His favorite right now is a Diego book which he refers to as “free frog” (it is about tree frogs) & if I want him to calm down, we’ll sit in his rocking chair and read the free frog book, or one about “big trucks”.

As of mid-February, he is paci-free! He was a little more difficult than Leah to rid of the pacifier—it took about a week of whining and asking for it before he no longer missed it. (By the way, I don’t think I ever mentioned that we also got rid of the bottles while we were in Texas. He hasn’t had one this year at all!)

I cannot underestimate this kid’s love for the vacuum (and mops, brooms, rakes, etc.) Now he also loves to help me do laundry and unload the dishes. (In the 2nd picture, he decided to “clean up” his crayons with his rolling toy which he said was a vacuum.)

His newest love is big trucks. Luckily, he has plenty to see out our window.

He has mastered these board puzzles! It took him quite a bit of practice, and he still needs help to work them in correctly, but he’s getting really good!

He is such a loving little guy. He always says “I love you” when Daddy leaves for work or when I tell him before bedtime. He loves kisses and hugs and still wants to be held often. He got quickly through his separation anxiety phase, though, and even though he still cries a little when I drop him off in the church nursery or at MOPS, he usually does really well and warms up to others quickly. He is a big hit among the big kids at church and they all want to play with Andrew.

He has his fair share of drop-down all-out tantrums when he doesn’t get his way, and I would definitely say he is strong-willed, but he can be easily distracted or deterred and will quickly turn back into the sweet little boy he can be. This is the look you have to watch out for:

Springtime Fun

Since the weather has been so nice lately, we’ve been soaking up every opportunity to go outside and play. Unfortunately, we don’t have a nice fenced-in yard, and actually we’re on a major road, so I have to supervise carefully, but the kids can find plenty of things to do in our own backyard!
They love bubbles. Actually, Andrew doesn’t really know how to blow the bubbles, but he insists on carrying around the container like his sister. And since he inevitably spills it every time, I give him an empty one—and he doesn’t even know the difference.


They also love to play with pine cones. I had Leah go collect a certain number to bring to me, and then I’d throw them back out for her to get again. Of course, Andrew had to get in on the game too.


Andrew loves to ride his bicycle. He’s way better at it than Leah was at his age, and he’ll ride all the way around the house.


Their favorite activity is digging in the rocks. It makes me nervous because they have to sit close to the road, but they’re pretty good about not going out in the road, and the digging seems to be calming for them!

And sometimes, if we’re outside at the right time, the School Bus Driver Lady stops to talk to us. Andrew loves big buses!

And a fun video:

Leah @ 3 1/2

Can it be that my little girl is halfway to 4? And why does 4 seem so much older than 3? I haven't posted any thoughts on Leah for awhile, so I thought her half-birthday would be appropriate!





- Leah's favorite things to do: She loves books, and will usually have 4 or 5 spread around her room, plus 8 or 9 in her bed at any given time. She carries them around like security blankets, and she loves to play "librarian," where she'll sit & "read" the book out loud to whoever will listen.



Here's a video of how she "reads" out loud:





- She also loves to color and paint, especially Princess pictures (she doesn't usually like to color anything that's not a familiar character). Lately she has gotten into “free” drawing on blank paper. She is very creative, too, drawing what she tells me are airplanes, dinosaurs, etc.




- She loves puzzles and can usually do them pretty well on her own. We’ve even moved up from the small little kid ones to larger ones, like this 50pc. Princess one with really tiny pieces. It only took her about 20 minutes, with my help.




- We’re halfway through the ABC’s in our “Letter of the Week” program for pre-school. She' can recognize all the ABC’s, both uppercase and lowercase and is just beginning to understand the sounds the letters make, but is not really proficient in that yet. We’re going to start learning to read probably this summer, starting by learning beginning sounds. She can recognize and count to the numbers 1-9, and we’re working on 10 and up.



- She loves to watch cartoons (and still does so too much for my liking!). She loves stuffed animals (or "pets," as she calls them) and gives hers' names. She is also starting to enjoy playing games, like Candyland or Memory or paper dolls. Really I think she just enjoys anything that she gets to play with Mommy or Daddy.


- She has an uncanny ability to remember songs. And usually you can recognize the tune she's singing, too! She actually has a really great memory and has learned a few Bible verses from memory.

- She is always full of energy and rarely naps anymore. Her “nap” time usually involves her running around her room, putting stacks of books in her bed and coming out to go to the bathroom 5 times. She’s rarely ever just sitting to watch TV, as she’ll usually get up & jump off her bed or the couch or whatever else is nearby. She is very good at sitting and listening when necessary, though (like in church or at restaurants), and is really very cooperative.



- She’s been fully potty trained now since early December. I still usually put a Pull-Up on her at night, simply because it’s too cold for her to have to get up and go to the bathroom. However, she’s usually dry when she wakes up. Now we have even reached the point where she can go completely on her own, pulling her pants up and everything. It’s a huge relief from where we were just a few short months ago!

- She has a love/ hate relationship with her little brother. There are times when they’ll amaze me by playing together so nicely. He’ll follow her all around the house, doing whatever she’s doing, or she’ll read him a book or play blocks with him, and yet the next minute she’s screaming at him for taking her toy. She’s always concerned about his whereabouts, though, and does not like it when he gets hurt. She’s generally very motherly toward him, making sure he gets disciplined when he gets in trouble and looking out for all he does.




- She is her Daddy’s girl, and when Daddy’s home, she wants to be right there by his side. She loves for him to kiss her and tickle her and their new favorite is hide and seek. They recently got to go on a Daddy/ Daughter Date Night at Chick-fil-a. Leah was giddy! She even got flowers from her Daddy.



Can you even remember this baby?

Fun with Scissors

I've heard of a lot of kids doing this, but never thought mine would be one. She isn't usually the type to "get into" things, but I left her alone just a few minutes until she came & said, "Mommy, come see the mess I made!" I followed a trail of her hair to her room where I found scissors and another small pile of her hair. You can't really see it well in the picture, but she got a good chunk off one side-- don't know that it's fixable. Thankfully her hair grows quickly.

Andrew's Tricks

My son is a genius! I wanted to prove that he knows his numbers... normally he does a little better at the beginning, but this is the best I could get:






He also knows all his body parts:







However, he's not so smart when it comes to animal sounds...









And this might be why! He thinks this is hilarious and does it nightly with Leah.

Andrew @ 18 months

My little boy @ 1 1/2:


* Weighs 23 lb., 4 oz. (about the 15th%) and is 32.75" tall (50th%). We had his 18-month check-up today and he was declared just perfect! (And didn't even cry for his immunization!)


* Is finally making up for all that time he was a terrible sleeper. He now sleeps from about 7:30 or 8pm until about 7am. He naps about 2 hours in the afternoon. He is almost always very easy to get down to sleep and rarely wakes up in the middle of the night anymore.


* Is becoming a very picky eater. If it's not a French fry, yogurt, or a cookie, (or "can-y"-- don't know where he learned what candy is) he has to be forced to eat it. He does like most breakfast foods and can eat a bowl of cereal with milk on his own now. He does pretty well with a spoon. We moved him from his high chair to a booster at the table. He mostly likes it because now he can see the "big gucks (trucks)" out the window. He still only has the front 2 teeth on the bottom (with no sign of the others around it) but he does have about 5 on top and about 3 of his 1-year molars.

* He is finally bottle-free. I put them all away when we got back from Texas (he was really only having 1, maybe 2 per day) and he hasn't even missed them! He likes to drink milk much more than Leah does!

* Can now run pretty fast. He really doesn't like to sit still, but does still like to be held for short amounts of time. He likes books in theory, but really doesn't like to sit still for a whole one (except maybe at bedtime). His idea of sitting & coloring involves throwing the crayons all over. (He loves to throw things!) He loves to do whatever his big sister is doing, especially if it makes him feel like a big boy. He loves to examine things to figure out how they work. He loves to open & close things.








* Is starting to say a whole lot of words! He will repeat anything (and often very loudly-- he'll pick up on the last word of something someone said and yell it out over & over) but he also knows a lot of words on his own. He says "hold me", "all gone," "want more," "drink," "chair," "Hap Bir-day!" "Sissy" (his name for Leah now), "coat," "shoes", "vacuum," "diaper" and so many more I can't even think of! He even says whole phrases sometimes like "all gone want more..." or "big guck all gone," or "Bye bye, Daddy!"

* The only animal sound he really knows is a dog, and if you ask him what another animal says, it's usually "ruff." He does, however, know many of his body parts and can point to all his family members when you ask him where they are. (Ask him where is Andrew and he'll cover his eyes like peekaboo.)



* His favorite toys are anything he can push/ pull around (right now he is dragging the toilet plunger around the house), anything he can hammer or make noise with, and anything Leah is playing with.

* He is still so sweet and loving. He still likes to be rocked to sleep and wants to be held awhile when he first wakes up. He always wants me to "hold you" when he's tired or gets his feelings hurt. He runs to me every time he sees me when I've been gone and wants me to pick him up. He'll pretend to hit me, and when I say, "no, be gentle", he will lean his head in for a kiss. He loves to give out kisses and hugs. I wish I could keep him this little and sweet!

Texas Vacation, Part 2: Happy New Year!

Our vacation continues!

We left Mom & Dad's after 3 days to go back to Karen & Johnny's for New Years and a trip to see Brett's brother Brian. (More driving for us, but the kids spent the day with Nana, Karen & the boys.) We greeted the New Year with board games and watching the ball drop. (We couldn't actually use the noisemakers because Leah & Andrew were asleep, but they look cool!)

After only a day or two there, we went back down to south Texas again and spent more time with Mom & Dad. We relaxed some, we took a trip to the mall & to visit a college friend of Brett's, went out to eat for dinner almost every night, took a shopping trip, and spent time playing outside. It was great for Leah & Andrew to have a chance to bond with their grandparents. (We didn't get a lot of pictures, though!)

We drove back to Waco Thursday in order to catch our plane home on Friday. The weather was so pretty the whole time we were there, so we spent a lot of time playing outside. Leah loved Karen & Johnny's "playground" and the huge pile of leaves they raked up. Andrew spent most of the time outside "mowing" the yard. He loved that mower. And he mastered going up & down the little slide by himself.








Just before we headed to the airport, we took some more photos with Seth & Luke ("Sep" and "Yuke" as Andrew called them, or "Uncle Seth & Uncle Luke" as Leah called them-- she called everyone "Uncle," including Karen. We kept trying to remind her she was "Aunt Karen" but she kept saying "Uncle Karen" the whole time!)

And our trip ends with a sweet shot of Leah & Andrew with Daddy waiting to board the plane home. That flight was so much better than the one there, although it was of course sad to have to go. Leah slept probably 2 1/2 hours and Andrew slept the first hour and the last, without a fight. He talked the rest of the time.

It was a great trip. We got to spend great quality time with family we rarely see and the kids got to know some of their relatives. We ate lots of great food, got some rest (although there were lots of late nights), and just had a great chance to visit! It feels good to be home now and we're getting back into a routine. Thankfully Leah & Andrew have been sleeping in so we can eventually catch up on our rest.