Andrew's Summer

This summer has been busy with activity, which creates few opportunities to post to the blog, but we wanted to update all Andrew's fans about what's been going on. Our biggest change from previous times is the amount of time spent "ah-sy". Andrew loves his Lil Tikes car and will spend hours (if allowed) getting in, getting out, getting in, moving forward a couple steps, getting out, getting in, getting stuck, screaming, figuring out he can get unstuck, getting out, getting in, etc. He is definitely building expertise and confidence with that car. The downside is that he now thinks he can drive our cars as well.
Andrew has also had a couple opportunities to go swimming in his little wading pool. Daddy has even joined him a couple times to encourage him to put his face underwater, to varying degrees of success. He had a pool party with his friend Russell as well, though Rusty seemed more interested in drinking the water than playing in it (it was hot that day, he was thirsty). We have also made it to Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater twice already. It's the perfect size for toddlers, though there are big kids running around too. Mommy will have to post those pictures.

Bean Dance

We finally got around to transferring photos off the camera, and we found this gem we had to upload. It's from our time in Florida (see a couple posts ago). Enjoy!

Quick Update

It's been too long, and we really need to get some pictures and videos up, but I thought I would take a couple minutes to post something for Andrew's adoring fans. All the standard stuff, like walking, teeth, etc., are all old news, so we're into the magical age of true cognitive development. He talks nonstop, though we can't imagine how he would have inherited that (ahem). He knows all the standard facial features and enjoys pointing them out on others, including removing glasses to get to those pokable orbs beneath. He is also starting to put things together and figure out relationships. For example, he was pointing at a picture in his Disney sticker book, and Mommy identified "Mickey Mouse". He looked at her puzzled for a second before pointing to his mouth and saying, "Mouf". Mommy explained, "Not mouth, mouse". He's smart like that.

As expected for a 17-month-old, he wants to do everything on his own, except when he prefers us to do things for him, though sometimes he's not sure which. We're also starting to enter the "movie" phase. He constantly wants to watch "Moo-moos", so we've seen Shrek, The Incredibles, and every Veggie-tale movie we own in the past 2 weeks. However, he gets upset when we walk away (which we do infrequently), so he really does see movies as a social opportunity.

And without further ado, a REALLY old video of him walking around (December, 2009). Once we find the cables for the camera and camcorder, we will post more.

More characters

We had such a great time at Disney World and met lots of characters. It took a while for Andrew to become comfortable with giant fuzzy creatures walking around. Here when we met Tigger and Pooh Bear he was still not so sure about these creatures, but we got a nice family photo anyway.

We have had a busy winter! Shortly after our Disney trip, we had a great visit with Grandma and Granddad and Great Uncle Dave. We went to the Science Museum and it just happened to be preschooler Monday! Andrew sat very well (on a carpet square!) and watched a presentation about bears. He loves listening to stories and pays attention so well. We also played with his baseball set with Granddad and Uncle Dave. I think Andrew learned the word for "baseball."

At home he loves his books and will pick out a book to read, bring it over to you then turn around and sit on your lap ready to go. Sometimes he realizes a few pages into the book that that is NOT the one he wanted, so he will close the book, slip off your lap and go get a different book.

The Davenports visit Mickey

Click below for our e-card.

Visit to Santa

Today (yes up to date news!) we visited Santa at a local mall. Daddy and Andrew met Uncle Pete and Mommy there. It was a long line for the middle of a workday but Andrew was a trooper and we had 3 adults jumping up and down to try to get him to smile. Though he wasn't too sure about Santa, there was no crying, just a little serious look at first, followed by some confusion, but once Santa had a book for them to look at together, Andrew was feeling okay about the situation. We of course bought photos and the rights and USB stick. Here's a sweet photo of Andrew reading with Santa.

We have a real white pine Christmas tree that Andrew helped us pick out at the university's forestry program tree lot (supports the students!). He helped pick out safe ornaments to put up and takes some off to carry them around the house.

Andrew is also nearly exclusively walking now that he is an official toddler. Both Nick and I had moments of "whoa" when Andrew first took our hand and walked next to us. He's a little boy now!

If we don't post again before Christmas---Merry Christmas to all!!

Walking when convenient

So honestly not much has gone on since the last post, or at least is seems so. Andrew is getting a little more confident about walking, but he's still very aware of how much faster crawling can be, so he never takes more than a couple steps at a time. He loves throwing his ball and then crawling after it, which we think he learned from the puppy. He also smiles nearly all the time, though he's had a couple periods of crankiness that we think are precursors of impending teeth.
For Halloween, Andrew was going to go as Daddy's Little Sidekick (a set of superhero pajamas), but at the last minute we got some adorable pumpkin-but PJs from Lynn's aunt, and we realized that he could be a superhero all winter but the PJs with pumpkins, bats, and black cats were more time-sensitive. We didn't go trick-or-treating because, frankly, we didn't think he would eat candy. Turns out we were wrong: Mommy opened up a Laffy Taffy, and Andrew reached up, grabbed it from her, and shoved it in his mouth ravenously. Good thing he's so good at brushing his teeth!!