Andrew doesn’t change as much month to month as he used to, but there are always things I forget to write. So, some random things about Andrew.
Andrew loves to make up words. He has been doing this as long as I can remember. He makes up crazy names for himself and Seth, for weird stunts that he is doing. Or sometimes he just likes to talk in some weird language. It drives me crazy sometimes, especially when Seth starts repeating it. Sometimes, he’ll say things like that in public, too, and I think it weirds the other kids out.
Andrew is really into music. He loves watching America’s got talent. But he also wants to listen to the radio all the time, now. He sings along to some many songs. I am getting a little worried about the lyrics and am not sure what to do about giving him cool enough music to sing and dance to without bad lyrics. I was completely and totally shocked when in the last week we were listening to the radio and he said, “This sounds like Lady Gaga”. I have no idea where that came from.
I have thought about starting him in dance or gymnastics because he is always spending all his time performing. I am trying to decide if it is worth spending the money (not like we really have any extra) and it is worth the extra stress, especially with a new baby coming. But after this year, he will be in school all day and so much busier, so I am conflicted. But, I swear, he spends like 50% of his day making up “shows”. There are ball shows and dancing shows and singing shows and tumbling shows.
He was talking to a grandmotherly-type at the grocery store this week and told her that he loves to do shows – she probably thinks I am one of those show moms. Yeah, right. But she taught him a joke and he has been spouting it and trying to expand it all week. It sure beats the “jokes” he has been telling for the last few months that all seem to go something like this, “Have you ever seen a dog in the refrigerator?”. Yeah, basically ridiculous statements with no punch lines.
Andrew is eating like no other lately. He just seems to consume everything in front of him. He is a slow eater – he is always the last done at the table, by like 30 minutes! But he can eat as much as me and Katsu sometimes. He likes many things, but does not like: tofu, some chicken, tomatoes (though he likes tomato-based sauces), greens, eggplant, quite a few vegetables, bananas. His favorite food is probably rice and chips and berries.
It’s always surprising to me how much kids seem to soak up. I have explicitly taught Andrew very little. Mostly my philosophy on young children is: read a lot, go fun places, play a lot, go outside often, get them to play by themselves. But he seems to have absorbed all his ABCS – I think he knows most of the lower case ones, now, too. And he knows some sounds. His writing is still almost non-existent, so I should probably work on that with him, though I know they will probably at preschool this year, maybe – I mean, they are play-based (thank heavens). But his vocabulary is always astounding me. Like how does he know some of these things, like what a crew is or a butter churn. I guess that is what reading does to you.
Andrew is none so fond of church. Every Sunday he tries to convince me of how sick he is so that he can stay home. He likes it when we come home, but he really hates sacrament meeting and sharing time/music time. I feel bad for him because it is long and boring, very long and boring for a 4 year old. And I’m in Primary, so I can see that all the Sunbeams are really just in la-la land. But Andrew does seem to be learning the Primary songs and actually takes great pride in that and loves when he hears them on the CD. And he loves to correct Seth about songs that only he knows because they don’t teach them in nursery. He loves learning the gospel in the home and really enjoys talking about church stuff, doing his board set, and reading them Stories from the Book of Mormon set of books we have. Just this week or so, he was talking about the resurrection and about whether he would die again after he was resurrected (I think he is still a little vague about not having multiple lives). Then, he was concerned that he would be resurrected into the wrong body – like it might look like Seth’s. Funny boy – really surprising what kids think up.
Fun Things This Month:
- Summer reading program at the libraries (yes, we did two again this year). Andrew has really enjoyed the prizes (especially food from Sonic) and even won the raffle for Cardinals tickets. Now, we just need to pick out a date to go.
- Hiking at Mastodon State Park for fossil day. Andrew loved trying to dig out fossils with the hammer – I hinted toward a rock that I thought had some and he was so proud of himself! They were pretty tired by the time we finished with our hike at the other park, but perked up when we went and got ice cream at the historic Kimmswick. Then, crazy me, after getting a little lost, we went and registered at Babies R Us (for the free gift card). I guess I should check the registry sometime because the boys wanted to register for anything with cars on them and lots of toys.
- Enjoying lots of movie nights watching America’s Got Talent. Andrew is absolutely transfixed. His shows are now including lots of magician acts (usually turning his doll into various stuffed animals) and lots of disclaimers like “Don’t try this at home. It is very dangerous. Seth could die.”
- Seeing a really fun local musician Babaloo – Andrew loved it! Of course, he loved sitting next to a friend from the ward and soaking up the attention of the older girls.
- Swim birthday party for a new kid in the ward. Andrew is always the life of the party. He has been kind of skeptical of the new kids moving into our ward (Seriously, there are now like 5 or 6 boys in his sunbeam class – granted, they all live 20 minutes away at least, but still). But I think he is starting to like them.
- Eating at the favorite Chinese Buffet. And by special request we went to another Chinese buffet this weekend – Andrew basically associates “day with Dad” to mean “eating Chinese food”. He is in love with the stuff.
- Silver Dollar City with Grandpa and Grandma. Andrew had a blast, of course, though I think the heat and some illness wore him out. He came home one evening and was throwing up some, poor kid. He loved riding the rides (though he will tell anyone that he will not ride the roller coaster because he rode it before and it made his head hurt). He enjoyed the shows mostly (I think the boys were both a bit unsure about the Saloon show). He even rode the water ride (a river raft ride) with Katsu twice – he loved the first time, not so much the second time when he got really wet. But most of all, he loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.
- A drums of Africa presentation at the History museum. Andrew was unhappy that he couldn’t see well because there was no stadium seating.
- Juggling Jeff at the library was LOVED by Andrew, especially when they did dangerous juggling with knives (I was a bit more worried about that). He wants to know when he can juggle knives!
- Fourth of July Veiled Prophet parade with the family. It was hot! But the kids got lots of candy (especially with the help of the kind people standing by Andrew). Andrew insisted on watching the entire thing, even though it was 2 hours long and we were again standing right next to the splash park. He played a bit in the splash park afterwards and loved the train ride home, of course.
- Grill party for the 4th at a friend from preschool’s house. Andrew had a blast playing in the backyard with water and especially chasing frogs around the yard. Little boy heaven – I can’t wait till we have a yard.
- Swimming on the 4th at a ward member’s house. The missionaries were there (they live at the member’s house) and Andrew is just in love with them. He played ball, was all around the pool, and just had the time of his life. Picked berries in their garden, had a nice FHE with the missionaries in a seriously posh house. It was fun.
- Lots of fun park days with the playgroup at church I am running this summer.
- Visiting the Transportation museum with Dad! They loved looking at the trains, taking a guided tour of one of them, and even riding a tram and train! They braved the heat to do it.
Whew! And I thought we had been having a lazy summer. Maybe not so much!
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