Pictures:
Monthly Update:
This seemed like a pretty busy month for Andrew. A month full of birthday parties, Halloween events, sickness, and of course, the new baby. Andrew came down with some really nasty vomitting/diarrhea illness and had to take a few days off of preschool. I was getting worried because he threw up for a couple days and quite a lot – he just couldn’t keep anything down, poor kid. We spent a lot of time watching TV and movies just to keep the kids still so they could get better.
Andrew is still enjoying preschool, but this week was a little harder since Katsu was home and I think Andrew wanted to stay at home and play with him the whole time. He still much prefers the girls at preschool, but it sounds like he is starting to play with some of the boys, too. There were parent-teacher conferences this month, but just like 2 days after I had Logan, so they just sent home the paperwork. He is doing really well – drawing/coloring and working with scissors still need some work, but as I said before, he is now really interested in them. He enjoys doing crafts and coloring at home now and spends a lot of time making pictures for his friends at preschool and writing their names on the pages. His letters have gotten much better. His teachers also say that he prefers the quieter activities to the more active ones. I’m a little surprised (though he is a lot less active than Seth) mostly because at least 50% of his play times is doing shows or making forts.
Andrew is still very talkative, especially to adults. He seems more hesitant to play with children he doesn’t know, to the point of being unkind sometimes. He’ll say, “But I don’t want to play with other kids, I only want to play with Seth”, but of course, he doesn’t want to share <toys, play ground equipment, etc.> with the other kids in the meantime. This has caused some conflicts, especially a huge one at stake conference which resulted in me (only a few days away from having a baby) carrying a kicking, biting Andrew down the hall, while trying to cajole Seth into following me. Yikes! So, yes, the tantrums are still here, though I think I am coming up with some better strategies to deal with them. Sometimes, I think the world would just be so much better if I could be a perfect follower of the book “How to Talk so Your Children will Listen” … some day.
Andrew was pretty hesitant about the baby, but seems to be warming up. He really enjoys holding Logan and tells me about how good he is at holding him. He also likes to talk to him and always wants to see his face. He is constantly asking me “What is the baby thinking?”. On the other hand, sometimes he gets his face really close to the baby and makes really loud noises – kind of aggressive. We’ll see how it plays out. He still is sort of disappointed that Logan is a boy.
Andrew spends most of his quiet play time doing elaborate play with his trucks and animals and his new army men that Logan “gave” him when he arrived. He is really obsessed with army men. I’m not thrilled about it, but oh, well. Of course, he also thinks that all army men are “bad” guys – I am trying to give him a more nuanced idea, but I guess 4 years olds are bad at nuance.
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Fun things he did this month:
- Another Music and Movement class at the library. Andrew is too cool to join in most of the time, but enjoys it when the good songs are on.
- Crazy birthday party weekend. Andrew went with all of us to a bounce house party at Monkey Joes. He loved it. He went on almost everything and had so much fun hanging out with a girl (one of Katsu’s colleague’s daughter). He also went to his first drop-off party on the same day at a gym. I think he had fun, but he complained that he didn’t get enough “free play” – sometimes I laugh at the thins he says.
- Magic House – Seth has not been here since he was under 1, so we all went for the monthly free night. It was crazy and packed, especially so since it was (unbeknownst to us), a Trick-or-Treating night. The boys collected a few toys from the costumed workers, but mostly had a blast checking out the exhibits. Andrew LOVED the huge slide. He and Andrew always went so they were together and you could hear them coming because they were laughing so hard. He also really loved the construction site part and worked really hard there. It was a really fun evening and the boys were exhausted when it was all done.
- Weekend with Daddy! Morning at the Clayton Vehicle Fair – the boys LOVE this, seeing the trucks and the helicopter coming in (how cool is that!). Then, they went to a Chinese buffet and also went to their favorite rocket ship park. Unfortunately, Seth spent the rest of the day throwing up – poor kid and then Andrew came down with it a few days later. But it started out fun …
- Halloween events (which I already posted about): Trunk or treating at the church, trick or treating and costume parade in the Central West End, Andrew’s Halloween preschool performance, and trick or treating in the neighborhood. Another year with our cute Andrew dragon.
- Visiting Mom and Logan in the hospital and also getting to spend a couple days at Matias’ house and a day at Owen’s house. The boys were so excited about spending time with friends that they were disappointed when my induction happened later than scheduled. And Andrew only missed a half-day of preschool from me being in the hospital – not bad at all. He even brought in a footprint from the baby to preschool to show his class.
- Spending lots of time with Dad this week. He especially is enjoying riding his bike and playing football and frisbee in the front yard.
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Funny Things he said this month:
- to Seth, “Pierce Morgan, why are you eating popcorn?” – yes, Andrew I realized knows the full names of each America’s Got Talent judges
- Andrew (as walking up to a girl on a playground): Hi! I am Andrew, I am four. What is your name?
Girl: I am Samantha.
Andrew: Samantha? That's a pretty name. What are you doing. Can I be your friend?
Girl (Looking somewhat uncomfortable): Ok
Andrew: Do you like going on a slide? We can go on a slide!
Seth (Noticing that Andrew's introducing himself, comes running over): I'm SETH! I am two I am two I am two I am TWO!!!! YEAHHH!!!
- We were talking about a friend’s mother who didn’t cook, but always got carry-out, delivery, etc.
Amanda – Yeah, she never cooked for her children.
Andrew (wide-eyed) – Did they all die?
- Andrew (talking about Logan): Well, I think we will be friends actually because he is a lot cuter than I expected.
- Andrew: I want to be a girl.
Mom: Why?
Andrew: So I can be a mom.
Mom: You can be a dad.
Andrew: I want to stay at home with the kids.
Mom: You can be a stay-at-home dad. Some dads stay at home.
Andrew: No – not just some days. Every day.
Followed by a longish conversation about stay-at-home dads. Andrew is still skeptical, which I find funny because I know we see stay-at-home dads around town quite frequently.
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