PICTURES:
ANDREW’S ARTWORK:
UPDATE:
Stop the presses! Big news! Hell has frozen over, pigs can fly, and ANDREW SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Seriously, both him and Seth go to sleep in their own beds and stay there ALL night long EVERY night (occasionally, Andrew’s coughing will get the best of him and he’ll check in, but still …). I am ecstatic! I knew it had to happen eventually, right? And get this – sometimes, the boys wake up in the morning … and don’t bother us. I was pretty tired a week or two ago and Andrew looked at me at dinner and said “You guys are pretty tired … well, Mom looks tired. I know! Seth and I will wake up by ourselves and get ourselves some cereal and let you guys sleep”. What a sweet boy!
Well … most of the time. I think adjustment to the baby is manifesting itself in the boys as hating each other. Andrew has a bit of a short fuse and when Seth is bothering him (i.e., not doing things exactly his way), he will try to explain why his way is superior, and when that does not work, all hell breaks loose. Pushing, biting (!!!!), and choke holds are Andrew’s coup de grace. I suppose, if I always watched them and lived in their bedroom, I could avert the worst of it, but like that would ever happen. And of course, the rest of the time they play okay together. I am hoping this is just a rough patch, because I have a hard time disciplining Andrew. Punishment of any kind just makes Andrew really angry and then he gets destructive and overturns everything in sight (and yes, I make his pick it up afterward, but that doesn’t seem to be a deterrent) or screams in this high pitched voice. Incentives and rewards work better, but doesn’t work so well with crimes-of-passion. Sigh … We keep trying things, hopefully this will pass or we’ll find something that works. I am hoping that maybe giving him lots of one-on-one time with me and Katsu will be more effective. Hopefully.
The other big issue in the house is … getting out of the house and getting ready for bed. Andrew does things at his own pace or not at all. For example, at dinner, every night Andrew is still eating when everyone else is done. And yet still eating 15-30 minutes later. And not because he is picky and just procrastinating. No, just because that is how long he takes to eat. Getting ready in the morning is the same way. And then, I feel like this endless nag. We are trying a new sticker chart. The first reward is that if he gets dressed, eats breakfast, and brushes his teeth, then he has time to play before preschool. Yesterday, he did not get to play and he told me it was too bad that he didn’t get ready in time so that he would have time to play. Hopefully, it’s sinking in. Andrew is pretty good at picking up, but it still does take quite a bit of reminding.
In other areas … Andrew has been having allergy issues. It mostly presents itself in compulsive burping. But then, if it gets worse, it’s lots and lots of coughing. It got pretty bad last month, but we’ve been trying to figure out the right combo of medicine to get him better – Nasonex, Claritin, Flovent … so much medicine. But the good news – he went to the dentist this week and NO CAVITIES. Yay for brushing and flossing all the time.
Andrew is such a ladies man. The picture from his preschool teacher of him surrounded by all the girls and a huge smile – so true to form! He loves Peyton especially and is not afraid to say it. One day when I picked him up from preschool he had told Peyton he loved her about 10 times just over the span of a couple minutes during pick-up! This week, he told me that they are getting married (though thankfully when they are Katsu’s age) and when I said his feelings might change, he said that he would always love her.
He is also all about the bling. When he went to get a prize at the dentist’s office, he opened the drawer and with a voice of pure glee, said “Jewelry”! He came home with his first costume jewelry ring. Which he shows off to everyone about how beautiful it is. His favorite color is pink. He loves to wear necklaces. And we can only floss with blue flossers because they are so beautiful. Ha ha ha.
Andrew is in love with Logan. He is constantly on the floor holding Logan’s hand and talking to him. It is a little aggressive, but otherwise very sweet.
FUN THINGS ANDREW DID THIS MONTH:
- Spending time with Grandma during the week she was here. Andrew liked making cookies. And he was SUPER excited when Grandpa was here for a day. The highlight for them was definitely showing Grandpa and Grandma the Chinese buffet they love so much.
- Watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on TV (loved Dora’s float), watching the dog show later, eating Thanksgiving dinner (mostly in love with the cranberry sauce and ice cream), watching football with Daddy, playing at the park with the whole family, and riding his bicycle. And making all his Thanksgiving crafts. Andrew spent like a whole morning making turkey pictures from tracing his hands.
- Putting up the Christmas tree with Seth and Daddy and then going to the park and Sonic together. And a morning of watching Cars and Curious George. A great day-after-Thanksgiving.
- Some park visits, a trip to the zoo, and spending lots of time at home with family.
- Baby’s Go Bach – a free concert where the kids got to meet and play with instruments in the a jam session and then there was a little concert afterwards with pieces less than 5 minutes long to keep the kids interested. Andrew was very well behaved and enjoyed going with Daddy.
- St Charles Christmas Traditions. They get the city all decorated and then there is a Santa parade with all different kinds of Santa from here and all over the world. Andrew was not that interested. He liked his ice cream cone, but was disappointed by the 5 minute parade. Where was the floats? The bands? The candy throwing. Oh, well. The kids were way more excited about shopping at Trader Joe’s afterwards.
- Dentist and NO CAVITIES!!!
- Going to Logan’s baby book shower and making gingerbread houses. More like a gingerbread plane maybe or a tent. My visiting teacher sent us home with the frosting since the boys had licked it all. Yuck!
- Making gingerbread houses at the library with Katsu. They turned out pretty well.
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