Andrew is 18 months old! (Monday)

Andrew is now 18 months old. Andrew is an intense little kid. This month he seems full of energy. He often will just start laughing for no reason - just throw his head back and laugh and laugh and laugh. He laughs more than any adult or child I have ever seen. He also loves to just run around the house. Of course, this also translates into intensity of other emotions, too. He has started throwing tons and tons of tantrums. Welcome to the crazy 18 month angst. Thankfully, most of the time, his tantrums aren't too long.

Andrew is getting more independent. He got his first chore this month - feeding the cat Joe. He enjoys doing it, but we have to watch him so he doesn't put the dry food in the water bowl and make a grand mess. He also has figured out how to throw away trash. He even does it of his own volition if he finds a piece of trash. Yeah!!! He also is starting to sit on his potty a few times a day. For a while, he actually peed in it almost every day which we thought it was exciting. He at least seems to be more cognizant of that part of his body anyways. Andrew is great at following directions, too.

He is talking even more. He has finally learned some new words for trucks - car, bus, and "bull" which means bulldozer which he correctly identifies and then expects us to sing the "bulldozer" song from YouTube. Of course, he knows all kinds of other words and seems to do his own little make-up talking too. He even hums, too. He is learning all the sounds animals make - "roar" for lion, "ruff ruff" for dog, some "oh oh oh" for monkey. I beat my chest when he sees a gorilla, but he pats his mouth instead, making an indian type of noise.

Andrew still loves to read. I got a Gymboree Toddler play book at the library and he will find the activity in the book he wants me to do. The lady who babysits him is always giving us new (to us) books that her grandchildren have outgrown, so I swear Andrew has at least 50 (or 80, according to Katsu) board books. His favorites are "A Hug Goes Around", "mimichan no dobutsu", "Pete's a Pizza", "Trucks", a Book of Mormon flap book, and all the musical Thomas the Tank Engine books he has.

Andrew really loves Church stuff. He always points out pictures of Jesus ("heezz" is kind of how it sounds). His favorite movie that he is always begging to watch (I would prefer if he only watched TV like 1-2x a week) is Finding Faith in Christ. He LOVES to look at the Friend magazine, almost every day if it is out. And he is obsessed with the new Nursery manual. We look through all the pictures almost every day. He also loves looking through the Gospel Art Kit. The funny thing is that it is all of his own volition - I hardly ever initiate anything.

Andrew went to nursery for the first time on Sunday and did good, I think. He didn't seem to miss us. Of course, he was exhausted because he keeps waking up at like 5:30 am since daylight savings (WIDE WIDE WIDE awake and yelling out "Truck truck truck") and fell asleep at the very end of Nursery class (like last 5 minutes) and then took a 3.5 hour nap at home! Maybe nursery was exhausting. That's probably his longest nap EVER.

Andrew is still pretty social. He loved talking to people when we were trick or treating. He is also pretty cuddly with us and LOVES to hug. One of his books has a picture of a girl hugging her little brother and he will open up that book page and then hug us over and over. Our poor cat probably gets like 50 hugs a day.

Andrew is still obsessed with cars and spends the majority of his day playing with them or reading about them or talking about them or begging to watch YouTube videos of them. He also loves playing outside and walking around, running up and down ramps, and playing on the large rocks around the apartment complex. He has playground-radar and can spot everyone we pass in the car. He also likes putting coins into a piggy bank (really a London double decker bus bank), help cook, and dance (even to hymns at church).

Andrew seems to have gone through a growth spurt last week. He started eating A LOT more than usual. He ate an entire box of raspberries while we were doing a quick shopping trip at Kroger's last week and he had just eaten a large snack, too. Hopefully, that means he will have finally gained weight at this doctor's appt. We'll see. His sleeping is still atrocious. Oh, well - I guess he need some faults.

It's been a fun (and exasperating) month. Way to grow.

Andrew is 16 months old!

Andrew continues to grow and grow, well, older anyways. Based on his 15 month appt, he hasn't actually gained any weight in 6 months and is down to the 30somethingth%, though he has gotten taller, so he looks a little thinner. It always cracks me up when someone says how chubby he is and how big he is, since he is smaller than average now.

He walks really well and can walk backwards now. I tried to offer him a cookie once and he backed away because he was suspicious (he doesn't really like sweets). He waves and claps all the time and can give high fives (finally!). He even will gesture a little bit when we sing songs, though he mostly just ignores them. He likes to climb and get into everything of course. Today he started crying and I found him stuck under the bed!

Andrew is a very social little guy. He loves to wander about and walk up to other unsuspecting kids and adults. He got his doctor to read him a story at his last doctor appt as they were trying to explain something to me. He will go up to older kids at the library and smile and babble away. If other kids are running, he thinks they are playing chase with him and he will run around and play with them. I love it and hope it sticks and he is a little social butterfly. Of course, he is pretty aggressive with other kids and is very possessive of his toys. But he likes to hug other kids too, so he is probably mostly just very physical. Occasionally a bigger kid will scare him and he will cry, but usually not.

Andrew keeps throwing lots of little tantrums where he lies down on the floor and cries for a bit. He also hates when we tell him "no" and will cry and seek comfort from the other one. Poor little guy. Sometimes it's hard to keep my patience when he is wrecking destruction around the house, but I usually do a good job.

Andrew is starting to imitate us sometimes too. It is very fun and cute.

Andrew is talking a lot more, but a lot of it is babbling. But he does say a lot of words. His favorites, which uses all the time, are "truck", "cat", "dog", "this", "that", "done", "more", "mom", "dad", "fish", "yeah", "ba" for banana. He says many many other words but not as consistently. Sometimes he says little sentences but I can not think of any right now. I'm very grateful that he doesn't say "no" or "mine", yet. He also makes sounds for his cars, which is so cute.

Andrew LOVES loves loves loves trucks and cars. He makes us read any books about trucks over and over and over again. Each morning he loves to line up his cars on the air conditioner, then move them to the table, and over and over and over again. He even has pretended that his food was a car before (which seemed like a huge cognitive leap to me!). He loves to play with his train set now too and is figuring out how to put the track together and make the cars go over the bridge or through the tunnel.

He loves to read stories (especially car books) and gets very excited when he sees a cat or a dog or a car or a truck in a book. He will bring books over to whoever is convenient to get them to read to him. He even brings over DVD's for us to read the covers to him. His favorite books are "Baby Farm Animals", "Trucks", and his "Truck", "Train", "Boat", and "Plane" books in Japanese. I can read the Japanese books, albeit quite slowly, but I am getting faster. If only I understood more of what they were saying. He fell in love with the book "Heavy Equipment Up Close" or something like that. The book was almost as big as him. He would struggle to carry it over and then sit while I read him paragraphs about draglines, space shuttle crawlers, bulldozers, and dump trucks. I finally took it back to the library today because I was so tired of reading it.

Andrew's eating has been much better the last week or two. He now likes chicken (yeah, another food group!). His favorite foods are still rice, peas, and goldfish crackers. He is enjoying lots of fruits, many vegetables, breads, and noodles. He still shuns the dairy group and spits out any non-water beverage. He could live on rice. He is still breastfeeding, but it is definately cutting back to just a couple times during the day (but still at night! ARGH!) The funniest thing is, he is always trying to convince me he wants to nurse and so he will pat the couch and then bring over the pillow he lays his head on, and then he will go get me reading material (scriptures, a book, or a magazine). He definitely knows the way to my heart!

Andrew will only take a nap in his stroller. I just go with it. I need him to take a nap and if that's the only way he will take it, I am not going to stress over it. It will be more difficult in the winter, but oh well. His night sleep is still not fabulous, especially the last week or so as he is getting more teeth. He now has all his molars and is getting his incisors. I will have a party when all his teeth finally come in.

As far as events go, this month was a busy one for Andrew. We went to Mackinac Island and the Upper Peninsula. And he was diagnosed (possibly) with asthma and nebulizer treatments. Which also meant he started watching movies every day during his treatments but thankfully he doesn't seem to notice he's missing them since we stopped the treatments. Andrew also started taking a "Fun at One" class through First Steps Washtenaw on Saturday mornings with Katsu so they can have some quality time together and I can get some more work done. He has switched to going to his babysitter in the mornings (9-12 for three days a week) and really seems to enjoy it. Maybe he'll even learn some Bulgarian, since that is mostly the language she talks to him in. The Fisher Price party and all the new toys was especially exciting for Andrew. (Although I am NOT used to have toys that make so much noise! Yikes!). We are also having a little play group with kids around his age at our house once a week, which is nice for us. Maybe he will learn to share a little better.

Overall, Andrew is a really happy boy who is always babbling, laughing, playing, and walking around with a few trucks in his hand.

Andrew is 15 months old!!!

Andrew has really grown up a lot this month, too! I can't believe how different he is from even three months ago.

Andrew is walking and running everywhere. He still trips, but otherwise is pretty sturdy. He loves to climb up hills, though he usually needs to hold my hand if it's too steep. He loves to go on walks and even went on a small hike with his grandparents in the Leslie Science Center. Andrew loves being outside. We go on at least one stroller walk a day. Plus, he is outside probably 3-5 hours a day beside that. He is always grabbing his shoes and bringing them over to you so we can go outside. He likes to go on the porch (and screams when we won't let him) and throw his chalk over the side of the railing. He chased the cat throw the porch railing once and fell about a foot done - he cried but wasn't really injured and wanted to be out again within a few minutes!

After being outside, Andrew's favorite thing is playing with his trucks. As Grandpa said, he would love to be a parking lot attendant. He lines them all up and then moves them to another location. He likes playing with his other toys too and reading books. He especially likes playing hide-n-seek or when I chase him and cuddling. He loves playing with the cat Joe - he likes to play strings and balls with him, and also likes to sit on him (which surprisingly the cat tolerates). He is just starting to learn to draw with crayons and chalk (which he likes, but I have to watch him so carefully - he already drew on the fridge). He also loves to sit in the little chair we got him and just take a rest.

Andrew is a little screamer. He screams whenever he wants something, especially when he is in a contained place - his highchair (he screams through 75% of mealtimes), his car seat, his stroller when we're not outside, church, etc. I am hoping it is just a stage, because it is sure obnoxious and gives me a huge headache.

Speaking of mealtimes, Andrew is increasingly picky, as is typical of his age. He could live on white rice, green peas, and goldfish crackers - well, he does live on those actually. We can't say the word fish or Andrew will run to the cupboard and say "This, this, this" or "That, that, that" until he gets some. He generally likes vegetables (he enjoyed cucumbers and eggplant this month) and some fruit - he ate blueberries when we went picking, but mostly loves strawberries. He eats dry cereals and crackers, esp for snacks. And a tiny bit of yogurt or cheese, but no milk and no drinks but water. And except for some salmon, no meat. He most especially loves to throw his food on the floor - we would have a HUGE mess if we didn't have the tarp under the high chair.

Andrew is talking up a storm - if only we understood what he said! He does have a lot more words - most especially "this" and "that" which are his favorites. He definately seems to comprehend a good part of what we say which is great. I am not as sure about how much Japanese he comprehends - we really have to be more consistent on that.

Andrew still loves music and dancing and FINALLY learned to clap - I was wondering if he would ever do it. He loves to clap now and does it until we do it too. He also is started to fold his arms for a couple seconds when we pray, which is really cute. He seems to like prayers and reading scripture stories.

Andrew still loves all things that move. Most especially cars, trucks, planes, trains, dogs, cats, bugs, and other children. He points all of them out and gets very excited.

Andrew is starting to imitate us and loves to try to help. He wants to play with water when we are doing dishes, wants to stir things in pots when I cook, and wants to walk around with his walker when I am vacuuming. It makes things a little slower, but it's really fun and I am enjoying it while it lasts.

Andrew has a new babysitter who watches him 3 hrs a day, 3 days a week in the afternoon while I work. They spend the entire time outside and he really enjoys it, I think. But he is still a bit teary during separations from me. But whenever he sees us, he gets very excited.

Andrew is starting to sleep through the night about half the time, even when he is sick, which we are very happy about. Now, if we could just wean him ...

For fun things, we took a trip to the Arboreteum, the Botanical Gardens, blueberry picking, and to the Detroit Institute of Arts with Grandma and Grandpa. And of course, grandparents visiting was very fun.

Generally, Andrew is a very happy fellow (when he is not screaming) and gives us lots of hugs and kisses and smiles. This has been a fun month.

Andrew is 14 months old!

Andrew is growing up so fast and I think it's more fun as he is getting older. Bring on the independence - I love it!!! And he does, too. One of the biggest blessings about Andrew is how well he plays by himself. He likes to walk around and pick things up, then swing over to his room and play quietly with his toys for a little bit, before coming back and touching base, maybe then reading some books, etc. He hardly ever wants me to play with him. Of course, it's a challenge, because I have to remember that he still need me to spend lots and lots of time with him.

Andrew loves walking and walks so independently and everywhere. This month, he started being a little climber. And I swear he is practically running. He likes to get into everything. And anything that he can use as a step, he does. He climbs into cabinets and up stairs and onto everything. He still loves this the most, but he is starting to spend a little more time playing and looking through books. His favorite is to play with cars by himself, just running them back and forth. It's so cute.

No progress really on speaking. He can say cat and dog. But mostly he just grunts or says "That. That" And then has a little tantrum if you can't figure out what it is that he wants.

Speaking of tantrums, I swear these started as soon as his birthday did. They are not full out tantrums, but he definitely arches his back and screams and cries for several minutes. Mostly when we leave the park. Or anywhere that has fun toys. They don't bother me at all yet, but I am sure they will just get worse.

Andrew is also sneaky and always doing things he isn't supposed to - especially after looking right at you first. Mostly this involves playing with cat food, the toilet, or running away from you. The best course of action, of course, is to remove him from the situation, but I have the world's worst backache now from picking him up and carrying him. Hopefully, that goes away soon.

Andrew has been teething a lot the past month. His molars broke through in the last week or so (on the top) and I know those incisors are right behind. This has made Andrew VERY cranky and very tearful and always chewing on pacifiers (I knew these would come in handy someday!) or wet washcloths. Poor thing. This might also explain his sudden lack of interest in food. He only wants to eat rice balls, seaweed, frozen vegetables, and strawberries. Oh, yes, and goldfish crackers. We are also very gradually trying to wean him, but I just know this will take a long time. Especially as he won't drink milk. He drinks a bit and spits it out. Still. After two months .... I guess we are going to have to try something else.

Andrew's sleep ... well, we're trying to do sleep training, which is only sort of working. The whole teething thing is a compounding factor and even when he falls asleep on his own well, he is still waking at night some. Well, mostly in the early morning. Hopefully, those teeth will all break through soon.

This was overall a very exciting month for Andrew. The trip to Great Britain was surely the highlight, but camping was fun, too. Time away from Daddy was not so fun, but he's around the rest of the year!!!

Andrew is 13 months old

Andrew is 13 months old. He has grown up a lot in the last month.

First and greatest - he is walking. I was kind of hoping he would hold out on this for a while, because I knew the moment he started walking, he would be everywhere. Oh, well. I still can not believe how fast the whole process was. We showed him how to walk between us the day after his birthday and by the end of the week, he was taking off from the furniture (never much of a hand holder) and now he is a really really good walker. He can stand up without the use of furniture, he can walk over small obstacles (like the door frame), he can walk some sideways and even a bit backwards. Fortunately, he hasn't gotten into a lot more stuff yet and he can't run yet, but I am sure those things are to come. He hardly ever crawls anymore and pretty much walks everywhere - including the tub. Silly boy. He also climbs up little hills on the complex and loves going up (and sometimes down) stairs.

Eating is getting much better, too. Although he threw up a few times this week, that seemed a bit unusual. He usually swallows at least 50-75% of the food we give him, which is great. His favorite foods are: Kix cereal, Ritz crackers, strawberries, seaweed, yogurt, frozen vegetables (carrots, green beans, corn, and peas), beans (lentils, pinto, kidney, chickpeas), and rice. He, of course, still loves to nurse and also drinks tons of water, but is not interested in cow's milk at all! He is also starting to have a regular meal schedule and eat 3 meals and a couple snacks a day. This is taking me a bit to get used to because before he ate so little meals were more of a formality. But he definitely reminds me when he is hungry.

Andrew's speaking and comprehension seem to have grown a lot this month. Previously, about the only words he really responded to were "Where is Joe (our cat?)" or "Where is daddy" and he would then search around for the said person. Now, he really responds to what I say. It's really fun. If I ask him if he'd like to go outside, he'll walk to the door and wait. If I ask if he wants to eat, he'll go over to his highchair and wait for me to put him in. He also will respond to simple commands - this means the days of him being able to do chores are coming closer!!! He says more words now. He regularly says: Dad(dy), Mom(my), Joe, done, and thank you. He also says occasionally: bed, water, where, this, that, yeah, bath, bird(?), cat(?). Of course, it is still very hard to tell when he is trying to say real words, but he babbles ALL the time and is always pointing at what he wants.

Sleeping - well, as you know, with Katsu gone, this has been a hard month. Though, Andrew has been taking a two hour nap in the very early afternoon (like 11ish) pretty regularly. Thank heavens.

Andrew is getting more social. He sits by the window and watches the kids playing until we go outside. He is still too little to really play with them but he wants to be close. He still thinks Joe is his best friend ever and laughs the hardest whenever he is "playing" with Joe - throwing a ball to him or having him chase a string or stick.

Andrew's favorite things to do are run around the house, pick things up and carry them, try to get into the cat's litter box and water bowl, play with his toys - especially his blocks and his activity cube, read his books, and go outside. He also likes to cuddle with me, Katsu, and the cat. He is very very good at playing independently and even prefers half the time if he reads books next to me instead of sitting in my lap while I read to him. He also loves looking through cook books and photo albums. He really loves playing with his toys and plays with him all the time. I guess he isn't like other kids where their parents say they never play with their toys. When he wakes up from naps and cries, as soon as I come in the room, he stops crying and points to his toys. No, "Hi, Mom", just "get me out of here - I want to play". And he goes straight for them and is playing within a couple seconds flat.

The funnest things this month for Andrew were going strawberry picking and playing outside and learning to walk.

We love Andrew a lot and are glad he is in our lives. Now, if we could just all get a little more sleep ...

Andrew is 1 year old!

Today is Andrew's first birthday. YEAH!!! We made it!!! And here is the obligatory post.

This has been a great month with Andrew. He is starting to grow up and it is so fun. He has finally started sleeping really well!!!! And it was so easy. We had tried letting him cry (but peeking in every so often) before, but it never worked well. Andrew has some amazing abilities to cry for hours straight (which our baby-sitter unfortunately found out first hand many months ago). But we decided to try it again, and this time Andrew seemed finally ready for it. Even the first night was a piece of cake, for the most part, and Andrew now goes to bed within a few minutes. Even last night when we didn't get home from Toronto until like 10 and his schedule has been EVERYWHERE for the last week, he still went to sleep and slept through the night really well. So, YEAH, good job Andrew. So now we just need at least another year to catch up on the last year's lost sleep and then we're good to go. (So, yeah, no plans for another baby anytime soon for all those people who ask - we need to sleep!).

Andrew has also been so much better at eating, especially the last few weeks. He still spits out quite a bit of food (maybe 40%), but he does awesome with the little Gerber toddler's food. We hadn't anticipated feeding him all these snack-y foods (I mean, they bear an uncanny resemblance to Cheetos), but I guess when you have a kid like Andrew you do what you have to do. That said, he will try to eat anything and everything. Just this week, he's had chicken, bacon, french toast, pizza, cheese, chocolate, and of course, all his regulars.

Andrew is quite the expert crawler and loves to climb into cabinets now. He took his first step (maybe) today, but still prefers crawling. But he is always on the move. He knows how to turn on and off the TV, change the channels and volume and does it all on purpose - looking over at us and laughing. We went to a party a few weeks ago and Andrew figured out on the spot how to crawl up the stairs of their house. We don't have any stairs here, so I had no idea kids could figure it out so fast. He also is always crawling into rooms and closing the door and then cries until you open it. He is really trying to play peek-a-boo.

He is babbling ALL the time. He says Daddy at least one hundred times a day - it is by far his favorite word (and his favorite person). He says Mommy maybe 10 times a day and usually when he wants to eat. He has little conversations with us all the time. Last night when we got home he babbled on and on to Joe presumably about all his adventures in Toronto (of course, half the words were Daddy).

His gesturing skills have finally emerged! He can now point and likes to point out whatever is interesting. He also is learning to make choices by pointing to what he wants. He has clapped maybe a couple times and has waved a few times, but he still prefers not to do so.

Andrew loves to play and dance and talk and explore. He likes to give kisses and hugs and generally cuddle. He is always smiling and laughs a ton! He loves to go on adventures and new places. His favorite toys are his push-walker toy (he does some gorgeous three-point turns I am envious of), pots and pans and lotion samples (yum! lotion soup), his shape sorter (a pro at putting in the circle, but working on the others), the telephone (he is always trying to call Daddy and crawls to the phone whenever it rings saying Dad, Dad, Dad), remotes, and the cat Joe.

We are so glad we have Andrew in our lives. He is our happy little boy and we love him so much!!!!

Andrew is 11 months old!

Well, Andrew is 11 months old as of a few days ago and it is time for the obligatory post (which is also serving as a little journal for him).

This has been a busy month again for Andrew. I guess every month seems busy when you are such a little busy boy.

We spent a lot of the month at doctor's offices - he saw 5 different doctors in 3 weeks! Thankfully, it was mostly all good. He got his helmet off (HALLELUJAH!), though this was at more of our assistance than the doctors. This, of course, led to his first obligatory hair cut since his hair was done to his nose. We cut it a little short, but it's hard to cut a baby's hair when he keeps crawling away.

He also saw his pediatrician about his eating, who was alarmed about his tonsils, but the ear/nose/throat doctor said he was just fine. Of course, this was after putting a scope down his nose to look at his throat without any anesthetic. Let's just say Andrew did not like that very much. He just has some irritation from reflux, but is otherwise healthy.

We also saw the "feeding team", who reassured us that Andrew seemed to be doing just fine. He could have gone from gagging and throwing everything up to refusing to eat, but thankfully he really likes to be independent and feed himself. And he'll "eventually swallow". We also got some easier to swallow food (which unfortunately resembles cheetos to me) and some more things to play with and feed himself with to help desensitize his mouth some more. Unfortunately, weaning doesn't look like it'll happen as early as I hoped. But, he seems to be swallowing a little bit of food now. So, we only have to clean up the 95% of what we feed him that he spits out.

Andrew also unfortunately had a relatively high fever (102-103) for a week that didn't really respond to medicine. So, he was understandably cranky, but otherwise healthy.

Wheew ... but really, this was a good month, doctor's appointments withstanding. Andrew is crawling at an amazing speed. He is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING. Most especial favorites - cords, laptop computer, outlets, cook books, dishwasher, Joe's food, trashcans, bathtub, and baskets of toiletry samples. As soon as he hears me open the dishwasher, he crawls at lighting speed to try to play with all the utensils. Anytime we leave the pantry or bathroom door open, he also rushes there. If the door isn't completely shut, he climbs up on it and then pushes it until he opens. He also does this in his bedroom, but ends up pushing his bedroom door shut and gets stuck in there and starts crying. But all this crawling means he plays pretty independently by himself.

Andrew is very tough. We were worried that when he got his helmet off, he would hit his head and cry all the time. But no. He rarely cries when he gets hurt. He cut himself on the finger at a friend's house the other day, and we didn't notice until we saw all the blood. Unfortunately, he also is a tough guy to other babies. He is still biting other kids. We got a "No Biting" book at the library, which while cute, obviously is a little over his head.

Andrew is babbling all the time and says Mommy and Daddy (mostly Daddy) all the time. He says what might be a few other words, but it's really hard to say at this stage. He also figured out how to scream, and screams whenever he doesn't get his way. I can see this as a preview of the tantrums to come.

Andrew thinks that the cat Joe is his best buddy and they play together a lot. Andrew will grab the cat's toys and dangle them in front of Joe and just laugh and laugh and laugh. It is really cute.

We are really having so much fun with our little boy. We can not believe that he is almost 1 year old!!! Yikes, how the time flies.

Andrew is 10 months old (tomorrow)

This has been a busy month for Andrew. He learned to crawl and is crawling and pulling himself up everywhere! He pulls up on the standards - the couch, chairs, coffee table, bookshelves, our legs. As well as on books, on the wall. Crazy little boy. His new favorite thing to do is to get into everything. He seems to have a special affinity for electrical engineering textbooks, Disney classic DVDs in tins, and the cat's toys as well as cords and outlets. He is really happy just doing this all day.

He is also learning some other important skills, like stacking blocks (though he still prefers to knock them down) and putting things in a bucket (though he still prefers to dump it all out). I especially enjoy the second task because it means he is this much closer to chores, like picking up and throwing away trash. I also trying to brain-wash him by constantly singing "When we're helping we're happy ...", a great little Primary ditty.

Andrew's love of music seems bottomless, especially for African music and techno. He loves to wave his arms up and down and when standing to shake his bum. I am also trying to introduce him to poetry and art. We enjoyed some museums this last month which was great fun!

Andrew seems to have finally mastered "ma-ma" and "da-da" (and mostly attach them to the right parent) and seems to say the word "bye" as well. He knows Joe's name very well, but doesn't know how to say it yet. He misses Katsu a lot when he is at work during the day and loves to sit by the window and wait for him in the evening. He missed him terribly when we were in Texas.

Andrew is a bit of a bully. He likes to hug/wrestle other kids and also has learned the fine art of biting. We hope this is mostly because he is teething (his 5th and 6th tooth are coming in), and it will get better.

His gagging is getting better, but he still spits all food out and I think I have seen him swallow something like once. He eats a bit of yogurt, maybe 1 oz, by us putting it on a spoon and then handing him the spoon and he feeds himself. We have tried to feed him other things this way, but he quickly realizes they are not yogurt.

Overall, Andrew is really a very happy kid. He smiles a lot. We are having fun.

Andrew is 9 months!

Today we had a doctor appt at 7 am! What was I thinking when I scheduled it - esp when it was only -2 degrees (-15 wind chill) outside when we left. Way too cold and way too early. But the results are in ...

Height - 29.4 inches (84%) as usual
Weight - 22.2 lbs (76%)

He is finally coming back down in weight (in percentile). Of course, this is probably due to his (as his doctor called it) SOLID FOOD AVERSION. In other words, Andrew refuses to let us feed him anything. He doesn't mind playing with food, but if perchance it gets in his mouth - well, then he will spit it out and sometimes throw up just to get rid of the icky feeling. Which means my dreams of weaning seem ever and ever further away. The good news ... we don't have to feed him anymore so he won't be "controlling the situation" and only tell him how good food is and wait until he asks for it. Which is way better than suffering through feeding time.

Otherwise, Andrew is a happy kid. He now has 4 teeth, but of course won't let us take a picture of them. He isn't crawling, but manages to get around with rolling and sorta crawling (he can crawl a bit backwards ...). He has this push toy he can walk around with and he is also starting to cruise some. His favorite activity - pulling books off the bookshelf, CDs out of the CD player, and dancing to his new favorite CD "African Playground". Still has severe separation anxiety if he is being babysat at someone else's house. As my friend said, "I was surprised at the intensity of his crying. At one point, he was even hyperventilating". As the doctor said, the kid obviously has an opinion of the world around him. Umm ... yes, I believe so. He is a very talkative kid and seems to perhaps know how to say Daddy, though it's all speculation on our part of course.

On a side note - I am still in graduate school (Barely) and my first journal paper was accepted for publication last week! Big yeah - that is essentially 1/3 of the way to being done with my PhD. I also got a conference abstract accepted so the whole family will be going to Toronto the first week of May for me to learn all the new stuff being done in MRI and to present my work on B1 Mapping. It will be a fun month ... but that is a separate post. Happy February.

Andrew is 7 months old!

It's taken me a few days to get the post up, but Andrew is now seven months old. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. This was another challenging month for us. Andrew has become very stubborn and basically stopped taking naps for me, except after nursing or in the car. And if I am lucky enough to get him to nap in his crib, it's for 30-45 minutes tops. He arches his back if I try to calm him before putting him in the crib, but if I just place him in the crib, he cries and cries and does not go to sleep. As you can tell by this diatribe - it's very frustrating for me, especially as another month has gone by without research done.

Anyways, after a month and some of trying, he has finally seemed to get how a sippy cup works, well, for at least one sip a day, though the rest of the time he just bites it. He also eats maybe three tiny spoonfuls of food a day. We just have to let him hold the spoon and essentially feed himself. Messy, to say the least. Still not a fan of solids, what can we say.

He has been kind of fussy this month from teething and we can finally see the top of one of the teeth. And the last few days he has been sleeping much better, so we are all grateful. Very grateful. Very very very very grateful. We've been a tired lot.

Andrew loves to sit still and hates hates his tummy, though he is ending up there more and more as he is more ambitious trying to reach things. Maybe it will eventually lead to creeping or crawling. Occassionally, he seems to kind of creep backwards, so maybe there is hope for his future crawling.

On the other hand, he LOVES to stand. And just this last week, he has figured out how to pull himself up on the crib or with our fingers or clothes. He is SO proud when he does this and laughs and smiles from ear to ear.

For pictures, just a few. A family picture we had a friend take for our newsletter which we will eventually get out. Christmas things are happening a little slowly this year. Also, a picture of Andrew's favorite game - the "Andrew bed" - where I sit him on the bed and make the bed around him, usually with the cat Joe jumping in and playing too. Andrew laughs and laughs and laughs and thinks its the funnest thing ever! Also, some pictures of Andrew standing. Sleeping gave him a cute Bam Bam hair through his helmet.

6 Month Visit

Andrew had his 6 month checkup yesterday. He is only 90% now (20 lbs 5 oz) for weight and still 85% for height. His head circumference has gone down, but probably because of the helmet, I would guess. The doctor proclaimed the reason(s) he is not sleeping - his helmet looks like it is bothering him (um, yes), he has fluid in his ear, and he is teething. What a great combination!!! The poor kid got his shots even with his cold. Poor kid. And then he had a relatively high fever of 102.6 last night and was very hot and had a hard time sleeping. So, hopefully, he gets better soon! Sick babies are so sad looking.

6 months

Andrew turned six months old yesterday. This has been a bit of a hard month because of having the helmet. The first two weeks were like having a newborn with him waking up every hour or two. It got better ... but this week is worse with him up 3-4 times a night again. IN the beginning, he also always swatted at his helmet, so much so that he got a blister on his finger, poor kid. He also figured out how to wriggle out of it at night, but he hasn't done that since the first week. Although today I caught him trying to lift the thing off (and he almost accomplished it!), the sneaky thing.

Other than sleep and helmet, it was a good month. Andrew is fabulous at sitting up which is SOOO nice. He sits and plays most of the day. Refuses to do tummy time now and just rolls over immediately, but oh, well. It has made it much easier for us so we don't have to carry the heavy boy all the time. He loves playing with blocks, cups.

He has become really aware and has a really big personality. If he wants to play with a toy, he stares at it and then you and then the toy until you take him over there. He also is very talkative and makes these little high pitched "Hi!" and "Hey" sounds all the time. He also started giving us kisses on our cheeks, which I thought was really cute since we didn't teach it to him at all.

One other bad / good note - our babysitter quit which has made things a bit more difficult but was probably better since he cried the whole time he was there. We tried another friend to see if it was the babysitter or Andrew - it was definitely Andrew. He cried at her house the whole time. Even after I comforted him, as soon as he saw her he would burst into tears. He is somewhat better if he is at our house. He definitely has preferences for people, even strangers. Some he goes straight into conversation with and others he just eyes skeptically.

We are starting to give him solids a bit for the next week, but not much interest, so we'll have to keep going on it.

We're having fun, even though its been a really hard month. Happy 6 months baby!

5 Months Tomorrow

Andrew will be 5 months old tomorrow, but I probably won't have time to update then, so here's his update.

Andrew is big as always. He weighs almost 20 lbs now, I think. My back has started hurting some lately, so I guess I have to be careful how and how much I carry him. Easy to say for a 5 mo. old, but oh, well. As I mentioned before, Andrew's head is very flat, so he has to get a helmet. We went to the doctor person for that and that was an interesting appointment. First, they measured Andrew's head. The way to show how flat it is is by measuring the diagonals. On a round head, they would be the same or only a couple millimeters off. Severe flattening is at least 12 mm difference. Andrew's was a whole 2 cm (or 20 mm) so it is pretty severe. Then, they put this panty hose / sock like thing over his head, stuck little stickers all over it, and used a big red laser to take a picture of his head. Andrew, needless to say, did not like the sock thing. But he found the bright red light fascinating. So, he gets his helmet on Thursday. He has to wear it 23 hrs a day for several months ... probably like 4 or 5. Thankfully, we only have to pay a $15 copay. Otherwise, these helmets normally cost $2-4k, which would be a bit much for us "poor" students to handle. Otherwise, he is pretty healthy. He did have a small cold this month (his first sickness), but nothing too bad.

We did try out some rice cereal this month to see if it helped out with his spitting up. Not much - he still spits up all of the time! It's amazing, really, and gross, but oh, well. Although if he spits up for the next 18 years, I assured him he would be an only child. He does really like eating though. I am sure he'll be excited when we start it up next month. We finally got a high chair (from a friend) so he sits in that while we eat dinner and really envies our food.

Andrew has started to really grab everything. He loves his little cups, blocks, and rings - anything he can pull and grab and throw. He spent most of the month, sitting up and being completely doubled over trying to reach something. Thus, all the spit up. The last few days he has really started to sit better on his own which he really likes. He can sit for at least a minute or so without falling over. If he wasn't constantly trying to reach for things far away, I am sure he could do much longer. He also has found his feet and toes now and likes to hold them and watch them.

Still no interest in rolling. Oh, well. He is pretty good with tummy time, though he likes sitting and standing better. He tries to move around a lot, so crawling should eventually come.

Andrew started going to his babysitter this month - which he does not like. He goes 4-6 hours a week usually. I would like him to go more like 8-10 hours a week so I can get a little more research done, but right now 4 is the bare minimum so I can go to class. He was crying the entire time I was gone. If I left him for four hours, he would cry for four hours. And this went on for weeks! He wouldn't cry (or at least as much) if he was outside, but that was about it. Yesterday was an improvement. He didn't cry for the first 2 hours and then only cried for 15 minutes until I got back. I am amazed at how stubbornly this boy hates babysitters. I really thought I wouldn't run into as many problems with him starting at 4 months, but I guess I was wrong. We'll see how the semester goes and then look at things and decide if this PhD program is worth it.

Andrews also hates bottles. He will take one from us, but he won't actually suck it unless he is starving. He just rolls it around in his mouth because he knows milk will just come out. He wouldn't take it at all from his babysitter at first, but he will drink an ounce or two from her now as long as she doesn't look at him. Stubborn boy.

Andrew sleeps really well at night. He goes to bed at 7 every night really easily. He wakes up once or twice at night - when he was sick he woke up more like 2-3 times, but before that it was just once. He even slept all the way through once. Then, he wakes up very predictably around 7 am. His naps on the other hand are more frustrating. He never sleeps more than an hour, and 95% of the time, his naps are 45 minutes. I have tried everything to try & lengthen his naps to no avail - putting to sleep as soon as looks tired, hold him out till he's REALLY tired, schedule him, white noise, music, total darkness, letting him cry for a bit to see if he goes back to sleep, etc. I give up! Hopefully his naps will lengthen as he gets older - doing research in 30 minute chunks (and only 3 of them) is difficult and he often still seems tired when he wakes up.

Andrew loves our cat Joe and is always trying to pet him. Surprisingly, Joe is really good and doesn't mind even when Andrew pulls his fur, which is very often. Andrew also loves being outside or looking outside. And he loves to laugh. I was reading a book to him (Moo Baa La La La) and he started laughing while I was reading it because he thought a horse saying Neigh was funny. He really likes music, especially when we sing to him. Jesus Wants Me For a SunBeam is a real hit! We really have tons of fun with Andrew and are so glad he is here!

100 Days Old

Andrew is 100 days old ... or was, yesterday. We celebrated the Japanese way, by serving him up his first real meal. Traditionally, the meal is supposed to wish the baby good luck that they will always have plenty of food - a kind of protection against starvation, I suppose. So, you feed the baby a bit of rice, then a bit of miso soup (tofu, miso, and seaweed), then a bit of rice, then a bit of fish, then a bit of this sweet rice and bean dessert that Katsu made. Andrew was a little perplexed, but seemed to find the tofu and the sweet rice and beans "oishii" or tasty.

And on another note, since Andrew is big and already wearing 6-9 months clothes, he gets to wear this cute outfit from the ojiisan and obaasan (Funai grandparents) for the next little while on Sunday. Isn't he cute? We are having lots of fun with him! Katsu takes great care of him in the evenings and Saturday morning/afternoon, so I can work on my research. Here is a picture of Andrew playing with his toys in the morning with Katsu. And hopefully, hearing all that Japanese will pay off with a bilingual baby!

Three months old

Andrew is three months old today and lots of fun! As you can see from the pictures, Andrew is huge. The outfit he is wearing there is a 3/6 month, but it is too small, so it will probably be the last day for that one. He has basically already outgrown all his 3/6 mo clothes and is wearing 6/9 mo clothes. He sure goes through clothes really fast. I don't know how tall he is, but guessing from the bathroom scale, he must be about 16 lbs! Hopefully, the scale is wrong ... no wonder my back is starting to hurt.

Other than that, we are having lots of fun with him. He smiles and laughs all the time. He loves when you sing songs with hand motions and move his hands along (like the Wise Man and the Foolish Man and the Eensy Weensy Spider). He likes to knock block towers over and grab links and is starting to hold things with both hands and to put things in his mouth all the time. He likes to talk, especially in the morning when he wakes up. Yesterday, he seemed to learn to roll from his stomach to his back and did it at least ten times, but wouldn't do it once Daddy came home (of course). He also got to spend a week touring the finer parts of the area (Henry Ford Museum, Bronner's Christmas store, Frankenmuth, Ann Arbor, and the Toledo Zoo) with his Crookston grandparents and Aunt Sarah.

I am starting to write my report for my qualifying exams in the evenings and nap times, so I guess the care free days of the summer are really ending ... school will be starting before I know it.

Two Months: Monster Milk

So, Andrew has his two month appointment today, only the second time we have been to the doctor with him. So, we were able, for the first time, to really see how much he had been growing since he was born. Katsu and I had a bet going - I figured he was around 12 lbs and Katsu thought around 13 lbs. We both lost. Andrew weighs 14 lbs 4 oz! We can hardly believe it. He is 92% for weight, 24.5 inches (83% for height), and 80% for head circumference (up from a tiny 11% when he was born). The doctor said I must have monster milk for the baby to grow so big so fast without any supplementation. So, either Andrew or I am a monster! Otherwise, he is pretty healthy - a little umbilical hernia and some dermatitis. He also got his shots and his first dose of medicine for the pain. A fun visit all around.

Otherwise, we are loving our new apartment and all the space. We are finally starting to feel ready to have a social life again and have had a couple dinner parties this week. And I am thinking about getting ready to look at school stuff, find a babysitter for Andrew, and prepare for my icky qualifying exams in September. I just got the application today which makes me a bit anxious. Oh, and I taught gospel doctrine this week and will be teaching the Teaching for our Times lesson in RS this week. Which is interesting considering I have only ever taught Primary before. So, we are enjoying life! Hope everyone else is too.

Andrew Update

It's been a busy month since I last posted and Andrew has grown so much! Andrew took his first plane ride (which he mostly just slept and ate through, thankfully) and we went to Texas for two weeks to see my brother's wedding and spend time with the family. The wedding was beautiful and I am so glad that we were able to go. It was hard because Katsu could only stay for a few days before going back to work and then to the American Diabetes conference the next weekend. And my flight got cancelled and they couldn't re-schedule us until the next day. But it was great to see friends from high school, my friend Mari Louise from Boston, and family.

We also blessed baby Andrew the first Sunday we were there. Katsu did a great job with the blessing - it was very special. He blessed Andrew to be obedient and to follow the gospel and live by its teaching. The Sunday School teacher in my family's ward said it was the most eloquent and spiritual blessing he had ever heard. Perhaps, but it was mostly nice to be able to share the moment with all our family.

So, here is what Andrew is up to. He started smiling in his third or fourth week and gives us lots of smiles all the time, especially when he wakes up. He also managaed to roll over, sort of. He managed to dig his feet into his blanket during tummy time and lift himself up enough to flip himself over. And he did it twice on Sunday. He really is so frustrated that he can't move, but I'm not sure this bodes well for the Funai house - we might have to babyproof much sooner than we expected if he keeps up this pace. Mostly he just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. We haven't seen the doctor since he was four days old, but we have an appointment in a week and a half and I won't be a bit surprised if he already weighs 12 or 13 pounds!

Four Weeks - Four Years

Today, Baby Andrew is four weeks old! I can't believe we have made it through almost the first month already and it hasn't been that bad. We think he is getting a little bit chubbier - so hopefully, all those nursing sessions are going to good use. Sleep has been a bit erratic this week. He was spitting up blood and had lots of black in his stool this weekend, which was a bit nerve-wracking, but he seems fine and healthy now! He has started enjoying playing on his Baby Einstein activity thing and likes his swing and walks. Here are some pictures from this week.

Also, this is our anniversary - four years! I still can't believe we've been married that long. I can't believe we've known each other for five and a half years! It's been a blast. We'll see how actually celebrating the anniversary goes - a bit difficult with a newborn. But I guess having a new baby is the best celebration of our love of all.