Andrew the Independent Two Year Old (28 Month Update)

Dearest Andrew,

Okay, another month went by so fast, I can’t even believe it!  Here we are in the middle of October, in the middle of fall, with Halloween just around the corner.  I am amazed we are here already.  Time with you just flies by, mainly because we are having so much fun!  When I was thinking what to title this monthly update, one thing kept coming to my mind, independent.  You are truly starting to become an independent little boy.  You are eating by yourself 100% now of the time now (true Mommy feeds you every now and then when we are in a hurry, but that is only because you are a sloooow eater. Hehe). You have started to help take off your clothes, and if you know how to do something, chances are you will want to do it by yourself.  One thing you say a lot right now is, “Andrew do it.” I love watching all you can do by yourself now.  It’s amazing to see you grow and learn new things.

So, what else have you been up to?  Well, as always, here is a list of some of the things you have been up to.  No way could we get them all on here! :)

• You came up to me the other day and showed me a block that has a picture, letter, or number on all sides.  This particular block had a picture of a snail on it.  Not only did you tell me what everything else was on the block, but you told me there was a snail too.  How in the world do you know what a snail is?  Hehe.  I still think you can secretly read. :)
• Grandma got you a motorized train (you have some at Mimi’s too) and you love to watch that thing go around and around the track.  You run around following the train laughing your head off.  So. Cute.
• You stole my pumpkin bagel and ate it. :)
• We took you to Toys R Us and let you pick out some things for Christmas.  We took you to the Thomas section and let you pick out some more motorized trains. You were able to name a great deal of the trains including Diesel 10.  What?  See…I think you CAN secretly read. :)
• **CUTENESS ALERT! CUTENESS ALERT!** We have started praying differently at bedtime.  I will say something and then you will repeat what I say.  Instead of Mommy or Daddy saying the prayer for you, you now repeat whatever we say.  I will say, “Dear Lord” and you will say, “Dear Word” because you say your L’s as W’s right now.  Oh. My. Goodness.  SO sweet!  You are just repeating what I am saying¸ but it is SO sweet to hear you praying for your family and friends, thanking God for what you have, and telling Jesus you love Him.  I haven’t got it on film, but I will try to do it.  Part of me doesn’t want to, but part of me wants to so I can have it forever!
• You got to go to a local pizza place full of games with Mimi and Pop (for a party for the families at Pop’s work) and Mommy and Daddy came a bit later.  You ate pizza and cookies and drank root beer.  Then you got to play games.  Can someone say Andrew heaven?  We even took turns taking pictures in the photo booth.  Mimi and Pop took great photos with you, but when it was our turn with you…not so much. :) However, they are HILARIOUS and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  They captured our family quite well. :) After that you went to a party for Olivia and Isaiah and had even more fun!  It was quite a day for sure!
• Daddy came home from work one day and you and I were sitting watching a cartoon.  Daddy asked if you wanted to go to the park (one of your favorite places) and you got so excited!  You said, “Come on Mama, let’s go to the park!  Turn that off!”  I turned it off and you said, “Good job Mama!  Let’s go!”  Hahaha!
• We started (kind of) having you eat what we are eating and not cooking you something different when you refuse.  You are SUCH a picky eater and we are trying to get you to eat new things.  When you see something new (or something you haven’t had in a while) you refuse to even try a bite.  It is frustrating for sure, but I guess that is part of you trying to show your independence.  We are slowly (and I do mean slowly) getting you to try new things.  I say it works about 15% of the time, hehe.  We make sure there are other things you like so you don’t go to bed hungry.  This is a work in progress and I will have to report back later. :)  However, you still manage to be the world’s best kid.  Go figure. :)
• We took you to the doctor to get what I thought was going to be your flu shot.  They ended up giving you the Flumist (yay, no shot!) and you did really well with that.  When we were leaving I let you pick your sticker and you picked a Thomas sticker of course.  You asked me who was on the sticker and I said I would have to look it up once we got seated in the car.  You said, “It’s Charlie Mama.”  I said, “We’ll see after I look it up.”  Sure enough, it was Charlie!  Once again, how did you know that??? :)  One more reason I am convinced you can secretly read!  Hehe!  Mama doesn’t even know who Charlie is!
• Mimi took you, Zane, Sky, Aunt Renee and me to see Thomas at a railway museum in another town.  What a fabulous day!  There was so much fun stuff to do and we got to actually ride on Thomas.  You even got to meet and get a picture with Sir Topham Hatt!  That will always be such a great memory for Mommy and I hope somehow you will remember it too. :)
• When we came home from Thomas you took a nap and woke up acting like you didn’t feel good and you were hot to the touch.  Sure enough you had a fever.  Daddy and I prayed for you and when you woke up the next morning, your fever was gone and you were acting fine.  It never came back.  God touched you!  What a truly wonderful God we serve!!!
• We got to go to Zane’s house for his 4^th birthday.  We saw Zane, Sky, Aunt Renee, Uncle Stephen, Mimi, Pop, Gi Gi, Papa, Great-Grandma, and we even met some of Zane and Sky’s other family.  It was so much fun and you had a blast playing with all of the other kids.  You even got to sit with them at the children’s table while we ate.  You didn’t eat anything during dinner (you never do when we are somewhere else and there is a lot going on), but you still seemed to enjoy sitting with all of the other kids.  Such a big kid thing to do!
• You pretended to be a puppy for the first time (your first time pretending to be anything) and it was so adorable.  You crawled around the house barking and panting.  So funny!  It was great to see you using your imagination like that!  :)  You haven’t done it again, but I am sure you will in the future.
• I *think* you have ridden on a carousel before with Mimi, but you never have with us.  When we were at the mall the other night we walked by the carousel and decided to give it a try.  You loved every minute of getting to ride on a horse.
• You love to crawl up in my lap and watch video clips on YouTube of toy reviews (as long as they pertain to Trains), videos of other people’s train sets, or videos of trains just driving by (yes, people actually film and put on YouTube videos of trains just driving).  You are fascinated with trains!  I certainly don’t mind though because that means cuddle time with Andrew…my favorite. :)
• There is a short little cartoon called “Mickey's Mousekersize” where Mickey asks you to get up and follow along with him and do what he does.  You usually just watch it and don’t get up, but you finally got up and followed along.  You were jumping up and down along with Mickey, Goofy, and Donald and having the best time.  You followed the directions so well!
• We took Lightening McQueen outside to drive around on the sidewalks.  Let’s just say this…you are NOT a good driver.  Hehe.  I’ll leave it at that. :)  Well, I will say this…you were in the stuck in the grass about 95% of the time. :)
• We taught you how to say, “I love you” in ASL and you have finally got the hang of it and you do it all the time now.  It touches my heart to see you say “I love you” that way.  One night on your way to bed you hit your hand on something and said, “Ow, I hurt my I love you!”  Hahaha! :)
• We ended this month by going on a mini vacation to Dallas and stopping in to see Gi Gi and Papa on the way for a few days.  It was a wonderful trip!  You played and played with Gi Gi and Papa!  Gi Gi took us to a farm/pumpkin patch that had all kinds of things to do, including feeding animals.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun you had!  At one point while we were there, Gi Gi left the room and you couldn’t find her.  You came up to me all despondent and said, “Mama, I lost Gi Gi!”  Hahaha!  We found her and you were very relieved!  We then spent the next couple of days in Dallas where we went to the Fort Worth Zoo, shopping, eating pizza (several times, lol) and we even got to ride a train. You even showed me how super smart you are by pointing to the letters that were on a floor mat at the IZOD store and said, “I-Z-O-D!” :)  It wasn’t a fancy vacation by any means, but it was one of the best because we had you with us and because we got to spend time with family. :)

As usual, this was much longer than I intended.  It would probably make more sense to blog about these things as they happen, but Mommy isn’t that organized!  I am trying to get more organized, but like you learning to eat new thing, it is a sloooow process!  Hahaha! :)  I love you bug and can’t wait to see what adventures this next month brings us!