Andrew @ 18 Months Old

Andrew turned 18 months old on 2/17. Halfway to two already. It's hard to believe he's already 18 months old and at the same time it's hard to believe he's only 18 months old. Mostly, because it feels like he's been here forever. He feels firmly entrenched in our family now; a full-fledged member. For the first year or so he was still a n00b we were trying to get used to. Now he's in the club. ;)

Andrew at 18 months is often mistaken by people who don't know us for at least two years old, if not older. He had his well child visit on the seventeenth and he's right around 70th percentile for both height and weight (33 inches and 27.5 pounds, respectively). So while's he's bigger than his brother was at this age, he's by no means gigantic. He's pretty advanced physically (he's walking, running, climbing, wrestling... eep), and he's pretty coordinated. He can already throw and kick a ball. He's also talking a lot. The pediatrician asked us if he has at least a dozen words yet and I told her he was starting to put short sentences together ("I want juice," etc). Maybe these things in combination with his slightly larger than average size are what make people think he's older.

Speaking of his size, we just moved him into size 24 month tops. The 18 month tops were getting too short and tight on him as he has a rather prominent little belly. He has room to grow in 24 months. The length of his 18 month pants is good but they're getting tight in the thighs (thanks daddy) and starting to get a little snug in the waist (he's got the "Surber belly" for sure). They're way too long though. So he's already throwing me for a loop with the clothing. I think he's also in a size 6 shoe. Philip's in an 8. At this rate, I'm wondering if before long Philip will be wearing Andrew's hand me downs!

As far as his speech goes, that continues to develop more and more each day. Right now, he's enjoying saying "no" in response to everything, something big brother has been coaching him on. Nice.  His list of new/newish words include: book, dog, juice, buddy, brother, bear, coco (cookie), car, Buzz (as in Lightyear), Nana, and "tea" which is his word for "pick  me up or put me down."

He's got all four of his first molars. Not even sure when that happened! In the past month he's been teathing like crazy. I think his total tooth count is up to 12. Speaking of teething, that's been different. With Philip, you barely noticed he was teething. Andrew is a different story. His sleep is affected. He cheeks turn bright red. He drools. And, oh yeah, he bites. The biting is getting better, I guess, but also getting pretty old. He's not biting so much out of curiosity and teething anymore as much as he is biting out of retaliation and frustration. This hasn't been a good thing for his brother who often bears the brunt of it. We're trying to work with him on it but that's going about as well as trying to put a one year old in time out (which we've only had marginal success with at this point).

He's really taken an interest in books lately. I just recently started a bedtime routine with him where we read a couple of books and I sing him the songs we sing to Philip at bedtime and then say his prayers. He loves looking at the books and will grab them at bedtime and hop into the chair ready to read. We sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at night and he has just recently started trying to sing it himself during the day. He can say twinkle and star. It's really cute.

He loves Finding Nemo and Toy Story. Disney Pixar continues to get more and more of our money. It's so cute hearing him say Nemo. It comes out "me-mo." The boys have DVD players in the car (Andrew's still not a happy traveler) and he always gets sad when Nemo turns off and cries out "No, Me-mo!"). He loves movies and television in general, as awful as that sounds. I know he watches more tv than he should, but I find that's really hard to avoid when you have an older child and, seriously, I need to get dinner made in the evening. The AAP can kiss it on that one; he has better verbal skills than some preschoolers I know. Alas, he also loves that wretched little brat Caillou just as much as his brother does so we hear a lot of his whining voice in our house these days.

He's very attached to mommy, although that's nothing new. I think it's a little late for the typical separation anxiety period, but he's definitely got a lot of that going on. It's at the point where I don't know if it's better to sneak away when I have to go out for work, or say goodbye and deal with the tears. I think either way he cries but it's even more sad now that he cries out "mommy" when he wants me. Especially at night.

He loves playing outside with his brother and he's absolutely fearless, tackling the big slide on the swing set and already trying to climb the rope ladder. So different from Philip, who's just starting to get really comfortable with those things himself. He's well on his way to full-blown dare devil status. And he's a runner. Where Philip would always stay close by at that age (and still does), Andrew likes to test his boundaries (and our speed). Thinking a fence is going to be a necessity and soon! He also loves bathtime and water in general. He did great in the pool last year and I'm excited for warm weather so he can get some more time in the water this year (another way in which he's so different from Philip, who still cries almost every time he has to have his hair washed).  He loves to splash and hardly flinches when he gets water in his face (even going so far as to blow bubbles in the tub--not something we're encouraging!).

He's also a total mess-maker. Philip was such a neat and tidy eater. I always marveled at how having a self-feeding toddler was nothing like the way it was portrayed on tv. With Philip, a crumb was rarely out of place. With Andrew, I'm pretty sure our high chair will be destined for the curb by the time he's through wreaking meal time havoc upon it. We've totally given up on putting the cushioned cover on it. It's just not worth it. He also loves to go into the playroom and pull out everything he can find and dump it onto the floor, just to watch it pile up. Good times.

He's still a helper though and will help put toys away and throw things in the garbage if we ask him to. One of his favorite things to do is throw away his dirty diapers. The downside to this is he's also thrown a lot of things away that weren't garbage! Some of them rescued in time, others we suspect not.

He still eats and sleep great. Most days he eats more (and faster) than Philip at meal time and he sleeps all night. He still doesn't nap as long as I'd like. Most days it's only an hour. How I miss Philip's two two hour naps at that age! The boys usually take their nap at the same time with Andrew waking up first so it's nice to get an hour of alone time with him before Philip wakes up.

He (along with Philip) are still rear-facing in the car. :) He had a brief period of not wanting to be strapped into the seat but that's not all that new with him. He seems like he might outgrow his seat sooner than Philip though (in height and weight) which means I'm sure I'll need to buy a new seat for him to stay rear-facing in eventually. Whoohoo! ;)

Less than six months until his second birthday. I've already begun setting aside ideas for both boys as their parties are two weeks apart. I have several ideas in mind for Andrew so I need to get busy narrowing them down. The big 2 will be here before I know it!

Tiny Talker

I wanted to take a few minutes and dedicate a post to Andrew's expanding vocabulary. I can't say he's talking yet, but he's saying so many new words, I can't even make a comprehensive list. He's even trying to say whole phrases which is so cute and hilarious at the same time. For example, he's been saying "juice" for a while. He always refers to milk as juice. When he wants milk he makes this mumbling sound that we swear has to be him trying to say "I want." It really does sound like it (to us anyway). So he'll kind of mumble/slur the "I want" sound and the pop "juice" at the end of it.

He always likes to ask for help. It took me forever to figure out what he was saying because one day he just started saying "hut" all the time. I thought he meant hit or hurt so I just kept asking him what he wanted and he in turn would get really frustrated. We had no clue for many days what he was getting at. Finally, one day I had a moment of genius and figured out he was trying to say "help." I felt really proud of myself for unlocking the code. Smooth sailing ever since.

Other words he's recently picked up include: dog, trying to say "Lola" (more like wah-wah), mommy (sweetest word ever), daddy, brother, ball, papa, no (he just figured this one out--with accompanying head shake, no less!), and more (he just added this to his repertoire today!).

It also sounds like he's trying to say "this is" but it comes out more like "dis." Like, when we were outside earlier playing, he went up to Lola and he says "Dis wah-wah," or he'll say "Dis daddy" when picking up the remote control or Phil's phone. lol.

Okay, so maybe he is talking, he's just not a fluent conversationalist yet. ;) I'm sure there are some other things he's saying now, I just can't think of them. I swear though it feels like every day he says something we've never heard. He makes learning to speak look so effortless! I'll have to post some video of one of our conversations soon.

ETA: He just got up from his nap and reminded me he can say "Pooh" and "stuck." :)

Philip: Three Years Old

I can't believe how much Philip changed in between his second and third birthdays. It was a big, busy year for him and for all of us. There were so many changes and milestones along the way from two to three. Moving from the crib to a big bed, potty training, preschool, and countless other events, big and small, in between.

Fun things that make Philip uniquely three: He loves wearing his slippers all day long. He has Elmo slippers and Woody cowboy boot slippers that he wears all day long and even sleeps in them. He tries to take every toy he owns to bed with him. He likes to run around the house in his Tigger Halloween costume which he calls the "wonderful Tigger" costume. He still doesn't like getting his hair washed in the tub. He likes to tell us he doesn't like something we give him to eat based on appearance alone, before he's even tasted it. He likes to inform mommy when she's being "bad" and needs a time out (lovely!). He has to give Andrew a big, wet kiss on the lips before Andrew goes to bed. He has to sleep with two of his "buddies" (lovies) at night. He rarely takes his nap without some kind of a protest. He would eat Eggos every morning if we let him. He loves to read books. He can memorize one in only a few readings. Sometimes he'll recite them without even having the book in front of him. He loves to sing songs at preschool. He can recite all of the Lord's Prayer. He's become increasingly confident on the playground. He wants to do the monkey bars by himself ("like Caillou"). He loves Sprout. He loves the Little Mermaid and sleeps with a stuffed Ariel doll at night.He loves to swing more than anything else outside. He asks us every time we drop him off somewhere without us (preschool, church nursery, childcare at the gym), if we're going to come back for him. He always wants to know where Andrew is when he notices he's not around (he's napping). He loves to make cookies and pancakes with daddy. He loves to visit Nettie and Cricket. His Papa is his buddy. He already wants to drive. He's learning how to dress himself and prefers to put his underwear and pants on by himself. He's not a fan of having his teeth flossed. He's fine with wearing a knit hat in 80 degree weather. He loves his Crocs. He has to have socks on at all times lately. He could play in the tub for hours if we let him. When he's excited about something he gets to do he shouts "Best day ever!"

He's growing up too fast.

Here's some Q&A we did this evening.

Philip at Three:

How Old Are You: "Fwee"
Favorite Friend: Elijah
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Number: Three
Favorite Letter: "I"
Favorite Thing to Do with Mommy: Play some games
Favorite Thing to Do with Daddy: Make cookies 
Favorite Thing to Do with Andrew: Play trains 
Favorite Thing to Do Outside: Play with Ian and Elijah
Favorite Thing to Do Inside: Play Football
Favorite Thing to Do At School: Some crafts
Favorite Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Favorite TV Show: Caillou
Favorite Movie: Snow White
Favorite Game: Toy Story Memory
Favorite Song: Sing Along with Elmo "Shout"
Favorite Toy: Woody and Buzz
Favorite Thing to Wear: Pajamas
Favorite Place to Go: Wal-Mart
Favorite Snack: Fruit Snacks
Favorite Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs
Favorite Lunch: Grilled Cheese
Favorite Treat: Chocolate Chip Cookies

First Day of Preschool!

Philip started at St. Luke's school on Wednesday, August 31st. His first day of preschool went great! He woke up early on his own, as is his new habit, and had a pancake breakfast. We got to school early and took a bunch of pictures. Philip was practically skipping through the halls, he was so excited!

First day of preschool!

 Proud of his big brother!

Classmates and best buddies!

In front of the school sign

His very own locker!

So excited to start the day!

He's in Mrs. Bean's class with his buddy Elijah which I think has really helped the both of them with the transition. Having a familiar face in his class makes drop off that much easier for Philip in the morning.

At the end of the day, I am anxious to get in the car line and pick him up and hear about how his day went. He's such a big boy now; I can hardly believe he's already started his school "career!" We are so proud of him and how well he is doing!

Andrew is One!

Our baby boy celebrated his first birthday yesterday! Where oh where has this year gone?

We spent the day at home just the four of us. Phil came home early from work and was here before Andrew got up from his first nap. We made a spaghetti dinner and had cake for dessert. Andrew loved the cake! He held it in his hand the whole time and kept taking big bites off of it, I think in an effort not to lose any of it!

Philip sang Happy Birthday to Andrew many times during the course of the day. It was a nice, happy day spent at home as a family.

This Saturday is Andrew's big birthday blow out. We're having it outdoors at a nearby park, the same one where we had Philip's first birthday, and many of our family and friends will be there.  It should be a great day!

Happy 1st Birthday, sweet little "Dee-doo!" We love you so!

Andrew: Months 9-12

Okay, so I've seriously slacked on Andrew's milestone posts. But that's probably because he's been keeping me so busy over the past three months! Andrew has changed and grown so much in the last 1/4 of his first year of life, I can hardly begin to recap.

He's walking now. He took his first real steps that added up to any amount of significant distance on 7/12/11. Now that he's figured out walking, he walks everywhere. He'll still plop down from time to time to crawl but with every passing day he is crawling less and less. We put shoes on him the other day to see what he thought of that. He acted as though we had put his feet in lead weights. He didn't know what to do! Mostly he just fell over. Hopefully he'll get the hang of that in the next week as his birthday party is next Saturday and I'd love for him to be able to show off his moves to our guests.

He's trying to hard to talk. He imitates a lot of what we say which is just so funny and amazing to me. Recently he started trying to say "I'm gonna get you!" which is a game Phil started playing with him while he was in his high chair. The words aren't clear and I'm sure no one else would have any idea that that's what he was saying but he's definitely trying to say it too. So funny! He started doing the same thing with Mickey Mouse the other day, too.

He loves to play! It amazes me how much he interacts with Philip now. The boys both love to play with the stacking blocks together. Philip will build a tower and Andrew will crawl around it, circling it like a shark, before reaching out to knock it over. When either he or Philip knocks the tower over Andrew laughs so hard! He has the best little nasal belly laugh. It cracks us up!

He still loves to play peek-a-boo. Sometimes we will hide behind something and play it and he will anticipate where we are going to appear next.  He likes his alone play time too when Philip is napping or at preschool. He gets all of the toys to himself and you can tell he enjoys himself. He will play by himself for quite a while. He's very mechanically-inclined at this point. He can fit things into small places with little difficulty which is really fun to watch. He loves cars and will push them around on the floor while making a motor sound with his mouth. I have no idea where he figured that out as Philip is not a car kid! He also loves to play with things that are not toys. Cell phones and remotes are two of his favorites.

When you take something from him or prevent him from taking it he gets so upset! He starts whining and pointing right away. Sometimes he'll even throw himself face first onto the floor in full-blown tantrum mode. He's been expressing his frustration this way for a while now but it's definitely... intensifying. I got his first inconsolable, roll on the floor tantrum on tape the other morning. Philip was a little bit older for his. Andrew already has to be a head of the game!

He's such a sweet little boy and he still loves his mama best which makes my heart swell. In the mornings when I go to get him out of his crib, he wraps his chubby little baby arms around my neck and gives me the best hug.  He holds on like that for a good ten seconds before letting go. It's one of my favorite parts of the day.

He's sleeping great. Bedtime is always right around seven o'clock and he will sleep straight through the night until around eight. He takes two naps during the day, between an hour and a half and two hours a piece. I think he's making up for all of the time he spent awake the first six months of his life! We are definitely enjoying his desire for lots of sleep now.

He loves to eat and is mostly on table food now with some chunkier stage three foods mixed in. Some of the new foods he is eating are oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and yogurt; steamed green beans, broccoli, sweet potato, and carrots; grilled cheese, noodle soup, spaghetti, meatballs, fish, and chicken. He loves to eat and will try pretty much anything which is so nice. If we're eating something, he will point at it and cry out to let us know he wants some of it, too.

He goes in for his 12 month well child visit on the 25th and I will know his stats then. Right now I'd say he's probably around 25 pounds. He's a sturdy little boy with chunky legs and broad shoulders like his daddy. His hair is getting thick and grows really fast. It's still light, light blonde, and his eyes are still the prettiest blue I've ever seen. He's really a handsome little boy, just like his big brother.

He is such a joy and we are so grateful to have him in our family. Almost a year later, I can hardly remember what it was like to not have him here with us. He brings so much happiness and love into our family. We are so lucky to have two sweet little boys to share our lives with!

First Day of Summer Camp

Back in March, I got a brochure in the mail from the local preschool advertising their summer program for children. They offered a half day program for children ages 2 and up, with the contingency that the child must be potty trained. Some of my friends were planning to put their little ones in the program and I was curious to see how Philip would like it. At that time though, he wasn't potty trained or even near potty trained so I threw out the brochure and the idea entirely and instead focused in on our goal of having him potty trained and ready to go for preschool in the fall. Fast forward two months and our big boy is successfully daytime potty trained. Again the summer program came to my attention and, on a whim, I decided to sign him up for it.

This past Wednesday was Philip's first day of O.A.S.I.S. (Outstanding Activities for Students in the Summer) at St. Luke's Lutheran School. I decided to send him on Wednesday as the theme for Wednesdays was arts and crafts and it seemed like a nice, gentle introduction to being in a group environment with kids and teachers he didn't know, and without mommy and daddy at his side.

In the week preceding the start of OASIS, we did our best to psych him up and get him excited. I tried hard to explain to him that he would be going all by himself and that mommy and daddy would be there to pick him up after lunch. He sort of got it. I thought.

Except not really.

All smiles in the morning with his backpack and Toy Story lunch box, ready to go!

On the car ride over, I could tell he was starting to get nervous. I think the reality that I was going to leave after we got there was starting to settle in, just a little. In the car, he asked me if "baby" was going to stay at school with him (Andrew had stayed him with Phil--it was just me and Philip on the ride over). I reminded him that Andrew was home with daddy and would be taking his nap while Philip was having fun playing at school.

The questioning continued once we arrived, until, that is, we got to the classroom and his teacher, Mrs. O'Neill, greeted him.Once inside he clammed up and wouldn't make eye contact with anyone talking to him. We went into the room and, thankfully,  his buddy Elijah was there. Seeing a familiar face put him more at ease and he warmed up enough to find a toy to play with. Then Mrs. O'Neill brought us into the hall to show him his locker where he could put his backpack and lunch box. Philip loved that. It had his name and everything on it and he liked opening and closing it.

Then we went back into the classroom and Philip got right back into playing. If I'm honest, was reluctant to leave! It was the first time I've ever left one of my children with someone who was not family or a trusted friend. Philip simply is not used to being away from both Phil and I at the same time as one of us is always home with the boys when we're not both home. I had been getting pretty nervous about leaving him in the days leading up to his first day. I was nervous about how he'd react to me not being there; worried that he wouldn't adjust well; afraid that the other kids wouldn't be nice to him. I was concerned that he would have an accident because he would be too afraid to tell the teacher he needed to use the bathroom. Lots of worrying. That's what moms are for, right?

So as Philip was standing at the classroom's play kitchen, pretending to eat a plastic apple, I decided to casually move out to the hallway to talk with some friends who were dropping their children off as well. Philip didn't notice I was gone and all was well for about five minutes. Then I heard the familiar sound of my little boy crying. Cautiously, I peaked back into the classroom to see him in the arms of his new teacher, tears streaming down his face. Mrs. O'Neill was doing her best calm and comfort him, God bless her. I quickly felt at ease leaving him in her care. The woman has twenty five years of experience as a preschool teacher! She also had two assistants to help her. One of those assistants was an older lady named Mrs. Bayne. The second time I peaked into the room to check on him, Philip was sitting on her lap and, even though he was hiccuping and still upset, she was talking to him in a soothing manner and I could tell he felt reasonably safe.

Although it broke my heart a little to do it, I had to tell myself that he was in good hands and it was okay to leave him. That he would warm up and have fun. That this was good for both of us. So I left.

Phil stayed home with Andrew and I headed out to do some work in town. The next few hours passed quickly and before I knew it, it was time to get Philip. Phil and I were both eager to pick him up; excited to see how the rest of his morning had gone; anxious to be reunited with our sweet boy!

When we got to the school, Mrs. Bayne met us in the hallway and let us know that Philip had been her little buddy that day. That he was upset at first but slowly started to feel better. He had even had fun playing outside on the playground and spent the entire time outside swinging. We peaked into the classroom and he was sitting at a table eating his lunch. The last child still eating, he spotted us right away and tears immediately sprung to his eyes. Once reassured that we were there to take him home, a smile returned to his face and he began telling us about his day and showing us the art work he had made. He let us know he had been crying but we told him that that was okay. He said he had fun and that he wanted to come back. Such a relief to hear!

Mrs. O'Neill assured us that he did great and that his experience was perfectly normal for a child who had not had much time away from his parents. She suggested two days a week instead of one in order to keep him more in a routine of going so that it wouldn't be such a shock after a whole week of not being there.We agreed that it would be beneficial for him to be there two mornings a week to help him get used to being in an environment away from us, to make new friends, and to prepare him for preschool. Next week he will only be going once as we will be headed to the beach on Tuesday, but once we return I plan to sign him up for Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

We are so proud of our big boy! All in all, he did better than I had hoped, despite the tears and hesitation. I know as the summer goes on, he will become more comfortable being away from us and come out of his shell more and more. With any luck, there will be no tears on the first day of preschool in the fall!

With his art work outside of St. Luke's after school.

Philip is Potty Trained!

MilIt's been about 6 weeks since we started our serious potty training efforts with Philip and I think it's safe to call him good and potty trained now! He rarely has accidents at home and we are able to go out in public without the protection of a pull-up. It's wonderful to only be changing one child's diapers during the day! He still doesn't have nighttime awareness yet but it's a little early for that anyway.

This has been my greatest parenting achievement so far. LOL. I was so afraid of potty training, probably since Philip was born, and I have to say, it was much easier than I ever thought it would be. I think it helped a lot that we waited til he showed signs of interest instead of pushing it on him when we were ready and not when he was ready. He's just been great. Now that he's potty trained, we have the green light for preschool in the fall. Hooray!

Andrew is Nine Months Old!

Mobility: He's crawling on all fours at record speed, but not for long. He's also pulling up on furniture and cruising! In the past couple of days, he's made the link between standing and walking and has been pulling himself into a stand and letting go, just to test the waters. 

Food: We started him on snacks he can feed himself in the last couple of weeks. Gerber Graduate Puffs, Crunchies, Yogurt Melts, diced apples and carrots are all a big hit. He also loves to eat bananas in his mesh baby feeder. He's on stage 3 baby foods. Favorites are still fruits, especially bananas, although we've started introducing some meat entrees, too. He's very interested in what we're eating too and watches us carefully at dinner time. I don't think we will have much of a picky eater on our hands this time around!

Sleep: He's sleeping though the night some nights now, other nights he might get up once. We're working on sleep-training, though not consistently. This past month, Phil has been on nights which means I am pretty much a single mom. Now that he's back on days, I'll have back up. He's taking two naps during the day, each an hour a piece at best, though most of the time the second nap is shorter than that. Philip was taking two blissful two hour naps a day at this age. I think about that every time I pick Andrew up from his crib half an hour after putting him down.

Fun: He loves to play with his brother. A favorite "game" is Philip running around the house shrieking and Andrew crawling as fast as he can in the other direction laughing. He has also just started playing peek-a-boo. He likes to stand up behind the lap top when I'm sitting on the couch and peek around the side of it with a sly smile on his face, waiting for me to say "peek-a-boo!" He does this over and over. He also just learned So Big! and will put his arms up in the air when you ask "How big is Andrew?" Another favorite is Patty Cake which Philip likes to play with him. He gets a kick out of any and all attention he gets from his big brother!

Talking: His first babble word was Ma-Ma. Who would have thought! Philip's was Da-Da. Andrew also "says" Ba-Ba, and Da-Da, too. I swear he associates these sounds with us though, more than he just babbles them. When he's upset and wants me he lets loose a serious of "ma-ma-ma-ma's". When he's cranky and hungry it's "ba-ba-ba-ba." He really is a bright kid, just like his brother.

This is my favorite age of babyhood, ages 9 months through 12 months. I love the independence and curiosity of this age and it's so fun to see their little personalities coming through. I wish I could keep Andrew at this stage where he is now for much longer. In three short months I'll no longer have a true baby on him hip. I'm savoring every moment of right now!

Andrew: Months 6-8!

Okay, so I kind of slacked off since Andrew's six month update. We're almost at his 8 month milestone and I totally forgot to talk about his 7th. Whoops! I blame being so busy with two kids, especially our toddler-almost-preschooler who has been going through one change after another in the past two months, from learning to sleep without a sleep aid, to climbing out of his crib and moving to a "big boy bed," and don't forget potty-training. We've been busy, to say the least. But so has Andrew!

He's changed so much in the last two months!

• He now has two teeth. The first one he got right around 6 months. The second right around 7.
• He can now go from being on his belly to pushing up into a sitting position. He's been doing this for a couple of weeks now.
• Within the past week, he's decided he's no longer content with the view from the floor, and he's started pulling himself up into a standing position. This one I can't even believe as Philip was not doing that at this age. But so far Andrew is doing everything sooner so I guess it just goes along with the territory of being the little brother!
• He's eating all kinds of purees now and we just started giving him little Gerber Puffs to give self-feeding a try. He loves to eat from a spoon, but his fine motor skills still need some work when it comes to getting the Puffs from the high chair tray into his mouth.
• Sleeping... yeah. Some nights are good. He might do as much as an eight hour stretch on a rare night, say 8 PM to 4 AM. Other nights maybe six. But those nights are not as frequent as the nights where he's up every 3-4 hours or sometimes even more often than that. I am so desperate for the sleep through the night milestone. I was patient up until the 6 month mark because that's when Philip started doing 10-12 hour stretches. Now I'm just panicked and a wee bit pissed off that we're not there yet. 
• Favorite things: 
• He loves to crawl. He's still pulling himself around on the floor mostly, or doing a modified frog kinda hop. Not totally up on his knees yet. He's not so interested in being confined, but he will tolerate jumping in the Jumperoo for a small stretch of time. Anything that helps build up his strength!
• He loves his big brother and his big brother's toys! Philip has become less enthused about the latter, especially when everything Andrew finds goes straight into his mouth. For the most part, Philip is good about sharing, but we definitely have to remind him. A lot.
• He loves playing with balls.
• He loves the vacuum cleaner. When I get it out while he's on the floor, he all but attacks it, moving as fast as he can to try to catch it. So funny!
• He loves to eat. It's so funny how he opens his mouth wide in anticipation of a spoonful of baby food now. Or other things! We went out for ice cream at the Carousel over the weekend and decided to let him try a couple of bits of vanilla ice cream. The look of anticipation on his face was hilarious!
• He loves to hear his own voice. He's loud, that's for sure. He'll babble  "ah-ba-ba-ba-ba!" forever. He also does a funny noise where he sucks in his breath and makes an "eeeheeeeeee!" sound over and over again.
• The stroller and sitting in the grocery cart seat. He loves going for rides in both!
• Not-so-favorite Things:
• Sleep. LOL. Well, he is on a better nap pattern now, taking two approximately one hour naps per day and a half hour in the evening if we let him.
• The car. He's getting better about car rides, thank goodness, but it's still not his favorite thing. Not by a long shot.
• Having his nose wiped. Both boys have had one runny nose after another and Andrew absolutely hates it when I come after him with a tissue.
• Having something taken away from him that he was playing with but that he wasn't supposed to have. He's already throwing a fit when that happens. It's hilarious and kind of scary at the same time. I thought babies at this age were mostly still oblivious to that kind of thing!

 He's definitely a hands-on, physical baby. His name Andrew means "strong and manly" and it's definitely a good fit. While he may not be manly yet, oh my gosh is this kid strong. His legs are like solid baby muscle under a layer of baby blubber and sometimes getting things away from him takes a little more effort than one would think, things like, oh, my hair, which he's constantly grabbing. Ouch.

I'm sure there are things I'm missing, but that's all that comes to mind right now. In short, he's changing every day and doing everything sooner than Philip did. He won't be a baby for much longer at this rate which kind of breaks my heart, although I'm looking forward to seeing the toddler he becomes and watching how his relationship with Philip develops and changes. I can't wait until the day when they are really able to play together like little buddies!