Ready, Set, Go!

We're just about all packed up for our big family adventure. The prospect of spending our winter at the beach, walking around the zoo, and having bbq's sounds better by the second. I may be offline for a day or two as we get settled in, but promise many sunny photos in the months to come :)

(some of) The Loot

Stacking Blocks, a Rubber Snake, a Thomas Book, a Winter Hat.

Star

Here's the star that Andrew made for the top of our tree. If you ask about it, he'll say that he made it at "Xander's house with stickers!" He's quite proud of it. Actually stickers are the new hot thing around here. We play with them daily using scraps of colored construction paper. Our fridge is covered in his stickered artwork.

Christmas!

Andrew slept through his first Christmas. His second Christmas was spent ignoring the presents. But the third time is a charm! Thank you to Aunt Jaclyn and Uncle Adam for the Thomas book.

Happy Holidays!

Boys will be Boys

Cutie Pie

I'm just in love with this photo for some reason. I can't even figure out why. In part its because of his deliciously chubby hands and arms - which I fear will soon disappear as we switch from whole milk to 2%, and with a long overdue growth spurt. In part its his hair - which is way brighter in this photo than in real life, but still, its finally there! In part its the faraway look he has on his face, having no idea that I'm capturing the moment.

Florida-Bound!

Hi friends and family - If you don't already know, we're going to be spending the winter in Florida! We're waaaaay excited about it. Its already down to 20 degrees here. We've rented a cute little cottage in the oceanside town of Dunedin, just north of Clearwater. Its a part of the larger St. Pete-Tampa Bay Metro area, which means that we'll have access to all sorts of goodies like Whole Foods, an Aquarium and Zoo, Museums, good Restaurants etc. The house is within walking distance of the local library and main street, and a short drive to the beach. I'll be sure to update this blog while we're down there, but don't worry if there's a bit of a break as we get settled in. We have a 2 bedroom house with sleeper sofa and a twin-sized cot if you want to visit!

Strike!

Here's Andrew enjoying one of his birthday gifts - a bowling set!

Serenade

Andrew serenades Baby Iris with the alphabet song. He hasn't even met her yet and he's in love :)

Andrew's Future Wife

Welcome Baby Iris! We're so glad you're here!

2 year stats

33 3/4" tall (40th percentile)
28 lbs (50th percentile)

He's way ahead in his language development - uses 4-6 word sentences, can sing and read the entire alphabet.

He's also very healthy - he did not have a single sick visit to the doctor this entire year! And only one in his entire lifetime.

Good job, Andrew! Keep on growing.

Choo Choo

We took Andrew to a model train expo last weekend. I think every little boy in the Albany area that is under the age of 5 was there!

Four Eyes

Wearing Mama's glasses.

Presents

Our house is a veritable toy store right now between the birthday gifts and Xmas gifts in queue. This is the first year Andrew can open gifts! Last year he didn't have the dexterity. And even now he comes to me with them and asks for "elp!"

Happy 2nd Birthday!

My big boy turned 2 today! He's such a joy to be around lately. He shares readily, is very affectionate, eats heartily, plays with enthusiasm. Love it!

Counting

A math whiz, he is not. Yet. At least he's enthusiastic!

This Little Piggy

Pardon the yellowness of the video. This week I'll post a few tubtime films, enjoy!

Bed Buddies

Here's Andrew with his bed buddies - "Crazy Hair" and "Crazy Legs". Crazy Hair is self explanatory. Crazy Legs is a doll that is only legs, its pretty funny. Andrew insists they be tucked in with him on either side, under the covers.

Couch Surfing

Andrew has given new meaning to the word couch surfing. Quite the opposite of its intentional definition, instead he hops, jumps and belly flops on the couch, much to my chagrin. He's old enough now to understand that if he falls off he will hurt himself, so he's somewhat careful in that respect. When I tell him to get off, he offers a compromise - "sit bum? sit knees?" I usually go along with it, and turn it into a cuddle/reading session under the blanket. As an aside, his hair is finally growing in and every time I see it, I do a double take. Being so used to having a baldie, it sort of looks like a wig to me! VERY curly in the back - the top just isn't long enough to curl yet.

Lazy Weekend

For once we took the weekend to actually relax. It was great!

Musical Skype

Playing bells with Nana.

Happy Thanksgiving

As always, I am thankful for this beautiful little boy! And for you, my friends and family :)

MOMS Club

Recently I joined our local MOMS club - a fantastic group of mamas who get together for playdates, parenting support, and friendship. Its great for Andrew, he loves spending time with other little guys and gals. Here we are, taking over the local coffee shop. Andrew is in the orange plaid shirt.

Language Aquisition

Just wanted to take a moment to record a few of the language developments I've heard around here.

Andrew said his first sentence today with correct grammar, including verb tense and inclusion of a preposition. He still refers to himself in 3rd person (thanks to Elmo, grr). Context - he just finished breakfast, yogurt was everywhere.

"Andrew makes a mess!"

Shawn commented that he would have wished for him to say something more along the lines of "Andrew cleans a mess!" but alas, that was not the case.

Other funny words he's been speaking lately -

La Room = Living Room. Very French :)
Wiggle = Bagel
Monkey Cheese = Mac and Cheese
Triyayangle = Triange, with one too many syllables

Generally speaking, he uses 2-4 word phrases, and alot of repeat-after-me. He's finally using "please" regularly, especially when he knows that word will get him something that he really wants.

Strawberry Blondes

Andrew admires the tresses of his partner-in-hair-color-crime, my dear friend Karen, whom I've known since elementary school.

Isabella & Andrew

Here are the RPI Arts Department kids having some post-lunch fun.

Eric Carle Museum

We had a fun visit with friends to the Eric Carle Museum this past weekend. Haven't been? GO! Beautiful building, grounds, art as well as a craft studio, library and cafe. This is a photo of Andrew and I hiding in the "Very Hungry Caterpillar."

Curly Qs

A little sneak peek of curls to come, thanks to a humid day.

Little Buddies

It's so cute, Andrew and Alexander have been holding hands and hugging recently. Although Xander looks alot older than Andrew here, he's only 9 months his senior!

Time for Bed

23 months old

At 23 months old you could...

Be so polite, when you choose, with please and "tank you"
Play with other kids
Sing songs. Mainly you just chime in with the last word of each line.
Throw a pretty loud tantrum
Read to me - much like singing, you say the last word of each sentence.

At 23 months you would...

Run around the house with as many little car toys as you could possibly carry.
Ask for kisses between the slats of your crib before bed.
List off all the train names in the Thomas the Tank Engine Set.
Chew things up and spit them out into my hand if you don't like them. Eew.
Tell Mama to sit on my knees, or lay on my tummy, or to get up....Mr Bossypants :)

At 23 months you loved...

Yogurt and Granola. You'd eat them at every meal if I let you.
Anything related to trains
Playing outside, jumping in leaf piles, pushing your ride-on car, collecting pine cones
Running "round a round" in circles
Dancing and Jumping

At 23 months you hated...

Putting on a jacket
Dada washing your face (but its ok when Mama does)
Footed pajamas
Vegetables and Meat (still!)

A&A

Andrew and Alexander being silly.

Andrew's Shelf

Splish Splash

Andrew loves bath time. We play with bathtub markers, bubbles, balls and cups.

Trick or Treat

Andrew figured out how to trick or treat in no time at all. A few times he walked right into the person's house instead of waiting at the door...a few times he grabbed a handful of candy from the bowl instead of one piece....but all is forgiven when its a tiny cute cow, right? He was even saying "tickatee" by the end of the night.

Happy Halloween

Introducing...Andrew the Cow! This beautiful costume was hand knit by his Nana. We're about to head out trick or treating with his friend Alexander the Purple Dragon.

Ticklefest

Snow!

We've had our first snow of the year, which also is Andrew's first snow in which he's big enough to play outside. I'm SO VERY VERY HAPPY to say that that he loves it. I can't imagine how hard winter would be if he was cooped up indoors for months on end. He likes jumping up and down in it, scooping it up, stomping it down. Next up - snowballs!

"Dada Read!"

MiMi's

Once a week I take Andrew to his new favorite hangout, Mimi's!

Dylan

Andrew's same-age friend Dylan came over the other day, we had a blast! I adore his mom, Amy, so the adults had a great time too. They play so nicely together. Here's Andrew helping Dylan up the step to our porch.

We're in the News!

http://www.dailygazette.com/photos/2011/oct/12/29398/
http://www.dailygazette.com/photos/2011/oct/12/29397/

Fall is here!

Dressed up in a sweater and peacoat for the autumn weather.

Sweet Dreams

ABCs Part 2

As you can hear, he's made considerable progress since the October 7th blog video! Gotta love toddlerese, and how I'm probably the only one who'd even recognize this as the alphabet song. Especially the final verse where he kind of fills in words where he doesn't know them: "eh (and) now ah (I) know my ehbeecees (ABCs), and a meeee and a meee"

Choo Choo

Andrew's obsession with trains continues. He now knows most of the traincar names, and is figuring out how to put tracks together himself.

Lite Brite for Tots

Fun at the Childrens Museum of Science and Techology.

Fire Engines

Andrew loved watching the firefighters use the foam spray at our local Fire Prevention Day. Lately he has a big thing for fire engines. He has a ride-on, a Hess engine, a handheld tonka engine, a book about them....

Toasty Warm

Keeping cozy after splashing around outside in the puddles.

New PJs

Thanks to his new PJs, Andrew now knows Santa, Snowmen and Raindeer! He looks pretty darned excited about it, too.

A Day in the Life

Moments caught on film: Sippy Cup, Train Set, Playdough