Stats

2 year stats

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

2 1/2 year stats

35 3/4" tall (45th percentile)
29 lbs (45th percentile)

Looks like we finally have a reliable trend! He's an average sized kiddo :) Suits me fine. And I was right to think that he looked taller. 2 inches in 6 months!

Big Boy Body

In the past month Andrew has gone through what is one of the most obvious growth spurts I've witnessed to date. Check out how tall and thin he's getting!

Playtime

Andrew seems to have gotten tired of his toys, so now we are expanding into imaginative play. Above you'll see that Andrew prepared a lovely meal for his matchbox cars: Waffles with ice cream, muffins, and cups of milk. Below, we've drawn him all sorts of train accessories like tickets and cargo to go along with his set.

Splash Pool

The city of Troy knows how to keep cool in the summer! Many of the public parks around here have splash pools, I've discovered. Once we found out that Andrew likes splash pools, we decided it would be fun to take him to Sesame Place this summer. Maybe next month.

RPI Picnic

Once in a while, a group of RPI staff/faculty/students/spouses get together for a lunchtime picnic. We happened upon the prettiest day of June and gathered to share a meal. Andrew and Isabella, both 2 now, got along swimmingly while the adults had time to catch up with each other. Hopefully we can do this again soon!

Flashcards

Here we are, looking through a set of flashcards designed to prompt toddlers to talk about what they see.

Summer's Here!

Hmmmm, just WHO is having the better time on this ride?

2 1/2

Happy 2 1/2 birthday to Andrew!

THEN

NOW

When he was a baby, I was so excited for all the milestones that lay ahead, and here we are, enjoying them. He's more my companion now, than my babysitting assignment. Wherever we go, we have little conversations which are adorably silly and so entertaining. Random folks who overhear these chats are often seen giggling to themselves.  He's so big, relatively speaking. I don't know when that happened, but I noticed it the other day and was taken aback by how much of him there is. Its his little baby body, but a cartoony enlarged version.

He's in a super affectionate stage right now. Especially at bedtime, he can't get enough. "Kiss Attack! Again! Hug! Hug Again!"  I'm not complaining, I love every last bit of it and will soak it in for as long as he wants to be cuddly. We normally don't watch alot of TV but tomorrow afternoon while its raining I'm considering watching a full length Disney flick just to get to snuggle up with him under a blanket. Shawn rolls his eyes at all this of course :) And one day when I tell Andrew about this (or when he reads this blog) he'll roll his eyes too.

Andrew finally has shown some interest in Duplos, but not alot unless egged on by his parents. My prediction is that he will not be an architect. However, he seems to have a decent design sensibility. You can see his urban skyscrapers (top photo) and modernist parking garage for his trains (bottom photo.)

Cousins

Cousins Andrew (2 1/2) and Levi (15 months) spent the weekend together and had a blast! So did their Moms and Dads. Despite not knowing each other much, they got along beautifully, as you can see in the photos. We hope to see them again soon!

Race Day

Andrew came out to support us as we "ran for the cure" in memory of his Grandma Audrey. Despite the rain, despite having a fever, I ran a 32:39 race, which is 2 minutes off last year's time!

Oh, a Bird!

This is the conversation that ensued as I tried to coax him out of the car, and into the ice cream shop. a typical afternoon with a 2.5 year old in tow.