Christmas Highlights

Hanging with Uncle Adam

Torturing Grandpa Richie

Enjoying his new Marble Run 

Sneaky

Kiddo told me he wanted to give me a kiss. I fell for it. Eeew!

Fancypants Pics

Compared to my iPhone pics of last post, these shots from Andrew's party are FAR nicer. Juni's mom is a photographer, so I'm quite lucky in that so many ordinary moments in his life have been captured through her eyes and camera. Here are a few I thought I'd share that gives you a good flavor of the day.

Surprise Party

At Juni's house, before the fun.

With Juni, enjoying the party.

Making handprint ornaments.

It was a blast. Andrew's face was priceless when he walked into the party and heard us all yell "surprise!" - his even even teared up. Next post I will share some of the great shots that Charmon, Juni's mom, took of the day. She was a fantastic hostess, can't thank her enough !

Andrew is 4!

Click to enlarge.

Last Day of 3

Did I ever tell you that I keep a one-sentence journal for Andrew? Mainly its to help me remember the small things that wouldnt otherwise get captured in a photo. I find myself rereading it today to see how far he has come in his 3rd year. Here's a sampler:

2013
1/1 Asks for privacy when he pees (meaning, door closed)

1/23 Helps clean up messes with his small handbroom and dustpan

1/28 Eats the fake ice cream I make him – peas, cream cheese, sugar, sprinkles

1/29 Does a straddle jump, twisty jump, hopping jump on the trampoline

1/31 Enjoys glitter paint, driving cars through finger paint

2/1 Crawls into bed to snuggle with me in the mornings

2/13 Writes “A” and tries for the “n”

2/14 Says “there’s always room for you” when I ask him if he wants me to cuddle with him in bed.

4/2 Puts on his own underoos and pants

4/3 Sleeps on a mattress on the floor

4/4 tells me he loves me all the time “I love you my dear mama” “I snuggle you because I KNOW you LOVE snuggles!”

4/6 can write MAMA and DADA

4/7 sounded out the word “bagel”

4/8 is starting to figure out that he does not pronounce the word construction correctly

4/9 says “of course!” when I ask him to help me

4/25 seems to have gotten over his train obsession

4/27 hates when I use the computer

4/28 hates baths

4/29 can put his jacket on by himself, flipping it over top of his head

5/3 loves riding his trike 5/5 Is beginning to be logical. “Mac n Cheese is hard before you make it but soft after”. Applesauce in the cabinet is warm because the house is warm.

6/15 loves nature walks

6/17 can hop on one foot

6/22 still mispronounces “fwavorate!”

6/23 went geocaching

7/7 said his middle name was Lion, not Ryan

7/8 says “woah!” to things that are interesting

7/18 played the “I’m so hungry I could eat a X” game

7/25 Tries to make jokes

7/26 wrote sticker-letters to Nana and Aunt Erin

7/27 Uses big words like allergic and expensive

7/28 Makes up songs

7/29 Can do all the mazes in his maze books. Left handed.

8/7 says “I like you when you like me, but I don’t like you when you don’t like me.”

8/8 says “you can do it, dad” and pats Shawn on the head

8/17 keeps telling me how much he missed me while I was in NYC (weeks ago)

8/18 says “no way jose” and “okie dokie liverpokie”

8/25 without me = fromout me

9/2 woke up with a new imaginary pet worm, Pinku, who did everything with him today

9/3 ran right into his first day of preschool, and didn’t look back for a hug or kiss.

10/5 Didn’t find Shawn and asked if he was camoflagued

10/10  Blows his own nose with a tissue

10/15 Makes his own pb&j

10/20 can read 4 letter words. Loves finding silent e’s. Argues that book should be spelled buk.

11/24 can propel himself so high on the trampoline that we had to remove its handlebar so he didn’t catapult over.

Random

As promised, our feast for 5. We just knocked off the last of the leftovers.

Andrew drew me a pic of our house in a sudden storm with the car and yard toys accidentally left outside.

Andrew as sextuplets.

Thanksgiving Highlights

Brunch with friends, great views for people- (and Andrew-)watching. We all colored pictures together awaiting our orders. Surprising success of the meal - a beer float. That wasn't a typo.

Walked around Saratoga Springs with this guy! Checked out some markets, toy stores, but mainly just admired the architecture and watched the kid hold doors open for strangers. Mr. Polite.

   Finished off the holiday weekend setting up the tree. The star on top is one Andrew made out of foam and stickers when he was 2 years old. Its attached by twist tied from a bread bag that he taped on. The ornaments are mostly made by Nana during Shawn's childhood, each with a handwritten year. She also quilted the tree skirt. Its a little tree for our little clan and really brightens up the house. We put up some lights in the windows and I have Xmas music on the radio. What can I say, I was raised Jewish, I get such a kick out of all this.

Hope your holiday was as tasty and relaxed as ours!

Shawn has the actual T-giving dinner photos, will post them next time. He and our friend cooked up a storm and we dined chez Lawson with some champagne and dessert brought in from NYC.

Legos

We broke out one of Shawn's old Lego sets yesterday. I was really impressed that Andrew could follow graphic instructions and assemble kits himself. Guess I know what he will be getting for his birthday!

Nose picker

He's found a new way to ruin photos.

Buddies

Andrew and his little friend Eitan pose for the camera.

Ava

We have a sweet new neighbor, 7-year old Ava and Andrew ADORES her. The feeling is mutual and she is happy to tumble around with him outside. We went to a corn maze with them not long ago and he followed her around like a puppy.

Pop Pop Pancake

Andrew's latest creation!

You're Invited

Mail Call

Pop Pop and Nana sent along fun papers and stickers.

Ms. S-J of NYC sent a card.

Ticklish

Boy in a Box

Selfie

Halloween Fun

Andrew wore yet another Nana-made costume. This time he wanted to be a spider web. Talk about a challenge. But Nana rose to the occasion and found a sheer material with shiny purple spider webs and it became a cape.

Since it was raining, we did Halloween at the food co-op who had a great setup. At every set of orange balloons were either a treat, activity or both. Loads of kids were running around the store in costume (and, as above, with their own shopping cart.)

A few nights earlier we joined his best friend Juni at the park for some night time Halloween spooky fun. She's the spider to his spiderweb :) They tossed leaves and ate cider donuts.

Aunt Erin

These two adore each other. She's a fantastic aunt - does all the fun stuff that he wants, snuggles up and reads, you name it.  Shawn is overseas and she came all the way from Florida to hang for a couple of days. We're so lucky to have her and miss her already!

View from my desk

Andrew with the sitter and her son, raking leaves in the yard.

Foodie Andrew

Andrew LOVES our local food co-op. He pushes around the kid sized carts and with that freedom I'm always surprised at what he chooses to bring home. This is a photo of him in the cheese department after sampling raw goat gouda. Finally he's getting a bit more adventurous. This past trip he grabbed a can of spaghetti o's (liked the tomato sauce but not the o's), baked mushroom bites - think mushroom nuggets - and tried those, frozen corn- which he will only eat frozen-, carrots, broccoli and snap peas (which he'll only eat raw.) Otherwise he piled his cart high with fruit. Literally. To the BRIM. And a wedge of raw goat gouda of course :) Thank God that Shawn and I volunteer there so we can keep our food costs down - the beauty of a co-operative market!  Trivia: Did you know Andrew chooses to be a vegetarian? At first I thought it was his pickiness at work but he's tried it and gags at the taste. Doctor says that's perfectly fine, we've just got to make sure he eats lots of eggs and beans, which we are diligent about.

Supercrazyawesome

Shawn just got a laser cutter - check out what it can do (besides his personal art projects!) I'm dizzy with possibilities.

Art projects

After a year of having no interest in arts and crafts, Andrew has gone full circle and now spends an hour or two each day making things to hang up on our new art walls. Some examples-

Match the number mosaic tiles

Collage

Painting 

Birthday Parties

One of the side effects of sending a kid to preschool, I've discovered, is the weekend birthday party trend. He loves it and I get to catch up with friends. 

Fall Festival

He was far more excited about the corn maze than the sheep photo opp. 

Peekaboo

Loving our new neighborhood playground! Especially climbing through these fun pipes.

Thanks, Nana!

Andrew was super excited to receive a spider themed care package from Nana! He put spider stickers and spider tape on spider web paper and then we hung the cotton web on our living room which looks pretty cool from outside at night too. More spider fun to come (think Halloween!)