Sloppy Joe

Tonight, we had sloppy joe's for dinner. I originally fixed Andrew 1/2 a sandwich, cutting it up in small pieces of course. Well, a few minutes later Gene asked me where the other 1/2 was. Andrew was still hungry. He ate an ENTIRE sloppy joe, french fries, green beans, and a few slices of banana. Again, he ate more than Austin. I can't wait until his next doctor's appointment on the 13th, his first birthday. I'll be interested to see how big he is now.

6th tooth

Andrew got his 6th tooth, the upper left lateral incisor. He's gotten 3 on the top and 3 on the bottom so he's a little uneven. I'm just waiting for the other two to come in so he will even out.

Step one

Andrew took a single step this morning. Lately, he's been standing up a lot, preparing to make his move. We'll hold his hands to help him stand up and he'll stand up for a second and then fall into us laughing like he's done something so big. This morning, we were doing this in the kitchen. I was sitting in the chair having breakfast and Gene was in the floor helping Andrew stand up. He let go for a second and took one step towards me before I grabbed his hand.

I'm not wishing the crawling phase away too soon. I would be so proud to see him walk, but sad at the same time too. He's growing up so fast!

I'm not a fool

Austin spent the weekend at Nonna and Papa's house. He did all sorts of things from planting in the garden to riding on the four wheeler. On Friday night, they went to the seafood place for dinner. Austin started talking to the couple sitting behind them. The lady asked how old he was to which he replied, "I'm five. I just turned 5." The lady asked him when his birthday was and he said April 1st. She told him that he's an April Fools baby. He answered, with his eyebrows wrinkled, "I'm not a fool." He doesn't quite get the whole April Fool's Day thing yet.

Standing up

Andrew started standing up by himself today! He's been trying to stand without holding on for a few days and today he finally did it. He put his arms straight in the air and stood for a few seconds before falling to his knees. We cheered, of course!

5th tooth

Andrew cut his 5th tooth today, his right lateral incisor.

In other news, Andrew ate a bowl of peas and carrots, a bowl of pears, and an entire cheese quesadilla and rice at a local Mexican restaurant. It was the most I've seen him eat ever. He ate more than Austin did at dinner tonight.

Easter morning

Austin got up early this morning (as usual) to find that the Easter bunny made a mess in the kitchen. There were bunny tracks all over the kitchen table and scattered plastic eggs, jelly beans, and M & Ms on the table and the floor. Luckily, Austin offered to help clean up the bunny's mess.

He was so excited about his Easter basket. The bunny brought him some Spiderman things and a movie and some other little toys. The best part of all was the M & Ms. Austin's not much of a sweet eater; he doesn't like cookies or cake. But he's a sucker for M & Ms.

Andrew got up a little later and opened his basket. He liked the puffs the bunny left for him and the pinwheel. I think his most favorite thing was playing with the cellophane.

We ate breakfast and got ready for church. After church, we went to Nonna and Papa's house where we had another Easter egg hunt, this time with prizes inside.

Easter 2009

Yesterday, Austin saw a neighbor's daughter out in their yard hunting Easter eggs. This gave Austin the great idea of having me hide eggs. I warned him that there wouldn't be any prizes inside, but he didn't mind. I gathered up all the plastic eggs we had and "hid" them mostly in the back yard.

After we hunted eggs, we dyed our eggs. Andrew wanted to get involved too. I brough his high chair over to the island so he could watch. That didn't last very long though. He had to be up where the action was!

First bike wreck

Austin has had his first bike wreck. And, for his first, it was quite the wreck. I don't remember having a wreck like this when I was a kid. Maybe I just blocked it out.

We've told Austin that he can only go to the corner and into the cul de sac. Well, he caved to the pressure from two of the other boys on the street and took his bike close to the top of the hill coming down towards our house. Gene was outside but in the backyard; I was inside. One of the other parents came to Gene and let him know. Gene said, "He'll only fall once." And he did. He fell on the left side of his face. It's all skinned up and swollen. He was glazzy eyed and in a daze.

Today, he wasn't much better so I took him the pediatrician. He did a few basic tests and suggested, as a precaution, that we go to Children's and have a CT scan. So, off we went at 3:30 p.m. today. The radiologist said all looked fine on the scan. We're supposed to watch him for the next few days and if he doesn't get any better or gets worse, to call the pediatrician and we'd go from there.

Tonight, he was better and actually let the bandaids come off (thanks Nonna!). His war wounds look a ton better than they did when it first happened. What a way to start off his 5 year in the world!

Walking with Dinosaurs

Last night, we took Austin to see Walking with Dinosaurs for his birthday. For about a month, we've seen the commericals for it and Austin seriously thought that they were coming here for his birthday. Of course, we had to take him. Nea kept Andrew while we went to the BJCC for the event.

The first order of business was to get a $12 flashlight thing and a bag of cotton candy. Austin ate maybe 2-3 bites of the $4 bag of candy. Gene and I ate the rest. Austin was so afraid that they were going to start the show without us. We found our seats and the show started.

It was GREAT! And Austin loved it. Well, all but the big T-Rex at the end of the show. He said that it scared him. There were loud roars, simulated volcanoes, fires, floods, plants, flowers, trees. And it was narrated by a "palentologist" so it was educational too. He told about the different periods and gave stats about the dinosaurs.

Throughout the show, he was cheering for the dinosaurs and kept saying that everyone was there for his birthday which was so cute. Here are some pictures from the show and of Austin at the show.

Happy 5th Birthday Austin!

Austin turned 5 years old and boy was his birthday eventful. We decided about a month ago to take Austin to see Walking with Dinosaurs on his birthday. We'd seen the commercials and Austin said that the dinosaurs were coming for his birthday. We didn't tell him until today that we were going to see the dinosaurs tonight.

Austin picked out his favorite shirt to wear today, his Keep Austin Weird shirt. Very appropriate. Our day started with a trip to the Dr. Hamm's office. I had really been talking the visit up and making sure he knew that he'd be getting shots. I told him that he'd get to stand on a scale to see how much he weighed, see how tall he was, and pee in a cup to which he responded "Ya hoo!" Even at the tender age of 5, the little man in him gets excited about peeing in a cup.

For the past few days, he'd been saying that he was going to be brave and not cry when he got the shots. The finger prick went OK. The shots, however, were a different story. The moment the nurse walked in carrying 4 shots he started asking questions. What are you doing? What are you going to do with that? I hate having to hold either of the kids down to get shots. It just feels like I'm torturing them. I know it's necessary, but I still feel bad.

I felt so bad that afterwards we went to the Dollar Tree. He picked out a bag of cotton candy, some Silly Putty, some bouncy floam stuff, a police car, and two balls (one for him and one for Andrew). Then we went to Publix to pick up some cookies to take to school for the kids snack in the afternoon.

Then Austin told me that he wanted to eat lunch with me. So, he and I went to Chick Fil A. I let him play and trade in his prize for an ice cream cone. I took him to school and when he walked into his class all the kids yelled "Happy Birthday Austin!"

I'll give more details about the dinosaurs later. Here are two pictures, one from April 4, 2004 and one from today. Happy 5th Birthday Austin! We love you!