More teeth

Seems like all we're doing these days is discovering new teeth! Andrew's FINALLY cut two more teeth on the top. I can't really tell which teeth they are; he's not a huge fan of me poking around in his mouth. Once I figure out which teeth have come in, I'll post an update.

6 year molars

Tonight, while brushing Austin's teeth, we discovered that his 6 year molars are coming in on the top. I was concerned because it looked pretty swollen in the back so I started feeling around back there. And there they were! I, of course, got teary eyed thinking about Austin growing up. All of his other teeth were right on time or a little early coming in so I shouldn't have been surprised. I was just surprised that he hadn't said anything about his teeth hurting or even told us that he had a new tooth.

Austin got a little upset over the whole thing. I explained to him that it's all part of growing up and then he was anxious to go downstairs to tell Gene about his new teeth! I'll really have a come apart once he starts losing his teeth!

More words

More words Andrew is saying...poo poo, bath, be be (for his blanket, a name created by Austin), bubbles, cheese.

On another note, Andrew pooped in the potty tonight. He was tooting in the tub, so I snatched him out of the tub and put him on the potty. He actually pooped in the potty and said bye to the poop.

Baron's game

This summer Austin's preschool has been having summer camp. Each week they talk about different topics and do different activities and crafts related to the week's topic. This week's topic was sports.

Since the Baron's had a home game this week, the teachers had the idea to get a block of tickets and the class go to the game. We all had a blast! Austin was barely interested in the game. He was more into running up and down the steps and sitting with one of his teachers than playing with his friends or sitting with us. He did stop briefly to have a hot dog, fries, a bag of chips, chocolate ice cream, and another hot dog. I think he ate that much because it was someplace different. Yeah, it was a lot of junk. But isn't that what you're supposed to do at a ball game, eat junk?

Two favorite things

The telephone...

And dancing...

Artichokes

I'm a huge fan of artichokes. I just love them. Gene, on the other hand, isn't too fond of them. He thinks they are a waste of time. You do all this work and don't get much "meat." He feels the same way about crawfish, but that's another story.

Anyway, Publix had artichokes on special so I picked up a couple. Austin was fascinated by how I was eating it. He decided that he should give it a try. It's so rare that he tries anything new and especially that looks so different. But he really liked it! I think I've finally got another artichoke lover in the house!

Dinner drama

Lately, we've been having dinner issues with Austin. I know every kid goes through this but I would love one meal where I didn't have to try to convince him to eat his dinner.

Tonight was no exception. I fixed roast, carrots, peas, rice, and cantaloupe (for the kids). Both ate their fruit first and then moved onto something else. Andrew ate most of his dinner without much prodding. Austin, on the other hand, painfully sat there, staring at his plate, probably wishing that it would just disappear.

After we'd all finished (and Austin was still sitting there), I separated a little bit of the dinner from the rest for him to eat. After I caught him moving some of the "eat pile" back to the "not eat pile," I scraped the stuff he had to eat onto a smaller plate. He sat there, tearing his napkin to shreds, talking to his food, just looking at it. After a hour at the dinner table, he finally finished. I explained to him that the sooner he finished dinner the sooner he'd be able to do what he wanted to do (watch TV, play, etc.).

I'm sure I was this way as a kid. In fact, I vividly remember a dinner at my Granny and Papaw's house. She fixed gumbo and I proceeded to fix myself a huge bowl of it, mostly because there was shrimp in it. I, of course, picked everything out except for the boiled okra. Granny made me sit there for a long time (can't remember exactly how long) and then I think I had the bowl of boiled okra for breakfast the next day.

Knowing that every kid is this way doesn't make meal times any easier for us. When will we be able to have a meal where we're not begging, pleading, convincing, fussing, whining, stalling? Probably not for years. And then it will be Andrew's turn to go through this.

Andrew updates

Today was the end of Andrew's first week in his new class. Overall, he's done well even though it was a pretty short week for him. He was out Monday and Wednesday so he really only had 3 full days in the new room. They said he did great and really had a good time playing with his new friends.

Andrew's saying all sorts of words these days. They kind of come and go depending on his mood. He's still saying mama, dada, daudin (for Austin), more, milk (he usually says mi), and eat. He loves to play peek-a-boo and says "boo!" when he pulls your hands/blanket away. He says hello and bye bye especially when we are on the phone and then hang up. And he's waving a lot more.

Speaking of the telephone, he's crazy over the phone. I'm sure he's called someone and we just don't know it. I think he's called 411 and I know he's 'talked' to the mechanical woman who tells you to hang up the phone.

He's discovered music and loves to dance. We have a word whammer on the fridge where you can put letters in and it will say the word. Of course, there's a music setting too. He plays that song over and over and bounces up and down to the music.

Andrew will go to his chair when it's time to eat and he's started 'helping' around the house. Not chores, of course, but he'll bring me his cup or his bowl when he's finished with them. He even helped me with the laundry; he grabbed a shirt, I picked him up, and he threw it in the washer.

T.V. influence

While we try to limit Austin's T.V. time, sometimes it's inevitable and he watches more than we'd like him to. He's picked up all sorts of things from the commericals, including desperately wanting Pixos which he will never receive as a gift or purchase with his own money. Too many tiny parts and they make it look way cooler on the commerical than I'm sure it is in real life.

On Sunday, when we on our way home from Williamsburg, we were looking for a place to eat for lunch. Austin said, "Daddy, I'm thinking Arbys. I want a roast beef sandwich." He's never been to Arbys nor has he ever had a roast beef sandwich and I know that he wouldn't like that anyway. So funny.

He's a busy little bee

Andrew started in a new class today. He's now a "Busy Bee." Translation: he's all over the place. His first day back at school was quite eventful.

This was his first day back since our big trip. I warned them that he'd been somewhat clingy and he was exhausted from the long car ride. I got three calls during the day. The first was around lunch to tell me he'd had a good day so far. Wonderful! The second was a hour or so later to say that Andrew was bitten by another child. Great, and so it begins. The third was to tell me he had 101.3 fever and that he needed to be picked up. Quite the traumatic first day, I'd say.

Big trip to Virginia

We left on Thursday for Williamsburg, VA to visit Gene's relatives. We'd been talking to Austin about where we were going, who we were going to see, and that it was going to be a long, long car ride. We got out our floor puzzle of the Unite States, put it together, and pointed to the states we'd be driving through. When it was time to put the puzzle away, he kept these states out for his reference. He also told his friends and teachers at school that he was going to Virginia. He has a teacher named Ms. Virginia and he thought it was so funny that her name was the name of the state we were going to.

We got the kids up and in the car at 3:00 a.m. Our plan was to have the kids sleep for a couple of hours in the car, hopefully to get us to Atlanta. No such luck. It took the kids 1 1/4 hours to go back to sleep only to sleep for a hour. We stopped at the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. After Austin threw up in the bathroom (probably from being car sick), we headed to Durham, NC. We got to Durham around 3:00 p.m. or so and checked into the first hotel (with a 2 room suite) that we could find. Austin spied the pool so he had to go swimming.

On Friday, we headed out to Williamsburg and got there around 2:00 or so. Again, the swimming pool was nearby and Austin had to take a dip. We ate dinner with Gene's relatives at the hotel that night.

On Saturday, we got up, ate breakfast, and drove into Colonial Williamsburg. We were only there for a couple of hours, but long enough for us to walk around and see some pretty old buildings. Austin thought the whole thing was neat, but we didn't get to spend as much time there as we would have liked.

Saturday night, we had dinner with the entire family. It was great to see everyone and for everyone to meet the kids.

Sunday morning, we headed back home and stopped just outside of Greenville, SC. We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel. It was nice to have a country, Sunday meal even if I didn't cook it. On the way back yesterday, we stopped at a Chinese buffet just past Atlanta. Austin insisted that I take a picture of him with the lion out front. We finally made it home yesterday afternoon around 2:00.

Austin had a great time staying in the hotels. I think that was his favorite part of the trip. It was pretty funny how everywhere we stayed we were overlooking the swimming pool and it wasn't something we'd asked for. The kids did surprisingly well considering they didn't sleep as much as they usually do. Needless to say, everyone went to bed early last night. Andrew slept from 6:30 p.m. until 7:20 a.m. I guess he was pooped!

4th of July weekend

With the 4th of July falling on a Saturday this year, we all had Friday off. We spent most of the weekend at Dede and Nea's pool. Austin's really into swimming now and wants to swim any chance he gets. He's very brave now, even jumping off the diving board!

Andrew had a good time lounging by the pool too! He's such a cool dude in his shades. (And, by the way, he doesn't have a nipple that big. It's a strategically placed cheerio!)

Austin finally has discovered the genius of Easy Cheese. He thought it was pretty cool that cheese came out of a can. He was making us cheese sandwiches.

New games

The kids have discovered two new games. The first one...chasing each other around the house.

The second one...Austin blowing raspberries on Andrew's tummy.

They find them both equally entertaining!

More teeth? Not quite...

For the last few days, Andrew just hasn't been himself. He's slowed down eating, sometimes only eating fruit for his meals and not touching anything else we offer him, things he'd normally wolf down. He's had a couple of nasty diapers so we thought that he was getting more teeth. Nothing yet, but we're watching closely.

In other news, Andrew's saying more things these days. He babbles a lot, but occasionally we pick up on words that he's saying. He says book ("bo") and he tries to say Austin's name (it comes out "Dadin"). Andrew still loves throwing balls and still has no interest in watching anything on TV which is both a good and bad thing.