Andrew's 18 months old!

Andrew is 18 months old today. It's hard to believe that a year and a half has gone by since this sweet boy was born. And when I say sweet, I mean sweet. Andrew's the most good natured, laid back, easy going, loving child. He gives hugs and kisses to everyone. He says he's sorry with a hug. Everyone at his school says how sweet he is both to the teachers and his little friends.

Andrew loves books. His favorite still is Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? He says the different parts of the book (moo, pop, dibble dibble dopp, boom boom boom). He's started looking at My World (companion to Goodnight Moon) and Knuffle Bunny (a personal favorite). He's discovered Elmo and thinks that Nemo is Elmo! He still loves the Wonder Pets and has started liking The Backyardigans.

Andrew loves his gloworm. He calls it his baby. He presses it's tummy to make it light up and play music and rocks it back and forth. He's saying all kinds of things. He knows where his ears, nose, toes, mouth, head, feet, arms, and legs are. He says Amen when we finish saying the blessing at dinner and after we say his good night prayer.

Andrew loves to color! He has his own coloring books and crayons and loves to draw and color. His favorite thing to eat at the moment is fruit. Any kind of fruit will do. He still doesn't like green beans but has started liking mashed potatoes.

We love you Andrew and can't wait to see what the next few months have in store for us (and you)!

18 month appointment

Gene took Andrew for his 18 month check up today. I can't believe he's already 18 months! It seems like just yesterday we brought Andrew home for the hospital and were in the middle of colic and hours of crying non-stop and diaper changes and nursing and sleeplessness all the other things that goes along with a newborn.

The doctor said he looked good. He has some eczema but that's normal this time of year. Andrew got 4 shots yesterday. He weighs 28 pounds and 6 ounces (75% percentile). He is 34 1/2 inches tall (95% percentile). (To give you some idea of how the kids compare at the same age, Austin was 25 pounds 4 ounces and 33 1/2 inches tall at 18 months). Andrew's a pretty big (and tall) boy!

Love letter(s)

Austin wrote his first love letter this week. Actually, he wrote two. One to Gracie (his girlfriend from school) and one today to Abby, a girl on his soccer team. Gracie's love letter was a little more thought out than Abby's. To Gracie, he wrote "I love Gracie" and drew a picture of himself and her (he with brown hair and her with yellow/blonde hair). Today's love letter to Abby was similar. It said "I love Abby" but only had a picture of her. I hate that I didn't get a picture of either letter. I'm sure these won't be the last love letters he writes!

1st girlfriend

Austin has his first girlfriend. When we first talked to him about this little girl, he said she was his best friend. He's kissed her on the playground (twice). But, last week at his fall party, she told me "Austin said I was his girlfriend." I guess it was official then. I met her mom last week at the pumpkin patch and luckily she thinks it's cute and sweet also.

Last night at soccer practice, Austin was running back and forth to the field next to ours and kept hugging this one girl. Of course, it was his girlfriend. On the way out, I talked to her mom. She said that her daughter came home yesterday and said "Mom, I'm freaking out." Her mom asked her why. She said "Because Austin is going to be at my soccer practice tonight!" We laughed about this of course, but it makes me wonder. If this is what it's like at 5 1/2 years old, I can't imagine what it will be like 10 years from now!