Trains, trains, and more trains :)

Andrew has been building trains almost every day since Christmas, this was yesterday/Friday.

Apparently he conducts best with his eyes closed.

Go Henry Go!

We even made a tunnel with his stool

Percy and the chocolate milk car

He starts building tracks in his room...

and builds them all the way across the hall into mommy and daddy's bedroom.

He sent every single train down the tracks and back to his room, and he has a bin full :)

The Big Boy Bed

Andrew slept in his big boy bed tonight for the first time in months!!! Yeah!!!

With only one time-out!

Andrew and I put Spider-Man sheets on his bed yesterday that he had picked out and I thought that would work. But he kept getting out of bed last night and slept in his play pen finally. We went for a playdate at his friend Ethan's house today and I thought a little peer pressure might work. Ethan showed him his bed and how he sleeps in it.

Tonight he got in and I told him he would have a time-out if he didn't stay in his bed. He got up once and got a second chance and then he had one time out and didn't get up again. Except about half an hour later I went to go clean up the bath toys in his tub and he heard me and came out. I took him back to bed and told him if he got up he would get a time-out again.

He hasn't gotten up again. So maybe it worked!!

*******

Wednesday morning update:

He only fell out of bed once at 2:30 this morning and daddy put him back in. Then he got up between 7:30 and 8:00, not too bad.

Putting on his shoes

*Today Andrew put on his shoes all by himself, they were velcro, not tie shoes. Up until now he would just put on his rubber boots and his slip-on shoes.


*Tonight we played Hi-Ho Cherry-O! with him and he loved it. He would help us count the cherries and 'pick' them off of our tree. He even won once. He and mommy have been playing Candyland too. :) He can count from 1 to 10 and knows all his colors, including silver (like daddy's car) and white (like mommy's car) and black (like Zoe). Now we're starting to work on letter and number recognition.

*My friend Debbie came to visit us today. I tried to put Andrew down for a nap in his playpen but he was having none of that. When the dogs started barking I put them outside and he was barking back at them and then we're pretty sure we heard him tell them to "Shut up!" Oops, better watch what I say.


*He also repeats things we've told him. He likes to clear the dishes from the table after meals, it's one of his new 'chores.' When we give him a plate or a glass he says "Be careful!" Apparently we've told him that enough times.

*We also put Spider-Man sheets on his bed today. Andrew picked these out. He was excited about the prospect of sleeping with Spider-Man and he knows to sleep with him in his 'big boy bed' he has to "stay there," but alas he slept in his playpen....maybe tomorrow.

Painting-- on Saturday

"Red + Blue=Purple"

An Andrew original masterpiece

Hard at work

The painter

Big cheesy grin

Andrew asked daddy to put on his "blue pants"/jeans (he had been wearing brown courduroy pants and a sweater) and he asked him to take off his sweater and put on his Home Depot apron. He was awfully cute in just his apron and his jeans. :)

Zoolights 2009

We finally made it to Zoolights in 2009 instead of 2008. Luckily for us they decided to do an extra weekend because of all the snow. We hadn't gotten here yet because of the snow and work and other Christmas activities. Grumpa went with us, Andrew was excited to have him ride with him in the back of the car. Andrew loved pointing out the pictures of the animals in lights.

Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew

The pretty lights

They had most of the kids' area open.

So we saw some Meerkats

The Rainbow

The Monkeys :)

Happy Andrew

Tigers

Another family picture

Grumpa and Andrew

Goofy Andrew :)

Reindeer--Andrew was counting the big reindeer and the babies. :)

Another fun Andrew picture

We even rode on the carousel. Mommy got to ride with him, and we told the horse "Giddy-up horsey and go, horsey, go!"

It looks like the horse is rearing. Andrew was so excited and smiling when the horse was going up and down. When it was slowing down he said "More, more, more."

Mommy and Andrew

We went to see the sharks before we left and had hot chocolate.

****

Andrew didn't fall asleep on the way home even though it was already 10:00! I told daddy to drive around for a little bit but that didn't work because when we drove past our street Andrew kept saying "Go home, go home!"

But he was so tired he let us put on his jammies and put him to bed without stories and he went right off to dreamland.

Christmas Part IV

Every year Andrew and I meet my Aunt Barbara before Christmas to eat brakfast or lunch and exchange gifts. Because of all the snow and ice we were unable to get together before Christmas. Friday morning we met her and my parents at a restaurant called the Little Park Restaurant for brunch. It was very good, we'll have to go back there again.

Andrew's 'smiley face' curious George pancake, it even came with Curious George fruit snacks.

Auntie Barbara and Andrew

Opening presents

Auntie Barbara gave Andrew one of her favorite books, An American Tale. She was a teacher.

Andrew really likes this car launcher.

Cool, a Thomas and Percy book. :)

We then went to go get Auntie Barbara's new dog, a poodle she was buying from someone in Graham. Andrew loved the German Shepherd puppy that was in a crate. He kept going over there and getting her to lick him through the bars. Too bad for him, mommy will never get a German Shepherd, but he does have 2 big very kissy dogs.

Christmas Part III

ROUND THREE!!

We went to grandma and grandpa's house (daddy's parents) for dinner and to open more presents. Grandma was VERY sick. She came out for a little bit to see Andrew open his presents. Cousin Sam came the night before with his parents so it was mostly Andrew opening his presents. He got a lot of Thomas trains and LEGO's and a book and a Mickey Mouse that talks.


A Spider-Man dinner set


Opening presents with Uncle Marc.

He would tear little pieces of paper off and hand them to Marc. Uncle Tim tried to teach Andrew how to rip into the packages.


Uncle Tim & Aunt Angie

Cool, a train!

Overall we had a great Christmas. Unfortunately by that weekend most of Matt's family was sick with that nasty little stomach bug.

Christmas Part II

DING!! ROUND TWO!!

After we opened our stockings and presents at home we went to 'Muh' and 'Grumpa's' house. We opened stockings first. Andrew was very happy that Santa had come there too and was quick to spot a stuffed Curious George peeking out of his stocking.

A John Deere tractor ornament, thank you Santa. Andrew LOVES tractors! Only one problem, he thought it was a toy like his cars. :)


His eyes lit up when he saw the goldfish too.


Cool cars that light up

On to daddy's stocking..........

then Muh's, he was very interested in helping everyone else empty their stockings (and we oblidged :)

We then took a break to eat a yummy brunch, thanks mom and dad. Afterward Andrew was a little bit sleepy and crawled up on Muh's lap to snuggle but that only lasted a minute or two. He didn't have a nap that day and not any very good ones since.

Snuggling with his 'Muh'

I helped Andrew make special presents for 'Muh', daddy, and grandma (daddy's mom). We dipped his hand in white fabric paint and then put it on a red hot pad. I then painted his name at the bottom and painted Merry Christmas 2008 on the back.

Muh with her special Andrew present, she loved it!

Grumpa opening his present.

It took a little convincing to get Andrew to open the rest of his prsents at first. He climbed up in the rocking chair, behind the video camera. Then he didn't want to climb down and sit on the floor to open his presents.

Finally diving in

He got some very fun presents from his grandparents. He got a car rug, some books, thomas pj's, a train set, and an extra train.

My dad's cousin bout him some emergency vehicles and diggers and Elmo Live. Elmo tells jokes, tells stories, dances, asks for hugs, if he falls over he asks you to help him up and then says thank you, you're he best friend. He says hundreds of phrases.


Andrew dancing with Elmo

Ahhhhh!!! He was doing something with Elmo, I can't remember.