Cameron, Stephanie, Andy, & Max: March 2014

I'm sad to realize the last time I did a post about sweet Andy was 6 months ago! And I feel like he's changed so much since then! This is Andy right now:

If I had to describe Andy in one word, it would be excitement. He is so excited about everything! It makes life so fun. He's always clapping, jumping, saying "yay!", etc. It's just the cutest thing. He's always willing to try new things (except slides, which apparently terrify him), play with the big kids, and he says hi to every person we see at the grocery store. He's such a big, wonderful personality.
Still big. He had a 30 month well child visit and he weighed 35 lbs (89%) and his height was in the 96%, but I don't remember what it was. He's been in 3T for a few months now.
He's become a decent eater. He'll at least try most things. For breakfast, he likes shredded wheat. For lunch, PB&J or "tortilla" (quesadilla). He is obsessed with oranges and applesauce. I think he'd be happy eating bread and better for the rest of his life. He asks me for it constantly. And he needs butter on every square inch of that bread. In fact, he doesn't even ask me for bread. He asks me for butter. (The bread is implied.)
He's playing so well with others lately. Especially compared to how he used to be. Most of the time he does well with sharing. The concept of taking turns seems to make sense to him.
He loves control. Example: if I tell him it's time to turn the TV off and I turn it off=major meltdown. But if he can turn it off himself, he's just fine.
His favorite activities include blocks, riding his bike outside, playing at the park, playing in his new toy room, his new Kindermusik class, and playing with cars.
He loves to clean up. He loves to sing the clean up song and is good about cleaning up his toys if I remind him. The downside: he dumps out water on purpose just so he can wipe it up.
My biggest challenge with Andy right now is trying to help him learn how to play by himself. He's incapable of spending five minutes on his own. "Mom! Cars! Your turn!" Probably partially because of his personality and mostly because he's used to me spending every second entertaining him. And now that we have Max, I just can't spend every second with him.
He made the transition to a "big boy bed" once we moved into the new house on February 1. It's so cute: whenever he shows it to anyone, he says, "Ta da!!!" He's actually done really well with the bed. He does perfectly well at nighttime. Naps were great for the first few weeks, and then...
Much to my dismay, he's quit napping most days. I always thought we'd just do "quiet time" in his room once he quit napping, but that's not going smoothly either. He consistently poops during his nap time, so I have to go in there once or twice. (I'm convinced he does it on purpose.) There's literally nothing in his room, but he still finds ways to get in trouble. Pulling at his blinds. (I'm counting the days until they break.) Running around his room naked, peeing. Shoving things down his vent. I get frustrated he's not content with "normal" things like reading books and playing with toys, but really, these crazy things are what make Andy Andy.
We were a little concerned about his speech for a while, but he's seemed to improve a lot the past couple months. For the most part, he can communicate everything he wants to say.
He still gets into everything. He does better now that we're in our own place. It was so tough at my parents' house. I felt like I was saying "no!" 1,000 times a day. He ruined so many things there, but frankly, I'm surprised it wasn't more. He just has a knack for ruining things. There will be a room with 100 things he can play with, and he somehow finds the one thing he shouldn't play with. My parents weren't even brave enough to put up christmas tree ornaments, and I don't blame them. I've tried to Andy-proof our new house as much as I can. There are child locks on everything you can think of: every door, cabinets, etc. If I have to feed Max or help him, I have to go through the house and make sure every door is closed and most things are put away. He still gets into trouble (ie throwing our new baby monitor in the toilet last month), but this limits it a little bit. It's always a little ~~exciting~~ terrifying for me when I'm feeding Max to listen and try to figure out what mischief Andy is up to based on what noises I'm hearing.

Too bad I don't have pictures of when we turned on the oven (twice) without realizing tupperware was in there. And when we were scraping my parents' oven for hours.

My moisturizer. Apparently conditioning Andy's hair.
He loves to cook. Even more than tv--and that's saying something. :) If he sees that I'm in the kitchen, he comes running over, asks for his stool, and wants to help with whatever I'm doing. He's the cutest sous chef I've ever seen.
He loves baths. Loves, loves, loves them. When I tell him he's going to go have a bath, he acts like he's won the toddler lottery. He usually bathes in our master tub and acts like a king in there. And insists on continuously running the water and lots of bubbles.
He has so much energy. It's unbelievable. He just runs and jumps all day. One of his favorite activities is literally running in circles. I have so many people comment on it: "Wow, is he like this all the time?!" Yes...yes, he is.
He loves to say prayers and almost always prays to go on an airplane.
His favorite songs to sing are "Sunbeam" and the "Hello Song."
A few things he's saying a lot lately: "What's that, mama" "Whatcha doin' mama?" "That's silly!" "Pleeeease?"
Favorite tv shows: Bubble Guppies, Umizoomi, Paw Patrol, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
He's really warming up to Max and is so sweet to him. He'll bring him his binky, his toys, etc. If Max cries, he says, "It's okay Max! One second!" (I must say that a lot? :)

He loves superman. I don't even know where he learned about him. He has a couple superman shirts and goes around saying, "Superman!" really loud while doing a fist pump.