Andrew's Own Playground

Tuesday February 7th... today was the first time Andrew tried to put his own shoes on all by himself. And guess what?! He did it! On the correct feet even! (Okay after I told Ted that, he said that on Sunday he loosened Andrew's dress shoes a lot and let Andrew put one shoe on. He wrestled with it a bit, but got it on himself.)

He makes a humming noise in imitation of a cell phone vibrating and then answers his play phone.

He'll go potty all on his own as long as he is not wearing a diaper and pants. He runs to his little potty, goes, empties it into the toilet, rinses it in the sink, and puts it back - all without telling anyone. But if he's dressed, you have to tell him to go. He may or may not comply with that. If he does comply - he insists on pulling his pants and diaper down himself. If you help - he will pull them back up and say, "Andrew do it!"

The other day, Andrew emptied out the blocks from their zippered bag, placed the bag over his head and came into the kitchen to ask me if I could zip it closed. Silly goose. 

We decided to splurge and buy him a cool playset last Monday. It was a really good deal at Costco.  It has a two story house, two swings and a trapeze, a ladder and rock climbing wall to the upstairs, and then a covered swirly slide down.  Of course, we had to assemble it ourselves, and the weather was gorgeous for doing so. Andrew found the box with the full picture on it and insisted I open that box. I'm sure he was expecting a fully assembled, ready to play on, swingset and slide. Instead, it was all the pieces to the yellow slide. He knew exactly what they were and from that point on kept asking, "build the slide?" over and over again.  I told him I had to build the house first. "Build the house first, THEN the slide" he would repeat.  A couple of days into the project, he was hauling wooden pieces over to me saying, "Andrew build the house."   I did a lot of the work by myself, and then Joy Chumley came to help for several hours a couple of days. Then Papa came and helped me put the roof on and build the crowsnest for the slide. By the end of Friday all that was left to do was attach the swings, build the slide, and then finish a few of the decorative elements.  Saturday it poured. Sunday afternoon, though, Barry and Joy came over and helped build the slide. I'm so thankful Barry was there because there was no way Ted and I could have put it together ourselves. The ground isn't perfectly level so it was a struggle to get the roof on right, and the slide was an even bigger struggle. It definitely needed more muscle power for pushing and squeezing - and a few times all four of us were holding it together. But by Sunday evening - Andrew had a complete playset!   One of the first things he asked Monday morning was "Andrew go see the slide?"  I'm so glad he finally has something else to do outside!

Monday morning we had to go grocery shopping. I decide to go to Kroger instead of the usual Publix since our milk is cheaper at Kroger.  Before getting onto Saturn Parkway, we pass a sign that says, "ramp."  I hear Andrew narrating our drive in the backseat but I hear what I thought was Andrew saying his vowels. But I was wrong. I wasn't really paying attention and I thought he said, "A.. E..." but then he said "M.. P.. spells ramp. (pause) I think."   Now I dont know if he said " R.. A" first or what he really said. But I thought it was cute that he was spelling ramp and then saying, "I think" afterward.

If Andrew wakes up and I am still in bed, he will let himself into my room and say, "Mommy, wake up?" I invite him up into our bed which he loves. Then he gets the remote for the light. He'll stare at me as he makes the light get super bright. I cover my eyes and groan saying "thats too bright!" and he laughs really hard. Then he makes it go dim and I say, "aahhh, much better."  Then he starts giggling again as he makes the light really bright. It's become his new game to make mommy groan that the light is too bright first thing in the morning.  But.. it's better than him jumping in the bed and landing on me - that is what he used to do. He still jumps on the bed, but not so much on me anymore. And since we have the sleep number beds, he practically disappears on Ted's side of the bed. He will sit up and then just faceplant himself into the bed and laugh. Then I hear a muffled, "where's Andrew?"

Andrew was rummaging through my office drawers and got ahold of my address labels. He stuck several "stickers" to his socks

He loves to help me put clothes in the washer and dryer. Here he is doing a load himself: