not by the hair of my chinny chin chin

Andrew has been turning off his "listening ears" more lately. It's like he doesn't register that he needs to stop what he's doing right then. He finishes it first even if we're repeating or even yelling stop! Or we'll tell him not to do something, and he proceeds to do it anyway. If you ask him, "what did I just say?"  he will correctly repeat that he was not supposed to do it. ayeayeaye  It definitely makes me appreciate more the days that he is totally cooperative and listening (which thankfully is most of the time!).

He's also been throwing toys lately. Some out of sheer delight, and other times to vent frustration because I said no to something.  I encourage him to be gentle and kind to his toys (and Flash who has been getting his tail pulled a lot lately) and if he can't be nice, he gets them taken away for a while.  Apparently, on Tuesday, Nana was telling Andrew that if he breaks a toy he wont have the toy anymore. Andrew's response was, "that's okay. I'll just go buy a new one."   ???  Where did he come up with that idea?!   I tell him that things stop working and need new batteries, but I'm not aware of suggesting we need to buy a new toy if one gets broken.

He can finally pedal the radio flyer tricycle we've had since before he was born! The last time I tried to let him ride it he could barely reach the pedals.. but Tuesday he came out of the garage pedaling it all by himself! 

Wednesday morning we were doing a load of laundry together. He proceeded to sit on the floor and tell me all about the washing cycle and how it "spins around and around and around and around and then stops." He said more but I didn't quite catch the whole story. And that it stops when you open it.

He threw one of his light blankets over my shoulder and said, "Oh! You look beautiful! Like a prINcess!" It fell off my shoulder and he picked it back up and tried to put it back on me while saying, "mommy be the princess.."   What a sweetie.

He loves his new backpack. I picked up an unfinished bag at Hobby Lobby and let him decorate it. He picked out two dinosaur iron-on appliques, and then I picked out his monogram letters and ironed those one. Then let him have some fabric paints to paint the bag with. He is so pleased with it.  That was Monday .. and Wednesday morning he was asking to wear it and went to the mirror admiring himself. He's just walking around the house playing while wearing the backpack. 

Wednesday I was able to get him in for a "well baby" appointment with the pediatrician. We hadn't been there since he was 1 I think for that. She said developmentally, and specifically his sentence structure and some of his motor skills, he was way past 3 years and doing some 4 year stuff.  So it'd be a good guess to say he's the same skill level as a 3.5 to 4 year old.  He is one inch shorter than the average 4 year old too. I forgot to get copies of the paperwork but if I remember correctly he was just above 50% percentile for weight but in the 90ish percentile for height in his age group. He calls the pediatrician the "p. b. uh trishin"

Since the pediatrician is next door to his new preschool, we popped in for a short visit before his appointment.  We were taken to the classroom he'll start out in, and he just made himself at home. Out of 14 kids, only 3 are boys. One teacher said the girls are a little more weepy, but at least they don't have a lot of hitting and aggression that is typical of a bunch of boys together.  Only 4 in the class are not potty trained yet, they were excited to learn that Andrew is already trained.  In June, some of the kids will be moving out of that class into the next class... I'm hoping once Andrew gets into the routine, he'll be able to advance to the next class too. I think he's more advanced than the kids in this particular class, which are the older 2's, the same age.  We'll see how it goes.

Our pool has to be replaced, which means we have to drain it the rest of the way, disassemble it, etc. While Ted was stretching out hoses to siphon the water out, Andrew was running back and forth just two feet behind eager to help daddy with the project. At one point he was running behind, "are we there yet? are we there yet daddy?" 

He is SO cute when he wants to play the Three Little Pigs.  Whether it is in his little playhouse, or under a tree, it will not get old hearing Andrew cite the story.  My favorite part is when he's the Big Bad Wolf.  I will stand in my 'house' and he yells "Little pig, little pig, let me in!"  and he can hardly resist helping me with the next line "not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."  Then he says, "then I'll puff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down"  and then blows and I start to run away to be chased.   Sometimes he's so excited he rushes through the words and it sounds even cuter.