Lots of Play

Andrew has discovered word searches. He can find the words that go across, and he is getting better at finding the words that go down. He has a hard time seeing the diagonal ones.  Wednesday evening he was sitting at his table doing one on his own and then got up and said, "I can't do this." He peered over the kitchen counter at me and said,"Sorry Darlin'."   Of course I chuckled and asked him if he just said, "Sorry Darlin" and he got a big smile on his face and giggled. Now he thinks it's really funny and is repeating it.

He also made a pretty good effort of trying to use the copy machine by himself. He tried to copy one of his workbook pages, but instead accidentally copied the cover of the book because he had it upside down. And not quite all the way over so it was really only half of the cover.  Good effort.

Thursday morning I had a quick photoshoot of an author and Andrew had to tag along. It was at Rippavilla Plantation. Andrew asked me about it all morning and then asked if he could use his camera to take photos too. I said sure, but instead of getting his camera, I grabbed my non-pro camera and a spare tripod.  We got there a little early so I set the camera up for him on a tripod and showed him how to take photos.  Then we ran around a bit while we waited for the author to show up.  One of his favorite games was to go up the steps, and then run down the ramp that wrapped around some huge bushes. He'd see me and yell, "Mommy!!" and I'd squat down and open my arms and he'd run into them as I scooped him up and twirled around. Over and over again! 
Once the author arrived, he got his camera ready and started shooting. He'd peek out from behind his lens and say, "Now smile!!"  (and no, I did not say that so it was cute when he did it)  And every time I picked up my own tripod and moved to a different angle, he did the same thing. I'd say he was my little shadow, except that it was overcast. ;-)  He got some really nice photos of the columns on the front of the house, some of the bushes, and a few with the author sitting on the steps.  One of the back of me.  He really enjoyed it and was very well behaved the entire time.  

He LOVES doing somersaults. Sometimes he'll get a running start and do one or two somersaults. Other times it's off the couch. Other times he jumps on the trampoline, jumps off, somersaults, leaps up and jumps onto the couch. He makes his own obstacle course sometimes too, things to jump over, crawl through, roll, etc. So far he hasn't injured himself.

He asks me sometimes if we have any "smarshmallows"

Fred Arnold imitates The Count from Sesame Street and Andrew loves it (even though he's never watched Sesame Street and has no clue who the Count is)  Now daddy and Andrew do their own imitation of Fred as they are getting ready for bed. One night, Andrew was imitating the count and realized how bad an imitation it was and let out a sigh, looked down and said, "oh forget it." 

Friday morning I was feeling pretty rough. He was up at 6:20am and I begged him to let me sleep at least until 7.  He came in again to tell me he was thirsty. I told him there was a cup in the bottom of the fridge he can get himself and when he finishes it - he can get water.  He didn't like that idea but consented. Soon he was back again for something else. I begged him again to let me sleep so I could feel better, and that I would open the door when I got up. In the meantime - to find something else to do. Instead.. he closed my door quietly, but found noisy things to do outside my door. Then he started knocking on the door, "Mommy, are you going to open the door? Mommy, are you going to open the door?   ayeayeaye. 

Friday evening, Ted and Andrew played Hide-and-Seek for a while. Andrew's not very good at it, but getting better. He gives himself away by giggling, thumping, or just announcing "I'm in here!" when he hears Ted coming.  He's not very good at seeking either. He'll walk into a room and look around - but he doesn't open doors, or look in and under things to find you. Not much anyway. The hardest one was when Ted hid in my closet. Andrew could hear "clues" through the walls and wondered if daddy was in the ceiling or in the walls. As soon as I asked him if he'd checked my closet, he peeked under my dresses and shouted, "I FOUND YOU! Daddy I found you!" Ted hid in the bathtub once and it took forever for Andrew to find him, even with me telling him he's in the bathroom.   He kept finding other things to occupy him and I'd have to remind him that daddy was still waiting for him to find him. Right after finding daddy, he finally got burned out on the game and burst into tears and said he didn't want to play anymore, as if we were forcing him to play.

Saturday morning was the first time I really sat down to play the game "Feed the Woozle" with him. There are several different ways to play - but the idea is that you use this oversized spoon to scoop up the food pieces and put them in the monster's mouth.  The way Andrew wanted to play was for us to say, "Red Rover Red Rover send ___(red a food piece)__ over" as we took turns choosing what the other person would feed the Woozle.  It was nauseating to read some of the crazy foods. "Fuzzy donut" "Hairy pickle" "Toenail toast" "Frog leg ice cream" "soggy sausage" "liverwurst popcicle"  But he had a blast seeing me cringe at each of them and exaggerate how "eww" they all were.




I also let Andrew take the camera from Thursday off the Tripod and carry it around. I had to shorten the neckstrap by tying a rubberband around it to lessen the risk of him dropping the camera.  I ended up putting a kit lens on it that was lighter. He walked around the house taking random pictures. It was fun seeing things from his perspective. He's a little trigger happy.

He really enjoys being a wheel barrow too.  We've been doing that a lot lately and he's really good at it. Now, when he's gone as far as he wants to go, he turns it into a somersault and flips over.

Saturday afternoon he set up a big cardboard box and told me it was his kitchen. I asked him what he was going to make and he said, "veggie strawberries."  They were delicious! He gave me ten!