Andrew this week

Andrew recently realized his pointer finger fits nicely up his nose. Yeah - great skill set during dinner when there is food on the end of that finger!

He also can throw a ball really well. I've actually been able to catch it a few times. He's only caught it twice so far that I know of.

He's also figured out how to open the toilet lid. I'm debating whether or not to get a toilet lid lock.

3 more teeth have broken through in whole or in part.. total of 12 now.

He started waving on Sunday. I had him on the changing table at the hall and he just started waving at me! And then he waved all through lunch at Aunt Annelise.

His favorite toys are his truck and the mini-soccer ball, and anything he can push (which might very well be you in the office chair!). Although we were at another kids house recently and they had a toy Andrew really enjoyed. In design, it's like those ride on bulls you see occasionally for adults. This particular one is a zebra and you bounce on it and then it can spin and it lights up and plays music and all. From what I gather, it gets annoying for the parents, but Andrew liked getting on it and bouncing.. and he actually could get off of it all by himself without falling. At one point he squinched his eyes closed and threw his head back with a huge smile on his face.. looked like sheer joy!

Today I took him in my studio and he got on the rocking horse, but he wanted to bounce on it instead of rock it. And he had trouble getting off of it by himself. I also turned on the elephant that plays 'Tequila' and although he had a huge grin on his face when it played, he crawled far away from it too. Both times... I dont know if it was too loud for him or what, but he didn't want to be next to it. He'd crawl away and sit there smiling and laughing at it instead from a distance.

He took his first encouraged steps Monday August 30th.  I was working on dinner and for some reason just went over to him and stood just out of reach and said, "hey Andrew.. come here!" as I clapped my hands together. He was standing holding on to a dining chair and took two steps toward me and then dove into a hug. I tried it again and he only took one step before diving.  We tried it with daddy and he got one step and then fell to his knees. He gets too excited.. lol.

Video of Andrew climbing the stairs at Meemaw and Bebop's house. Sorry it's sideways, I didn't feel like running it through another program to rotate it:

Untitled from Amanda Hagler on Vimeo.

And a video of mommy playing bumper cars with Andrew. He was walking around in his Jeep and I was chasing him around with his fire truck. He was laughing so hard, I went and got the camera. He wasn't laughing as hard after I got the camera out (of course) but you can still here him. 

bumpercars from Amanda Hagler on Vimeo.

Andrew laughing at daddy while jumping in the jumperoo:

Untitled from Amanda Hagler on Vimeo.


I have another video of Andrew playing in the curtains. He was hugging them and kissing them before I got the camera out. Oh, and in this video he also stops and just turns in circles while sitting on the floor. I think that is pretty funny. But I have reached my upload limit for the week on Vimeo just with the other three videos, and I think its too big to upload on the blogger video. So.. oh well. You're not missing a lot, but he's cute. Just trying to share as much as possible for you out-of-towners.

First Trip

Well, we survived our first trip! We went to Camano Island, WA to visit my paternal grandparents. We had direct flights into Seattle both ways. The first 4 1/2 hour flight, Andrew stayed awake until the last 20 minutes. He'd had his morning nap but had been awake since 11am.. and went to bed close to 1am our time with only two 20 minute cat naps. Looooong day for all of us.
  His bed was a pack n play and he was in an unfamiliar place, so every time we put him down for nap or bedtime, one of us also had to lay on the floor next to him until he fell asleep. The very first night, I got him asleep and then went to put him in the bed and he freaked out all over again. Evenutally he fell asleep again between my legs on the floor but I couldnt seem to fall asleep.. so I curled up next to him for a while. Soon I shifted him over onto an animal skin rug (dog bed) and then transferred him along with the rug into the bed. That was the only thing that worked and let me go to sleep after being awake for 23 hours.
  The next morning he got to visit the Alpacas, geese, rabbits, donkeys and chickens next door at my Aunt Laura's house. That was so cute. He had a blast! He just loved everyone and everything and was taking life in as usual.
   The crazy thing is.. he started teething right before we left. He has at least 3 teeth coming in right now - so he was slightly difficult while traveling. He wasn't sleeping well, and was a little more picky when it came to eating. But all in all - he did great! He was still happy most of the time and I dont think he cried at all except for a few times waking up in the middle of the night in a strange place.

  Andrew LOVED climbing the flight of stairs. Up and down he went. He did really well.
He was also cute when he sat in the gamer chairs watching his reading video. He figured out that they rock and a couple of times he'd sit there rocking the chair back and forth, and one time even turned sideways on his knees and made it rock back and forth. He's so smart.

Almost ready to leave for the airport:

His first limo ride (to the airport from the parking spot):

Waiting to board the plane:

On the plane going to Seattle:

Visiting the animals, playing with a ball and rocket, then playing with Meemaw and her toys:

Sunday a few of my cousins came to visit too.. these were taken while they were there:

Andrew listening to cousin Jessica and Bebop playing music:

Hanging out by the waterfall, getting a ride on daddy's shoulders, and visiting the Alpacas again:

One evening we were sitting around Uncle Randy's "man pit" with a fire, and Andrew fell asleep in the hammock:

And daddy wanted to eat at RoundTable pizza ... so Meemaw and Uncle Randy took us:

The trip home was good. He took a nap in the car on the way to the airport, got to wiggle and walk while waiting for the plane, and slept for about an hour or so on the flight. He was really good. The pilot got us home half an hour earlier than scheduled too which was a nice bonus for us. Andrew was also really glad to be home.. he immediately went to some of his favorite toys. And this morning, he woke up giggling - I guess happy to wake up in a familiar comfy place.

I think that is it.

Such A Smart Kid

Before I forget.. tooth #9 cut through on Saturday! Still seems like he's teething so I dont know if more are coming in or if its related to this tooth coming in further. It is not next to any of his current teeth, its a couple back on his bottom left.

Lately it seems like Andrew is obsessed with his Your Baby Can Read books. He discovered last week that I keep them in a cabinet within his reach, but since he can only have them under supervision - Ted installed child locks on the cabinets over the weekend. Now Andrew sits there, tries unsuccessfully to get the cabinet open, and then bursts into tears. Forget keeping him distracted by other things. He does not want the other toys, he does not want other books, he does not want other flashcards... he wants those! The Your Baby Can Read books and cards. 
Friday afternoon I was reviewing some cards with him and he when I tested him on different words he got 5 out of six right.
Today he is demonstrating what he reads a little bit. You don't even have to say the word aloud - he is reading them himself and acting on them.  When he got to the word "clap" in the book, he started clapping his hand against Nana's hand. When he got to the word "arms up" he raised his left arm in the air. It seems that when he gets to the word "arm", "arms down" and "arms up" he throws his arms up in the air. But hey - its a start. Oh, and if you sing "ta da da da daaa, da da da daaa!" in a celebratory tone - he mimics you.

Ted was singing little tunes with him over the weekend and he was singing them back. So cute.

Loves to Read

For the past several days, Andrew's 'Your Baby Can Read' books and flashcards have been sitting just out of reach on the couch. He stands there stretching his arms and legs as far as he can trying to get them. Even with an occasional grunt and jump, they have stayed just out of his reach.  He sure does love them. I just didn't realize how dedicated he is to them until this morning. He actually got upset.
   I had tried giving him some second-hand flash cards that I have and he wasn't even remotely interested in them. I wont let him hold the YBCR books and cards by himself because I dont want him to bend them, eat them, or otherwise destroy them. He does have some favorite books (like the 10 Little Lady Bugs book, Go Dog Go, and the Are You Ticklish book) but they aren't even a close second to his YBCR flashcards.  After breakfast, I took him to the couch to see if I could get him to drink any of his milk. He was interested in the bottle until I sat on the couch next to his books/cards. He shoved the bottle away, and tried to reach for the books. He got mad at me when I offered his bottle again and put him on the floor when he didn't want it. He crawled a few steps, pushed out that bottom lip, and picked up a toy and started to cry. I realized what he was upset about and invited him onto my lap and we read through two of the books. He still wasn't satisfied.. so I have him watching the dvd now.  Guess I'm not going to be able to keep them in my reach so that he'll play with other toys!!

Oh - and thank you Dave for cleaning up the baby monitor audio! That wasn't static from my recording device - it was a fan blowing in Andrew's room.. but how awesome that you could take that out! I dont know how to post the audio here to share it with everyone. (Dave took the video of Andrew singing himself to sleep, and took out the 'static' of the air purifier in his room so all you hear is Andrew!!) It's an mp3 if anyone wants me to email it.

Just Another Day

We got outside today to play around, get some natural vitamin D, and try to give Andrew some good exercise since he ended up sitting a lot yesterday.

(There is a butterfly/moth on his big toe in the above picture.. just so you know what to look for.)

Aside from the new pictures...
We had moved him up to stage 3 baby foods, but I'm not having a lot of success with them. I dont know if its the flavor or the texture of them. They don't particularly sound that good to me either though. I have better success giving him foods he can feed himself. Today I cooked a carrot in some salted water with real butter. Cut it up for him and he ate the entire carrot. Then he ate some of my pad thai, and then some shredded cheese.  He's been happily eating sliced up blueberries and grapes all week. I made him blueberry pancakes and Ted made him French Toast this week too. He ate some of both of those, but not a lot. He has started closing his eyes, scrunching up his face and turning his head before even tasting what you have on the spoon. I dont know what that is all about. Even when its something he likes!


He's been off of my milk for a few days now. I quit pumping a week ago. I was trying to wean myself off of it before we have to travel so I wouldn't get any blocked ducts with nothing to do about it while in Washington. I'm glad I thought of doing it that way. I skipped a couple of days pumping and definitely needed to pump!  But a week has passed now. Its sad knowing he wont get those special enzymes he can't get anywhere else. I still have a few bags of it in the freezer, but for now, he's only on formula and goats milk. As inconvenient as it was to pump multiple times a day while trying to work or sleep or even eat... its still sad to be done with it for his sake.

He sits Indian style sometimes on the floor. I think its cute.

The other day we were playing in the grass outside and instead of crawling on both knees, he was using his right foot to boost him along rather than his knee. He has done that a couple of times inside.

He is reaching on top of counters and tables trying to grab anything he can. He still tries to lick the electrical outlets.. even though I have them covered now.

He still LOVES his Your Baby Can Read flashcards and books. He tries to climb up the couch to get them when he sees them sitting there. Then he'll crawl onto my lap to sit and read them.

He still loves the little Lion Head toy, and he loves a little yellow stuffed dog we've had since before Andrew was planned. He gives it hugs!

He loves to sit and look at books. He isn't really all that interested in most of his toys. He prefers pushing buttons on the dishwasher, pulling out the oven drawer, playing with the wrappings on the cat scratcher, looking out the window, banging on the trash can like its a drum, and pushing the runner rug across the floor. He even rearranges the dining chairs. He occasionally pulls out tupperware or other gadgets from the cabinets. He has pulled out cereal, banged on the box until it poured open, and sat eating the unfrosted mini-wheats that fell out.

The other day I guess I had a hair scrunchy lying within his reach, and Nana said that he tried to put it in his hair - that he was very observant to have known what to do with it.

Remember the little playmat I bought before he could sit up on his own? I had put it in the garage a couple of months ago. I pulled it back into the living room yesterday to tag it for a consignment sale .. he saw the giraffe hanging from it and got all excited with a look of "My Giraffe!! Where have you been?!" as he stuffs the feet in his mouth like he used to do. I felt kinda bad trying to sell it.

Going through all his clothes to consign again is just weird. Its hard to believe some of the clothes was ever too big, and that now they are so small. I kept a couple of pieces because they had stains on them.. I figure I can show them just how little he was one day. One of them was the mate to the shirt he wore home from the hospital. I already gave the other one away, but this one is the same size anyway.

The Happiest Baby

  Andrew is the happiest baby I've ever known. Yesterday he was shrieking with sheer joy and laughing every moment he was awake. He loves taking off down the hallway (still on his knees, but he might as well be running on them he's so fast) and having Nana come after him to catch him. He knows that any time he comes down the hallway to the office, Nana will be right behind him to take him away again and he just giggles so hard in anticipation.  At one point, I got on my hands and knees and came toward him in the hallway when I heard him coming (he's about as loud as an elephant so you can't miss him!) he laughed so hard he fell over. Then he climbed all over me and we laughed and giggled until my knees couldn't stand being on the hard floor any longer. Such a fun boy.  And I love listening to him laugh and play while I'm working.. it is good for my heart.

He loves sitting on daddy's shoulders. Although, he has eaten daddy's hair a couple of times. I put him on my shoulders once and he got scared. Not sure what that was about.

He is even better at getting down off of things.. like your lap, or the couch. He turns to face you and slides his feet off the side until they touch the ground.

He has been daring to stand on his own without holding on. I think yesterday was the third time that I remember for sure. Yesterday he let go of the couch and held the spinwheel in one hand and spun the wheel with his other hand. Nana said he had no idea he was standing on his own.
We take a walk every morning and I put him inside while I collapse the stroller to bring in. The other day he stood up against the storm door watching and when I came to the door he took a step back and let go with both hands. He only stood there unanchored for a few seconds before slowly lowering himself to the floor, but it was a deliberate action as opposed to the times I've let go of him and he didn't realize he was not holding on to anything.

He will also take a few steps now only holding onto one hand instead of both. He doesn't like it, but he's done it!

He went in the toilet again yesterday and still doesn't mind it. Allows me to keep the same diaper on him longer!

I have two videos of the monitor - listening to him sing himself to sleep, but one wont upload. Sorry. 

  

I have other videos but they aren't uploading either, so maybe they are just too big. There is a cute one of Ted feeding Andrew and Ted tilts his head forward and uses his hair to tickle Andrew's face.. Andrew loves it. You can see the joy and anticipation in his face. Maybe it will upload another day. I also have a video of Andrew playing with his push-mailbox. On the video he stumbles and flips it over... plays with the wheels for a minute, and then picks it back up! That was the first (and so far only) time I've seen him put the toy back upright! Then right after he gets it up, he just crawls over to his wagon of toys and deliberately tips it over rather than stand to shop in it. He'd not done that before either.

He has already outgrown one pair of the 18 month size footed jammies. He has two others that fit and one that is still too long in the torso. These sizes are not consistent. Grandma also sent an 18 month size romper and a 24 month size romper.. they both fit perfectly in length. The 24mo is baggie in the middle but its the right length.  I was buying some winter clothes for him at a consignment sale last week, and I was told the difference between 24mo and 2T is that 2T tends to be longer in the torso. Hmm.. seriously? Am I going to be buying 2T clothes for my 1 year old?!  I primarily stuck to long sleeved shirts, I think he has a few pairs of pants so I'm just going to wait until its closer to time and see what he's wearing when the weather gets cold before buying more. He'll need new socks soon.. the 18-24 month size he has seems to be getting tight. Ted asked me  yesterday, "do your brothers have big feet?" lol. Definitely didnt get big feet from his daddy's side of the family. I think they are perfectly proportionate to his body though so they're not technically big feet .. he's just a big baby is all.. well, not even that - he's just tall!

So here are pictures:

These two were taken after Andrew's little hair trimming - no more hair flapping over his ears. 

Andrew at Kingdom Hall. He loves to sit and bang on the steps, climb them, crawl all over the floor. 

And Grandma, these are for you... 

Such a big boy

This will be an odd post. So Andrew, when you are old enough to read this, I'm sorry.
As a precursor to what I'm about to say, I'm not actually potty training yet; I'm sure that is a long time off. I didn't think it would hurt to let him sit on the toilet every now and then and get the idea of what its all about. At one point on Friday it seemed likely that he was "pushing" so, leaving his diaper on, I set him up on the toilet to see what his reaction would be. No negative reaction.  He seemed to continue pushing so I took his diaper off and put him back up on the toilet. He kind of giggled about it. Nothing but air ventured out and I put his cloth diaper back on and we went back to playing. Later I knew he was pushing more than air, so I whipped his diaper off and sat him on the toilet. Sure enough... Andrew held onto my shoulder even though I had another arm behind him so he couldn't fall in, and I rubbed his back as he pushed out and pooped into the toilet. I praised him for being such a big boy and stood him up to show him the result of his efforts. He got a big smile (and tried to reach in) so I took his hand and let him try to flush. He seemed so pleased with himself, although I have no idea what he took away from the experience. lol

On a lighter note, that evening we were at Kroger and he got to ride in the big boy shopping cart again. This time he got to be IN the car instead of driving a convertible taller than an SUV. He LOVED it. It even had a working horn!

On Saturday, Ted and I had to get ready for a Business Expo in town. I was in the bathroom and Ted was in the bedroom. We had closed the office and guest bathroom doors so that Andrew would not get into trouble in those rooms while being unsupervised. He didn't stick around.. he headed off for the living room. We kept our ears open and he was happily talking and playing. At one point his voice changed. He wasn't in distress - but something was different. So I hurried down the hallway.. and Andrew had unblocked the door going down into the laundry room and was at the bottom of the stairs climbing back up!!  Ted had taught Andrew how to get off his lap when in a chair.. but we hadn't really worked with him on stairs! He plays on them at the hall.. but thats what, officially one step, technically two?!  I couldn't believe he climbed down the stairs without falling - and yet was so grateful that such a catastrophe had been avoided.

I swear he is a genius, knows it, and tries to hide it. He totally understands everything you say - and makes a conscious decision as to whether or not to do it or ignore you. I have been trying to teach him to wink. Not actively, just showing him the difference between blinking and winking. I peeked through the doorway the other day and he was practicing! He was blinking hard like he was still trying to figure out how I do it with only one eye. lol  Of course when I entered his room where he was pulling out all of his books as usual - he quit blinking as if he didn't want me to know he practices!

Today, he got his first hair trimming. Boy what a difference it makes!! The hair around his ears was getting too long and often was sticking out the side or over his ears. I think the hairs bugged his ears too because he'd often pull on his hair there or on his ears, but whenever I noticed him doing that, the hairs were overlapping his ear. So, today, those sections of long hair got trimmed off. I dont have a picture yet, but he looks even older now.  

Driving the Shopping Cart

Since Andrew always wants to turn around to see what is behind him, I have been dying to let Andrew ride in one of the big boy shopping carts.. you know, the one that looks like a car. He is finally big enough for the ones at Publix. He seemed to enjoy the change even though we only needed one item at the store so he didn't stay in it long. Here are the pictures:

He has started clenching his fists and squeezing really tight. It looks like his head is going to explode when he does it. But then he laughs and smiles. ??? I'm not really sure what he is doing. Today he did it with food in his fists like he was trying to squish the cereal puffs and cucumber chunks together. I guess he does it most often while sitting and eating, but he has done it on the changing table too. Strange.

He has also stood up without holding onto anything three times. The problem is - he doesn't know that.

Oh, and he has finally accomplished something he worked on for about a week. We have a kid magnet on the fridge that can spin. He of course can easily take it off, but was getting frustrated when he tried to put it back on. He finally figured it out. He doesn't have a 100% success rate with putting it back on, but he's getting better. I keep showing him that the black side goes on the fridge - and I actually think he gets that part.. his little fingers keep getting in the way and it drops before sticking. He is getting better at it though. So cute to watch.

He is also starting to steer his toys. He will try to turn them to different directions and keep moving, whether he is walking or on his knees.

I was sitting on the floor playing with his trucks the other day. He would watch me move my truck back and forth and around, and then he would try to copy me with his truck. His kept flipping over because he presses too hard and it seemed to really irritate him. He gets so exasperated when he tries to do something and it just doesn't work right... I totally can relate but wish I could help him at the same time. He is so much smarter than his little body can keep up with!

He still loves books. He pulls half of them off his shelf and looks at the pictures every day. But, he has discovered he can eat the paper now. He used to just try and chew on the covers. This week he ripped pages out of two books and ate part of one page too. Yuck. He loves to chew on stuff. He'll chew on that paper, or a string of carpet he pulled out of the bathroom rug, and chew on it for probably a good hour before I manage to get it back out of his mouth! I dont know how much he swallows. He clamps his jaw together whenever I try to get something out of his mouth so I just have to be patient and hope its nothing seriously dangerous.

I love it when he stands at the window of the door and looks out. Its even cuter when Flash is sitting next to him looking out also. One of these days I'll capture a picture.

Yesterday evening, Andrew was sitting in the dark hallway all by himself playing with a fabric belt and a rubbermaid tub, and SINGING away! I loved it. I grabbed my camera to take a video, but he saw me peek around the corner before I even got it on and quit and crawled to me. I love hearing him sing. He also sings himself to sleep at nap and at bedtime. LOVE it!

We finally pulled out Rock Band again recently. He got excited and danced and laughed at first. I think it got too loud for him the second time.. he kept retreating.  He loves the drums the most I think, and when one of us is singing.

Not that its anything exciting.. but here is a picture of Andrew having a non-soap bath tonight before bed:

Workin the System

Today Andrew learned from Daddy how to sip through a straw. It was sweet tea.. *sigh* .. but he learned to sip through the straw without chewing on it. He also learned from daddy (by accident) what really hot salsa verde feels like. He chugged his milk after his face turned purple, so I'm told.

Andrew only got a 10 minute nap before we had to wake him to take him to meeting today. Poor guy. But he did great considering! Ted's shoulder/neck is hurting, I have very limited use of my right hand since my thumb is injured, and I was wearing a scratchy glittery shirt... so getting Andrew to sit still happily took a little more effort today. Of course, he squealed once like he does when he's about to get going, and I stood up. Immediately, he got a huge grin on his face and giggled. Everyone in the congregation thought it was pretty funny. He does that. He LOVES going back to the back. I didn't spank him today.. he really was being good for the most part.

I also wanted to mention that he takes a pacifier. Not to suck on... to chew on. I love that! I think its hilarious. He's been doing that for a couple of months at least, but I wasn't sure if I wrote about it before.

He likes to bite the spoon when you feed him. He bites hard and then laughs. Sometimes he blows too and then food goes all over his face.

Andrew is 10 months old!

Time is flying by. He is still a happy wonderful baby, but looks more like a little boy than a baby. He still loves to eat anything and everything. If I am sitting on the couch eating my meal, he crawls over and then stands holding onto my knees and dances with a huge smile on his face and giggles. I feed him a bite and he just gets so excited. He's been doing that for ages now but it doesn't get old. He's so cute.

He is starting to get mad when something is taken away or if he is removed from a situation. Its a short lived complaint since he is easily distracted. He does respond well to my calling "Andrew!" when he needs to stop doing something. Or if I say "No, thats not for you" or "No, dont touch" he seems to mind most of the time. But every now and then he gets frustrated and yells for a half a second. He wont respond at all when you get on to him about the toilet paper. He still finds great delight in that and has apparently decided its worth getting in trouble for. 

Flash isn't being as nice and tolerant anymore. Maybe he has realized that Andrew is the one getting in trouble for messing with him. Andrew gets a new scratch on him at least once or twice a week from being too rough with Flash.

Here are some more pictures.
This one is from the last day of May.. I just found it. I plunked him down on the bean bag and he just stayed there! He enjoyed just chilling in the bag.

This is what I came back to after saying goodbye to some clients. Andrew was making faces against the door.

Here I set him in a mini camping chair (not really what it is, but thats what it looks like) and he just hung out with his sippy cup of water. So cute.

This one was taken when we were playing around in the studio getting ready for a session. He LOVES fabric and if you swing it out over his head it really gets him excited.

Then these were taken tonight before bed: