Planes, in the sky

Today we went to the air show in Hillsboro. It was such a fun day. The morning started off cool but it got so warm in the afternoon, such a beautiful day! Grandpa and Grandma Ming got to come with us too, so that made it lots of fun! Andrew loved all the planes. We got there early enough so we decided to walk around and look at the planes. Andrew was pretty interested in everything until he heard the planes flying overhead and then he wanted nothing to do with the planes sitting on the ground, he just wanted to watch the planes flying! He said "oh, wow!" He's always been very interested in planes so we knew he would love the air show. Anytime he is outside he is quick to point out any plane even if it's so far away that you can barely see it...he can always find it! Nathan was lucky enough to get passes to one of the chalets from one of his clients. The chalets are the way to go....they are awesome. You have a tent to go in if it gets to hot, free buffet lunch, nice chairs and tables, very VIP :) So after walking around we decided to go back to our chalet because Andrew was more interested in the flying planes than walking around. He kept saying "plane, plane, in the sky!" So cute! I should mention that as soon as we walked into the show there was a vendor booth selling planes, so of course, Daddy bought Andrew a plane. He carried that thing with him the whole day. He loved it! He kept flying it around saying "voom, voom" and making tons of airplane noises. The rest of the day we stayed in our chalet area. He would wonder between hanging out in the chairs to hanging out in the tent where it was cooler. The tent had several different model planes hanging from it. Andrew was enamored with them. He kept saying "touch it" and "wheels." The volunteers were so nice to him and let him touch the planes. He thought that was so cool. He kept saying "mommy, touch." We also got him to finally wear his sunglasses that Grandpa Ming got him last summer. We've tried all summer to get him to wear them, but he refused. We finally convinced him today. He didn't wear them all day, but he would wear them for a bit, then take them off then say "glasses" and put them back on. I think he thought they were pretty cool! By mid afternoon he was getting tired so we headed back home. He fell asleep on the car ride home (about 40 minutes) and hung out in his crib resting for an hour. He was exhausted so we put him to bed early tonight. All and all, it was a super fun day! Hope to go again next year...in a chalet, of course!


Family photo with one of the planes.

Finally wearing his sunglasses!

Getting a closer view of all the planes.

Looking at all the planes hanging from our chalet!

Watching the Air Show with Grandpa & Grandma
8.30.09 - 23 1/2 months old

Counting update

Andrew can now count to 10! Not quite sure when it happened but yesterday we were coming down the stairs and we were counting each stair. I was at 7, I think, and he said "8, 9, 10!" I was shocked! He said it so effortlessly, like he's been counting to 10 for weeks!

I love Jesus!

Andrew loves to read. He will sit down and read books for quite some time. He has certain books that he really likes and others that he doesn't pick up as often. He really loves ready his Bible. Grandpa & Grandma Ming got him his little Bible last year for Christmas. He will sit and read his Bible for the longest time. He points out Jesus on all of the different pages, all the different animals (especially the fishies), Moses, and babies (Baby Jesus). I'll tell him to say "love you Jesus" and he says "uv you Jesus"...it's so cute! Here's a short little video of him reading the Bible and pointing out all the pictures of Jesus :)



8.28.09 - 23 1/2 months

Andrew also will pray with us at the table. He used to be better at it but now he will occasionally fold his hands, be quiet during the prayer and at the end say "mamen." Lately he hasn't been doing it as much, but when he does it's just the cutest thing!

I should add that Andrew doesn't really "read"...he's brilliant, but not that brilliant :) When he's looking at his books he mainly just goes from page to page pointing out different things and telling me what they are. If he doesn't know what something says he'll point to it and say "dis, dis" meaning "what's this?" So I guess that's his version of reading!

School Days

On Friday Andrew and I went to visit my mom for a little bit. She lives near a school so we thought we would take Andrew to the school playground for something different to do. Andrew walked from my parents to the school which isn't that far for a grown up but for a little guy it's a long ways! There were a few people doing some maintenance stuff at the playground and Andrew was very interested in them. He just kept watching them. There was a maintenance truck that he was very fascinated with as well. He kept saying "schuck, schuck"....he loves trucks! At one point he went over to the truck and wanted to get it. I quickly tried to distract him with the other things at the playground. He went down the slide a few times but mainly just ran around. Eventually he got tired of the playground and ran to a door at the school. He kept wanting to go in the school. He would try to open the door and say "stuck, it's stuck." It was getting close to lunch so I was trying to get him to walk home but he was fixated on the school. My mom said, " let's go see if we can find some other doors Andrew" so we went to the next door, Andrew would say "door" and try to open it, then say "stuck." We went around to each door as we walked around to the front of the school. When we got to the front, the doors were open. At first Andrew said "stuck" but then he was able to open it a bit. So mom and I decided that it was probably okay to walk in the school for a little bit. We spoke with someone at the front desk and they didn't seem to mind. They thought it was so cute that a little boy, who's not even 2, was so interested in school! There was a mural on the outside of the school that extended into the inside with bears, fish, butterflies, frogs and various animals. Andrew would point to each animal and tell us what it was.....so cute! After staying there for awhile I decided that we needed to go and make the walk back. Andrew wanted nothing to do with that and decided to throw a temper tantrum....one of several this week! It was definitely not a fun walk back to my mom's but we did have a fun time exploring the playground and school! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't capture any of the cute moments....oh well, another day!

P.S. Andrew loves buses too and is always pointing them out!

#2

In keeping with the idea that this is a journal about Andrew I have to mention the good, the bad and the yucky! In the last several weeks I have been talking to Andrew about going potty on the big boy potty. I'm working towards potty training but haven't worked on it too much. If we are home, which isn't much these day, I will encourage him to use the big boy potty or just put him on it to get used to it. He has a little Lightening McQueen seat that he sits on and I bought him some books on using the potty to look at to pass the time. I try to keep him on it for a little bit so he gets used to it. Like I said, I haven't done this much, just a handful of times. Last Monday we were at home and I could tell he had a "big one" coming on, so I said do you have to go poop, he of course said "no" which is his answer to everything. I sat him on the potty and sure enough, he pooped in the big boy potty! I was so proud of him and made a big deal out of it. We haven't worked on it too much since then, but I'm hoping to once our travel settles down in late September. I've heard that it takes a long time to potty train boys...I guess we'll see! Wish me luck!!!

Boating

Last week we got to spend some time out on the boat. It was such a nice warm week and we hadn't been on the boat in a few weeks, so we were excited to go out. Nate and I think being on the boat is such a fun family activity and Andrew loves the boat! He asks about it at home all the time. He doesn't mind wearing his jacket the whole time or being confined to a small space. He loves to "drive" the boat and will ask if it's his turn. He's so polite :) He also loves to get in the water. He doesn't really want to swim he just wants me to dunk him in the water (not his face) and then take him back out. It's quite the arm workout! He could do it the whole time we are out there! On Wednesday when we were out he was very independent. He wanted to sit all by himself. He was pretty funny about it. He usually likes to sit with Grandma and watch the guys wakeboard, but this time he just wanted to sit at the back of the boat and relax! When I went out to skii (yes, I double skii...I know, totally 80's) Andrew decided to sit next to Daddy. There was spray coming up on the side of the boat. He thought it was so funny and kept putting his hand out to feel it and laugh. It was pretty fun watching him from behind the boat. Hopefully summer is not over yet and we will have a lot more days on the boat!

P.S. Sophie loves the boat too....she's our little boat dog :)


Mr. Independent...wanting to sit by himself!


This picture makes me laugh!




8.19.09 - 23 1/2 months old


Giving mom kisses!

Who's that?

After nap time today Nate started asking Andrew who people were. He pointed to me and Andrew would say "Mommy", he pointed to himself and he would say "Daddy" and then he would point to Andrew and he would say "you"....so funny! We would say no, it's Andrew and proceed to do it again. We finally got him to say his name. He says "Andwoo" in the cutest little voice. We've also been asking him lately how old he is and he'd say 2. I told him that he is 1 but he will be 2 on his birthday. I think he is pretty excited to be 2! I think he also realizes that his birthday is soon, probably because we've been talking about it a lot. Today I was wrapping a gift for a friend and he said "birfday." I couldn't believe that he was able to connect presents with a birthday. What a smart boy! He cracks me up everyday!

10 year reunion

I can't believe I already had my 10 year high school reunion! Time has flown by! We went to the reunion on Friday night. Not such a good turn out, but I'm still glad I went. I think I would have wondered what it was like if I didn't go. The next day we went to the reunion picnic. Again, not a great turn out, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to show off my adorable son :) The highlight of the day was probably the fire truck. Andrew has a new recent obsession with fire trucks. He absolutely loves them and loves talking about them! It just so happens that one of my former classmates is a fireman, so he brought over the truck. All the kids were so excited, especially Andrew. He cried so hard when we told him that it was other kids turns. He actually had a little tantrum and we decided it was time to leave the picnic! But the fire truck was definitely the highlight of the day!





8.15.09 - 23 months old

Sleepover!

Last Friday was a big day for Andrew....he had his first sleepover at Grandpa & Grandma Ming's house. It was a pretty big deal for all of us :) He's never been good at sleeping anywhere but his own bed so we've been hesitant to have him sleep anywhere but at home. Whenever we go on vacation, it's always a little rocky at night. We are up several times which isn't the norm for Andrew. At home he usually sleeps a good 12 hours at night. So we were a little nervous to have him spend the night at my parents house, but he did great! I had my 10 year high school reunion on Friday night and I knew it would be a late night, so we thought we'd try out a sleepover. Worst case scenario, we could always come and pick him up on our way home if he wasn't sleeping well or crying a lot. I checked in with my mom several times through out the night to see how he was doing. They don't have a crib at their house and they thought the pack and play would be kind of small so they put him in a queen size bed with lots of pillows around the outside. They put a baby gate up at his door so he couldn't get out in the middle of the night and fall down the stairs. He went to bed a little late that night, about 8:15. My dad put him to bed and stayed with him for a bit. When he tried to get up Andrew would reach over and touch my dad's face. So my dad stayed for a bit longer. (He really loves his "Ampa") Eventually my dad got up and went to his room right down the hall where he could keep an eye on Andrew. It's a good thing he did because Andrew tried to climb over the baby gate. My dad put him back in bed and went back to his room, but Andrew tried to climb over the baby gate again. Once more my dad went back in and told him to go night night and that time Andrew stayed in bed. According to my parents, he fell asleep around 9pm, which I thought wasn't too bad for staying in a bed that wasn't his! The best part of all....he slept till 9:15 the next morning! He doesn't sleep that late very often. Nate and I got home pretty late from my reunion so I was looking forward to sleeping in. No such luck! As soon as 8am rolled around Nate asked if I was going to get in the shower. He was anxious to go get Andrew. (Such a good Dad!) I called my mom around 9am to see how Andrew did and was surprised to hear that he was still sleeping! Nate & I ran to Starbucks (of course) and then went to see Andrew. He was so excited to see us! Aunt Kayla & Uncle Cory were in town so he was playing trains with Uncle Cory and having tons of fun. He calls them Cowee and Kaya...it's so cute! Here's a few pics from the morning after his sleepover.

Andrew & Uncle Cory playing with Thomas the train.

Andrew loves to buckle things...anything, car seats, strollers, highchairs, ect.

Morning after sleeping at Grandma & Grandpa Ming's in a big boy bed! 23 months old

Lions, Tigers & Bears Oh My!

Last Friday we went to the zoo again, but this time Daddy came with us! Andrew had so much fun showing Daddy all of the animals. We saw different animals this time which was very exciting. We saw a bear, bobcats, birds and Andrew's favorite, the tiger. Except this time the tiger was sleeping but Andrew still got very excited to see it and show Daddy! Andrew also went into the goat petting zoo. He's never touched a goat before and was kind of nervous but excited at the same time. We had such a fun time and will probably go back again in a few weeks when the new lion exhibit opens!

1,2,3.....go!!!!

Tonight we drove out to Hillsboro to meet with the Bailey's for dinner. Tiffany just moved into a house out there, so we we went to check it out. It's about a 30 minute drive from our house. On the way out there Andrew was being pretty vocal so we decided to sing songs to pass the time. We sang the ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and his favorite, Zacchaeus You Come Down! He laughs so hard when we say Zacchaeus, you come down :) We would sing a song and then at the end of the song he'd clap, say yea! and then say again. So we sang each song multiple times! He really loves music :) We had a fun time with the family and Tiff's house is very nice. On our way back, we decided to pass the time by counting to 10. Nate and I would first do the counting then we'd tell Andrew that it was his turn. The first time he counted all the way to 6! We were so proud of him. We clapped and cheered and he was so proud of himself that he clapped and said yea! Normally when Andrew counts he says 1, 2, 3....go! We've been working with him to try and count to 5. We count the stairs every time he goes up and down them and try to count different things as we go about our day. So Nathan and I counted to 10 again and then told him it was his turn. He then counted to 8! We were even more excited and he thought it was so fun and funny....he was laughing and clapping. It was so cute :) We told him to try it again, but by that time he had lost interest and started talking about other things like cars, Ampa (that's what he calls Grandpa), boat, and many other random words. But we can now say that our little boy, who's not even 2, can count to 8! We are such proud parents!

Bumper Cars

As soon as Andrew wakes up everyday he asks to go "side." I've been trying to tell him that it's outside, so occasionally he'll say outside, but most of the time it's just "side". Rain or shine he wants to be "side". I usually tell him that he needs his shoes on, so he will go in get his shoes, I put them on and then he tell me "shoes mama" and brings me my shoes. He's so helpful :) So we go outside, he immediately gets in his "car" and then proceeds to get another one of his ride along toys and tells me "down mama". So, I sit down and he wants me to ride around on his Winnie the Pooh ride-a-long in circles, following him. He loves it! Lately he has been trying to play bumper cars with me and he thinks that's pretty funny. On Sunday evening we were just hanging around in the backyard and he says "down mama" so I sit down. Then he goes and gets Nate and says "down daddy" so Nate sits on his other car. Yes, he has 3 cars! So you can imagine the 3 of us riding around on our "cars". The things you will do for your child :)

Sophie & Andrew

This is one of my favorite pictures from last week. We were at my parents house and Sophie was sitting on their couch outside while Andrew was reading a book on the couch next to Sophie. We told Andrew to give Sophie a kiss and I just happened to get a picture of it :) Andrew loves Sophie and Sophie has a love/dislike relationship with Andrew. She loves that he gives her food she is not supposed to have, but she doesn't love when he tries to cuddle with her. Sophie will only put up with it for so long before she runs away and tries to find a place to hide from Andrew. Andrew will come down from his nap and see Sophie and and say "Soey...oh". He loves "Soey" and loves to say "Soey No" when she is barking. It's pretty cute :)

Family Reunion

Last Saturday we drove down to Springfield for a family reunion. This is really the first family reunion I remember having or going to. It was a 2 hour drive down there and the reunion was taking place right during nap time. So we went a little late in hopes that Andrew would take a little nap on the car ride down. No such luck! The kid just doesn't like sleeping in the car! So we put on his "Queen" movie (that's what he calls McQueen from Cars) and he did great. We got to the reunion, hung out with the family and Andrew enjoyed running around with all the other kids. Most of my family doesn't get to see Andrew often so they all thought he was just the cutest little thing. He had his first sucker that day, which he didn't think was that great, he played with chalk for the first time, and golfed with daddy! No nap the whole day though! I could tell at about 4:30 that he wasn't going to last much longer, so we said our goodbyes and drove to my sister's house about 10 minutes away. As soon as Nate put Andrew in the car, he was out. The poor guy was exhausted! He slept till we got to my sister's place, then I put him in their guest bed and he slept till I woke him at 6:30! Normally I wouldn't let him sleep so late, but I knew we wouldn't be home till late that night. We went to pizza with my parents, my sis & brother in law then left to make the trek back home. Of course Andrew didn't fall asleep on the way back home either. We kept telling him that it was night night time and to close his eyes and go to sleep. So, he said night night and closed his eyes. 5 seconds later he opens his eyes and we do the whole thing over again. It was so cute. He does this often...we call it his fake sleeping. He pretends to sleep and thinks he's pretty funny! We finally got home and he went right to bed and slept in the next morning till 9:30! Here's some pictures from the day.

Zoo

Last Wednesday my mom and I took Andrew to the zoo. The weather had finally cooled down so I thought it would be a good time to take him in hopes that a lot of the animals would be out. The last time I took Andrew to the zoo, he was a total pill so I was hoping this time would be a lot easier. And to my surprise, he was perfect. Not one tantrum! I brought the stroller, but we didn't use it much. He walked with me or grandma, usually holding one of our hands. He was so excited to see the animals. His favorite animal was probably the tiger. It was around lunch time and the tiger was very hungry....it just kept roaring. Andrew of course mimicked the roaring and kept pointing to the tiger and telling me all about it. We watched the tiger pace up and down for about 15 minutes. He was totally enamored with it. He also enjoyed watching the elephants eat their lunch. At one point during our walk around the zoo we came across the whart hogs....so ugly! Andrew started backing up against the glass, while looking at me and just kind of smiled. Then I realized, he wants me to take his picture! It was so funny. I guess he's used to me taking lots of pictures of him :) We had such a fun time at the zoo and will hopefully go again soon!

22.5 months

Seattle with the Riedel's

Last weekend we went to Seattle to meet up with the Riedel Family. They live in California, so we don't get to see them often. So when we heard they were coming to the NW, we thought we would take the opportunity to take a mini vacation to Seattle to hang out with them. Daphne and I met in college our freshman year and have been friends every since. Barth & Daphne have 2 little girls; Ella 3, and Chloe 1. Andrew met them a few months ago on our trip to Disneyland and they became fast friends. Daphne & I have already planned Andrew & Chloe's marriage :) Anyways...back to the trip. We left on a Thursday and Andrew did great on the 4 hour trip up there. He watched the movie "Cars" most of the time, definitely his favorite movie. I was hoping he would take a nap on the way there, but no luck! We hung out with the Riedel's for awhile, shopped downtown and let the kids play in the hotel room. They had so much fun playing together! That night we met up with another one of our college friends and her girls. Andrew was the only boy out of the 5 kids, I think he liked hanging out with all the girls :) Friday we took the kids to the aquarium. It was Andrew's first trip to an aquarium and he loved it, especially the Nemo fish tank. He loves "Meemo"! He also really enjoyed watching the Otters play. It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip (besides hanging out with the Riedel's). The next day we took the kids to Queen Anne...our old stomping grounds! We went to Kerry Park, drove around SPU, and had lunch on the hill. Overall Andrew did great on the trip. He has never been good at sleeping anywhere besides his own bed, but this trip, he did great. He fell asleep right away at night and took naps during the day. I was so proud of him...he's getting to be such a big boy! Thanks Riedel family for letting us hang out with you on your vacation...we love you guys!

Andrea & her girls: Kyla & Heidi, Daphne & her girls: Ella & Chloe

Kerry Park with the Riedel Family

Chloe & Andrew

Finally.....

I've been kicking around the idea of starting a blog for a long time. Some of my friends have blogs and I love reading them, especially ones about their kids. So I thought, I should start one! Really my only reason for starting one is to write about Andrew. For the first year of his life I documented everything he did in a baby book, now that he's almost 2, I realize that I haven't written down any of the funny things he's done or any of his developments in the last year! All my documentation is in pictures. So I thought a blog would be a great way to journal about my son and all the joy and happiness he brings me every day! He is truly a blessing to me and I'm so thankful that I get to be a stay at home mom. So don't expect great writing, spelling, witty humor or anything like that, because I am a terrible writer! I'm just hoping that in 10 years I can look back and see all of the funny little moments Andrew brought to our lives....and also keep all my family members up to date on the happenings of Andrew!