All About Andrew

As I mentioned in previous posts, Andrew is adjusting well to being a big brother. He is actually very patient with Tyler and he is always curious as to where he is (when he is sleeping, for example). He loves to give him kisses and wants to help in any way that he can. He makes sure to kiss Tyler goodnight every night.

A couple of really cute stories that I have to share about Tyler's first days at home ...

One evening Tyler was happily sleeping in his swing when he woke up and started crying. I was doing something in the kitchen and Andrew was sitting in his high chair. Doug went over to attend to Tyler. Andrew must have thought that Doug was making things worse because he said "stop it, Daddy - that's Mommy's baby Tyler!" We thought it was the cutest thing. We of course explained to him later that I am Tyler's mommy just like I am Andrew's mommy and daddy is Tyler's daddy just like he is Andrew's daddy :)

Later that day I was changing Tyler in the bedroom and he was fussing since he is not a fan of the whole diaper change concept. Out of nowhere Andrew rushes into the bedroom holding Tyler's pacifier. Andrew saw me use it earlier in the day to calm Tyler and he wanted to do the same thing!

I have to say that I am extremely proud of Andrew and of how he is handling the transition from being an only child into big brotherhood. As I knew he would be, Andrew has really shown us that he is a wonderful big brother. While we have to remind him to be gentle with Tyler, he is as gentle as a 2.5 year old knows how to be! We are so proud of him.

Aside from becoming a big brother, Andrew has also grown into quite the big boy. He is talking up a storm now and at this point we can hold a conversation with him which is so much fun. It is wonderful that he can communicate his needs and wants. Doug and I are in awe of how much he can say and sometimes he surprises us by saying something profound (well, relatively speaking for a 2 year old!) that makes us look at each other as if to say, what happened to our baby boy?

He is a very active and smart little boy. He loves learning new words and is quite the parrot these days, so be careful of what you say in front of him because he will repeat it later! It reminds me of the commercials where the mom gives the child a snack (the snack was what the commercial was about) to stop the child from saying inappropriate things in line at the grocery store. Not that we would ever say anything that Andrew could not repeat :)

Some of my favorite things that he says include: I love you (awww - it just makes my heart melt every single time); Look at that! (when he opens presents, sees something new / exciting / different); See you later; Daddy did it ... these are just a handful of the cute things that he says. You just have to imagine his sweet voice saying these things. He is actually putting 5 -6 words together to form sentences now. It seems like yesterday that he was saying his first words. Tyler reminds me a lot of Andrew when he was a baby so it really makes me step back and think about how much Andrew has grown -- and how quickly the time has passed.

Andrew also loves to sing songs, including Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, ABCs, Old McDonald, Jingle Bells, and B-I-N-G-O to name a few.

Here are a couple recent photos of Andrew. I love his big brown eyes in the second photo ... this small photo doesn't do them (and his long eye lashes) justice.



Here are a couple of photos of Andrew playing outside. Since he has been growing like a weed (1 inch in the last month alone) he can finally reach the pedals to the point where he can put enough force on them to actually pedal. He rode his tricycle all the way down our street and back today. He likes to ride on the sidewalk to each driveway so that he can ride down the slope of the driveway.

We have been playing outside everyday for an hour or so when Andrew and Doug come home from school and work now that it is staying light outside longer. He loves to ride his tricycle, play catch, and play on his swing set and with the dogs in the back yard. I carry Tyler in my Ergo carrier (in the front carry position) so the whole family gets to play outside together - it is a wonderful way to finish the day before getting started with the night time routine of dinner, bath, bedtime stories, etc.


Needless to say, Andrew is our pride and joy and his little brother Tyler has a great example and a wonderful big brother to look up to and to learn from. I can only hope that they will grow up to be best friends.