Category: Updates about Andrew

Oct. 4: Andrew was really disappointed that he couldn’t go to preschool today.  So Bryan offered to play preschool with him.  It was pretty sweet.
Andrew’s been coming home singing songs, showing off his artwork, and skipping and dreaming about when he can go back.  Everything I’ve seen about his preschool makes me love it.  It’s all so gentle and play-oriented.
I had a short conference with his teachers, Sue and Emily, on Thursday. They are really enjoying Andrew, and I got the pleasure of having other adults talk warmly about my sweet boy.  Good preschool times!

Sept. 19: Andrew came home from preschool today with info on the first school fundraiser in our family’s history.  And I’ve got to say, Monona Grove Nursery School seems to have picked a good one!  Items include cookie dough, cinnamon rolls, and Butter Braids frozen pastries.
Info on the yummy items for sale is below.  If you’d like to order anything, send me a note.  If you live afar, I can mail it to you.
The last day to submit your order is Oct. 1.

Butter Braids Frozen Pastries
Butter Braid is a 22 oz. Frozen Pastry dough.  When baked, it produces a homemade tasting breakfast entree or dessert.
It needs to rise 8-12 hours (rise till double in size).  Bake for 20-25 minutes to make a delicious special pastry!

$11 each
Flavors to choose from:

apple, Bavarian creme, blueberry/cream cheese, caramel rolls (9 count), cherry, cinnamon, cream cheese, raspberry

If you want some of these in your freezer, please let me know how many of each flavor you would like.

Party Time cookie dough
MMmmmm…cookie dough…  I like the idea of having a three-pound tub of cookie dough in my fridge:)

Scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet and bake-it’s just that easy.
Each tub makes 96 half-ounce cookies.  The dough lasts six months in the freezer or 3 mo in the fridge.

$14 each
Flavors to choose from:

chunky chocolate chip, made with M&M’s, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, sugar, monster (Peanut butter and oatmeal base with
chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and candy-coated chocolate pieces), triple chocolate, snickerdoodle, white chocolate macadamia nut, peanut butter with chocolate chunks, made with Heath English toffee,

Also, for $14, you can order two-dozen cinnamon rolls

To order the cookie dough, please let me know how many tubs of each flavor you would like.

Colored sugar cookie dough
Making creative sugar cookies has never been easier.  This made-from-scratch dough allows you to play and create your own cookies in rainbow colors.  Create flowers, animals, words, or anything you can imagine.  Produced in the heartland, suing only the finest ingredients.  Comes in blue, green, red, and yellow.
$14  for four 14 ounce tubs (total weight is 3.5 pounds)

If this sounds like fun, please let me know how many orders you would like (each order includes four colors of cookie dough).

Your last day to order is Wednesday, October 1.  Thanks so much for helping to support Andrew’s wonderful preschool.
The orders are being delivered on Thursday, November 13th.  Checks should be made out to me (I’m supposed to submit one check for the entire order).  Also, if you’d like to support Andrew’s school without indulging in any of these baked goods, you can write a check to Monona Grove Nursery School.

Sept. 19: Andrew stayed home from preschool yesterday, and this morning was really borderline.  He has such a runny nose.  I’ve actually wanted to photograph Andrew with his funny, “I just sneezed big and I need help wiping!” look, but I thought that would be a little too gross for all my gentle readers out there.
I’m hoping that when I pick Andrew up at 1:45 today that his teaches don’t say, “Bad idea having him come today, Mom!”  We’ll see.  He really wanted to go, and I think that the running/sneezing incidents had slowed from their just-woke-up-sneeze-it-all-out status.
In any case, he’s having fun now, and so am I!

Sept. 18: I’ve got a runny-nosed Andrew sitting next to me this morning.  His nose has been very, er, productive, recently.  So we decided to keep him home from preschool this morning.  He wanted to go, but he was all right with our join decision to stay home.
I was a little bummed because I had been looking forward to my quiet time this morning!  Oh well.  Maybe tomorrow.

Sept. 11: We got together twice this week with Andrew’s friends Wyatt and Eli.  It is so much fun to watch those little guys play together!  Wyatt’s a big brother now.  Little Clay is six weeks old, and as cute as a button.  Sarah, Jessica, and I all went to the Monona Library’s story hour together, and we also got together on Tuesday afternoon for a play date at Jessica’s new home.  It’s hard to believe that when the three of us get together with kids that there are nine individuals to account for!
Pictures of our last several days are in the gallery.

Sept. 10: DC recap part 3 – We had a great time at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  It was like a wonderland for Andrew.  The only problem was that he was so excited, we raced through it at nearly top speed.  We’ll have to go back!  Pictures of our visit are in the gallery.
Andrew hasn’t ever been to a museum where there were taxidermic dioramas or big dino bones.  This museum had both – in spades.  And we spent a good hour in their discovery room, where Andrew got some hands-on time with artifacts.
As Andrew raced from the mammals hall to the dino hall, he was often shouting out what he was seeing.  “An okapi!  There’s an antelope! Look at the HIPPO!  It’s a…what do you call it?  Pangolin!”  I was trying to get pictures of him, but he was moving fast.  His pointer finger was permanently extended, pointing out all the wonders around him.

After we’d explored the public part of the museum, Heather – a venerable Smithsonian staffer – took us on a back-stage tour of the Smithsonian’s bird collections.  Heather’s adviser, Helen James, took me on a tour of some of the 640,000 bird specimens in an amazing library of stuffed bird bodies.  We looked at the birds that Heather is studying in her research, and we walked by cases of birds collected by luminaries such as Darwin, Wallace, Audubon, and Teddy Roosevelt.  It was really cool.

After a yummy lunch at the museum cafeteria, we headed home.  But I’m glad to have friends living in the DC area…because I know we’ll want to come back!  What a great museum for my little boy.

Sept. 5: Yesterday was Andrew’s preschool orientation. He loved it. And this morning he ran around excitedly getting dressed and (amazingly) asking me to help him with his coat and shoes. Here’s a quick video as we walk down the street to his school.

Sept. 4: Andrew donned his yellow rain boots, his bumble bee umbrella, and adorable fall clothes as he headed out the door to walk to his first day of preschool.  He was pretty excited!  His teachers are Sue and Emily at Monona Grove Nursery School, and I think it’s going to be a delightful experience.  Today we just went for 15 minutes so he could meet his teachers and explore the room.  Tomorrow and Thursday and Friday next week he has shortened (2 hour) days, and then for the remainder of the school year he’ll be going on Thursday and Friday mornings from 8:45 – 11:45am.
What a sweet kid!  I took pictures, but tonight I’ve been busy
a) Watching the Republican convention and
b) Researching cars.  My car started smoking this afternoon…We’re contemplating replacing rather than repairing as it needs brakes and a timing belt and water pump and since it’s a ’92 doesn’t have the same safety features that 2000+ models have.
Bon soir!

July 23: An hour ago, Andrew and Granny flew away on what is Andrew’s first trip without his parents.  He’s heading to Texas to spend the next few days at Granny and Grandad’s house.  Sylvia, Bryan, and I will be joining him on Saturday.
Andrew was excited beyond words.  All morning long he wanted to go to the airport.  I’m excited too!  It’s fabulous that he can be spreading his wings and having one-on-one fun with his grandparents.  And I’ll get to focus on Sylvia for a few days.  Focus on Sylvia and (hopefully) find a little extra space in my life to breathe.
Now I can turn to my five-month-old and ask, “Darling, what would you like to do this afternoon?”

July 18: So the chocolate sorbet that I made yesterday is rather good.  Like lick the bowl good.  I gave Andrew (my boy who likes to eat batter) the bowl and a spoon, and this is what happened.  Oh my.

Just note that if I had turned the camera around, my face may or may not have looked similar.  I truly love Andrew gusto for life.

In other news, as I wrote this post, I said, “That’s my big guy!” and he replied, “I’m not big.  I’m still quite yiddle.”