Category: Updates about Andrew

Jan. 21: Last night we had a great time spending a few hours with our Happy Bambino baby friends.  The kids are all getting so big, and it was amazing (if a bit overwhelming) to watch them all buzzing about the party.  The acoustics were that of a happy (and sometimes sad) group of 18 to 19 month-olds.  Thanks to Denise, Nate, and Jaya for opening their home for the party.  I am so happy and grateful to have such a wonderful group of parents and kids as my friends.
Some photos of the event are in the gallery.

Jan. 16:  It’s been a sick weekend in the Dotzour home.  The fever Andrew started running on Friday got worse over the weekend.  We kept him dosed up on medicine (or “meh sin” as he calls it), and we watched videos nearly constantly as this activity was one of the only that didn’t result in anguished tantrums.  While he was sick, reading books, playing with toys, doing puzzles, or just sitting on the floor together could instantly turn bad if the book wasn’t held just so or the puzzle piece wouldn’t fit in fast enough.  I think that being sick just took away his tolerance for things not going according to his (private) plan.
So I now have Animals are Beautiful People nearly committed to memory.  Fortunately it doesn’t seem that his illness was anything more than a relatively benign virus.  And Andrew is certainly on the upswing today.  We’re playing with his Ark as I type:)  What a relief it is to have him feeling better!  Photos of sick Andrew in various reclined positions are in the gallery.

Jan. 13: The weather may not feel a lot like winter, but I think we’ve hit our first winter virus.  Andrew started running a fever yesterday, and he woke up this morning feeling like a very sick boy.  Fortunately, thanks to the magic of Tylenol, he’s up and running around the house now.  He just found three pacifiers under his bed, so he has one in his mouth and one in each hand.  He was just playing with his piggy bank, and he has been distributing the trucks from his Granny Lu-made book.  Now he has climbed up on the rocking chair to read some books.  Pictures of the last week are in the gallery.

The last week, he has decided to alter out bedtime routine a bit.  Instead of reading him three books, he now wants to read them himself.  So he climbs up into the rocking chair (all by himself!) and reads himself three books while I sit on the floor nearby.  Then I pick him up and set him in bed.  He is definitely getting some serious ideas about how he wants things done!
Mom and I went boot shopping on Thursday night, and while we had a fun time together, I was unable to find any good brown knee-high boots…except a great pair of Frey boots, but that’s a bit out of my range!
I think with Andrew being under the weather that we’ll be sticking pretty close to home this weekend.  Hope your (perhaps 3-day) weekend is good!
~Althea

Dec. 18: Today is my dad’s birthday, and we celebrated by getting together for dinner at our place.  Mom made all the food and brought it over. I told her that I’m always happy to have a dinner party at my house when I don’t have to do a thing to get ready for it!  Dessert was chocolate fondue with good dippings.  mmmm  See a quick video here:

Andrew has been having a lot of fun with Christmas activities.  The novelty of the tree has worn off.  After we decorated the tree, he completely forgot about the tree water/splash pool, and at this point, he leaves most of the ornaments alone too.  Last week we had a neighborhood holiday party/cookie exchange at our house.  He had fun playing, and Bryan and I really enjoyed spending a warm evening with our friends whom we don’t see much when the weather turns cold.

I had my Gathering Waters holiday party last week as well, and we had the three 2005 Gathering Babies in the same place for the first time since last winter.  Clara, Alex, and Andrew sure are an amazing set of cuties.  And Andrew really enjoyed the food at the party.

Last weekend, we took another visit to Olbrich Gardens holiday train exhibit.  Andrew had a blast watching the trains and running around in the conservatory.  It’s so fun to watch him gain confidence and navigate his own little way in the world.  He knew how to wiggle right up to the trains…meanwhile I’m on my tiptoes several bodies back, trying to keep an eye on him!

We’ve started sharing some presents with him.  Tonight he opened a couple gifts from Aunt Kate.  And he played with them all evening.  What a fun kid!

Karen called me this afternoon to tell me that Andrew had climbed to the top of the play structure today.   How does he get these ideas that he is a big boy?  It constantly shocks me!

The weather was so warm this past weekend that we spent quite a bit of time outdoors.  We (finally) raked our lawn, and Andrew had a blast playing in the leaves.  Then we went to the playground for the first time in a couple months.  He had a lot of fun going down the slide, playing on the swings, and going through the tunnel.  And he really didn’t want to leave!

Christmas is coming, and it’s so fun to share the magic with our little guy.

Happy wishes to you all!

Althea

Dec. 6: Andrew is thoroughly amused with our decision to bring a tree in to our living room.  For the first couple days after it came home, Andrew decided that the water at the base of the tree was his own personal splash pond.  Repeatedly pulling him back by his overall straps didn’t have much affect other than focusing his resolve.  That was fun.

Then once we lit and decorated the tree, he’s been so fascinated with that part of the tree that he seems to have (at least temporarily) forgotten about the water.  He’s very into the tree.  He likes to lean in and sniff at the lights.  Let me tell you, it’s a cute sight to see.  He tells me about the ornaments he sees ‘tars” (stars) “beear”  “meaow” “maaaa” (sheep).  When we first brought it home, he was trying to figure out what kinds of things we put in the tree.  He’s been trying to put all sorts of things in the tree. Throwing Bryan’s shoes into the tree was one plan.  These days he likes to put his teddy bear, small books, and mail into the tree.  Sometimes they even stick.

It’s also been fun to share our Christmas music box (from Aunt Kate and Uncle Greg) with Andrew.  He loves it.  He listens, cocks his head, and asks for “moh, MOH!”

Happy Christmas planning to you all!

Nov. 19: Andrew’s eye teeth are coming in. He has been a very drooly boy the last week, and yesterday I saw the peek of a new tooth on one side.  Last night and the night before he was up and very unhappy in the night.  Poor boy…it’s hard to know he is hurting.  And I really would think that getting new teeth would hurt!  Bryan has been out of town this weekend, and both Friday and Saturday, Andrew really didn’t want to do the napping thing. Makes for some pretty long days.  But about an hour ago, he looked at his crib and said, “pAh” (pacifier).  I asked him if he wanted to nap and he said “nAh.”  Then he blissfully, quietly went to sleep.

And I am now taking this moment of quiet not to progress on any of my household needs or to-lists.  I’m browsing the internet and reading about toddlers.  That and letting my brain drift quietly about without worrying about Andrew destroying himself or durable household items.

I think I need to work on consistency about what Andrew is and is not allowed to do.  His Opinions are all-consuming for him, and last week’s passion is not necessarily an interest this week.  So I’m trying to figure out what behaviors to promote, which ones to ignore, which ones to really not want him to do but ignore, and which ones to stop.

And where is the line between “that is not allowed” and “that is not a good idea, let’s do something else”?  Can I keep those behaviors straight in my mind?  What if tomorrow a “not good idea” drives me crazy and then it breaks his heart because he tells me (with his eyes), “You let me do that before!!”

Or worse, when I let a “not allowed” behavior go because I’m tired or because he is cute or because circumstances make it difficult to effectively re-direct his very directed brain. hmmm

Our current conundrum is that Andrew likes throwing his toys down the basement stairs.  Wait, he LOVES throwing his toys down the basement stairs.  It’s an activity that excites him so much he pants.  And it is kind of a fascinating study in physics.  Soft cat toys land with a soft thump a few steps down.  Toy cars make a tremendous, very satisfying racket as they knock against every step.  Balls bounce down the stairs and roll all around the floor at the bottom.  Plastic creatures bang nicely and make fall far or near depending on how they hit the stairs.  Playing cards float or fall.  I would guess there are 40 toys on our basement stairs right now.

But the baby gate at the top of the stairs is only so safe.  And if he somehow broke the gate and feel down the stairs (like his dad did when he was a baby)…well that could be catastrophic beyond imagining.  So clearly as a responsible parent, I shouldn’t let him do this.  Or at least I shouldn’t encourage it.  I definitely shouldn’t stand at the top of the stairs and say, “Wow!  That one was loud!”

But the last few days I’ve thoroughly confused Andrew by alternating between forbidding, attempting distraction, and condoning the throwing the toys down the basement stairs game.  Setting the stage for a lifetime of consistent, dependable discipline.

Maybe next week he will pick a new behavior to try out, and myself, being a little wiser this time will step up my parenting know-how and resolve a bit.  It’s amazing the things that occupy my mind!

~Althea

Nov 13: I am shocked at how much Andrew changed in the few days I was gone.  He seems more worldly to me.  He can tell me about so many things.  I got home last night while he was in the tub.  “Bat!” he kept saying to me.  And then he showed me his tub toys and wash cloths.

It seems to me like he has gone from just being able to point to things that I name to now being able to, in his own little baby babble, tell me about all his toys.  And he is quite earnest about it all.  It feels just fantastic to be back at home with him again.

There was a good snowfall here over the weekend.  Bryan took some video of Andrew playing out in the snow.  At some point here, I might see if I can figure out how to upload video to my webpage.  I just downloaded the pictures from Halloween.
We took pictures at daycare and as we trick-or-treated around our neighborhood.
This way you can see yet more pictures of Andrew in his duck costume. I also have a few pictures of Bryan and Andrew reading and of Andrew playing with his new favored toy, his Ark from Granny Lu and Grandad.
“AAHK!”  he says.

Nov. 6: Andrew is rapidly growing into a little boy.  A little boy with Opinions.  For example, this evening, my little boy had an opinion about the state of the items on his bedroom shelves.  “Off the shelves” was his thought.  Therefore, all the board books, the paper books, the toys, the stuffies, everything was forcibly removed from the shelves to the floor. He accomplished this with rapid sweeps of his arm.
“Off the shelves,” you could almost see his little mind saying.

Now his mama who was sitting in the room with him had other thoughts.
“Read a book,” she thought. “Play with Noah’s ark,” was another thought.  “Let’s be silly and roll around on the floor,” was a third. But to these vapid suggestions, the little boy with Opinions said gently but firmly, “Nonono.”  The directive that we don’t treat our toys so roughly and wildly chuck our toys around the room was met with a rather obstinate and definitely negative response.

I guess the Mama is continuing to learn that her little boy has his own ways of playing with toys and the little boy is learning that sometimes reading books with the Mama is at least as fun as causing widespread room destruction.

The End

Oct. 29:  We have had a remarkably lovely set of weekends this fall.

Seems like more often than not, week days are gray and rainy, but then on the weekend we have great weather.  We just had Granny Lu and Grandad come visit us, and we had a great time.  It’s so nice to spend time together and to watch Andrew develop fun rituals with his grandparents.  I have a few pictures in the gallery from their visit.

A couple weekends ago I spent the day on Saturday visiting with Heather and Michael, who had come to town to plant a tree at her parent’s house in memory of baby Allan.  It felt good to see them again.  My heart is so heavy with them…

On Sunday, Oct. 15, Bryan and Andrew and I took a family field trip out to Door Creek Apple Orchard and then off to the zoo.  Andrew had a great time seeing some sheep at the apple orchard.  Then at the zoo, he was pretty entranced by most of the animals.  Pictures of the orchard and zoo trips are in our gallery.

I think that I neglected to post a link to our gallery of pictures of the weekend we went to the pumpkin patch with Andrew.  Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm – Vermont Valley Community Farm – has several farm days.  We missed most of them this year, but earlier this month we made it to the pumpkin pick.  Andrew sure was cute, stumbling around the field.  Afterwards, we got him his first pair of hard-soled shoes.  Pictures of the pumpkin pick are in the gallery.

Last weekend we went up to St. Paul to see Maretta in her play, The Haunting of Hill House.  She was terrific, and it was so fun to see her in action.  We had a nice visit with her and with Kyle.  We rounded off the weekend with a trip to the Underwater Adventures Aquarium.  I especially liked the underwater tunnel where you could see sharks, turtles, and all sorts of cool sea creatures swim around us.  I think, however, that I was a bit more impressed than Andrew.

Bryan is out raking leaves now, and I should probably dig up my dahlia and plant some tulip bulbs!  Happy fall!

Oct. 29:  We just got back from our second annual baby Halloween party.  There were lions, a dog, a cowboy, a dragon, a young republican, a fairy, and a fluffy duck. I went a little crazy taking pictures of all these silly guys. They are so cute!!! 

Photos of the Haloween party are in the gallery.  I’ve also posted high resolution photos to Walgreens.com, and you can download copies there if you wish. Thanks to Jenny, Tom, and Cora for hosting a really fun event.