Counting down to spring

wyattandandrew.jpgMarch 15: It seems to me that nearly every day Andrew does something that seems worthy of a website post.  I file these moments in my mind, but now I am finding that when I sit down to share them with his adoring public that I’m not sure what to say.  The snow is melting…that’s a big one.  It was super warm earlier this week, and our feet of snow have shrunk to inches of snow. Lovely new daylight savings time has given us more light in the evening, and Andrew is having fun walking through increasingly mushy snow in his “BOOTS!” He’s also counting a lot.  “One, six, seveneight, nine, TEN!”

Photos from the last week are in the gallery.  They include some pictures of a recent wintry trip to Olbrich Gardens and a visit from Andrew’s buddy Wyatt.

The neighborhood owl(s) continue to hoot, hoot, hoot in the evenings, and it makes for a lovely end of the day.  As we leave the house in the mornings, I entice Andrew out the door by encouraging him to go outside to hear the birds sing.  And sing they do!  Andrew notes that they say “cheep cheep.”  He has a cute accent, and I love the way he says, “berds. sing-ing. berds. cheep cheep.”

We’ve been working with him on two-word sentences, but he’s pretty into the one word world.  He also alway repeats the last word you say, so if I parrot back something to him, encouraging him to repeat me, he nearly always happily says the last word.

Andrew is still doing multi-person hugs, spreading his arms wide and animatedly saying “Buddies!”  What a great way to start or end a day:)

We went to Monore last weekend to visit my grandpa and grandma, and when we visited my grandpa in the hospital, he was in ICU and was all hooked up to tubes and he was in pain and it was all a little scary.  My mom and I stood near Grandpa, holding his hand, stroking his head, and generally offering comfort.  Andrew was pretty unsure about the situation, but he seemed to understand that Grandpa was someone who we love.  So he held his great-grandpa’s finger and even gave him a hug and kiss several times. It really warmed my heart to see my little guy being so kind and compassionate despite being a little nervous.

One other little story I wanted to write down for posterity.  When we are driving to Karen’s in the morning, we get in the car and Andrew starts asking for his favorite song, Drip, drip, drop.  He gets increasingly worried, saying, “Drip. DRIP.  DRIP!”  Unfortunately, that particular CD lives in his dad’s car, so we had to make do without it.  The big highlight of our three minute drive to Karen’s house is when we get to see Lake Monona.  We talk about it from the moment we leave the driveway.  Andrew says “lake” in such a way that it sounds a lot like “ick.”  As we get close to the lake, he gets increasingly excited.  When we see it, he tells me about how it is “frozen” with “ice.”  He also may or may not mention “fishies” “snoring sound” (meaning they are sleeping)…don’t know where he came up with that one… “wahter” or “gators.”  What a great kid!

Those are some of the stories I can think of today.  I look forward to seeing what he comes up with for tomorrow:)