The origin of scary faces

Anyone think this

is just an updated version of this?

Real men hug

Andrew and his bud Caleb are both excellent huggers.

Fred and Ginger

Ginger is Petra, who is just 3 weeks younger than Andrew. I knew Andrew was tall and Petra was short, but wow. Wow.

Dear Andrew

Dear Andrew,

You're driving me nuts.

You say "no" when there's no question on the table.

You throw a holy fit getting in your carseat. Then you refuse to come out of it because you want to figure out how to work the seatbelt.

You won't just pick a chair and sit there at dinner, even though you do that for 2 meals a day at school. You run around the kitchen, banging on and crawling under the glass table.

Getting you dressed takes an act of god. Socks offend you and often cause you to kick me in the face.

You have had your diaper changed at least 5 times a day for 21 months (3,200 times but who's counting) but still won't just accept it as a part of life.

I work all day, too, and I don't get a nap. I'm tired, too. I want to kick and scream when I get home, too.

So it's a very good thing I love you so very much.

Keep this letter and read it to yourself and/or your significant other when you have a kid who's driving you nuts. You are not alone.

Love,
Mom

New Year's Eve 2009

Andrew's New Year's Eve celebrations started early. He hit my office around 3:30pm and held court for an hour.

First he made himself right at home making scary faces and directing everyone around him to do the same, all while he munched on a strawberry cereal bar.



He felt freer when he didn't know he was on camera.



"Darlene, scary face, now!"



Then he took over Nancy's desk, investigating both her computer and her calculator.





And that's when I happily remembered that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

August 1, 2008:



December 31, 2009:

Friends

Andrew has a cool little cadre of friends at school.

(Incidentally, I found these definitions of cadre online:

1. a nucleus or core group especially of trained personnel able to assume control and to train others; broadly: a group of people having some unifying relationship
2. a cell of indoctrinated leaders active in promoting the interests of a revolutionary party

Each definition fits equally and frighteningly well for toddlers and rebel soldiers.)

I love his cronies, and I want to say something about each of them. Bear in mind these kids constitute the core group usually in Andrew's class due to similar ages. From oldest to youngest:

Matthew With a head of hair I would kill for, Matthew is a sweet, quiet boy who loves books. He gives me sly smiles that melt me. I don't know if he'll be tall, but he will definitely be dark and handsome.

Jake My first memory of Jake is him kicking back in the swing next to Andrew's in Nursery I. He had a fauxhawk, courtesy of Ms. Aida. He's got warm eyes and a huge smile, and he loves to say hi.

Emerson Emerson is like Mighty Mouse. The third child, she is scrappy and feisty. Nobody messes with Emerson because she can hold her own. I kinda want Andrew to learn from her.

Anna Nana! She's everyone's girlfriend because she's the one whose name they can say. I am most proud of Anna's smiles to me because I earned them. Anna doesn't give it up for just anyone. She knows me and will flash that toothy grin at me 9 times out of 10.

Trey Trey is actually John Saul Edwards III, but he is totally a Trey. I also remember the first time I saw him. It was in Nursery I, and he was happily having some tummy time on one of the the green and purple dinosaur activity gyms. He gave me the biggest grin ever, and it wasn't until later that I learned he wasn't always so smiley. Trey could walk faster on his knees than most adults can walk on their feet. It was amazing to see. Everyone joked he should have shoes for his knees.

John Sweet John, the Valentine's baby. John's got a great disposition. I watched him do a nasty faceplant at Arts Alive in Nursery I, and he just kept right on Arts Aliving.

Jeremy Jeremy reminds me of Elvis or John Travolta. Dark hair, the bluest blue eyes, and a killer smile. I believe he's also the one who started all the babies saying "No no!" when asked, "What does the teacher say?" during Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.

Carter Carter joined the class only recently, and I don't know him too well. But Andrew can almost say his name because it sounds like water. So we talk about Carter a lot. Carter is a sweet boy who has made himself right at home in this crazy bunch.

Caleb Twenty years from now, we're going to hear about some fantastic military maneuver that managed to bring down every despot in all of Africa. Caleb is going to be at the center of it. That kid is the fastest, sneakiest kid I've ever met. He can get out of any room before you know he was even there to begin with. Just two days older than Andrew, Caleb was considerably later to sit up, which made be believe he'd be later at everything else, too. Couldn't have been more wrong. My recollection is that Caleb sat up, crawled, walked, and ran within about 20 minutes. I called his crawl the "wounded sniper." Like many kids, at the beginning he would drag himself across the floor rather than crawl. But he did it with one arm tucked under his chest, giving him the appearance of said wounded sniper.

Kaden My little cuddler. Kaden loves to hug me. Starting from Nursery II, Kaden always greeted me before Andrew did. And he always made sure to find a place in my lap, whether or not he had to share with Andrew. He is just the sweetest little boy. And Andrew laughs whenever I say his name, so I get the sense they're buds.

Andrew S. (aka Big Poppa) Andrew S. and my Andrew looked like the bouncers of Nursery I. They were both so big. And they both loved, and still love, to eat. For a long time, during our daily naming of friends, I referred to Andrew S. as "the other Andrew" or "Andrew S." I've since learned that the Movement II teachers call him Big Poppa, so that's what I call him now, and my Andrew just cracks up as he says "Poppa!" Big Poppa is usually identified as one of Andrew's cronies of choice on Andrew's progress reports.

Petra Petra may be the shortest human I've ever met. But what she lacks in height, she makes up in an amazing speaking ability. It's so cool to be able to talk to her and understand what she's saying! She also loves Andrew ("An-doo") and gives him hugs any chance she gets. Andrew likes to hug her, too, though he usually has to bend down to do it.

Conner What amazes me most about Conner is how nicely and easily he would go down for his nap. While Andrew and some of the other rebels would be bouncing all over the room, trying to wake everyone else up to play, Conner would lie quietly on his mat, enjoying his bottle and a back rub. I told Andrew to pay attention.

Julianna Julianna and Lucas are twins. They also just recently joined the class. I'm still getting to know them. Juli is quiet but purposeful; you know she means business when she goes to do something.

Lucas I had known Lucas for about 3 minutes when I could confidently say Lucas is the talker. I don't know that I've ever seen him when he wasn't talking. Maybe that's why Julianna's so quiet.

Grant And then there's Grant, aka Bubba. Grant is a chilled out baby who could probably just as easily be on a surfboard as a swingset. I wouldn't be surprised if his first word is "Duuuude."

Pasta with Grandpa

Have you seen this?



It's the pasta I used to eat. I guess it'll do. It makes for good finger paints, if nothing else.

But this is how I eat pasta now. Same as Grandpa.





P.S. My shirt says #1 Hunk.