My One Year Old, Andrew!

This is a VERY BELATED post, but I wanted to write about all the wonderful things about our precious boy, Andrew.

• First of all, Andrew you are WILD!!!! Watching you makes me a nervous mommy as I envision days at the ER and lots of stumbles and falls in the future. You started walking very early and now you are a pro!!! You are all over the place, climb up and down the stairs, and manage to climb more than you should. I have found you on top of our toddler table as well as hanging out on the couch all by yourself!!! You are a brave little boy. I think that you think you are older than you are so you have no fear on doing some of the many crazy things that your older brother does:) You are often called a monkey by our friends, but you just are all over the place!
• As far as eating, you are all over the place on your likes and dislikes. You have no strong desire food, unless it comes in a yellow Gerber package! You are OBSESSED with yogurt melts (unlucky for your parents' wallets, those things are not cheap!). If you see me throw them in the cart at the store, you throw a major fit. So I have resorted to sneaking anything in the Gerber yellow packaging into my cart without you seeing. Other foods that you tend to like are blueberries, noodles, quesadillas, string cheese, and yogurt. You are often want whatever your brother is eating, even if you spit it out right away. I have a feeling that I will have another picky eater on my hands, because you don't seem to LOVE food either. We just moved you to the booster highchair at the table which you seem to love. You would squeak and squawk in the big highchair making every dinner a stressful event. You are much more content joining us at the table and you love to use a fork and spoon to put food into your mouth!
• I do have to admit, as much as I am trying to break this habit, you LOVE your bottle! You switched from soy formula to soy milk and we are in the process of transitioning you to whole milk. You had a sensitive stomach as a baby, but I think you are starting to outgrow the intolerance as you seem to enjoy whole milk just fine as long as it comes out a bottle. You will have nothing to do with milk in a sippy cup which we hope to change soon. You do love water, or any other liquid, out of the sippy, but there is no way that you will even give that milk a chance. And you get very cranky if you don't get your bottle every four or five hours, so I give in to keep our sanity around this house!
• Despite your love for yogurt melts and the bottle, you are still one TINY little boy! We just had you in for your one year appointment when you turned 13 months. You tipped the scales at 17 pounds, which is below the 5th percentile and almost the same weight that Aiden was at a year. I can't remember how many inches tall you are, although I do remember that you were in the 15th percentile. The doctors and your parents are not too concerned about your petite size as you are on the same growth curve as your brother was!
• You finally sleep consistently through the night, although about once a week or so, you throw a curveball at us and arise around 4:30 am. Not a pleasant way to awake two tired parents. Although you don't fuss, you bang around in your crib like a madman keeping all those who share an adjoining wall with you awake! You usually wake up around 6:30 am and go to bed around 7:30. Most days, you will stay take two naps (about one hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon). Although, you have started to give up the morning nap at times and play wildly in your bed in the afternoon!
• You just got four more teeth within the past month and you have six big choppers! I have a feeling that those front teeth are going to be some big ones:)
• Although you are wild, you seem to be more quiet than your brother. But you have your moments of shrieking, crazy laughing, and making lots of noise. You LOVE to make noises with your brother, it's like you have your own language. You don't say a lot of words, but I have heard you say "What's that?", "Hi", "Mama", and "Up"! You finally have started signing more and all done at the table which will hopefully make dinner a little more manageable.
• You LOVE to play toys. Your favorite toys are cars, trains, and trucks. You are such a boy. Whatever friend's house we are at, you manage to find the boy toys:) You also love Handy Manny tools, the Thomas bathtub toys, and balls. You also LOVE LOVE LOVE books! You are always carrying them around, looking at them, and dropping them throughout the house. Your favorite books are Brown Bear Brown Bear, Thomas, and a 123 book. Let's hope you grow up to be a bookworm like your mom! You are very attached to your stuffed puppy that we call Bone Jr. It is so adorable how much you love it and you will NOT sleep if it is not with you.
• You LOVE LOVE LOVE your brother! Thank goodness since we spend all day with him:) You rarely have a moment in your day that he is not around. You two give hugs, love to wrestle, and chase each other around the house. It makes one happy mommy when you two play together so well. Now that Aiden started to go to preschool, I think we both feel a little lost without him around but I am loving my extra moments with you that we can play with just the two of us.
• You love to play at home, but are usually content out and about. You go to music class once a week where you get to play fun instruments. We also love to visit friends throughout the week where you are usually a happy and content boy to play with all the new toys. And you LOVE the park! You love to run around, climb, and hit the swings. But, you are not the best shopper. You love to try to stand up in the cart and make a big scene along with your big brother, so therefore our errand running is kept to the minimal!

We love you, Andrew, and can't wait to see what another year brings!