His personality has really emerged even more since the last time I posted. He loves to make us laugh, and he does things that make himself laugh, too, whether we're laughing or not! Earlier this week, the boys and I decided to go to the library to play and check out books. Gabriel led the way out the door of our house, followed by Andrew, and soon to be followed by me. As I was zipping my coat, Andrew shut the glass door behind him, turned around to look at me and hysterically laughed at the joke he had played. What a stinker! I laughed too and then soon opened the door. Everyone loves his laugh, even Gabriel. It's very contagious and sweet like only a child's laugh can be.
And when he smiles big, he has the CUTEST dimples just under his eyes!! I was able to get a photograph of them last week when we were finishing up lunch. He'll even do "dimples" on command if he's in the right mood, as he was here. :)
He loves to be active and move, move, move!! In fact, when he stops moving, he's usually doing something else which quickly requires a move to the diaper station in our bedroom. He never watches TV. The only time I have seen him watch it intently was at a pizza place where we had a TV nearby which was showing a basketball game. He was even shouting at it--not sure what he was trying to say, but he was involved in that game. lol We think he's probably going to be the athlete in the family. Gabriel moves a lot, too, but has already told us that he has absolutely no interest in playing sports. Pizza group selfie, here, for added cuteness!
He loves helping out around the house. He can collect random dirty socks off the floor for the laundry. He will pick up crayons that he's purposely thrown or have ended up on the floor by accident. He's quick to point out any little messes at his place at the table and request a paper towel to clean it up. He loves helping us put away groceries and helping himself to a cookie while doing so. :) He likes his baths, except for the hair washing part, and will grab his own washcloth and make sure his cup (both a toy and something we use to wash his hair) is still intact, and if it's not, he'll go grab another one. And a really cute activity he does is bring Howie's lunch tote to it's place in the kitchen right after Baba gets home. Even if he's in the middle of a good snack, if Howie comes home, he's saying, "Down me" so that I let him out of his booster seat to go do his job.
His language is just exploding!! He's picking up new words every day, and sometimes he uses them to communicate-- sometimes he is just imitating-- for now. Just the other day, Howie came in from the store, and I said, "There's the water." Andrew said "Water," which he requests from me often during the day. Sometimes he really means water. Other times he means toddler formula and milk. Then I said, "And there's the fabric softener," and to my amazement, he said, "Fabric softener!" LOL I cracked up and then quickly praised him for saying it. His diction is really pretty amazing at such a young age! I also wanted to send my niece (in college) a birthday message from her youngest cousins, so I recorded Gabriel saying, "Happy birthday, Rae Rae," and then I said to Andrew, "Say Happy Birthday, Rae Rae!" He said, "Hap Birthday!" Sooo cute! I had no idea he would say that!
He and his brother enjoy playing with each other sometimes. Other times, they go back and forth debating about which object is "mine." Pretty much everything Andrew touches, even Gabriel's big monster trucks, is declared "Mine!" by Andrew, which is understandably very frustrating to Gabriel. However, Gabriel is doing a great job at trying to adjust to his brother, and is actually very helpful. Sometimes at diaper changes, Andrew will cry, "Baby!" so Gabriel will find his babies and bring them to him. Gabriel also gets frustrated when Andrew will, with one big swoop of his hand, knock a folded pile of laundry off the coffee table. Andrew is quick with his right arm ALWAYS, from trying to steal communion at church to knocking the soap container in the bathroom into the sink over and over again. lol That's just part of Andrew being Andrew and part of him being two. Two brothers playing peacefully with play dough:
Andrew sleeps pretty well at night, which is a blessing. He goes to bed around 8:30 pm and wakes up around 7:45 am. Howie found out, soon after Andrew turned two, that if he just says, "Andrew, it's time to be quiet and go to sleep, " he will do just that. Those words are like magic, and he usually falls sound asleep 10- 15 minutes after that. Today he woke up at 6:45, and I said, "We're not getting up this early!" lol (Like I can really control that.) However, after changing his diaper, making sure he was feeling okay, etc, I laid him down with just a minor protest, and as soon as I started playing his Chinese Lullaby CD, he submitted and fell back asleep. Both of my boys slept in until 9:50 am!! It was a GREAT morning!! :) Note: This never happens. Also, the past five nights (since I started this blog), I have had to say those "magic words" multiple times and then "fake sleep" before he will finally sleep. So... the magic words might be wearing off. Time to reduce nap time to two hours! (Sometimes he will sleep 2.5 and occasionally 3 hours after lunch.)
Andrew likes playing with a variety of things now. He loves to play restaurant, play with cars (especially with Gabriel), play with his baby dolls (most of the time, he takes care of them like they're real babies), and will sit still for some short stories that involve lifting flaps or touching things. :) Recently, he's sitting still for other books, too. When he was sick with the flu, he specifically requested Dora, which Gabriel has liked from a young age, too. "Dora the Explorer"-- I think they think she's Asian. :) Recently, he's also become interested in working puzzles. Usually, he'll give me some pieces to do, and he'll do the others. (These are easy puzzles that go into matching spaces. He's still learning that he has to turn the pieces to get them to fit, but he's understanding the concept of matching now.) He likes to color and play with play dough, too, and is now understanding that it's not good to eat those things.
Medically, he's doing very well. He's on an antacid for reflux, which has also put an end to his car sickness--yay!! It has not improved his swallowing, though, so he's getting a swallow study done very soon. He swallows everything fine except for water, which he tends to choke on if he swallows it too fast or if it's at the end of his bottle. He can't drink out of sippy cups but can drink (sometimes still with coughing) from a very small open cup, so we're about to find out what is causing that.
Socially, he's fitting in very well with our family, including our extended family. He loves gazing into his parents' eyes and smiling. He loves snuggling, especially after waking up from a good night's rest and after his naps. He gives out hugs and kisses to those people he knows well and shies away from strangers, which is good attachment. He folds his hands while we pray before dinner and recently said, "Amen" after the prayer. He loves Howie's rough-housing and my attempts of rough-housing with a boy. lol And he's learning not to hit, push, and kick, especially his brother. Time-ins is what we use for discipline. I sit with him on our ottoman and usually have him on my lap for two minutes, which he hates because he can't play whatever he was playing with at the moment. Then he has to apologize afterwards, which is occasionally a "Sorry" but more often is an apology made with a gentle but quick stroke on Gabriel's arm.
This Friday, we'll celebrate Chinese New Year at Gabriel's preschool and on Saturday, we will have our "six months home" report a bit early by our adoption specialist. (We have to send reports to China about both of our kids for the first five years after adoption.) After that, we'll join a few other, nearby families who have adopted children from China and will celebrate Chinese New Year with them! It's always a great time for parents to talk while the kids run around with each other and play. :)
Here are some other winter pictures to leave you with! Thanks for reading the blog!
Peek-a-boo
Gabriel's classic smile
Winter Snowmen with Baba- Downtown Danville
Winter Snowmen with Mama- Downtown Danville
