As parents, I think we all have moments with our child, that makes us shake our heads and say to ourselves, "This is something I don't want to EVER forget." We have so many of these moments, and I am going to really try to remember them. I will probably have to update this post quite a few times because there are several things I don't want to ever forget!
- Nearly a year ago, I was doing laundry and my husband left his keys in his pocket (with our remote to our car). He left the remote on the dryer and never picked it up. Last April (4 months later), I was sitting in the living room, talking with my grandma (early on a Saturday morning). All of the sudden, my car alarm started going off. I furiously searched the house for my keys, afraid my car horn had wakened the neighbors. In my fury to find my remote, I didn't notice that Andrew was going nuts at the screen door--excited that the car was making noise. I grabbed the remote and turned it off and had a seat. A minute later, it started going off again. This time Andrew was going NUTS--excited the alarm was going off (Mom, look, Look MOM!!!! and I was getting overwhelmed thinking that something was wrong with my car, so I kinda ignored him. Suddenly, I thought about the remote on the dryer. I ran downstairs and looked on the dryer. It wasn't there. By this time the car was repetitively going off. I would turn it off and it would come back on, off...on, off...on! I grabbed the phone and called my husband to let him know I couldn't find the remote and the car alarm was broken or the remote which was now lost had a short in it. Cody said, I actually put the remote on the piano this morning...I ran back up stairs and looked. I screamed, "It's not there!" Meanwhile, the car was going off, on, off, on. Andrew was screaming and laughing. I looked at him...he had the remote in his hand...his little fingers pushing the panic button!
- Ever since we took him out of school, I have tried to do circle time here at home. Tonight, I said, "Andrew, it's time for circle time!" He responded, "No it not. Dis not school, it's a house-room!"
- If you ask him why he did something, he always puts his hands in the air and says, "Cause why..."
- The other day, I took him to the movie theater and we were sneaking in the candy in my sister's purse (sorry, I don't want to pay $6 for candy I can purchase for $1). Andrew wanted to carry the candy in all by himself. So, I explained that the candy in Sara's purse was a secret. We got to the concession counter and Andrew started crying for sour straws. I told him, No, that's icky candy. Mommy is buying you a special movie snack that comes with fruit snacks. He started crying, "I don't want yucky purse candy!!!!!!"
- Everytime he goes #2, he runs out of the bathroom, "Come look at my snake!" Once he was a little constipated and had little nuggets in the potty. He ran out and said, "Mommy, I have lots of snakes!" Last night, he was in bed and had a reaction to his antibiotics so, he had his first poopoo accident in a long time. I took his pull up off of him and he said, "Ooooooh, Mommy, dats lots of chocolate!"
- Whenever we do laundry, he puts the basket over his head and says (in his best robot voice), "I-AM-A-ROBOT-I-AM-A-ROBOT!"
- There are times when our little guy gets in trouble and he has to go to time out. He starts yelling, "I be happy, I be good boy!"
- We are the new Brangelina. When he gets excited and wants both of us, he calls us "Dommy or Moddy.
- I laid him down for nap time a few months ago and he was so quiet, I thought he was asleep. Against my better judgement, I did not go and check to ensure he was asleep. After a while though, I started thinking to myself, He's been SO quiet and he's been asleep for a while. So I went and checked. He had snuck into the kitchen, grabbed a spoon AND the Nesquick box and had himself a chocolate snack. When I went to check he heard me and threw the spoon and the box behind himself. I was met with a child COVERED in chocolate, with a HUGE grin. He looked at me and said, "You happy mommy?"
- The best thing our little guy tells us is, "I wove you!"
Andrew's initial reaction, "*deep inhale,* It's Christmas!!!! Santa's coming!!!!! Yes, we are still stuck on the Santa thing! Our son REALLY loves Santa Claus! We had to go out an play in the initial snow. I bundled him up and we ran out. He started tasting the snow and looked at me and said, "It tastes like sugar!"
Friday was a snow day for everyone in North Georgia. The roads froze over the evening which according to my dad, left the interstate on ramps looking like the ice capades. We decided to bundle Andrew up in last year's ski bibs, long underwear, sweaters and any other barrier to keep him warm. It reminded me of the scene from 
Andrew got to take a carriage ride around Gainesville's square WITH Santa and told Santa everything he wanted for Christmas and what he thought everyone should get. He told Santa he wanted a truck, Daddy wanted a watch, Mommy wanted a purse, Grandpa wanted a camera and Grandma wanted a new car. He wouldn't sit in Santa's lap, but really, what kid does want to sit in a stranger's lap, especially a stranger that dresses and looks like THAT?!?! 
Andrew was SO excited about his Christmas program. He has been singing all kinds of Christmas carols since mid-November. His favorite has been: Red and Green are Christmas Colors la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, which is sang to the tune of Deck the Halls. He gets a little overzealous at the end and starts singing Red and Green are Christmas Colors la, la, la, la, la, dooka dooka do da dooka doooooooo! But like I said, he's been so excited about this program. He's been telling us that he is going to sing for mommy and daddy. The day of the program we told him we would see him that afternoon to pick him up for the program and then he would sing to us. We picked him up as planned, and took him to the theatre. Here lies the problem: We didn't tell him we would be dropping him BACK off with his teachers, so he thought we would be right there with him (Amazing how the toddler brain works). So during the ENTIRE Christmas program he kept crying MAMA, MAMA, I want my MAMA!!!! At one point, his class had to go up to the front of the stage and hang ornaments on a tree/stroller. He sat down behind the stroller--hidden! At the end of the show, we met him in the lobby. He told us he did a great job! 
Christmas cards were fun this year. Seeing as how I am out of work due to student teaching, we couldn't go to a fancy photog and have pictures made. So, I got out the camera, dressed up the tree a bit and had Cody do some fancy lighting work with our lamps. We got several great shots of our boy--even though he was incredibly tired. This is my favorite shot...he did this completely unprompted, but I feel like it is a bit home alone-esque!
Andrew decided this Fall that he wanted to be Batman. He was absolutely positive about this costume from the beginning of September and did not waiver. He wore his costume all around the house and was SO excited about trick or treating!
Aunt Sara asked Andrew to be the ring bearer in her wedding in November. It was such an honor. Unfortunately, he did not have a nap that day and was a little cantankerous at the wedding. Not only did he refuse to walk down the aisle but he also decided to rip his boutonniere off and rip it to shreds. You can see from the above picture he had a difficult time taking pictures. What you don't see is daddy running away quickly because he put Andrew down (Andrew was refusing to take pictures as well), and running away before Andrew noticed he was down and having pictures taken. Whew!
A few days after Sara's wedding our little toddler turned 3! He will tell us, "I fwee, not two...I fwee!" He says this while showing you on his had the digits 3, 2 and 3 again! So cute! He also reminds us that he is not a baby anymore. He's a big boy. Speaking of big boys. He is completely potty trained during the day now! YAY! No more stinky in the pants. He does everything in the potty now and wants his privacy no less!
Andrew really wanted the Handy Manny workbench. So, of course he got it. He loves it and plays with it all the time. He knows exactly how to hammer the nails and twist the screwdrivers with both types of screwdrivers. He loves to help out with everything now!
Andrew had his third birthday at McDonalds! This was such a hit, other parents were asking the coordinator about how they could have a party. This was AWESOME! So easy and the clean up was the best part (for me). All of Andrew's class showed up and he thought it was the coolest. Whenever we go to that McDonalds now, he asks about his birthday and his friends! lol :) 
