More cute Drew stuff

Random cute things Drew has said or done recently...

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The other morning I was dropping Drew off at daycare and when we pulled in he excitedly said "Andrew's here!" with the exact same inflection that his little friends use when he comes in the classroom. It was adorable.

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Drew apparently doesn't like when I wear my hair in a headband and pony-tail because the other day he pointed at it and said "It not pretty Mommy."

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Last weekend we had friends over for dinner and my friend Mishja is pregnant with a little girl. So when we asked Drew who was coming to dinner he said "D-Will, Mishja, Anjie (Anjolie)." Then we said what about baby. And he correctly said "Mishja have little girl." I was pretty impressed he remembered that, since we hadn't discussed it with him since explaining the pink balloons to him at the baby shower a couple weeks ago.

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Apparently in addition to teaching Drew new vocabulary words like handsome and very smart, we also need to start teaching him a bit of modesty. He no longer waits for us to give him such compliments but points them out to us instead. When he gets a bath, gets dressed and has his hair brushed, we hear "I handsome Mommy." When he completes a puzzle by himself (something he is getting quite adept at), we hear "I very smart Daddy."

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Drew's potty training continues to go well. He makes it through virtually every day at daycare in big boy underwear without accidents and only occasionally has accidents with us in the evening. And he does extremely well with us when we are out on the weekends, whether at the mall or dinner, he tells us pretty consistently when he needs to go (even though sometimes it's every 10 minutes). Every now and then, however, he is reluctant to go to the potty when we're pretty sure he probably has to. So a while ago we adopted the "George has to go potty" technique, telling Drew that his life-size Curious George constant companion has to go pee pee. It almost never fails. Lately some of the other stuffed animals have been getting in on the act. Drew is typically accompanied by at least 4 or 5 of his stuffed animals when I get him out of bed in the morning, so the other morning there was quite a line-up at the potty, as George, Little George, doggie, Elmo, little Elmo, and kitty all had to go pee pee before Drew. He also tried to get his Nemo blanket to go potty but I drew the line there. Drew has also recently mastered the art of standing up to go to the bathroom and he has been helping George stand up to go potty too. Whatever gets him fully potty-trained I guess...

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Last but not least, two gems that I can't believe I forgot to include in the post about our Las Vegas trip.

1) My dad, Drew, and I went out to get the boys haircuts. While we were in the car on the way home I was blowing Drew kisses from the front seat. He started being a little bossy and said "blow kisses louder Mommy." I reminded him he needed to be polite and say please. So he paused for a minute and said please, so I promptly blew kisses louder. Then Drew proudly stated "I use my manners."

2) The day we went to the pool Drew had already successfully taken off his shoes in preparation for getting in the water, so I told him to take his t-shirt off too. Well, Drew hasn't quite mastered the art of removing his shirts, so he instead decided to pull down his swim trunks. Since he is pretty reliable about telling us when he needs to go to the bathroom he didn't have a swim diaper on underneath them. So there he stood bare bottomed. The ladies at the pool were quite amused by Drew mooning them.

Every day brings another reason to smile at him...

Bill's new toy

Well Bill made a rather big purchase this past week. He has joined the world of motorcycle riders. With the price of gas continuing to skyrocket and the fact that we live in a virtually snow-free climate, we had been considering a motorcycle for a while. I, of course (worry-wart that I am) was a little nervous about it, but Bill completed the motorcycle safety course on post and bought a very highly rated (in terms of safety) helmet.

So Bill checked out the local Harley Davidson shop and found a 2006 Buell bike that had been a demo bike and had only 100 miles on it, and he snatched it up before anyone else could.

Here's a few pictures. This is as close as Drew will ever get to riding on it, because while my anxiety has been relieved a little bit, it's not enough to let our toddler on it. Drew, of course, thinks it's very cool but understands he doesn't touch it without Daddy.

Megapost recapping our Vegas trip

Drew and I went to Las Vegas last weekend for a few days to see my parents and my sister. Although Las Vegas typically makes people think of bright lights, lots of action, and little sleep, this trip was a bit more low-key for us.

Bill had a Hail and Farewell dinner to go to on Friday night so Drew and I parked in one of the long-term lots at the airport. I mention this because Drew was very excited about all the different modes of transportation we would be using on the trip and kept repeating them all to me. A car to the airport parking lot, a shuttle bus to the airport, a big plane to Vegas, a shuttle (choo choo train) from our gate to baggage claim in the airport, and another car back to Grandma and Grandpa's. When we were talking about the trip he kept saying "gonna go choo choo." I had no idea what he was talking about at first, thinking to myself...I know he knows the difference between a train and a plane. Then I remembered the shuttle that we call the train at the Vegas airport. I thought it was pretty impressive he remembered that since we hadn't flown to Vegas since November.

Anyhow, we were supposed to arrive just 15 minutes before my sister's flight, but due to weather Aunt Katie missed her connection and was stuck in Chicago that night. I was a little concerned about how Drew would take this news as we had been building up the "we're going to see Grandma, Grandpa AND Aunt Katie at the airport" excitement for over a week. But he seemed to understand just fine, as he repeated multiple times to me and the lady sitting with us on the plane that "Aunt Tatie stuck Cago." Happily, she arrived by breakfast time on Saturday morning.

So our adventures in Las Vegas included:

1) Feeding bread and crackers to the ducks and geese that frequent the ponds along the golf course in my parents' community

2) Swimming in the pool. I was in the pool with him, so only got a pic after we got out, which he took surprisingly well. Getting out of the water can often be a recipe for disaster for Drew.)

3) Playing outside in Grandma and Grandpa's newly desert-landscaped back area (he went round and round with one foot on the bricks of the cactus garden)

4) Playing with cars, trucks, and blocks in the house

5) Dinner with my parents' friends Peter & Joyce (Drew absolutely loved Peter...sat with him on the couch when he was reluctant to do so with any of us)

6) An anniversary dinner for Grandma & Grandpa (32 years!!!). We tried to get Drew in the picture with Grandma & Grandpa but he was not interested in sitting on the couch at the time. Considering how well he behaved at dinner, I guess I won't complain.

Other cute things from our trip:

• Drew describing my parents' new toilet as "comfy."


• Drew having an out and out tantrum over not being able to go outside at breakfast time then, after heading to the bedroom with Mommy to calm down, stopping and proclaiming (literally) mid-wail that "I'm all better." And calmly walking back out to the breakfast table.


• Whether returning from a walk or a trip in the car, when we would head down my parents' street, Drew would point to each of the houses and say "That's not our house." Then when he saw Grandma and Grandpa's he would excitedly say "That's our house!"

Plus on Monday night after the anniversary dinner, Mommy gained back half of what she lost at the casino on Sunday afternoon! All in all it was a great visit. We're fortunate to be hosting my parents for a few days in May, and then Bill's parents and younger siblings for a week and a half in June. Drew loves having visitors!

And just a couple other cute pics from our trip...

Catching up...

Sometimes I don't know how the time gets away from me so quickly. So expect a flurry of posts over the next few days while I get caught up.


First, after building up how much Drew loved the carnival rides last fall in my last post, we of course got to the carnival last Friday and he absolutely refused to go on any of the rides. Unfortunately, we had already bought tickets for the rides before making this discovery. We tried everything--trains, trucks, planes. No way--the boy was not getting on any of those rides by himself. So we thought, okay, well we'll just go to the super slide. He and Daddy had gone on that twice together last fall and Drew loved it (see right). Notice in the picture, however, that they are riding together. When we went to check out the ride this time though, we were informed that they would have to ride separately. Given Drew's aversion to riding alone on the other rides, we didn't think he would go for this. But after another round of failed attempts to get on any other rides, we figured we'd give it a try. So up they went. They stood hesitantly at the top for a little while. And Daddy must have eventually talked Drew into it. They sat next to each other and went down holding hands (below). 4 tickets down, 6 to go. Bill also took Drew on an obstacle course type thing (another 4 tickets) that Drew cried all the way through until the slide at the end.

Our last two tickets were spent on another failed attempt to get on one of the train rides. He was initally very receptive, but then a little thrown off by not being able to ride in the caboose. Nevertheless, we had him standing in a seat, but once he realized he had to sit down and Mom was leaving, he was outta there! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the ticket taker had already ripped the tickets, so off we headed to get dinner and the best part of the whole trip: funnel cake!!!

Drew never ceases to amaze...

So I was just thinking I haven't had much to blog about this week. Drew and I are headed to Las Vegas tomorrow night to see Grandma, Grandpa, & Aunt Katie (who's visiting too), and I really wanted to post something before we left. But it's been an uneventful week. Just then...Drew saved the blogging day.

Bill was home surprisingly early (Thursday is family day), so he asked Drew if he wanted to go play in the backyard while Mommy cleaned up. Drew apparently was a big fan of this idea. As Bill recounted part of his day for me in the living room, Drew ran to Daddy's closet and came back into the living room with a shirt, jeans, and socks for Bill to change into (since he had mentioned he needed to change his clothes before they could go outside). Then, if that's not cute enough, he was so anxious that he tried to help Daddy put his socks on.

Here's some pics from the very happy boy playing outside. Of course, now I've been writing this instead of cleaning up, but I don't think the dishes and laundry are going anywhere.






As I said, we're headed to Las Vegas for a few days. We were a bit bummed at the timing once we discovered that the town's Festival of the Southwest was this Friday-Sunday. They had a similar festival in the fall and Drew loved the rides. But we just realized that the Festival starts at 4 tomorrow and we don't have to leave for the airport until 6, so we should be able to get in a few rides before we go. I'll try to post the pics over the weekend.

Drew is Famous

Ok, not really famous, considering his name isn't even in the caption. But it's his first time in the newspaper! Yes, Bill picked up last week's edition of the Fort Huachuca Scout and, much to his surprise, found a picture of our child in it. It was taken during the Chapel's Easter Egg Hunt and was featured in an article on Passover and Easter rituals. Drew is to the far right. Right behind him you'll see Daddy and even further behind Grandma Carolyn. I was probably standing right next to the Scout photographer, since I have virtually the same photo. We just thought it was cool.



Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Splash Time Adventures

Last Saturday, my mom and I took Drew to the indoor aquatic center. He starts his second round of swim lessons in just a couple of weeks, so I wanted to refamiliarize him with the pool. The new T-shirt Grandma and Grandpa Calnon got for Drew for Easter just so happened to match his swim trunks, so I had to take a pre-pool picture of that.

When we arrived Drew made a mad dash to the warming pool (huge hot tub). Unfortunately, it was closed for a swim lesson for the first 45 minutes of Splash Time (special time for kids under 5 and their parents). Drew did not take this news so well. I carried him, literally kicking and screaming, into the bigger pool (which is also heated, just not as much). For the first 10 minutes or so, I tried to engage him in kicking, splashing, getting his head wet. He wanted no part of it. Just kept crying and saying over and over "I no go big pool. I go that one." I wasn't sure he was going to be able to hold out for the 45 minutes it was going to be for the warming pool to free up.

Eventually, after a trip to the potty with Grandma, some playing with one of the floaty noodles, and some turns jumping in the big pool from the sides, he calmed down. As the 45 minute mark approached, we ventured over to the small slide in the big pool, unfortunately within view of the warming pool. Although he humored me by heading down the slide a few times, he was intent on getting out of that pool and into the warming pool.

And then it came, the glorious moment when the swim instructor moved the sign that said "Closed for Swim Lessons" away from Drew's beloved warming pool. He practically beat me into the water! Here are a couple of short videos of Drew jumping (he has no fear) and "swimming." And his beautiful smile returns...

All I have to say is...Thank God the swim lessons for his age group are in the warming pool!

p.s. What possessed me to voluntarily put pictures of myself in a bathing suit on the internet is beyond me!

One leftover Easter pic

Couldn't resist adding one more picture of Drew from Easter Sunday. Bill called his parents to wish them a Happy Easter and was using his bluetooth to chat. Drew, of course, wanted to talk too. So Bill put the bluetooth on his ear. It was just too cute.

He's still not much of a phone conversationalist. Phone calls usually consist of him responding to questions saying "yeah" over and over. He's not really into details, but he is getting better, and we're practicing often.