I can't believe my time off has come to an end. The time really did fly by being home with Andrew. I am kind of sad that this week has been awful weather so we have not been able to go outside and play at all. I always enjoy taking Andrew to the park or watching him ride his bike up and down the street. He just loves being outside but we've been cooped up this week!
I took him to a couple of stores with me the other day and this picture cracks me up. On the way home in our new van, he had on his headphones to hear the DVD player, his hat and he wanted sunglasses because the sun was in his face! Ha! All this, along with his hearing aids of course! I just had to laugh.
The other day we had a heart support group meeting. I had missed the last couple, due to us being on lockdown! But I have loosened up a little the last couple weeks, knowing that Andrew would have to be thrown back into germ world soon anyway!
Our meetings are at a super fun place that has a play area for kids, and costumes to dress up in! He found this Sulley costume and was so thrilled!
He wanted to wear it for a long time!
Then he found a "dinosaur" one and wanted that on! Just lately he has gotten into this dressing up thing. I think I need to pull out all his old Halloween costumes and leave them in a bin for him to play with. He'd have a blast!
The other day he also had a dentist appointment. This was his second time, and he did great. They took x-rays for the first time and he really did a good job. He is certainly used to having x-rays (of his chest!) so this was not really new to him. He always acts so sweet and innocent at most of his doctors appointments! Ha! It cracks me up. Everyone always says how good and sweet he is. I tell them that he's got them all fooled! Ha!
We got the okay to send him to preschool and he can now play outside and go to the gym. So he has been loving a couple of hours in the mornings getting to see his little friends. These are his best friends at preschool, Payton and Nicholas. They are all he talks about! I love how he and Nicholas are holding hands! I think they all missed each other when Andrew was gone. Andrew was so excited about these 3 Little Pig houses, he wanted me to take their picture by it! So funny. I thought it was a great idea!
The only thing that has been keeping him from wanting to go to school is doing his "squares" and "triangles" for writing time. One of his first mornings back, he wasn't really back into routine and the teachers said he wouldn't do his work so they had him do it during center time. Apparently that didn't work either, so when they all went to the playground for recess they made him stay in and sit by the window so he could see everyone playing! Poor thing! Ha. I was a little sad for him but I know it was a good thing. It just made me have a different feeling about the kids I keep in for recess to do work! Ha! Now that I know my own kid is doing it! Anyway, he learned that he has to do his work in order to play (such a young age!) but they said he's been doing really well lately and has now moved onto A's and N's!
They have a great writing curriculum called "Handwriting Without Tears." They start out by learning to draw shapes and make a "Mat Man" which is a drawing of a person, not a stick person. Then they do a variety of shapes that correspond with letters in their names like triangles (so they make a connection to the letter A, etc). It is really good. So once he got the squares and triangles down, he got to move to the letters in his name! This is his very first sheet of A's, and he was so proud. I notice he didn't finish the last row...maybe he got tired! Ha!
Lately he has just been going crazy over the commercials for the movie Rio. And when we noticed at McDonalds they have all the toys, he's been going nuts! We've eaten at McDonalds a few too many times lately, so I finally decided to just go in and get the toys without a happy meal and surprise him with them as his "stay in bed" prize! Ha! It's been working great and he is so excited to get all the toys. Anyway, as a reward for doing so great at preschool lately, daddy and I took him to Rio in 3D on opening weekend. We all just loved it! It was his second time with the 3D movie (our first time, his first time was with Ga Ga when he saw Tangled) and I didn't think it would go well. At Disney he would not keep the glasses on, but this time he did awesome. I think he realized he could see better with them! Craig and I actually liked the 3D too! It was much better than I thought it was going to be. We all loved the movie!
And of course, we can't be home together all day without some more funnies... the other day I ran upstairs for a second thinking he'd be fine (I mean seriously? The kid is almost 4 1/2 years old, I should be able to trust him alone to play with his toys, right?) When I came back down, he had helped himself to a banana by pulling up a kitchen chair, getting the scissors out of the drawer (thank god I moved the sharp ones up high!) and cutting open the banana all by himself. He was so proud.
I just had to laugh and grab the camera, as usual! And then when I had him pose for a picture he decided to stick the scissors in his face! Nice.
Andrew had to show off his scar to you all! It is just looking amazing these days- it is all healed and Andrew keeps saying "It's all better now!" It is so cute. I think he realizes that he went through a pretty traumatic experience, but that it is over now. What a huge relief!
Even though our fun time at home together is coming to an end, I am so proud and relieved to say that Andrew is officially "all better now" and ready to return to school and day care. He has been through so much, but has continued to come out on top. He is so amazingly strong, and one amazing kid. And it also helps to think that only another month before we'll be back home together again for the summer, and baby sister will be arriving during that time too! It is so nice to think that we don't have surgery looming over our heads going into the summer like we thought we would. Summer is one of our favorite times together, since daddy gets to be home more too. Soon it will be time to clean up the boat and head to the lake! We definitely have some exciting times ahead, and we can't wait!
