3.5 years old

On the 18th of this month Andrew reached 3.5 years old, so I figured it was time for an update. This little boy is my pride and joy. He has matured so much already in the past 6 months, it is crazy. He says the funniest things and I always forget to blog about it at the time so I'm going to try and remember some things that have made me laugh, and just talk about my little man.

The first time Andrew saw Talia in pink tights he said "look mama, Talia is ready for ballet!" my first thought was, how in the world does he know what ballet is?  He is always making observations about the way Talia is dressed. The other day she wore a tulle skirt, and he said "Wow...Talia looks like a princess!" pretty cute huh.

Right now Andrew is really enjoying sunbeams at church. He says excellent prayers, and I can see that he is retaining information and learning at Church. He came home a couple Sundays ago and told me all about Jonah and how he was swallowed by a whale!  Seeing this makes me so happy. He has also picked up on primary songs and it is pretty common to see him walking around the house singing "Follow the Prophet." One thing his primary teacher told me is that he doesn't always want to sit in his chair in class so I have been working with him during the week by telling him to listen to his teacher, be reverent at Church, and to sit in his seat. I told him if other kids get out of their chairs that doesn't mean he needs to do the same. His response to me was "Mama, they don't know any better, they are like Talia." LOL!!! I made him repeat his response to make sure I heard him right. Hilarious.

Andrew is at that age where he LOVES friends. He calls everyone his friend, when we go to the park, he'll meet kids for the first time and just start playing with them and have a blast, he will refer to them as his "friends." I'm happy that he has such an outgoing personality.  He is still excellent with names, and knows everyone we've ever been in contact with. Andy will take him to scouts every once in a while and Andrew knows every boy scout, and will ask about them if he didn't get to go to scouts for some reason. I don't even know the names of these kids, good thing Andrew does!

Andrew is really into coloring right now, and he does a pretty good job at it. He knows to try and color inside the lines, he doesn't do it perfect or anything but he gets the idea. He really enjoys sidewalk chalk too. He likes riding his tricycle FAST (we need to get him a bike), and loves playing hide and seek, and running up and down grass hills at the park.

He has become an expert of the iphone. He enjoys playing games on there, text messaging (sorry to my poor friends who have gotten the LONGEST messages that make no sense), and answering my phone on speaker. He gets extra excited if he knows who it is. He was also on a nintendo wii kick for a while. He got mario kart for Christmas and got pretty good. For the longest time he'd come in last but he got to where he'd come in 2nd place! I'm pretty sure he gets these video game skills from Andy.

Andrew is the best eater!!! He is my healthy boy. He loves his vegetables. Broccoli, spinach, tomatos, celery, carrots, green beans, and salad to name a few. He will even eat odd/healthy stuff like lentils, thanks to my mom. Don't get me wrong, he also loves unhealthy things like mac n cheese (thanks to Andy), and pizza. I have NEVER eaten mac n cheese...ever, being that my mom is Peruvian, there are a lot of things most American kids eat that I never did simply b/c my mom was unfamiliar with it. I'm not too thrilled about Andrew's obsession with mac n cheese but there is no stopping him now, the damage has been done. I just hope his healthy eating habits out weigh his unhealthy ones. Andrew also loves helping me cook, he makes excellent spaghetti and knows every ingredient needed for the meat sauce. He is always up for helping me in the kitchen.  

Andrew and Talia interact more than ever now, if he makes her cry and knows he will be in trouble for it, he immediately starts singing to her to make her happy. He is a smarty pants for sure. The way he thinks, analyzes things etc...blows my mind. He got in trouble in Idaho while we were there for Christmas,  and I told him he had to go to time out, and he didn't want to and told me to go to time out, I then explained that kids can't put their mommies in time out, and only mommies can put their kids in time out. He paused and thought for a second and said, okay then you are a kid and i'll be the mommy! Right... I'm glad he hasn't said anything like that since, but he sure is quick to think.

He really is a very good boy for the most part. Every toddler has their moments but overall I am so proud of my little man. He is so loving, he hugs me and kisses me multiple times a day. When Andy leaves for work, he runs downstairs after he has already kissed Andy good bye and opens the door to the garage and yells "have a good day Dada, love you!" He is always showing us he cares. Even with Talia, he is pulling stuff out of her mouth all the time and tells her not to eat bad things, he watches her like a hawk and protects her. He is awesome.  I'm so grateful for him and for the joy he brings to us daily.