Andrew & Leah

I forgot to mention in my journal update that we got Andrew's haircut on Friday at a place called "Little Whipper Snippers." The place is very brightly painted and geared towards kids with little TVs playing Elmo at each chair. He was a very good boy during the whole thing and sat very still. He liked the blowdryer. I usually blow a little warm air on him when I'm drying my hair in the mornings, so he is used to it. You can see some pictures of his new 'do in the photos.

Our new Daycare at NDSU is a wonderful place and we are so happy with the care there. I thought that Andrew would have no problems adjusting as he is only 10 months. That hasn’t quite been the case. He’s been a finicky eater there (which isn’t the normal) and hasn’t taken many naps (which is nothing new) but it has made him a little crabby in the evenings. He is cutting a tooth, too, so maybe that’s part of the problem. Hopefully the adjustment period will be over in a few days and he will be back to his happy disposition. He has gotten happy faces on his daily report cards, so he hasn’t been too unbearable for them. Thank goodness. We like the little daily report cards. One day it said, Andrew enjoyed exploring the room and all of the toys and another day it said that he like popping the bubbles that the older children blew.

I went to a Baby Signs class, so I am starting to use the signs with Andrew. They said that it might take 2 months for him to do the signs back, but it really helps the children communicate at an earlier age and even helps with spoken language later on.

Andrew has started to clap now. Of course we get all excited when he does it, so he thinks he is pretty cool. Andrew is on the brink of doing “so big.” He kinda gets it now, but sometimes one hand at a time instead of two. Andy likes to copy what he sees (clapping, us raising our arms like soooo big.) He has also really gotten into music. When he hears a song he likes or the band playing at a basketball game, he bobs his head with the beat. Andrew really likes to play with cars (or any toy that rolls for that matter). He likes to push them along. One of his cars was tipped over and it wouldn’t roll. He picked it up, spun the wheels with his finger and figured out that he should put it down on the wheels to roll it. I was impressed. Books are still a favorite. He loves when someone reads to him, but likes to turn the pages and look at them himself, too. This comes in really handy at church. He had a really fun time watching daddy out the window today. Ryan was doing some work outside, and Andrew thought it was fun to watch. It was still -1 degrees, so we couldn’t join him for some fun in the snow. We have a little sled for Andrew, but it has not been nice enough to be out at all this winter. I guess we might have to wait until February or next year to use it.

On Friday, we took a little roadtrip down to South Dakota to watch the NDSU men’s basketball team take on their rival South Dakota State. NDSU won in overtime, so that was fun. Rumor is that Andrew was on TV during the game. Grandma and Grandpa saw him…did anyone else see him?

Happy New Year! The Perreaults have been busy so far this year. Ryan and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on the 1st. He was gone with the NDSU basketball team to Detroit. At least I got the day off since it was a holiday! My parents, Allison, Angela, Reese & Isaac helped us ring in the new year. Only my mom and I stayed up until midnight!

Some wonderful news from Auntie Allison & Auntie Angela. They are both expecting a baby in July! I think the due dates are only 3 days apart. We are excited for our new cousins.

A couple of new baby girls are here, too. We want to wish congratulations to Travis and Laura at the birth of Lillie at the end of December & also to Dana and George on the birth of their daughter Cecilia in the beginning of January. Both moms & daughters are doing well.

We were shocked to find out on Friday is that our daycare is going to be closing at the end of the month. We love Flynn’s and all of the teachers there. I must say that we were stressing a bit over the weekend not knowing who would take care of little Andrew. Infant openings are tough to come by in Fargo and especially in north Fargo. They say everything happens for a reason, and it must be true. We lucked out in a big way though because NDSU had an opening starting on January 20. Someone was looking down on us that is for sure! We had Andrew on the waiting list from the very day I found out I was pregnant about 18 months ago. How could the timing be better that an opening came up now? NDSU is known for a great child care program and work with their students in the child development major. We are still sad to say good bye to all of the people at Flynn’s & next Monday will be a tough day. They have taken great care of Andrew & loved him a lot for the past 7 months. We are truly grateful for all they have done.

As far as Andrew goes, he is doing great! He is pulling up on everything. He thinks he is such hot stuff when he stands up. He is a fast crawler now. His absolute favorite toy is this mini volleyball that Grandma caught for him at one of the NDSU games. It’s just the right size for him. He will hold it, roll it & crawl after it. It’s even more fun when mom or dad dribble it or play catch. He certainly likes to be around people and if one of us go to another room, he will crawl after us. Just yesterday he showed us how he is able to climb up steps now. Watch out! He is trying all sorts of new foods. Different things each day. He likes to feed himself the finger foods. He will still eat the pureed baby foods and baby cereals, too. Bananas, pears and peaches are the still the favorites. We found some sippy cups that he can actually get the milk or water to come out when we hold it for him. He really likes to hold that himself too, but doesn’t quite get the notion that he needs to tip it up a little more to get a drink. Tooth number 7 is also through on the bottom left side. Not too much fussing with that one. His wild man hair is starting to lay down a bit some days, but then the next day it will be sticking all up again.

We are going to have a pretty low key weekend. It’s been soooo cold here with temperatures in the –20’s and –30’s overnight! Hopefully it will warm up a little bit and not snow anymore. We have PLENTY of the white stuff.