Andrew & Leah

Andrew had his first Sunday School program today. He did so well singing all of the words and doing all the actions. He was very well behaved too.

Our NDSU football team is going to the FCS Championship Game. They won three home playoff games the last three weeks -- Exciting times in Fargo. It's fun to have the buzz about the Bison! The championship will be January 7 on ESPN2.

Leah says everything! All of her teachers names, Bison, doggie, kitty, bear, cracker, church and on and on. She's a little chatterbox.

The Elf on the Shelf has come to our house. Andrew believes in his magic. His name is Chick, but I think Andrew wants to rename him, so we'll see what his name ends up being next year.

I'm really looking forward to Chirstmas this year -- Andrew is really into it and really excited. He like to wrap presents with me. He's in charge of the tape.

More updates after Christmas!

The family is doing well. We are busy every weekend attending NDSU sporting events and it seems like the evenings go so quickly now, especially with it getting darker soon after work now.

Andrew is doing well. He is a big kid now in the 4 year old room at his preschool. They do an amazing job with the kids. He’s getting to be buddies with quite a few of the kids, and it’s so fun to see his friendships develop. The majority of the class is boys, so it’s fun for him to be around.

Andrew has loved this fall full of football games, tailgating and volleyball games. He is still so attentive at the games. Now basketball starts, too so we will add those into the mix. Those are a little bit later nights, so it’s a bit harder to have little sister out so late, but we will manage.

Andrew was a blue monster for Halloween and really got into trick-or-treating this year. Last year he was shy and wouldn’t say much after ringing the doorbell. This year he was yelling trick or treat right out and he was on to the next house in a hurry. Leah was a cupcake. She DID NOT like her costume at first. Once we got outside and started with the trick-or-treating and she got to ride in the wagon, she liked that. Then she got to go up to a few houses and choose something out of the treat bowl…boy, did she like that. Then the wagon didn’t seem so fun anymore… she walked the rest of the way. The weather was perfect and the kids didn’t have to wear coats. There were so many kids out and about. It was just so much fun. Andrew’s favorite part was coming up to the house where his teacher Shawn lives. We didn’t know she lived there, so it was a nice surprise to see someone we knew behind the door.

Another thing that is fun with Andrew is that he is really starting to get what is funny now and I like his sense of humor. For instance, Andrew and I watched the Sound of Music…on comes the part where Captain VonTrapp whistles all the children to march down…he just loves that part. It’s so funny to watch his giggles. He also is into movies that aren’t cartoons now, too and really follows the story.

One of the challenges with Andrew is that he gets a little too rowdy sometimes and it’s hard to get him to tone it down especially around Leah. It’s typical boy type behavior where he just won’t leave his little sister alone. Leah is a spitfire, too so she won’t back down either. She pushes him away when he invades her space and eggs him on, too.

Leah is doing well. She moved into the older infant room at daycare. She is doing well and learning how to eat using a spoon, which makes much less mess at the dinner table. Her favorite food is yogurt, but other favorites include blueberry muffins, waffles, and pasta of any kind. She also likes cheese and crackers. He favorite treats include fruit snacks, plain m&m’s and chocolate chip cookies.

Leah continues to be very vocal and adds new words to her vocabulary every day. Although she can say “daddy” she prefers to call Ryan, Andrew and I all “mommy.” She also likes to call pretty much all animals “puppy.” She does know what everything is though if we ask her. She can point to everything. She loves Mickey Mouse. It’s good to have a few episodes on the DVR for those really crabby times, it seems that can put her into a better mood.

She LOVES her little doll. Along with her blanket, it’s her comfort toy. She loves to wrap her up in a blanket and rock her. She has also been asking to go to bed lately. She loves to rock a bit before bedtime and really snuggle in. We’re still working on getting her to sleep through the night. It seems like she will have a good night, but then Andrew will wake up instead of her. Now if we can just get them to both sleep well on the same nights.

No snow here yet in Fargo. It’s snowed a few times, but not enough to stick around. We might start December without snow. I’m sure it will come.

Leah has a few words in her vocabulary... Her first word was "hi" and she says it to people she knows and doesn't know.
Some of her other words:
Daddy
Andy (but hard to tell the difference between Daddy)
Mommy
Bear
Doggie
Ball
Baby

She is starting to communicate in other ways as well. Leah will nod yes and no for things she wants or doesn’t want. She will also use some not verbal communication, too such as asking for more with the sign language as well as pointing and gesturing to things she needs or desires.

Leah is a pretty happy girl, but she has her moments when the diva attitude comes out. Usually when she gets in trouble or doesn’t get her way. She just can’t seem to forget and pouts about it. Uff, hope this doesn’t continue until the teen years.

Leah is also in the process of leaning steps... Up is no problem, but down can be tricky. She really likes to walk down holding on to the railing although I would rather she sit down. Of course, she has her own ideas about how she should do it.

She is a little snuggle bug and likes to cuddle in when she’s tired. She will lay her head down on your shoulder or her blanket. I love that I have a snuggly little girl, but the downside is she seems to like the snuggles in the middle of the night best. This leads to her waking up during the middle of the night and not wanting to go back into her crib. Even if she falls asleep right away, she wakes right up when I try putting her back down. She prefers mom over dad as well which is very tiring, but it’s so hard to break her of the habit of being held while she’s sleeping. I hope this phase will pass quickly.

Andrew is getting ready to move to the 4 year old preschool room already this fall. He will also be starting gymnastics in September. He will go with other kids from his pre-school as part of the morning. Awesome! He is getting along well at Sanford Daycare and talking about some of his friends as well. He has a lot of boys in his group, so he really enjoys all of the boy playtime, although one of the little girls is his favorite friend -- probably because she's a tomboy and as cute as a button.

Andrew is very active guy still with baseball, basketball, football and soccer being his favorite activities. He really likes movies, too and really follows along not especially with the humor and laughs at the funny parts now. He is very interested in maps, especially the United States. He has a puzzle of the U.S. and he will put that together with some help. The western states are easier for him.

Being three, he has a mind of his own now. He will get frustrated if he is told “no” and is always trying to negotiate. One day he didn’t like the response from mom and dad and out of frustration said, “Stop staying that to me, you make me use my mean words.” He has so many funny expressions. He often brings up Santa now. He really wants a baseball catcher’s mask and a catcher’s mitt. He asked me if I would tell Santa for him, and I was explained how he could sit on Santa’s lap and let him know about what he wanted for Christmas. His bottom lip started quivering... “Mom, I don’t like his beard!”

We decaled a yellow helmet to look like a Bison football helmet. Andrew brought it into his preschool to show the teachers since he had been talking about it nonstop. One of Leah’s teachers asked if he was going to be a football player one day, and he said, “No I can’t. I’m going to be a daddy.” Awww. He thinks he will be just like his daddy, so he will be in the pressbox, therefore he can’t be a player. It’s hard to explain how he can do both in his life. :)

Figuring out the concepts of work, money, age and time are difficult. It’s always, “I will do that when I’m bigger… when I’m 4 years old.” Although it is often something that is will take a lot more waiting such as driving the car or going to college.

Thanks for checking in... busy times coming up, but some of the best times of the year. We love Bison football and volleyball seasons as well as the nice fall weather Septemeber brings.

Leah is walking officially. She is having fun with her new found skill. Prior to walking she already did not like to sit still, so now it's a real trick. Just had to note the milestone!

We have a ONE year old on our hands. How time flies, Leah! You add such joy to our lives. We had a fun time celebrating in Crookston. Leah was like most one year olds and didn’t care about the presents. She did, however, like the frosting on the cake. We were able to catch a visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Perreault the next day, too. They happened to be in town for a party, so we met for lunch at RBJ’s.

Leah is a full blown table food eater. We’re still just letting her eat finger foods and she does really well. She isn’t too picky, but sometimes she won’t be hungry. She loves American cheese slices. I think she will turn into a little mouse if we let her have as much as she wants. Some of her other favorites are hamburger hot dish, spaghetti, grilled cheese, hot dogs, cereal, bread, noodles, bananas, pears, and pineapples. She also likes to drink out of a sippy cup. She used to spit it all out and make a mess (for fun), but she is pretty good at drinking it now after she found out I would take away her cup if she spit it out. She will also say “uh” after dropping something (meaning uh oh.) She waves her hands if she wants more and will also point at things she wants now. She will still bring out her diva squealing – so if she isn’t happy about something, you know it.

Leah is oh so close to walking. She will use anything as a crutch now to stay on her feet and move around. She is very occupied by her new ride on/push toy as it get her where she wants to go. Just these last couple of days she has gotten to be more of an explorer in the playroom. She’s all over the place checking everything out. She likes to get in Andrew’s way now, too. He’s not too sure about that, but he does like a playmate. He quickly forgets that she is still little and gets a tad too wild and rough around her. It’s hard to tame an energetic preschooler.

Speaking of preschool, Andrew is doing well at his new school. He’s got one week in the books. After the first day, the teachers were amazed how quickly he adapted. They said it was like he wasn’t even the “new kid” on his first day. He joined right in. The toughest part was going potty as the toilets are a little bit bigger than he’s used to. Aim is important when you’re a boy, especially when you’re trying to balance. His class has all three year olds or soon to be three year olds and there are lots of boys in the class, so he loves that. They will often have outside time with the 4 year olds, too and he keeps right up with them playing all of the different sports and games. He has started “teasing” more at home and I think that’s related to being a preschooler. He is getting better at some of his self-help skills, too. He is independent on getting dressed (except for harder things like buttons, tying his shoes and starting the zipper, etc.), going potty, and washing his hands.

It’s been waaaay too long since the last Perreault update. This spring is just flying by even though the weather has not been ideal, I think it is finally feeling nice and sunny and I hope the snow is gone for good.

Andrew had a great 3rd birthday. He is really into it now and gets the concept that birthdays mean cake and presents. He woke up to a decorated dining room with a happy birthday sign and balloons all over the place. He had a special blueberry muffin – his favorite -- with three candles for breakfast. He got to wear his all time favorite jersey that just so happens to have a number 3 on the front. The kid loves wearing sports “uniforms.” He just told me the other day that we really need to buy some more uniforms – as if he doesn’t have enough. He loved opening all of the presents and getting mail. He asks nearly every day now if any mail came for him. Both Ryan and I visited for lunch and brought cupcakes for dessert. They were basketball inspired cupcakes (see March pictures). I thought for sure he would want the number 3 jersey cupcake, but he wanted both of the nets…he got one at school and one was saved for home. We had Pizza at Sammy’s for supper. We got to sit up front at the round table in the corner – a special place reserved for birthdays as the back table aka “Papa Pete’s table” is where we typically sit. He got a trike and we are happy to finally get to use it. They have trikes at daycare and I can tell that he has practicing as he is finally figuring out how to make the pedals go around. He also got a bigger basketball hoop. We thought maybe the old one could go outside or downstairs – oh, no – we had to keep both hoops in the playroom, so he can have a full court. Many, many “games” and “practices” have been held there. He will mostly win the games, but some of the time he won’t win – “the other team made more points.” He really likes it when Dad pretends to be the radio announcer and do the play-by-play. I find it funny, too!

Around Andrew’s birthday we also found out that NDSU planned to close the Center for Child Development where Andy goes to daycare. The community of NDSU rallied together in support of keeping the Center. The President of NDSU ended up reversing his decision for now and will keep it open/funded through June of 2012. The future is still yet to be determined. In the meantime, Andrew was offered a spot at Sanford, where Leah goes and I work. It took a lot of thought on what we wanted to do, but in the end we chose to switch Andrew to Sanford. He will make the transition in June. We loved NDSU’s Center, but we know Sanford will be a good place also – we already know some of the teachers since Leah goes there and they are top notch. We took Andrew for a tour there today and he was very interested in all of the different areas and he especially liked the outside play area. I’ll update again after the switch in June.

The big news is that Andrew is totally potty trained. It was quite easy for him actually. One day he just pretty much decided that he wasn’t going to wear diapers anymore. Then he decided that he wouldn’t wear diapers or pull ups when he was sleeping either. He has had a few minor accidents – usually when he having too much fun and forgets he has to go or his aim isn’t as refined as he’d like it to be. But he has stayed day through every nap and overnight. Yeah!! We are still working on being totally independent getting up on the potty -- he still needs a little bit of help with that especially when he has a button on his pants. Thank goodness he likes to wear those elastic waist “uniform” shorts now.

Andrew is a chatterbox and has such a funny personality. We can’t believe some of the things he says. He went to Sunday School Too (pre Sunday School where the parents attend with the children) at church and he was so shy! He didn’t say one word or sing any of the songs…and he loves to sing. Until another little boy sat on the letter “A” on the rug with the alphabet going around. He thought that was HIS letter and went into crisis/meltdown mode when it wasn’t a choice. He did finally join the other kids if I sat right next to him. The nice teacher asked that it be saved for him after the snack, too, so he was much happier when he got the letter “A.” Next time, we were sure to sit on the alphabet rug before any of the other kids went over to it. (What smart parents we are – you know sometimes WE have a lot to learn, too and our children are our teachers!)

Andrew also really enjoyed Easter this year. The kids and I went to Nana and Papa Lindsay’s house. Ryan had to work at home baseball games. (That is one thing that really irritates me about Division I – holidays are never spared like they were in Division II athletics.) We were looking out in our backyard the other day and there were 3 bunnies. We are the only neighbors that don’t have a dog to chase them out of the yard. Andrew said maybe they are taking a break from Eastertime.

Andrew and Ryan also did swimming lessons this spring and plan to do one more parent/child session this summer before he goes on his own. He is getting much braver and had a really fun time going down the water slide on the last day. I think swimming is such a valuable skill, so I’m glad he is more comfortable in the water. I cannot believe the hand-eye coordination Andrew has. He can hit a whiffle ball off the pitch and is even learning how to soft toss, too. He can sometimes even catch in a baseball mitt. He is getting to be a good chipper too since Papa Pete brings out the golf clubs every time we are over there. At school he likes to play soccer and keeps telling me that we need to get a soccer net and ball for at home.

Leah, Leah, Leah. She is such a monkey. She likes to get into everything. She loves to crawl and she is getting really fast. She makes a total beeline for the bathroom if the door is left open. She just loves to get into the drawers, garbage can and tries to check out the toilet. If we are down in the kitchen, she makes her way to the steps. She can go all the way up but has no idea how to get down yet. She likes to climb and will use her little chair as a step and try and get up on top of the coffee table or whatever it might be next to. She likes to wave hi and bye now, too. I just love when the little ones learn how to wave – so cute. She will wave bye-bye to all of her friends at school when their moms and dads come and pick them up. She is getting verbal now, too. Mama ma ma ma and dada da da da are frequently heard. She also says tic-a-tic-a-tic-a. We think this means tickle tickle tickle, especially since Andrew always tickles her on her tummy. She just LOVES Andrew. He can instantly get her to smile. All he has to say is “Leee-ah.” Andrew loves her, too. He knows that he’s her favorite.

Leah is an excellent self-feeder. In fact, she likes it so much, she will not eat baby food or anything else from the spoon – she would much rather do things herself. She will eat pretty much anything, but her favorite right now is American cheese. She went grocery shopping with me yesterday and I she saw that I was buying some American cheese slices and we almost didn’t make it after that because she wanted some right now. She also likes to drink from a sippy cup with a spout, but at school they get to use straws. For a while she would have a new shirt on every day when I pick her up because she spit out her water – she’s been good now since I brought her a waterproof bib although her pants seem to be the ones getting wet/food on them now instead. Oh, Leah!

She had a tough week a couple weeks back and had to miss some daycare days. She had a double ear infection and a high temperature. It was scary high – up to 104 degrees at one point. For 3 days, the fever would go high once the Tylenol and/or Motrin wore off, so we kept those going around the clock. Poor baby just wasn’t feeling well either – she would sleep all day long – so we knew that she wasn’t feeling herself. Then the fever just broke suddenly, and she was back to cheerful Leah. Thank goodness!!

Leah is getting close to walking now, too. She can really scoot around by lightly holding on to the furniture or holding mom and dad’s fingers. I cannot believe that she will be 1 year old next month! I suppose I better start planning her birthday party.

As for the summer, we don’t have anything too big planned. We are going to squeeze in a couple short trips between Ryan’s work conference and umpiring schedule. We are planning to get away to the cities in July with the Lindsay cousins to enjoy some kid friendly activities and have fun at the hotel which has a really neat pool. After we get back, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Dave are planning to visit for a few days.

Thanks for checking in. I’ll try not wait so long between this update and the next one.

We cannot believe that we have a 3 year old on our hands. We have a fun day planned for Andy. Will definately post some pictures and a recap after the big day! Please leave Andrew a message in the guestbook...we'll read him all of the messages and save them in his baby book. :)

Happy February!! We have been busy… not with anything in particular, but having two kiddos makes busy parents.

Andrew is doing well. He is a sports junky! It seems like a broken record, but it’s what he loves. It’s basketball season, so he’s busy shooting hoops all of the time. He plays out a full game on his “court.” There’s the Star Spangled Banner (which he sings), the basketball game (which he is the public address announcer), half time (where he sings the band songs), more game, time outs (where he sits on his bench and wipes off his sweat with his blanket/towel). Most of the time he will win the game, but one time he did tell me that he didn’t win because he missed a lot of shots. So funny! He loves going to the games, too. He is so well behaved, watching the games for a lot of time, but also playing with his little matchbox cars. He lines them up in many different configurations. He also likes the make artwork with stickers. He is getting to be pretty good at peeling them off himself, too and doesn’t need much help. He can make a letter “A” but sometimes it’s upside down or sideways. He recognizes so many of the letters, but A, L, S, and R have special meaning for him. :) Speaking of the letter S and R, he knows that mommy and daddy’s real names are Stephanie and Ryan. Andrew was particularly frustrated with me one time (I don’t remember what for, but most likely telling him he couldn’t do something) and he says, “No, Stephanie, I don’t want that!” It was so hilarious and caught Ryan and I both off guard. He is maturing with bedtime, too. He is now laying down by himself and falling asleep on his own.

Leah is learning so much. She is on the move. Not crawling, but seems to be a scooter. It’s not very apparent that she’s moving unless you step away for a few minutes and she’s in a totally different location from where she was when you come back in a few minutes. She can stand on her own if you stand her up next to something she can hold on to. She is doing okay with solids, but she just isn’t a big fan of baby food. She might be one of those kids that doesn’t do much baby food and moves on to table foods. Our pediatrician said not to worry and it will come with time. She has tried puffs and Cheerios. She likes to feed herself, but that pincher grasp isn’t totally developed yet. Leah is she is a horrible sleeper, which is a bummer. She is still up several times per night to check in with mom. Lucky mom, right? I was so hopeful that she would be one of these babies that I hear the stories about sleeping 10-12 hours in a row. Oh well, this too shall pass. Leah reaches for things she loves, including mom and dad for them to pick her up. She gets so happy when she is picked up. Leah loves, loves being held. I guess that’s one way she knows that she will be in the same room as you. She does not like being left alone. Even if she is playing upstairs, and we go down into the kitchen within sight, it’s not good enough. It’s not so bad – I’m glad she likes us. ;)

Thanks for checking in.