2010 Journal

Jan 1 - Andrea has started off the new year with a nasty cold.  She is doing well and is happy though.  Mommy and Daddy have the day off.  She is loving all the extra attention.  She talked Daddy into opening her new play dough set and playing with her all day.

As a note, Mommy loves how Andrea says "My Andrea" when she is referring to herself in a picture, just like she say "My Mommy" or "My Daddy" when pointing to each person.

Andrea is really into pretending lately.  She also jumps from idea to idea.  She will be talking about Daddy "popping" her in the fort (like knocking) and all of a sudden jump to "popping bubbles".  Usually it is even more random than that.

Jan 2 - Andrea had an accident free potty day yesterday, no #2 though.  Today she went #2 in the toilet! - first time in months.  Mommy and Daddy cheered.

Jan 3 - No more poos in the toilet. :(

Jan 8 - Andrea keeps coming home and asking where Aunt Mandy and Uncle Aaron are, she knows they are coming and expects them to be here already.  I told her they will be here when she gets up today.

Jan 9 - Andrea is being sweet to the babies but they don't do much.  She much prefers the attention of Aunt Mandy who can play with her.  Uncle Aaron is okay too, but he doesn't play as much.  Andrea gets confused sometimes but she knows Alaina and Alanna are her cousins (sometimes they are her sisters or brothers instead - LOL). Nana and G.G. were here today.  They brought lots of gifts for Aaron, Amanda and the girls.  Andrea was allowed to help unwrap and even got some more gifts of her own.

Jan 10 - Grandpa and Grandma E. came down today to see everyone.  They had a big dinner with us and held the girls.  Grandpa thinks Andrea is really jealous and I'm sure she is a tad bit, but I think she was mostly just being shy.  She is really differentiating lately between people and tends to take to women much more readily. Andrea got really upset when Uncle Aaron reprimanded her today.  She bawled and bawled for several minutes and hid in the kitchen with Mommy.

Jan 11 - Andrea's potty training is progressing but still stalled.  She is getting pretty good at telling me when she needs to go pee, but still holding out on the poo.

Jan 12 - Andrea said goodbye to her aunt, uncle, and cousins today.  We will see them one more time at grandpa's house.

Jan 16 - Andrea and Mommy went to Grandpa's today and saw Uncle Aaron, etc again.  Andrea was well behaved.  She enjoyed being there with everyone.  She even took a nap in the room with the girls. Her potty training is going well.  She still won't poo in the toilet but she is doing wonderful with pee and even tells Mommy when she needs to go or goes into the bathroom herself and waits for help.

Jan 17 - Andrea is full of imagination lately.  She makes up the funniest things sometimes and jumps from idea to idea.

Jan 18 - Mommy decided to start Andrea on a "schooling" program.  Andrea is getting interested in letters.  She loves that she knows "A is for Andrea, D is for Daddy, M is for Mommy".  She also knows R is for Ronan.  We have been working on the letters of her name and the only one she doesn't know is N.  The new program Mommy imagined is to work on a letter per week.  Of course this week is A.  We have been writing A's and coloring them.  We even cooked Apple Muffins.

Jan 21 - Andrea woke up at 3am with a croup cough again.  Our nebulizer was on loan to a friend so we bundled up and went outside.  After a while Andrea came back in and slept in Mommy's bed.  Her breathing was harsh for a little while but better by morning.  A call to the doctor's office and they wanted her to come in because of her history.  Andrea was doing great in general.  She was coughing a little but happy.  During the night episode she had told daddy that she swallowed a rock and wouldn't drop the story.  Mommy didn't believe her.  Again during the day she told Mommy we were going to the doctor so she could get the rock out.  Of course as a prudent parent, Mommy passed this info to the doctor.  They decided to get a chest x-ray to be careful (looking for foreign object or pneumonia) because she has had a few cases in a few months.  Andrea was such a great patient. She did everything they asked of her.  When we got to the imaging center she was upbeat and followed directions well.  Mommy was proud, what a sweetheart!  They found nothing in the x-ray (yes, Andrea is imaginative!).  They prescribed prednisone (sp?) for the croup.

Andrea had her first pee accident in almost 2 weeks today.  She peed on the living room floor and Mommy was upset at first. After stripping the wet clothes, it was time to clean the floor.  Mommy was grumpy, Andrea disappeared upstairs.  A minute later, as Mommy was shampooing the carpet, Andrea came down with her toy mower (which she thinks is vacuum) to help Mommy.  Mommy's heart melted and Andrea proceeded to help mommy clean the floor. Daddy pulled out the vacuum and helped too, it was a family affair.

Jan 22 - An example of Andrea's imagination: while whining about how she couldn't find a piece to her train, she said "I think the kitty wanted it".  Now really?  Like the kitty could even pick it up....

Jan 23 - Andrea and Mommy spent the day with Ronan and Cyndal at our house so that Lisa could go to training.  Andrea loves having Ronan here.  The kids helped make muffins and enjoyed it.  They played together well. 

Jan 24 - Today was our friend, Harry's birthday.  We all went to Applebee's for dinner.

Jan 25 - Andrea is getting better at staying clean when eating.  If she spills, she wants to wipe it up.  Therefore, she is able to eat without a bib more.  Andrea's cold is yucky today.  She has the yucky nose and productive cough.

Jan 29 - Andrea randomly told Daddy this morning - "I'm a Little Monster" and accompanied this proclamation with a wiggle and arms.

Jan 30 - Andrea and Mommy spent the evening with Ronan and Lisa's family for Lisa's birthday.  Andrea had so much fun! She played and played with Ronan and Ronan's cousin page.  For a rare time, Andrea was actually the ring leader much of the night.

Jan 31 - Andrea has a fever today.  Oh, so tired of her being sick.  It is about 100 so not bad, just not sure why.

Feb 1 - Andrea's fever was gone today so we went to her first dentist appointment.  They were really nice and showed her each piece of equipment. They blew air on her and showed her how the brush worked, etc.  They had cute kid glasses for her to wear.  She was nervous, especially when the dentist came in (man), but she did really well.  She did what they told her despite her nerves.  By the time she was all done with a good cleaning she was smiling.  The dentist said her teeth look fabulous.

Feb 2 - Andrea has a fever again today, about 101.  Ugh!

Feb 3- Andrea is better today, still coughing but fever is better.

Feb 5 - Andrea just started playing the stubborn card that all children play by going limp when you take there arm to lead them somewhere.  She thinks it is a great game.

Feb 7 - It is funny what thing can remind me that Andrea is getting older.  Today it was her milking an injury.  She completely had me fooled.  We were playing at church and I felt her arm pop as we were wrestling.  I didn't think anything of it at first until she sat there crying.  I picked her up and asked her what hurt but she just kept crying.  Eventually Daddy picked her up and we couldn't get her to move her arm.  There was no visible damage but she kept crying so we went to the car.  Daddy realized her game when he saw her move it once, but Mommy wasn't so sure.  Sure enough we made it home (still crying) and Andrea decided food was more important than her injury.  She climbed up to the table and stared eating just fine. Crazy girl!  That was a first!

Feb 8 - Andrea is still coughing some, but overall seems okay.  Today we had a great day with Ronan and Cyndal.  We decorated lots of cakes and cookies for Valentine's Day.

Feb 13 - Andrea was so proud of herself today for pooping in the toilet.  She yelled out to Mommy and Daddy who came running (and gave her a cookie).

Feb 14 - Andrea had an accident free day today!  Mark this date down in history!  She pooped in the toilet multiple times without being asked.  Mommy doesn't know whether to cheer or hold my breath for tomorrow ;)

Andrea is still sick or sick again.  She had the croupy cough again last night.  Mommy gave her one breathing treatment that really helped.  She continued to cough a lot, but different sound.  She has been coughing all day today.

Feb 18 - Nana and GG here today.  Andrea love it, but by evening her fever was up to 103 and she was so, so tired.

Feb 19 - Andrea woke up in the night and asked Mommy to put water in here ear!  In the morning she said it didn't hurt, but by noon she asked Mommy to put water in it again (of course we didn't) and started crying.  A doctor's appt confirmed and ear infection.  They have also put her on allergy meds to try and stop the chronic illness she has had this year.  She has a follow-up appt in 2 weeks

Feb 20 - Andrea pointed to her ear today and said "Look, my booboo is getting better".  She still has a mild fever and coughing lots but glad her ear is feeling a tad better.  She was such a trouper throughout it all.

Feb 25 - Andrea has learned that being sick gets her sympathy, so she has been trying to use that to her advantage.

Mar 3 - Andrea wants to "go to the park and see my friends", but Mommy is sick with the stomach flue and can't take her.  Andrea's response was "Daddy can take me when he gets home".

Mar 4 - Andrea had to miss gymnastics today because Mommy is sick.  So sad.  She loves gymnastics and is getting pretty good at flipping on the bar (assisted of course).

Mar 5 - Andrea had a follow-up with the nurse practitioner - Bethany - today. Andrea is doing well. Her ear looks great, etc.  We are taking her off the allergy medicine and waiting to see if she gets any return symptoms.

Mar 6 - We keep watching Andrea for signs of the stomach flu, but nothing.  Because she likes to pretend she is sick for attention, Mommy has been asking her what hurts.  She keeps telling us that her mouth hurts (even though we know her throat is better).  This is Mommy's clue that Andrea's tummy does not hurt.

Mar 10 - Andrea is healthy at this point.  We can't believe she didn't get the stomach flu, but only Mommy was affected.

Mar 11 - Andrea's quote: "I can walk and talk, I'm not a baby anymore.  I'm a big girl.  I'm growing like a flower."  :)

Mar 13 - Andrea and Mommy spent the evening at a friend's house.  Andrea got to eat ice cream and stay up until 10pm.

Mar 14 - Andrea woke up with croup at 11pm.  She spent the rest of the night in bed with Mommy.  The croup ended about 5am.  Today she has a slightly runny nose but good otherwise.  Mommy is afraid that spending the evening in a home with a dog may have been the cause, so we gave Andrea a dose of allergy meds.  Wish it was obvious if it was from a virus or allergy.

Mar 15 - Andrea's potty training continues.  She had her first pee accident on the 13th after about a month with no pee accidents (my time scale might be off).  Poos are still tougher, it still feels about 50/50.  She will have perfect days and then days with lots of accidents and days with both.

Mar 19 - Andrea went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time today.  She loved it.

Mar 20 - Andrea spent the day at Ronan and Cyndal's house.  They played and played and played some more.  They didn't take a nap and Andrea fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Mar 21 - Ronan and Cyndal spent the day with us today.  Went to church with us and the spent the rest of the day at our house.  All the kids put boots on to splash in puddles.  They were not satisfied for long though and Cyndal showed them that they could dunk the tops of their heads into the water.  Andrea eventually sat in the water too.  Later, around 5:00, Andrea and Ronan sat to watch a movie.  Andrea fell asleep in the rocking chair.  She was so sound asleep that when Ronan pounded on her back, she didn't wake up.

Mar 22 - Andrea is so cute. When she wants to pacify me, she says "Okay, Momma, Okay".  I must say something similar that she picked up on.  It makes me smile.  I find it different that she calls me "Momma" instead of Mommy or Mom, kind of a middle road between the two.

Mar 23 - Mommy's Birthday.  Andrea sang happy birthday many times.

Mar 24 - I found it interesting when Grandma Nana asked Andrea what color something was today.  She answered with the two correct colors.  It struck me that it wasn't that long ago that she would have only answered with one of the colors.

Mar 25 - Andrea still loves gymnastics.  Unfortunately her behavior is not quite stellar.  She and Ronan often get out of hand, although it is with other kids too.  For the past two lessons she has had to be put on timeout.  She does great when it is time to do something though, just can't stand the waiting.

Mar 26 - We went to the Olympia gymnastics place today. Andrea loves running around, jumping is her favorite.

Mar 27 - We went to a birthday party today.  Andrea had lots of fun.

Mar 29 - Andrea had fun in swimming class today.  She held on to me 95% of the time but did have a blast going down the slide on her own many times.  She is doing well, still doesn't like going underwater with her eyes open though and holds on to me all the time.

Mar 30 - Andrea and Mommy went to get ice cream tonight.  Mommy chose cake batter ice cream and Andrea chose the m&ms to put in it.  While sharing, Andrea noticed some poles outside and proceded to tell Mommy a story about how a dog came along and ate it and went "rarrrrr" (complete with face and arm gestures) and then they were sad because dog was scary.

April 1 - Andrea went to the playcenter at the gym today.  She had fun.  This was a big change from the last time we tried to go about a year ago.

April 2 - "My Mommy says yes because my Mommy no says no." Andrea explaining to Daddy that Mommy would not say no to a movie.

April 5 - Andrea went to the playcenter (child care) at the gym today.  This is the first time in almost a year.  She did great and seemed to enjoy it.

April 8 - Andrea is doing so well with the play center at the gym. 

April 9 - Andrea has hit another half year.  For Mommy, that means another "stage".  (Mommy has disliked every half year: 18 months, 2 1/2)  This "stage" is to throw fits.  They are relatively mild compared to some kids, but she has become more demanding and stubborn, etc.  It is all normal, but Mommy never loves these times, neither does Daddy of course.

April 10 - Andrea rode a ponny at Jaden's party today, she was so excited and has been talking about it for days.  Afterwards though, she didn't want to do it again.  I think it might have been a little boring or maybe it was because Mommy didn't walk with her.  Andrea had a fabulous time at the party though.  They had the bouncy house out and Andrea was exhausted by 1:30.

April 11 - We hike at a local park today.  It was muddy, but that just made it more fun for Andrea.  We had a picnic at the top.

April 12 - Potty training continues the same.  About 50/50 on the poops, but 98% on the pees.

April 13 - Andrea has pink eye.  Daddy noticed it after swimming last night.  It looked like just a reaction to chlorine at first but then got goopy.  She has eye-drop antibiotics for several days.

April 14 - Andrea can be pretty sassy lately.  She finds it easiest to ignore Mommy but also makes noises and faces at Mommy when she doesn't like an answer or statement.

April 15 - Happy Birthday Daddy!  Off to Long Beach!

April 16 - Andrea loves playing on the beach.  She runs squealing from the waves and plays in the sand.  She thinks it is fantastic to dig and crawl in the sand.  We went swimming after nap time.  We started in the kiddy pool (1ft) but the wind was cold despite the sun so Mommy talked her into the big pool.  She jumped in a lot and had fun.

April 17 - It was kind of rainy today so we stayed inside more.  We still spent an hour in the swimming pool though (heated) and took a walk on the beach path.

April 18 - Long (and fun) day for Andrea.  We started at the beach at 7am, swimming in the pool at 9am.  After that, we checked out of the hill and spent the early afternoon hiking up to two different lighthouses.  Poor girl was exhausted and eventually refused to walk on her own.  Beautiful, sunny day.

April 19 - Fun day!  We went to see the tulips this morning.  Nana and GG joined us along with friends.  At swimming tonight, Andrea did great.  She is one of only 2 kids in the class this time and we focused on getting her to walk/swim without holding on to Mommy.  She did well.  We started with bunny hops and she developed courage and would do those on her own.  If she got nervous and tried to grab me, I would remind her "bunny hops" and she would hop away.  By the end of the class, she was halfway across the pool from me :)

April 20 - We didn't have the heart to tell Andrea the truth about the eggs we pulled out of the dryer vent.  The two pretty, blue eggs were precious to here.  She asked me if they had birdies in them and I said "yes".  She told me we needed to take them outside and put them in the tree so they could find their Mommy.  I told her okay and we proceeded to take them outside.  We don't have a tree, so we put them in a bush so their Mommy could find them.

April 22 - At a friend's house today, they put their dog outside knowing Andrea is afraid of dogs.  Andrea saw the dog at one point and told us all that "that dog is scary.  He has a tongue." She then stuck out her tongue and did a slow imitation of a lapping in the the air. "He licks you."  Oh my!  You must picture the scene with seriousness from Andrea's eyes and then Mommy laughing and sighing that all her daughter is afraid of is being licked. LOL

April 25 - We have been going to the gym regularly, Andrea loves the playcenter and asks to go sometimes.

April 30 - Andrea woke up sick in the middle of the night.  She was really good about it.  I think she was confused more than frightened.  We cleaned up her bed and she was relaxed through the process.  In the morning, I heard her come out of her room and found her in her bathroom throwing up into the sink. Wow, I was impressed.  What a good girl.  She didn't eat all day.

May 1 - Andrea is feeling better today.

May 6 - Mommy is sick today with Andrea's stomach flu.  Andrea was lucky because the Sills family picked her up so she could still go to gymnastics. 

May 10 - Andrea has just figured figured out that she can leave her bedroom in the morning.  Forever, she has layed in bed and either played or called for us when she wants up.  Just in the last couple of days, she has started coming into our room and crawling into bed when she wakes up or at least talking to us.  I often hear her and meet her in the hallway as well.

May 12 - I asked Andrea to quit coming into our room in the morning and she listened.  She got up and opened her door, but I found her playing in her bed a few minutes later.  What a sweet girl.

May 15 - Andrea shows Mommy love by rubbing her face on the back side of my arm. It first started over a year ago when she would try to warm Mommy up and get ride of her goose bumps.  She would rub her face on my cold arms at work while I was in the office chair.  Recently she has started doing it as a way of being close. Sweet.

May 16 - We visited G.G. in the hospital today (she is doing pretty good).  Andrea was a little intimidated and not extremely happy with getting close to G.G.  I think she was a little unsure of the situation.

May 19 - Andrea's imagination is huge.  She makes up the funniest things and her imagination goes off on tangents.  Where she gets her ideas, we don't know.  Sometimes I think she just puts random things and events and dreams together in her head.

May 20 - Tonight will be our first night without a diaper for Andrea.  She was dry last night and many times in the past. She will probably have quite a few accidents, but she won't learn until we try, right?  Just one small accident last night.

May 21 - Andrea is cute. She wants to read to me sometimes at night before I read the book to her.  The other night she said "one day..." on each page, then described the page.  Then last night she said "once upon a time..." on each page.  Wonder where she got those from - LOL

May 28 - Andrea's imagination is tenfold what it was a few months ago.  In the bath tonight, her toothbrush was some animal or person.  It was sick and the elephant was taking care of it.

May 30 - So we added a new strategy to our nighttime potty training.  We are now waking Andrea up a couple hours into sleep to go potty.  It seems to be working well :)

June 2 - I just told a friend that Andrea should be going through a growth spurt soon, she has been sleeping a little longer and eating well.  Well, I measured her and guess what? She has grown an inch in the last month :)  She is now about 40.5 inches tall.  Still ways about 37lbs.

June 5 - Andrea's potty training is going really way.  She has not had a daytime accident in about a week.  Nighttime is going well too.  Last night she woke up at 3am and said "Mommy, I need to go potty".  That is wonderful.  The easiest nights are still when we have her go potty around 11pm, but it is great that she may be doing well without that too.

We went for an "adventure" today.  Up in Packwood area, we hiked around goat rocks and then down at the river.  Andrea had fun and we took lots of pictures.

June 10 - After a morning of movement class and gymnastics, Andrea and Mommy headed to Long Beach with friends.  We had enough time this first night to take a dip in the pool.  Both girls love it.  Andrea impressed us all by learning she could push off one side and swim to the other side under the water. 

June 11 - Made it to the beach today!  Andrea experienced her first kite.  The novelty was short lived.  She loved digging in the dirt.  Then of course we went to the pool again!  Andrea is a fish :)

June 12 - Before leaving the beach, we made a trip to the horses.  Unlike last year, Andrea wasn't too afraid to ride one.  She seem a little afraid but enjoyed it overall.  We drove back and went straight to "fairy pictures".  Can't wait to see the photos of Andrea dressed as a fairy.

June 14 - Andrea is a little fish.  After the weekend in the 1ft pool, it was great to see her translate the swimming to the bigger pool.  She LOVED pushing off the side and swimming with her head in the water to Mommy.  She must have done it 50 times.  Tonight was testing at swimming.  She is quite a bit ahead of the rest of her class so she was given different challenges.  The teacher said she is doing everything that she would do in the next level and could skip Kinder1 when she is 4 and can move to the real classes.  What a big girl!

June 17 - Andrea has been great with her potty training when at home and out EXCEPT when playing at friends' houses.  Poor girl told me she had to go at a friend's the other day and made it to the bathroom floor for her accident.  She has just gone in her pants most times though.  Otherwise, she is pretty much accident free during the day.

June 21 - Andrea had a fever over 103 today.  Poor little girl.  No strep, so just waiting it out.  Rough night, kept waking up screaming.

June 22 - Andrea's fever is in the 101-102 range today, she is happy.

June 23 - Andrea's fever persists, but she doesn't feel it much.  She is missing Vacation Bible School this week.

June 24 - Took Andrea to vacation bible school then to the park.  She seemed better. Unfortunately the fever came back that night.

June 25 - Andrea's fever is almost gone, but now she is coughing.  Dr says she looks fine and it will just be several more days of coughing.  Good thing

June 26 - Mommy went out of town last night and today.  Andrea had tons of fun with Daddy, Mr. Kevin and Jaden.  They had a sleep-over and did lots of yardwork.  Andrea was so tired at naptime that when Daddy woke her up at 5pm, she wanted to go back to sleep and slept on the couch for another hour.  Of course she was awake when Mommy came home at 9pm.

June 28 - Andrea didn't want to get up from nap today either.  She rolled over and went back to sleep when I tried to wake her.

June 30 - Andrea loves playing in the dirt.  She can entertain herself forever.  Tonight she ventured to pretending that pulling weeds (grass) was good and that she should eat it (which we made her spit out when she really did).  Her imagination is amazing.

July 10 - Andrea still thinks she has a baby in her tummy too.

July 12 - Andrea had fun at swimming tonight.  Daddy went in with her. 

July 13 - Andrea picked up "poopy butt" as something funny to say from some other kids and was saying it to me.  I told her "we don't do that in this house".  Her response back was: "we don't have fun in this house, we don't laugh in this house".  Oh my!  "No, Andrea, we don't be rude in this house".  Goodness!!!!!!!!

July 21 - Andrea has started having more frequent accidents again (#2), just when we thought were were in the clear.

July 26 - Andrea and I couldn't decide today whether we should call the midwife a "mommy doctor" or a "baby doctor".  I was trying to convince Andrea that she was the baby doctor since she helps me care for the baby, but I think that may have been abstract.  Andrea seemed more convinced that she was caring for mommy.