Jan 5 - We started swim lessons for 2009 today.  Andrea was in rare form and loved every minute of it.  She was jumping off the side with less help than ever.  it was lots of fun for both of us.

Jan 9 - Andrea has her bottom 2-year molars!  I was so surprised to see them. She ate some crayons this morning and I had to brush and brush to free her from the leftovers.  I was checking the molars to see what was left and realized there were two molars, what a surprise!  She has the bottom ones almost completely in but the tops are still missing.  I haven't been checking for these teeth because I didn't quite expect them yet.  On a different subject, Andrea started gymnastics for tots today.  It is designed just for 2-year-olds.  Andrea was not happy with staying with the group.  She cried several times so we mostly did our own thing.

Jan 10 - Andrea still asks for "Twinkle Star" before bed each time.  On a good day, she will even sing along.  She actually knows the words almost completely.

Jan 12 - Welcome to the world Cyndal Rose!  Congrats on being a big brother, Ronan!  (Andrea and Mommy visited today.)

Jan 14 - Daddy found Andrea undressed in her crib this morning.  She had unzipped her pajamas and removed them.

Jan 16 - Today was the second gymnastics class. Andrea did a little better this time, she even waited in line for the running trampoline this time, but still she would rather run off and do her own thing. The instructors actually prefer that the kids are allowed to have fun and do their own thing if they want but it is hard for Mommy to let her miss the class.

Jan 18 - Andrea didn't want to go to bed tonight.  She found a new way to stay up for a while.  Instead of going to sleep as she normally does, she called out to Mommy until I came in and she said "I go potty".  I asked if she needed to go potty and she said "yes" so we went in and sat there.  Twenty minutes later we were still sitting there playing with Mommy's hair, naming all the animals in the bathtub, and hanging out.  Oh, how I was being fooled! She screamed that she needed to go poopoo when I tried to take her off and said "no diaper".  She cried and cried as Daddy tried to put her to bed.  It was a long evening.

Jan 19 - Andrea still asked to go to the potty when she got up this morning, but nothing came of it.  This afternoon she didn't want a diaper but still didn't master the potty.  The tantrum at bedtime wasn't as bad tonight though.

Jan 20 - Andrea wanted to go without a diaper again this afternoon, but again she didn't use the potty.

Jan 21 - Andrea seems to have forgotten her desire for underwear today.  She stayed in a diaper all day and she didn't use it as a tool to avoid sleep at all today.

Jan 22 - Andrea has figured out that she can use the play bench from her kitchen to get to higher locations.  She uses it to turn lights on and off and explore "new" places.

Jan 23 - Andrea is not improving at gymnastics lessons.  She does not want to participate with the group and the attitude of letting the kids do what they want is not helpful so we will finish out the month and then stop.

Jan 25 - This morning, while dressing for church, Andrea brought her kitchen stool into Mommy and Daddy's room so she could explore Mommy's dresser.  She found a wallet-sized frame with a picture of Mommy and Daddy. As she was grabbing it though, the stool rocked and she fell, catching her lip on the edge.  Mommy quickly ran her into the bathroom for a cold washcloth to suck on.  She ended up with a hole on the outside of her lip from the dresser and a hole inside from her teeth.  After some slight nursing, she immediately went back and got the photo, using the stool.  She then carried that picture around with her all day.  She took it to church and even took it to bed for her nap and to dinner for Harry's birthday.  Finally, at bedtime it was left forgotten downstairs.

Jan 26 - Mommy made a kid-friend meal tonight: fish sticks, tater tots and carrots, but all Andrea ate was the ketchup.

Jan 31 - Andrea still sings "Twinkle Star" with me at night.  Some nights she just listens, but I love when she sings with me.

Feb 5 - Andrea loves playing with her friends.  She asks for Cami all of the time, although when they finally get together they don't actually acknowledge each other sometimes. Camie calls Andrea "And", it is cute.

Feb 6 - Andrea is starting to show more and more signs of creative play.  This morning she had a bead necklace wrapped around an elephant's trunk and was using it to "tow" another toy around.

Feb 7 - Andrea is funny. Today she randomly decided to pretend something was scaring her.  She would run to the corner where "it" was and say "ooh" and run away.  She would laugh and do it again.  Silly girl.  On a less positive note, Andrea has another skin infection.  this one is on her lower belly.  I decided to treat it with the ointment they gave us last time, but it hasn't helped and now (since it is Sat) I'm regretting not taking her in.  The spot is huge and very painful for her.

Feb 10 - Grandma Nana and GG were here for a couple nights.  Andrea loves the extra people to love on her and play with her.

Feb 11 - Grandma Halvorsen is here to visit for several days :)  Andrea is getting along well with her.

Feb 14 - Andrea has a cold and is coughing a lot today.  Poor thing.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Feb 16 - Andrea was really cute at swimming tonight.  She loves it.  Tonight she actually tried to sing along with the songs: "If You are Happy and You Know It" and "Duck Dawdle".

Feb 20 - Andrea has started saying "sorry" a lot.  Dave blames me (and he is right).  She says it often, even when she is the one who fell over my feet.

Feb 22 - Andrea's top molars have come in in the back (2nd set of molars). We don't see the bottom ones yet.  The top-right came in today, the top-left should be any day as well.

Mar 6 - Andrea is fond of telling me "I am here" and pointing to herself.

Mar 10 - "I am here" - Andrea points to herself and tells me this when I'm looking for her.

Mar 12 - Andrea has the flu :(  Throwing up this morning.

Mar 13 - Andrea was funny today.  She kept telling me "yah, I know", even when she was the one who just asked me.  For example, she told me something was purple and I said "no, it is blue" and she said "yah, I know".  :)

Mar 16 - I took Andrea to the doctor today.  She has another boil on her behind.  They lanced it and will culture to see what the infection is.

Mar 17- Andrea has all her 2-year molars now.  They final ones came in a couple weeks ago.

Mar 18 - Andrea has been really chatty lately.  She is growing up quick, learning new words daily.  She even says "Ronan" now instead of "RoRo".  She still calls herself "baby" though.

Mar 19 - The doctor called today.  Andrea's infection contains staf. She is now on antibiotics.

Mar 20 - Andrea is doing really well.  Her sore is almost completely gone.  We will finish out the medicine, of course, but she is fine for now.

Mar 21 - Andrea got her first salon haircut today.  We went to a salon designed for kids and she did really, really well.  The lady braided her hair afterwards, she looked beautiful.  Afterwards, we had to children's parties today: Aiden's 3rd birthday and Hudson's 1st birthday.

Mar 21 (2) - Andrea went bowling for the first time today.  Dave had heard of some kiddy bowling lanes at the local center, so we went to check them out.  There were two miniature bowling lanes with balls that were about 3 pounds each and smaller.  It was so cool.  G.G. played with us.  Grandma Nana took pictures.  It was so fun.

Mar 22 - We had friends and family over to celebrate Mommy's birthday today.  Ronan and Andrea sat across from each other at the Thai restaurant and kept getting each other in trouble.  Overall, they were pretty good for 2.5-year-olds.  They both ate tons of white rice and of course Andrea's other Thai staple - spring rolls.

Mar 23 - We had a huge playdate for Mommy's birthday today.  There were 9 mommies here (although not all of them were here at once).  A couple came without kids so we actually had a nice group.  Andrea slept through most of it and finally woke up but was really tired.  The kids had me make them a fort and had fun under the kitchen table.

Mar 24 - Andrea skipped nap today.  She fell asleep in the car on the way home from work, but when I pulled her out to take her to bed she started laughing softly.  I have no idea what was so funny, but she never went back to sleep.

Mar 25 - We went bowling again today - taking Ronan and family this time.  Andrea was bored with it quick this time.  It wasn't quite so new and cool so she kept escaping to check out the video games.  I guess it will be a little while before we go again.

Mar 26 - Andrea scratched herself on the blinds today.  The funny part was that she came over and told me "owe".  I asked if she had an owie and she said "it hurt me" with an indignant tone.  It made me laugh.

Mar 31 - Andrea has taken to Cyndal.  After not liking her in the beginning, it is a nice surprise. Now she likes to "pet" her and even attempts to pick her up.  Today, while they were visiting, I head Andrea in my lap and then picked up Cyndal and put her in our laps.  Cyndal wasn't too happy about it so we made it short.  Andrea definitely shows more interest in babies now though.

April 1 - Andrea's favorite movie right now is Stuart Little.  I'm not sure why but she would watch it a couple times per day if we let her.

April 3 - Andrea is so funny.  She talks a lot and usually I can understand what she wants so I don't think to closely about her words.  One of the ones that she usually gets wrong is telling me to press play on a movie.  She tells me to "take it off" and points at the television.  She has a couple different versions, but she never gets it quite right.

April 4 - We had a big Easter egg hunt here today.  The moms group was here for an egg hunt then a BBQ.  It was lots of fun and the weather was great.  Andrea loved picking up the eggs.  I think she liked that more than actually opening them.  Afterwards she spent at least an hour just playing with the eggs though.

April 5 - Dave removed the gate from the stairs today.  I wasn't ready, but Andrea really does go up and down the stairs all the time without supervision.  I guess the biggest problem now is that she has free access to the upstairs (or downstairs) whenever she wants.

April 6 - One of Andrea's funniest habits right now is that she says "I want to go home" all the time.  She has been saying this for weeks and says it multiple times each day.  She says it while we are home and indicates that she wants to go out while saying it.  It took me a while to figure out that it came from hearing friends say they were "going home".  Andrea must think it means to leave.  Either that or she thinks it means going to where her friends are.  Not sure, but it is funny.

April 7 - Andrea told me to "follow me" a couple times today.  Just thought it was a funny new phrase.  She also thought that it would be fun to push Daddy's mower partially down the driveway today too.

April 8 - Andrea crawled out of her crib.  I was so surprised. I woke up at 6:30 am.  It was a work day so rather than get Andrea up, I could hear her fussing, I went into the shower.  Dave was at a workout and usually gets back about the same time I get out of the shower.  When I got out, I didn't hear her fussing but heard some noises in the hallway.  I assumed Daddy was changing her diaper etc.  The door rattled like Andrea was trying to get in and I listed for Daddy to get her but when I didn't hear anything I looked out the window.  Daddy's car was still gone!  I opened the bedroom door and Andrea was standing there with 4 duckies lined up outside my door.  She had also been downstairs and turned on the lights!

April 9 - Last night was the first night in the toddler bed.  Andrea did moderately well.  She spent the first hour or two of the evening getting up every once in a while.  She did this sporadically throughout the night until Mommy finally told her I was getting upset and that I would be mad if she got up again.  She went to sleep again at this point and finally slept through until morning.  Tonight she is not getting out of bed but keeps crying.  Daddy and I have been taking turns comforting her, not sure why she is bothered so.

April 11 - Andrea fell out of bed last night.  Daddy heard the thud and went in and found her next to the bed crying.

April 13 - Andrea is getting pretty good at singing her ABC's and she can count to 13 now.

April 14 - Andrea fell out of bed again last night.  I heard the thud, then she cried.  I went in and she was standing next to the bed crying.

April 17 - So she finally figured out the deadbolt and we are going to have to find a way to keep her from walking out the front door on her own now.

April 18 - We went to Jayden's birthday part today.  He has a great yard to run in and a bouncy house and sandbox.  Andrea has so much fun that she didn't want to eat.

April 20 - Andrea and Mommy went to visit Uncle Aaron and Aunt Amanda today.  Andrea giggled and giggled as Uncle Aaron entertained her by drawing a kitty on his computer.  Too bad Andrea can't see the babies, she thinks we just go there to visit with Uncle Aaron.

April 22 - Andrea is starting to wake up with the sun, just a tad too early for mommy :(  She does really well though and mostly stays in her bed as long as I don't leave her too long.

April 23 - I took Andrea to the doctor again today for another boil.  This is the 4th infection. :(  Andrea was excited to go to the doctor and loved being there until she was messed with.  She seemed to remember it, but also seemed to understand that it would help her.  She cried and cried and kept telling the doctor thank you.  It was so heart wrenching.

April 24 - Andrea had a busy day today.  We had a large playdate this morning until 2 then ran up to Olympia.  This evening, Harry and Tracy came over for dinner.  Andrea was really excited.

April 25 - Andrea's boil has faded away.  The doctor called and affirmed that it was indeed another staff infection and suggested getting the antibiotics, but I told them I didn't want Andrea on antibiotics each time she gets these infections if she is indeed going to get them often.  Thankfully, it looks as though I made the right call, the sore is barely visible anymore.

April 26 - Andrea's high chair is gone!  It has been replaced with a booster seat - just one more sign that she is growing up bit by bit.

April 29 - Andrea surprised me last week by pointed to a letter in her Elmo Alphabet book and know that it was a "T".  Tonight, she pointed to a big "b" and knew what it was too.  Guess those letter videos are paying off!  LOL

May 4 - Andrea finally gets to meet both cousins today.  They have come to stay at our house.

May 5 - Nana gave Andrea some reading videos and she likes them. I was surprised to hear her repeating the words as asked, even a few of the actions such as touching her nose.  :)

Andrea is doing well with Alaina and Alanna.  She is interested in them but doesn't do much more than pat them or watch them.

May 7 - Andrea is wearing costume heels around the house all day today.

May 8 - Andrea got to hold Alaina and Alanna today.  It was sweet and cute, but she got bored quick.

May 9 - Andrea misses "Uncle Aaron".

May 10 - Dave told me a funny story.  He noticed Andrea only had one sock on and asked her where the other one was.  She pointed to the sock on her foot and said "here".  He said "no, the other one" and she pointed again to her one sock.  Dave looked around for the 2nd sock and asked her again with the same results.  After a while, he gave up looking and had a random though to check her foot.  He looked, and she had both socks on the same foot!

May 11 - Andrea decided that we can fly by flapping our hair.  She takes thinks it is hilaries to grab a little hair in each hand and make Mommy fly.

May 15 - It is not always easy to keep Andrea in bed for naps or night.  Sometimes she gets out of bed and plays a few times. Other times she just lays in bed and talks to herself.  She doesn't leave her room though.

May 17 - We had friends over today.  Jayden (boy) is 3-years-old and it was fun to watch Andrea try and play with him.  She imitated him a lot.  In fact, she followed him into the bathroom and after he was done, she wanted to pee standing up too!

May 24 - Andrea went out on a boat for the first time today.  She loved it.  Daddy was the one who had a hard time.  He was really nervous that she would fall in or something similar.  Of course nothing like that happened and Andrea enjoyed it with her friend Jayden.  After the great boat ride, We played in the park while dinner was prepared.  Andrea went down a big slide by herself for the first time.  She kept going round and round - up the stairs, across the bridge and down the slide.

May 25 - Happy Memorial Day - We went to the lake with Ronan and Allen (plus parents).  Andrea was hesitant at first, but once she got in the lake, it was tough to get her out.  Mommy walked in until it was too deep then we had to go get Daddy who was already in his swimsuit so that they could go out further.  Andrea had a blast in the water and playing in the sand with Ronan.  She was so tired that she slept for an hour when we came home before dinner.

June 2 - Andrea and I are headed out to our first vacation without Daddy. Michelle and Cami are going with us.  We are going to Long Beach to stay at the time share.

June 2 - The time share is perfect.  Andrea and I are sharing the master bedroom.  Michelle (who I must add is pregnant) and Cami are sharing the 2nd bedroom.  From our room, we can walk right out the porch to the swimming pool.  The girls have already dragged us out to the kiddy pool which was a perfect 1 foot.

June 3 - We had lots of fun today. We spent the morning at the beach.  The girls had a blast playing in the sand.  They crawled, dug, chased birds, and more.  We walked to the water and Andrea loved the waves.  She wanted to go out further but I drew the line at her calves :) After naps we went to see the horses.  We paid $5 each for the girls to have a pony ride.  Cami managed hers but Andrea only sat on the horse for about 15 seconds. We went out to dinner in town.  Andrea likes sleeping in her princess sleeping bag.

June 4 - We went to the beach again except we didn't go as far down.  We stopped higher up on the beach since it wouldn't matter to the girls.  They had a great time. After naps we went walking on the boardwalk.  A little bird kept teasing Andrea.  It would jump off the railing when she got close but we could hear it continue to sing and moments later it would jump back up on a post several feet down.  This pattern repeated over and over until I turned Andrea around to head back.  We went swimming again.  Andrea wanted to try out the big pool so she jumped in a few times to me, but the shallowest part was 4ft so she quickly returned to the kiddy pool where she could play on her own.

June 5 - Andrea is sick today.  She has a fever of 103.  I think she had it last night too, just didn't realize it at the time.  We thought she was just exhausted from the day.  She sat completely still watching a movie as Cami ran in circles. She woke up just cooking this morning.  Michelle ran to the store for me for a thermometer and Tylenol. We have chosen to stay at the time share.  I figured she would be best off just staying in bed rather than driving in the car, and this way Michelle and Cami can still enjoy themselves.  Thus, Andrea and I spent the day watching TV. in bed in the master bedroom.

June 6 - Andrea is feeling a little better today.  She ran and played with Cami this morning until we checked out. 

June 7 - Andrea is sick again today.  Dave feels bad for taking her out on the bike yesterday.  Her fever must have just been hiding yesterday.

June 8 - Andrea is still sick, but fever is much lower.  She has a runny nose now too.

June 9 - Andrea's first ER visit: Andrea had been running a fever off and on since the evening of June 4th. She had no other symptoms really and we kept thinking she was getting better, but then her fever would come back (about 102). Finally, yesterday evening, when it came back again I called and they told us that since she had a fever for more than 3 days that she should be seen.  On their advice, we attempted to take her to the after-hours peds clinic, but it was closed.  We called back and I was given the option of ER or waiting until morning.  I decided to walk her down the hallway to the ER.  Andrea was very tired.  We got triaged in and placed in a room.  We sat for a long time waiting to be seen.  Andrea feel asleep.  She woke up briefly and had a "barky" cough then went back to sleep.  I hear a man in the hallway ask "who is that coughing" A few minutes later, that man came in as her doctor.  He unfortunately woke her up and scared her.  She immediately starting coughing/wheezing - no doubt that it was croup!  Wow, what a sudden turn! She had a terrible time.  We couldn't get her calmed down and she was just hysterical and struggling to breathe. The doctor called in the nurses and put her on a breathing treatment.  Eventually she calmed and could breathe.  Not long later, they swabbed her nose and caused another coughing session.  They followed with a second breathing treatment.  They wanted to give her steroids and they tried oral, but I couldn't get her to drink anything.  Thus, they gave her a shot :(  She cried and coughed some more but then they just let her sit for an hour or so. She slept but would wake up and cry often.  In the end they gave her another breathing treatment and sent us home with instructions to follow up with doctor in morning, etc. 

June 10 - This morning the doctor was a tad concerned that she was still having some breathing struggle so they gave her another shot.  They had to have us sit in the doctor's office for an hour because her blood-oxygen was low.  Once it came back up they gave us a steroid prescription and sent us home.  This afternoon, Andrea is doing well.  The doctor called to check up on her and requested a follow up for tomorrow.

June 11 - The doctor gave Andrea an all-clear.  Her fever was still 99.9, but her breathing is normal.

June 12 - I called the doctor today because Andrea's cheeks are bright pink and she seems much more tired than normal for a low-grade fever.  They told me the cheeks are from the virus and not to worry.

June 13 - 10 days of being ill is a long time. Her fever is still a mild 99+ and she has the pink cheeks

June 14 - Andrea is much better today.  She is acting normal and looking normal, etc.  We even went to church and had a friend over this evening (Jayden, which Andrea says as Aiden).

June 15 - Andrea is tons better.  We went to a tie-dying playdate this morning. Andrea didn't really have any friends to play with though.  It was kind of sad to see her sitting by herself.  She knows all the kids, but the two older boys were too rough for her and the others were still too young to want to play with her. I got busy making shirts and looked to see her sitting off to the side quietly.  It was a little heart-breaking but I figured if she was really upset she would have come to me rather than sitting to the side.

June 16 - Andrea didn't want to take a nap today.  I went up to check on her and she was standing at her kitchen.  She turned to look at me and said "I'm cooking". It was hard not to laugh, but I put her back to bed and threatened that she couldn't go swimming unless she slept first.  Swimming went well.  It was really chaotic with 6 toddlers in the class, but Andrea enjoyed the water as usual.  She started walking in the pool without help again, FINALLY, but still won't dunk her own head.

June 19 - Andrea still loves Larry Boy and wants to watch the cartoons all the time.  We have a few now so she can watch them.  She loves to say that she is Larry Boy and tell others that they are Larry Boy as well.

June 20 - Andrea's new thing is to say "5 more minutes" when she doesn't want to do something yet (like go to bed).

June 21 - I was impressed tonight.  I asked Andrea tonight.  I asked her if she wanted something to drink.  She said "no".  I asked again, she said "no".  I guess I really thought that she should be thirsty so I asked, "do you want water, juice or milk?".  She said "no, thank you" very articulately.

June 22 - Andrea was pretty good today visiting GG and then Grandpa.

June 23 - I was so excited tonight!  Andrea did her own bobs at swimming tonight.  She had so much fun about 1 minute before the lesson was over.  I think she saw the kid next to us doing them and got excited.  She had told me when going to swimming that she wanted to do a bob, but I kind of shrugged it off.  We've always done them, but Mommy has to dunk her.  Tonight she just randomly dunked herself up to her forehead and just continued to do it about 25 times.

June 24 - We have hit the stafe of "Watch this, Mommy! Watch this!", then she flies around the room.

June 25 - We had a substitute teacher for swimming tonight.  It went great.  She knew what she was doing and had tons of energy for the kids.  Andrea will usually only jump into the pool if I'm holding both hands, but she taught me to hold one hand and have her jump in to get the other hand.  It worked great :)  We did back floats for 10 second then reward, back float 10 seconds another reward, etc.  She was great!  Andrea, of course, practiced her new skill of bobs all night long. She must have done almost 100 bobs.