July 2006

Andrew experienced his first summer rain storm complete with lightning. He celebrated the occasion by crying for quite a while, then sometime in the night ripping off his diaper....well that was my fault, I look off all his clothes except his diaper because someone told me kids are more mellow when they don't have as many clothes on. Of course I did not realize the liberated diaper until 8am, about an hour or 2 after his morning 'business'. Just another day in the house of Pooh. Rob laughed when I told him.....but he would have reacted much differently had he been responsbile for clean up of the Code Brown. Oddly, this was the first morning that Andrew woke up totally happy.....must have been the effects of going Commando.


Another exciting night in the Taylor household. Rob's phone conversations are so exciting they put Andrew right to sleep. This is what the conversation must sound like to Andrew "Blah blah blah,Blah Blah Blah.".







Andrew has been making friends with Tigger. Although... this night Andrew spent the evening shaking the kitty treats for an hour and poor Tigger never got a pay off. Tigger circled him like a shark but never went in for the attack. Tigger usually tolerates Andrew's attempts at petting him, but when Andrew has that crazed look in his eye and comes weilding a large toy, Tigger is smart enough to run. Fluffer on the other hand, can smell danger a mile away and is usually crouched and ready to run when she hears his steps approaching.



Andrew then moved on to Tigger Kitty Wrestling. Tigger still has a hand, or paw, up on Andrew with dexterity and quick movements, so Tigger usually escapes the Wrath Of Andrew. We were surprised no one was hurt in this bout.







Rob then tried to mediate the Wrestle-Fest and declared the winner to be Tigger.










Then finally it was off to bed for the night. I'm not sure who was more tired, Rob or Andrew. Andrew then spent a half an hour singing himself the La La song in his crib. We do not need to worry that he will grow up to join a rock band.







After being home from Kaz long enough, I can now have sentimental longings for all things Kaz. I can no longer go to a restaurant and see Beet Salad and say "yessssss!". I do miss the beet salads and pierogies.

My friends had a shower a couple weeks after we returned home. Here's Andrew on his first little car....he crashed shortly after the picture and now chooses to push the car. Later that night we went to the House Of The Rounds Boys (3 very energetic boys), who gave us the gift. Andrew's head was spinnig as he saw the affects of SpiderMan vitamins on their energy levels. They had some ride-on FireTrucks that they flew around on, and Andrew was quite confused. Andrew will learn a lot from the Rounds Boys over the next couple years. They were quite interested in Andrew, they came over to touch his face and hair, it was funny to see. Yes, he is a real boy :-)



He also got a kitty Kat book that he carries around with him. One day I was reading the book to him, and we got to the MEOW MEOW page. As I was meowing, Tigger walked up and did a live Meow for us. It freaked both Andrew and I out. I think Tigger was more interested in reading the book than Andrew.





My neice Megan got Andrew a blow up pool for the back patio. It's also a cool ball pit, but since it's so hot now we'll use it as a pool. And here is Andrew about to dive in.....well not really, he just likes to do the Moses pose. His new thing is now lifting his hands and saying TA DA! Although, only Rob and I can decipher the words he says. , like mailbox and lawn mower and fire hydrant.







ai00000 <-------------That was Andrew typing


And our biggest excitement this month, aside from applying for a Social Security Card and learning how to point, at often inappropriate times at the Social Security office, was the move from the little port-a-potty to the big potty. My Aunt Bernie would be so proud.

June 29 - July 11....The First 2 Weeks

Andrew has been growing like a weed since we got home. We can now no longer count each of his ribs as we hold him, which is a good thing. I also got a charger for my Kazak Kamara so now I can upload and take pictures again.

Here's Andrew as we touched down on American soil, and he became an American. Well, ok first we had to go through immigration. But it was a momentous landing because the screaming stopped, and oddly enough the entire plane clapped, for Andrew or the Pilot??? He literally came screaming into America with the birth canal being a Boeing 747. No word on his ApGar scores.




As soon as he saw Daddy he became a super happy kids again as Rob strapped him into his first car seat. Surprisingly he did not mind being buckled down. I think he was just so glad to be either on solid ground, or with Rob that he settled down quick and fell asleep as we went through the booths to pay for parking. The car ride included a trip to the American Super Market to buy baby food and he did really well in the store. Rob even had a couple young chicks in cars in the parking lot slow down to give him an 'awwwww isn't that cute".



The end of our first week home was his first birthday. Rob got him a cake, decorated it (well, he wrote Happy Birthday) and got him a Soccer Ball. Chip then proceeded to try to teach a one year old the soccer moves, but Andrew was not really listening. He was more interest in getting snuggled by Heather. We had to have the abbreviated 5 seconds Happy Birthday song because Andrew was making moves for the lit candle. I guess we should have put the cake out of arm's reach. Another lesson learned. It was a good thing we got this picture, because that was the last of the battery charge until the American charger arrived a week later.

For his Birthday the House Of Wasson got him his fishing gear. Now he just need to gain 8.9 more pounds to be able to wear it legally. Maybe by next summer he'll be on the River with Rob and John, drinking our of his sippy cup and eating his Biter Biscuits.







We have also been working on getting Andrew to PET Tigger instead of grabbing handfuls of hair and assiting Tigger with the shedding process. Fluffer has been bright enough to clear the area when Andrew is around....but I have caught her checking in on Andrew when he is asleep. She will just walk into his room, sniff the Diaper Genie, check out the crib to make sure he's still there then leave the room. Sorry Fluff, he's not going anywhere until college.





I have been doing my best to dress Andrew in total Boy clothes after Rob got concerned that I had some girlie clohtes for him. How's this for boy clothes?








Over the past couple weeks we have learned a lot of things as new parents.

Loose Cannons: Rob can not leave an undiapered boy standing while he empties the potty; He will hose the floor. Jen can not leave an undiapered boy laying on the changing table and talking sweet baby talk to him as she casually unfolds the diaper; He will hose me.

Green Beans: We can not use the orphanage style of rapid feeding when it comes to new foreign foods, like mashed green beans. This happened the first couple days we were home and we saw the sequel to the Exorcist.

Idle Hands: A child on the potty needs a toy to play with....if not his hands will find some 'presents' in the potty that were just deposited by himself. Note #2: The toy should be large enough to not fit between his legs and be dropped into his little potty.

Little Fingers: Baby fingers are very small and can fit into many of mommy's facial orifices. So far I have had my nose picked, ears explored, eyes poked and teeth examined. Luckily we baby proofed the electric outlets last year, so no damage was done to little Andrew.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts: The amount of food that goes into a baby gets magically transformed into massive quantities when processed by the intestinal system. And when it involves carrots, it stains baby butt.

Tasty? Not!: Most baby food smells better than it tastes, but it's our job to fake it to encourage him to eat things like Green Bean and Rice moosh, or Potatoes and Rabbit.

Cost Benefit: Kids like the paper and boxes more than the content.

Best Toy: Plastic Stacking cups and cloth blocks.

No-Mark floors: Don't exist....especially newly installed hardwood floors.