Drew's Milestones

Drew 1 week old

Drew has adapted to 'gym' well. When he returned from vacation he was greeted with "we missed you" and from one little boy, "you're awesome!" I think that the boys stick together since there are a lot less of them than girls in that class. He also gets along with the girls though. I had to pick him up early last week and as he left he gave one little girl a hug while being hugged by another little girl who wanted a hug from him too. I found out today that he and this girl, Savannah, are good friends and hold hands a lot in class. Rico Suave!

He still loves his other preschool most. These are the kids he will go to school with and that he is familiar with from last year. It's amazing to see your child develop relationships like these.

His speech is continuously improving. He had a drought during vacation, but has been making up for it since being home.

He still loves racecars. Most specifically quarter midgets and sprint cars. Stock cars, not so much. Like father, like son I suppose. Drew is even going to be a quarter-midget racecar driver for Halloween.

He has a developing interest in animals, especially since our trip. "Jellyfish have no bones." He has two cat buddies in the neighborhood that seek him out to play.

He likes music and right now his favorite song is "Hot, Hot, Hot." Recently he has been requesting me to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to him. The funny thing is that I used to sing that to him as a baby to calm him down.

Thanks to Word World he likes to spell and often asks how to spell words. He independently wrote out 'dust' yesterday.

He loves his baby sister, but doesn't like to share his toys with her and totally expects that she share all her toys with him. He has no problem taking things out of her hand. This can actually be a good thing. Like when he took away the crayon she intended to use to write on the TV screen and the choking hazzards she seems to find. I expect that one day when she gets bigger and he least expects it she will thump him for taking her stuff. Having been that overbearing oldest child, I could warn him but he won't believe me anyway.

Drew also has a talent for impersonating character voices that he hears. Combine this with his flair for the dramatic, his love of attention, and his impressive memory we think this kid could end up in the performing arts. As long as he doesn't end up class clown...

Drew 5 years old

Mirra's Milestones

9 months

Mirra is rapidly exhibiting her personality. She has a lot of it for someone so small. She is going through a hitting phase, especially when she is told 'no.' She recently stopped her latest pinching phase. She decided it wasn't so much fun if I pinched her back. Takes a stinker to know a stinker, I guess. She screams bloody murder now when Drew takes something from her. Unfortunately, this doesn't deter her brother from snagging her stuff.

Her speech has made a great deal of progress. In the last two weeks she has said: basket, lights, please, horse, Jason, book, this, Blackjack (the name of the neighbors' cat) plus several more that I can't seem to remember while under pressure to write them here.

She even walked up to Andy the other day, looked him in the eye and said "let's go play." I'm still amazed about that one. Had to be a fluke, right?

She is not adapting well to her morning program. I think it is because she still likes a morning nap and she can't do that with 7 other kids running around. Most likely we will have to pull her out at the end of the month. Her needing that morning nap makes it difficult for me to go grocery shopping with her while Drew is at school because she is especially cranky and impatient sitting in the cart. So I am working on a new plan.

She can show us where her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, tummy, toes, and hair are.

She loves to kiss, with sound effects. If I kiss her on the cheek she will kiss me back multiple times. Melts my heart for sure.

She can identify the written letter 'O' and she likes to draw. She loves to find a pen and paper and walk around like she is writing things down. She also seems to think she is right-handed. I thought one of my kids would be a lefty like their dad, but they both have proved me wrong. Won't be the last time I am sure.

16 months

Sea World

We had two great days at Sea World. We went Saturday evening and saw the Shamu night show, which was fun. Aunt Diane got Drew a "light stick", which thrilled him.


We went back the next day and fed dolphins. It is an unbelievable experience to feed these animals and see them that closely. I really can't explain it but highly recommend it if you have the chance. I was really proud of Drew because he picked up the fish and fed the dolphins himself. He was so excited!

We saw sea turtles, dolphins, sea lions, penguins, rays, beluga whales, walrus, and orcas of course. Andy took Drew on the Atlantis boat ride but he was not a happy camper for that one.

Sea World had a great "Spooktacular" event with a trick or treat trail and characters along the way for photo ops. Diane filled a bag for Mirra, which we all just split since candy is not good for toddlers (wink, wink).




Early in the day Grandma and Aunt Diane kept the kids so Andy and I could ride the roller coaster. The line was non-existant. So we went twice. That will have to take care of our thrill fix for the year.

We watched the Sea Lion show and the Whale and Dolphin Show. The dolphin show was the same one we saw when we went last year but it is, in a word, phenomenal. It involves many dolphins, two whales, birds, divers, and even a condor when he decides to cooperate. Drew amazed us when we sat down for the show and he started talking about the whales right before they made their appearance. He remembered from last year. He also remembered the layout of the park.

Sea World also has a great kids play area with stories of nets to climb and slides and rides for the pre-school set. To wrap up the day we took the kids there and suited up Mirra so she could play in the splash pad. Poor kid spent most of the day riding in her stoller or on someone's hip. She had a blast once she got used to the idea.

Florida, Part 1

Wow! What a great trip. We (the 4 of us and Andy's mom) started off by flying into Orlando and driving to "Aunt Diane and Uncle Mark's" in Tampa. The kids were in the pool moments after arriving. We spent four days there during which we visited Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. This zoo is amazing. Drew got to ride a camel named Bess. That was the highlight of his day, I think.
We saw a cheetah, though at a distance because keepers were in her habitat. We saw her get very agitated when she saw a llama being taken for a walk. We could tell she was thinking "lunch." We saw a baby arangutan and Andy fed some lorikeets that were, shall we say, overzealous. They were loudly screeching in his ear.


The kangaroo exhibit was awesome because you are mere feet from them and the only thing between you is a low rail fence.





I took Drew for a ride on a ski lift over the park. Heights are not a big deal for me but imagining my son slipping out of the seat to the bricks 50 feet below caused me to become a bit unglued. Not a relaxing ride for me but Drew seemed to like it. He did get annoyed with me keeping a grip on him the whole time.

We went to Honeymoon Island...Mirra's first beach experience. She LOVED the sand. Unfortunatley she didn't realize that wiping her eyes with sand-covered hands was not a stellar idea. After we rinsed the sand away from her eyes (and the sun block with it) I took her to the deck of the little shop there. We returned to the beach a couple of days later with Drew while Mirra stayed behind with Grandma. Drew had a great time at the beach and was most interested in making sand castles.



If you have ever been to Florida, you might be familiar with the way people drive around there, with little regard for the right-of-way or traffic signals, etc. Andy was frequently exhasperated with this and Drew learned a new phrase from his dad: "Come on, Dude!" Could have been worse, right Ran?

The kids spent a lot of time in the pool. Drew honed his newly aquired swimming skills and JJ tested out a new floatie. This new floatie turned out to be perfect for her since she thinks she is the next Michael (or Michelle) Phelps. She amazed us when she began to swim around the pool unassisted.
We also ate a lot and ate well. Mark and Diane made us gumbo (yum!) and a Morrow pasta/sausage/vegetable specialty (yum, yum). We also went out to a favorite local restaurant for seafood.

What a great start to our vacation.