And then there's Andrew..

I think the other moms in our preschool group are impacting Andrew for the better. They're all very health-concious and one mom in particular has chosen to not feed her family sugar but once a week - they eat tons of fruits & veggies and her 5-year-old loves to eat salad! Andrew is now constantly asking me about the foods we eat, "Is this healthy?" It's a constant, everyday thing with him and it's a wake-up call for me because some things that I feed my children are really not healthy (chicken nuggets are a staple in our home). And now Andrew is more willing to eat more veggies when I tell him it's very healthy and it will make him strong. I did tell him, though, that some things aren't healthy, but if you eat them every once in awhile, they're still okay because they make us happy. I mean, I think we'd all agree that a chocolate-chip cookie makes everything better when you're having "a day".

And I don't know which mom (or TV show) taught Andrew this, but he now comes up to me, taps me on my arm, and says, "Um, excuse me please..." when he wants to get my attention.

I don't think Andrew has a mean or deceitful bone in his body - I'm starting to see other kids his age do/say things that just aren't nice, but he seems oblivious to it all. I hope he skips that stage altogether! He does, however, tease his brother relentlessly - nothing makes my blood boil more than when I hear Josh's screaching followed by Andrew's giggling.

We also had a little incident on Friday. We made a quick trip to the store, I was obviously in la-la-land because when I went to buckle Andrew in his seat, I discovered a bag of suckers in his hands! He most definitely had a guilty look on his face so I knew that he knew that he did something wrong. I told him that we had to go back in the store to let them know that he took this candy and didn't pay for it. He didn't want to do it and he was embarrassed, but I told him that he'd be okay and that I'd hold his hand. When we got to the customer service desk, he looked up and handed the candy to the employee and said, "Um, um, um. I didn't pay for this." The employee was perfect, she told him that taking things was wrong, but he was doing the right thing by being honest. Let's hope this will be his first and only offense.

We started the Hooked on Phonics program this school year - I'm really liking it. We're about halfway through (we're taking it very slowly) and his reading is really taking off! He can also do simple math addition & subtraction. Four-year-olds are fun because they have a natural desire to learn anything and everything. Oh, and he's reached the "why" stage. Someone told me that you have to answer every why so that later on, they'll still want to ask you questions.

Andrew has a great sense of humor. Often I'll catch him breaking into a fit of giggles. When I ask him what's so funny, he'll tell me a story about something that happened that day that was so funny to him. Most of the time, I can't understand what the heck he's talking about, but I can't help but giggle with him.

Andrew had swim lessons in January - it was a pretty intense schedule (4 days a week for 4 weeks), but he can now float and he can do a rudimentary form of freestyle. And he loves it! I totally recommend swim lessons in January - it makes the dreariest part of the winter fly by. Here is some video that I took the last day of his lessons: