Yay, developments!

I'm working on our recent Spring Break travels, but I have to post the most recent developments with the little stinker!

1. He's talking. Here are some common Andrew to English translations that may come in handy (most are relatively obvious):
Dada= Daddy... This word is utter at a disgustingly frequent rate. Whoopee, Dada's home. Mommy's had you for an hour and you haven't said her name once... I'm not bitter.

Mama= Mommy... This very infrequently used word usually arrives VERY early in the morning, directly after a serious bonk, or when some form of feeding is needed. Awesome.

Caca = Cracker... It's pronounced with the same hard C and a sounds as the beginning of cracker it's just missing all those other unnecessary consonants. This can mean anything from a Ritz to a graham to an animal cracker. They're all equal in Andrew's eyes. Be warned: Do not mention this word unless you have several handy. Seriously, you will lose a finger.

Nana= Banana... I told you these weren't like rocket science, but I strongly suggest not mentioning this one or showing this one to Andrew unless you plan to share. Poor Grandma Mary just thought she was going to enjoy her own "nana". Boy, was she wrong. There's nothing quite as yummy as swapping slobber with a 13 month old over a mushy banana.

Gog= Dog... I'll give him credit for correct syllable count and 66% of the letters. Way to go champ. The 'd' will come sooner or later. Lord knows you use it enough for Dada.

Gaga= either Give Me or Grandma... Depending on the context, I have noticed the little booger using the Gaga for either a doting mother of one of his parents or for basically telling me what to do when no one's around.

2. He's wearing shoes. It's has taken many months and many pairs to find the perfect shoe that will stay on Little Man's feet. Keep your fingers crossed for the latest in toddler sneakers.

3. Last, but definitely not least, he's bipedal!!! He stands up in the middle of the floor with no assistance and walks to get places. He no longer depends on his front paws to help him get around. Well, sometimes when he's in a real hurry he switches back to crawling, but we've all done that (See the post about Spring Break...). Anyway, here's a very brief clip of a very drooly and dirty Andrew walking. (And yes, I was luring him to walk with food. And yes, that is Lady's incessant chatter in the background.)


:)
Anne

OKC, SA, Strep Throat, and Jellybeans?

What do all of these things have in common? These things tie together the month of March, or at least the past two weeks and a half weeks.

Although I was a little leary about taking to long road trips with the baby in such a short amount of time, Chris assured me that things would be fine. I do wonder about his ultraconfident assurances, though. He seems ready and willing to pass them out, but when questioned, he doesn't have much to back them up. Anyway, here's how our whirlwind travel adventures played out.

OKC (Oklahoma City)

We hit the road for Oklahoma on Saturday morning around naptime. Our hope was that Andrew would sleep the majority of the trip leaving only a short period of entertaining time for Grandma Sharon and me. We made it about 2/3 the journey when nature called, and making a pitstop woke Andrew. No problem, I figured he needed a dry diaper anyway, so I would stretch his legs and give him a dry set of britches. No dice. Thanks, Oklahoma for no changing table. Since there was no apparent stentch and Andrew wasn't fussing, we packed him up and said, "he can make it another hour". I don't know if Andrew liked that plan, but about 200 Cheerios later, he didn't care because we arrived in our destination, OKC. We hugged and kissed with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Wayne. Then we all oohed and aahed at their bathroom remodeling. They did a beautiful job! It's straight from a magazine! (Chris and I will still happily pay others to do that kind of stuff... It's better for our marriage)

After a rather uneventful and relaxing evening of hanging out, we went to bed and awoke to amazing breakfast tacos. We all were very grateful to Lisa for making this wonderful burritos since she HATES eggs. They were delicious!

Later on Andrew got to meet his Great- Grandma Sorraillon, and they had a blast together. Andre was taking a few steps and then plopping down in front of her. Andrew also got to play with Chris's cousins: Raven, Celine, and Mary. We played on the playground and walked to the community pool. (It was too chilly to swim, but we wanted the walk more than the pool.) Raven cracked Andrew up with he leaf-kicking and gymnastics! She could do no wrong, so Andrew giggled and giggled. Mary did her fair share to help Andrew enjoy the beautiful weather. She held Andrew on her lap and took him up and down the slide. He LOVES the slide, so Mary is definitely one of his favorites, too. Celine took time to play, but she was super tired and took some time to nap. Andrew "helped" her nap with some pats on the back and hiney as she slept.

Although Andrew felt the need to yell at everyone in the house, the trip was a success! We left at bedtime, and got home around 11:00pm to slide sleepily into our beds.

Andrew spent Monday and Tuesday at the Peanut Gallery making his transition to the Jellybean room with the rest of the one year olds. Chris and I spent those two days doing projects around the house: new bench, new toilet paper roll holder, and sanded and painted the baseboards. Yay, for house projects. Then it was back on the road again...

San Marcos

We took a quick pit stop in San Marcos to visit Gil's Broiler (where I worked in college) and the Paper Bear gift shop. I ate a yummy Gil's burger, Chris had a milkshake, and Andrew drank lemonade. Although Paper Bear didn't have what I was looking for, we did have some fun in the hat aisle.

SA (San Antonio)

After 45 more minutes of fun on the road, we stopped at the greatest grocery store available in the dirty south, HEB. I miss you HEB, and I miss your fabulous produce, dried fruit, and tortilla maker.

The first night, we just hung out and waited for Nathan to make an appearance. Apparently the drive from Buda (65 miles) takes approximately the same amount of time as the one from Dallas (287 miles). The next day, we went to the park and to the San Antonio Zoo. The zoo was crazy-busy and warm, but we all had a great time. Andrew wanted me to hold him the entire time, except for when we saw his favorite, the swans and geese. Of course we could have saved the $10 for admission and seen geese just about anywhere, but it wouldn't have had the same feel. We took lots of pictures, but I have them at home and not here, so i will upload later. On the right, Andrew stands captivated by the pond full of exotic... geese. I guess simple pleasures are the best.

That night we put Andrew to sleep, called Bre's mom to stay over, and hit the rocking San Antonio night life. Well, the for of us were rockin', but I think everyone else stayed home. The boys checked sports scores on their phones, and Bre and I danced our faces off. We closed it down (much to the chagrin of Bre who was the D.D.). I guess Chris and I are out of practice on the party scene. I won't go in to details, but the ride home from the bar was NO fun for poor Christopher. The next day's trip home to Dallas was even less fun for poor me.

I have tons more Zoo pictures, but I have to get those into a slide show... I'll add them later.

:)

Anne