Counting!

Andrew has been big into counting this week.  He struggles a bit with four, so he usually skips over it.  Still, we're VERY proud!

Christmas!!

Another Christmas is down in the books.  It was a great one here at the Rembert house.

Last week we went to see a big yearly Christmas display at Life Christian University.  We had to wait until dark, so it was a little later in the day.  When we got to the university, we looked back, and Andrew was passed out in his car seat.  After a little discussion, we decided to go ahead and wake him up.  It was lucky we did, because he was incredibly adorable and had a wonderful time.  Pictures and a video from that night are below.

This is just about the cutest video ever.

Christmas day brought quite a few new presents for Andrew.  He had a blast playing with all of them all day.  And he actually played with the toys rather than just the boxes or the paper.  And he barely touched any of his old toys during the day.

Santa's Cookies were not safe.

Stop taking pictures!!!

Grabbing the next present.

New play kitchen from Papa and Grancy.

Farm sounds barn from Santa.

Drawing on the MagnaDoodle from Poppy and Jaja.

A Thomas the Tank Engine train set from G and Grandpa Bill.

Banging on the xylophone.

Testing out the harmonica.  It took  few tries, but he got it down.

He Knows His Shapes??

Today, Sam was playing with Andrew on the floor with two of the puzzle pieces from the puzzle in the post from yesterday.

Sam randomly said, "Hey Andrew, can you go get me the heart?"  He didn't actually think anything was going to happen, but instead, Andrew stood up, walked across the room to the puzzle, picked up the heart, and brought it back to Sam.  It had to be a fluke.

So sam asked, "Can you go get me the star?"  Andrew went back across the room, and brought back the star.

This happened four more times, with Andrew picking the correct shape each time.  By the time it was done,  he was six for six with no misses!!

This was completely out of the blue.  We had no idea that Andrew seems to know his shapes by name. We'll try this a few more times over the next couple of days and see what happens, but for now, we are two very proud parents!

We are learning!

Andrew has made great strides in the past few weeks, and can now place puzzle pieces correctly in a puzzle, and even say some letters when they are written.  He's currently got about 10-12 letters down. Watch the two videos below!

Andrew reciting letters as Sam writes them.

Sorry the video is blurry.  The phone did it like

that and Sam couldn't see the screen while recording.

Andrew placing some colored shapes in his new puzzle.

Thanksgiving in Alabama

In November, we packed up and went to Foley, Alabama (just outside of Mobile), to visit Sam's mother and step-father for Thanksgiving.  The weather was great and we had a lot of fun, including Andrew's first real visit to the beach, a chat with Santa, and some playtime with family and at some great playgrounds.

Walking to the water with Grandpa Bill

Playing in the sand.

Toes in the water.

Absolutely loving the beach.

Every little boy loves seaweed.

Andrew got so dirty and wet that no one wanted to hold him.
He was also determined to stay at the beach.
This was the only way we could get him back. He was NOT happy about it!

Riding a Carousel on Thanksgiving.

Meeting Santa and discussing present ideas.

Drawing with Grandpa Bill. Even learned to say "circle"!

Andrew's grandmother loves flamingos.

Singing and dancing ones are no exception.

This video doesn't have audio, but you can see the

flamingo dancing and singing, and Andrew starts dancing with him.

A visit to Memphis

In late October, the family packed up and headed to Memphis for a weekend of activity.  Sam has his high school reunion, and there was a 90th birthday party for Sam's Step Grandmother's birthday.

During our time there, Andrew got to go to the zoo and the children's museum.

Scare-Drew

Riding on the carousel with Emily. 

Pandrew.

Playing Tic-Tac-Toe at the Children's Museum.

Shopping at the Children's Museum.

Not sure what's up with the volume.

Andrew with with grandparents.

Andrew coloring with Jaja.

Again, volume is bad.

Andrew got ahold of a birthday balloon.  It was just about
the best thing ever for 30 seconds!

Best Playdate EVER!

My friend is demolishing her house and rebuilding on the same lot.  They've moved all of their stuff out, so they invited all of the kids to come and destroy the house.  They had paint, crayons, and markers.  The kids could color on the walls, floors, windows, wherever they wanted to.  Nothing was off limits.  Some of the older kids lost interest after a while, but Andrew was in heaven!  He stayed and colored on the walls, inside and outside, for two hours.  He would have stayed all day and night, but we needed to get home so he could have dinner and a bath before bedtime.

It's a shame that circumstances like this don't happen more often.

Uh oh!

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November already?

Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Sam has our nice camera in Philadelphia, and it has all of our good photos on it. While we wait for him to upload some of them here, I'll post some pictures from my phone to tide you over.

For Halloween, Andrew went as a 1950's greaser, and I was his pink lady. I even put flames on the little push car he rode around our neighborhood in.



We had a lazy day yesterday. Andrew was being awfully sweet and snugly. Every once in a while, everybody needs to spend a day in their pajamas. If they're footie jammies, even better.



Making faces after bath time.



And coloring a picture for Sam. I might have helped him a bit. Andrew LOVES to color lately. He'd do it all day long if we'd let him.


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Playing at the gym

At the beginning of every gym class, there are warm up exercises and songs.  Normally, the kids sit in their parents laps while the parents help them with the motions.  Andrew has decided that he doesn't need the help.  He sits right in the middle of the circle and insists on doing everything by himself.  Here's a video of him from this morning, showing off his skills.

Mid-October Update

Just uploading some photos from the past week.



Andrew got another haircut this week. Every time he does, I get really sad because it makes him look so much older.



Andrew playing with the dog his grandpa got him.



Andrew loves to pretend to drive and hops into the driver's seat every time he sees a video game like this.



Andrew has been working very hard on his coloring skills lately. At this point, we're proud any time he doesn't eat the crayons.



This picture was taken when we were rolling around in a bouncy house together. Andrew loves to be "tackled" while we're playing.

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October 1st Photo Dump

We've been horrible about updating lately.  Sorry about that.  Sam's been busy with work and I've been busy with Andrew.  Things have been going well in these parts.  There's not too much new to report.

Andrew kicking his feet up and relaxing after a long,
hard day of being one.  

He emptied all of the blankets out of the baskets in his
dresser so that he could sit in one and read.

We're at the playground almost every day.  The weather is
so nice out, it seems a shame to stay inside.  

These pictures are from Andrew's favorite park.  The "Toy Park"
is filled with all sorts of plastic toys that families have donated.
Andrew felt the need to pick up every pinecone in the park and
put them in the pretend washing machine.  Then he hopped up
on the play structure so he could drive it around.

Andrew, the helper

Andrew is getting really good at helping around the house. He tries really hard to help clean up after he's done playing. But, he's one. The results aren't always the best.


One of his books, precariously placed when he realized it wouldn't fit on that particular shelf.


"Putting his laundry away."


Putting his plate in the kitchen after lunch.


This photo has nothing to do with cleaning up. It's from our visit to the aquarium last week. I thought it was too cute not to share.

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Growing up at the table

Andrew has graduated from a high chair to sitting at his own table.

It started with some snacks in a small bowl,
sitting on the floor.

Soon, he was eating his meals while standing
at the coffee table.

Now, Andrew has his own table and small chair
where he sits for most meals.

Now, here is the funniest part.  When Andrew is done eating, he often grabs his plate, gets up from the table, and takes the plate to the kitchen.  Sometimes he sticks it at the sink, and sometimes it's on the stove.  But either way, it seems like he has learned that clean plates go to the kitchen!