One Year!

Andrew Edward Callegari, you made it.  WE made it.  A whole year!  Our lives changed dramatically a year ago, but at the same time it feels like you have been here all the time.  Your goofy personality fits RIGHT in with our family.  We are having a blast watching you grow up.

You were born at 4:12 on October 18th 2011.  Ironically, at 4:12 on October 18th, 2011 I was getting a sneak peak at your brother-or-sister-to-come.  My two kids.  That just amazes me.  (Note: the doc said Peanut was really opening and closing their mouth a lot..... please prepare yourself for a sibling who is a talker).

I will recap your birthday party and birthday day in different posts, but let's talk about the changes in the last month.

The biggest thing (and hardest for mama to swallow) was you had your very last bottle on October 17th.  We were running out of formula and I thought there was no reason to buy more, so when you woke up on your birthday you drank whole milk.  Which you LOVE.  No problems transitioning at all.  You have also finally figured out how to hold/tilt your sippy cup, so you can give yourself the milk.  I thought that day would never come.  Now if we can just teach you to use a straw!

You do 100% solid food, and are still a pretty good eater.  Your favorites are fruits and breads.  You don't seem to love meat, and your veggie preferences have gotten more specific.  On occasion I will sit you down in your chair and just give you veggies for the first part of your dinner.... once you have other options, you pretty much ignore the vegetables.  I'm not sure how the milk is going to work into all of this.  You seem to like it so much that you would be willing to sit and drink an entire cup full before you eat anything.  We will have to watch that.

You've been battling a lot of "yuck" this month.  Not really sick, but not 100% well, either.  I have been taking you to MOPS at Grace Covenant Church, and I think you tend to get sick a couple of days after you spend time in the nursery.  Nothing terrible, but goopy eyes and a snotty nose.  But I would prefer you to get sick now and get those immunities before you head off to school.

You are still on the same sleep schedule- 7PM- 6:30AM at night, then a nap around 9 or 9:30 and a nap around 1:30 or 2.  Today (October 19th) you tried to drop that morning nap.  I hope that isn't going to become your new normal!

You are an absolute monkey these days.  You are walking everywhere- your days of crawling are gone.  You open every door or drawer you can.  I keep finding our remote control in your dad's bathroom drawer.  You get into the smallest spaces.  You are a handful, but a constant source of FUN.

We love you, Drew.  This last year has been a blast.  Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

11 Months!

Drew, you are 11 months (ok, at this point 11.5 months) old! And you are a man on the MOVE, which  means when your mama has a break from chasing you around the house, she lays down and takes a nap.  :)

The biggest thing that happened between 10 and 11 months were your first steps, which quickly turned into walking all over the place.  It's funny, I definitely see a difference in your ability to walk depending on the time of day.  You have much more control the earlier in the day and/or if you just woke up from a nap.  Generally you start off walking wherever you want to go.  When and if you fall, you just crawl the rest of the way.

You suddenly also have the memory of an elephant.  If you do something once and enjoy it, you want to do it over and over again.  I made the mistake of letting you pull on the cord and turn the light on the fan earlier this month.  We cannot pass under a fan without you trying to climb me now.

You seem to be developing a neat-nick gene.  You spend hours taking blocks out of your tub and putting them back in.  You have also determined that your wood blocks make a satisfying "clang" going into the metal trashcan, so you enjoy that greatly.

Your "elephant memory" also now extends to food.  You used to eat everything.  It was great.  Now you remember that some foods are better than others, and show your displeasure at certain foods by tossing them over your tray and/or trying to hide them in your lap (which your dog truly enjoys).  I am now getting you kids meals with more and more frequency when we go out, which is hard to imagine.  You really do eat quite a bit and (quite frankly) I got tired of ordering only foods that I could share with you.  Sometimes mama needs her own food!

You watch PBS in the morning while you have breakfast.  Usually we hit the 8:00 Curious George and 8:30 Cat in the Hat.  I'll tell you a secret- I think your dad likes Curious George more than you do.  I've caught him watching it in the bedroom when we aren't even in there.  You love the theme song for the Cat in the Hat and will dance along with it.  Your dad and I die laughing every time you do it.

Oh, you now have a "lovie."  It was a gift when you were born, but you have recently decided it is the greatest thing.  If I leave it in your crib after your nap you will reach through the slats for it.  You have also been known to carry it around in your teeth.

Your sleep schedule is generally the same- you wake up about 6:30, nap around 9:30 and 2, and head to bed between 6:30 and 7.  I would still love to push your bedtime back 30 minutes or so, on the off chance your morning wake up time would shift back about 30 minutes, but you are a pistol at 6:30 and I can't bring myself to try to keep you up.

Ok, now for some stats:
- you have 7 teeth
- you can wear 9 month clothes if they are shorts, but pants are too short.  I suspect you still fall in the "stringbean" category on the growth chart- tall and skinny
- you get bathed every day, thanks to your new found mobility.  You like the bath.  You do not like getting dressed after your bath
- You have a bottle in the morning, followed by "second breakfast" (usually a waffle and some fruit) and sometimes "third breakfast" (cheerios while we go on a walk).  After you nap we usually have lunch around 11 (turkey, goldfish, fruit), then a snack (cheese) and dinner around 5.  Your favorite dinners are leftovers from what mom and dad have- you enjoy flavor and are not at all deterred by spice.  Then another bottle before you hit the sack.

Love you bub!

10 Months!

Time is still flying- and now, Drew, you are 10 months old!  So hard to imagine that in two short months you will be a year old!

You are still a champion eater.  One memorable lunch this month had you eating an entire hot dog, and entire string cheese and 15 blueberries.  And I think you would have eaten more if I would have given it to you, but I was afraid you might pop.  You very rarely eat baby food anymore- you much prefer to feed yourself.  Your favorites depend on what you have for options at each meal.  You definitely eat your "favorite" first, your second favorite next, and then dabble at whatever else you have to eat.  I can't tell if you don't like carbs, or you just prefer the sweetness of fruit, but I'm sort of baffled that you prefer your blueberries to your waffle in the morning.  You still take two bottles- on first thing in the morning, and one right before bed.  We will be moving you away from those slowly over the next couple of months.

Eating is usually a naked activity these days!

Can't remember what this food was, but you were really enjoying throwing it on the floor.

You still sleep pretty good- about 11.5 hours at night (from 7PM to 6:30AM).  Recently you have been taking a LONG (2+ hour) morning nap, and then a really short (30 minute) afternoon nap.  I wish we could switch that- you become a bear as it gets closer to bedtime.

You are standing up on everything and cruising a lot more this month.  I watch you walk to the end of a piece of furniture or a wall and I can see in your eyes that you are considering just letting go.  You haven't done it yet, but you are certainly thinking about it.  Your balance has gotten SO MUCH better this month. You will stand and balance for about 10 seconds now, but as soon as I start making a fuss you fall over.  You also crawl into the strangest places now.

You got in and out of this one!

Cali said if you were going to get into the cabinets, I need to teach you to use Lysol.  I agree!

We spent some time in Houston earlier this month while your dad was in Taiwan, and you had a great time with your grandparents and great-grandmother.  You impressed everyone with your mad appetite! :)

Matching bellies?

You now recognize family in pictures, which is quite funny.  Whenever you see the home screen of my iphone (this picture), you laugh at yourself.  And you will sit in the middle of my bed and wave at the bridal portrait.  Cracks me up every time.

You LOVE you some animals.  Sophie continues to be your BFF, but really, any animal will work.

Sophie looks a little scary here....

"Hi Duck!"

Drew, you are a doll.  We love you so much!

9 Months!

(Required comments: It is going so fast! This month has been so much fun!  Each month gets better than the last!)

Drew,

Holy moly, this month has been great.  Let's take it by some big categories, shall we?

Food- you are eating more and more big kid food.  It's probably a little late to start, but I'm just now getting confident enough that I'm not going to have to do the Heimlich with every goldfish.  You are eating lots of Gerber baby finger foods ("junk food"), Cheerios, gold fish, cut up fruit, veggies, string cheese, and even some chicken.  You have really started "chewing" (even though you still have just the two bottom teeth).  You seem to be phasing out of baby food--you just aren't interested if you can't put it in your mouth yourself.  You can do the "pincher" grasp, but sometimes you get so eager to get the food in your mouth you will just grab entire handfuls at once.

Movement- You LOVE being mobile!  If anyone picks you up it takes about 15 seconds before you start squirming to be put down.  You can pull up on everything, and have started to cruise some.  Doors and drawers are your most favorite, though you smash your fingers in both pretty frequently.  You will push anything that is on wheels, including your high chair.  And I feel for the person who helps you walk by holding your hands- you can do that for hours and throw MASSIVE fits whenever someone stops.

Sleep- You still sleep quite a bit, but you keep waking up way too early.  I'm not sure what you think you should do at 5:30AM, but apparently you feel like you need to get up and be productive.  I think it has something to do with being mobile and thinking that sounds more fun than going back to sleep.

Bath time- You are now a bath-a-day type of guy, mostly because the crawling allows you to get in the dirtiest of places in our house and you end up covered in dog hair.  You do seem to really like the bath these days, especially since you can pull up on the side of the tub. 
Favorite toys- You are very into toy cars and balls right now- I think because both move and give you something to crawl after.  I finally put in your ball pit for the time being, but I know it will make a return visit soon.  You have also really gotten into looking for things that go away.  I can often find you face down, searching for a missing ball or car under a piece of furniture.

And Sophie continues to be the very best thing you could ever have asked for.  As your dad said earlier this month, "they truly act like siblings."  Sometimes we will watch Sophie walk past you and very deliberately knock into you with her hip.  And you've been known to pull on her ears.  But you guys are just as likely to share a bone or a toy for a game of tug.  Sophie is always in your room when you go to bed and usually has her head over the tub during bath time.

Personality- You have the cutest little personality.  You are 100% independent.  You have never had any problem going to/staying with other people.  You will play quietly in your room for quite a while (although we are now getting to a spot where too much silence means you are probably chewing on electrical cables or something).  You have NO FEAR in the least as evidenced by the way you pull up on things and then just let go or crawl off the stairs.  If you don't like something, you don't hesitate to throw a fit to tell us that.  You talk and sing at volumes that increase daily.  Your dad and I like to congratulate each other on what a cute kid we made.  We love you.

Drew, you are the sunshine in our world.  Happy 9 months, buddy.

Love,
Mom and Dad

8 Months!

Drew,

You are 8 months old!  Actually, you are closer to 8.5 months old.  Why is this post late?  Well, you are moving now, and it has added a whole new level of work to having a baby!

You spent most of your seventh month trying to crawl.  First you would get up on all fours.  Then you rocked back [stopping to take you away from the curtains you were pulling on] and forth.  Then you did a modified version of the worm- moving [wow- beeline back for the curtains.  Stopping again] both knees, reaching out with one hand, lurching forward to land on your stomach, then pulling up again.  It got you where you wanted to go, but (lucky for me) it took some time.

[Putting you in our baby pool "ball pit" hoping to contain you] We baited you forward with all the toys we could think of, but really what caused you to move the fastest were (1) the dog's half-chewed rawhide bone, the iPhone, and a Reef.  I'm not sure why we spend the money on toys.

But then on Tuesday, June 21 (3 days after your 8  month birthday), you took off and haven't slowed down since.

You had another bout with illness this month, and it was worse than the last time.  About 10 days of a goopy nose and eyes and generally just feeling miserable.  You now run from your "nose sucker." [Taking you out of the ball pit because you seem to be stuck]

You are pulling up some now, and are quite proud of yourself when you do it.  I left you on my room (pre-crawling) to run to the kitchen for something and came back and you were standing at the ottoman at the end of our bed.  I screamed in excitement and you fell over (whoops- less enthusiasm, I guess.  You were fine).  You also greeted your daddy in a standing position after nap time, so we moved your crib down.

Drew, you are a GREAT baby.  You are pretty easy going (unless you are tired) and tons of fun.  You are changing every day [stopping to pull you out from under my feet in the desk, where you are going for a power cord].

If I had to make an educated guess, you are going to be a jeweler.  You have [stopping to prevent you from pulling over the fragile wedding gift that is sitting on the floor] been showing quite the interest in my wedding ring and watch.  You seem to have excellent taste.  Good news. [Stopping to take the business cards for my eye doctor out of your mouth] [Stopping to prevent you from pulling up on the desk][Stopping to pick up all the business cards you knocked over]

Ok, this has been fun.  You are a joy.

Readers, I think postings may get shorter and fewer.  Here are some pictures from the month.

Your dog just tolerates you, until you eat. She now knows you are a great bet for "people food."

Callegaris love Target!

Swimming

You guys help me paint (obviously pre-crawling. This would never work now).

Circus Freak!

Much love, son!

Mom and Dad