Andrew's Reaction to Anna

By Tiffany George

Andrew wasn't able to meet Anna in person because children were not allowed at the hospital, so his first encounter with his new cousin was via the Internet. Andrew sat on my lap at the computer as I hit play on that very first video of Anna, and his initial reaction was priceless. He instantly moved his face toward the screen to give baby Anna a kiss, and then another and another. What a little sweetie! Hopefully this demonstrates the kind of big cousin (and big brother) that he will be.

Andrew is doing great lately, walking all over the place and truly experimenting with new words like star ("dar"), color, and right there, just to name a few. His favorite things to do nowadays are pointing out stars, playing with the roll of toilet paper, smelling flowers, screaming and waving at airplanes, watching cars go by (particularly big trucks or buses), and listening to the answering machine. He has quite a knack for deleting all of our messages! He also moves his hands in the cutest way to say "where?" if he is looking for something. He also makes this sound where he raises his voice as if to ask the question. When the phone rings he puts his where hand up to his ear to ask who is calling.

He would spend all day outside if Mommy would let him. When he wants to go outside he'll bring me his shoes. If I didn't get the hint, he'll bring me my shoes! He likes to go for walks, sometimes in the stroller, sometimes pushing it from behind with us. We have developed quite the eye for spotting squirrellys, kitty cats, and dogs on our walks. Andrew honestly prefers animals to people, as evidenced by his elation at the petting zoo at the Rochester Fair (we went 4 times).

He is quite the expert at pointing out body parts including eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, head, hair, arms, legs, fingers, tummy, and toes. Once he shows you where one hand is, if you ask "where is the other one?" he's happy to show you that he knows that too. He makes some animals sounds too, like chicken, cow, dinosaur, and owl, but the cutest by far is the little abrupt "baa" that he says for sheep :o)

Gone are the days of gurgling baby sounds and sleeping like a blob in Mommy's arms, but we're happy to say that each moment is still as precious as the last. Enjoy baby Anna, KJ & Angie, because they truly do grow up so fast.