February Birthdays Catch-up: Andy

Andy is a great four-year-old.  He always asks questions and wants to be doing something.  He doesn't like doing nothing.  His biggest question is "But what can you and I do?!"  It's been very helpful for me to do more of a pre-school for him.  I am still very reluctant to put our kids in pre-K.  All day, every day just seems like too much to me.  Because Andy is ready and wanting more, I'm getting the push I need to have more planned for him.  And it's fun to spend more time that way with Andy.  He is a great little boy.

One thing we absolutely love about Andy is his love of socks.  Never before have I seen anyone who loves socks so much.  Really.  If I don't remember to tell him to change his socks, Andy can go days in a row with the same pair.  Last year Grandma and Grandpa got him a Bert and Ernie Treasure Hunt book.  The treasure happened to be socks.  That could not have been more perfect.  My favorite, though, was when Benny and Andy were playing transformers and Benny was a transformer truck and Andy was a transformer sock.  I don't know what his super power was, but he sure looked like a great sock!

Andy, the transformer sock.

Picture taken 5 September 2011

I'm so behind on this birthday and the above was written two or three months ago.  Andy's birthday this year was quite different from last year.  It was really nice to be at home.  And we scored in the birthday present category this year.  We got Andy his favorite book and movie this year and a "bike with pedals" (a regular bike with no training wheels - he had been using a balance bike).  He absolutely loved it all.  He got the biggest smile on his face with each present.

Another thing I love about Andy is his love of "party hats."  I'm not sure where that started, but he thinks every kind of party needs a party hat.  For our ward Christmas party last year he colored a small triangle on a piece of paper, cut it out, and taped it to his hair.  We had people asking us all night what he had on his head.  He couldn't have been happier.  So for his birthday, I made party hats for everyone to decorate.  Andy and Lilia wore their party hats just about all day.  It was great!

 

The day before his birthday with his party hat and ready to go.  He liked this outfit so much he wanted to wear it for his birthday outfit.  I did have him change his socks, which he had worn to church like that. He couldn't find matching socks, so he just picked another "church" sock.

Lilia ready for the party!

Like I said, they wore their party hats all day - even for running errands.

When I went to Utah for my Grandmother's 90th birthday (25 February), all the kids asked if everyone at the party wore hats.  When I told them no, they all wondered why.

A bike with pedals!!

The "autobot sign."

And trying on the superhero suit from Grandma and Grandpa for the first time.  We had winners all around this year.

This is his "really-excited-trying-not-to-smile" smile.

And this was taken a week-and-a-half after his birthday running errands.  He still wears it going places!

It will be a sad day when Thunder Man's* suit bites the dust.

*Other aliases include Lighting Man and Weather Man.