Christmas 2006

Christmas 2006 was the first Christmas we spent in our new (new to us) home since we moved. We were so excited about decorating this year. We have more land than our previous home so we all went out and decorated our front lawn with light up reindeer and a nativity scene on Thanksgiving weekend. We also put up the Christmas tree that weekend as well which to me was earlier than I've ever decorated for Christmas. It was so nice to see the lawn lit up every time we came home from an outing in the evening. Andrew was just as excited about the decorations. He enjoyed being apart of setting up the outdoor ornaments and decorating the tree. This year he didn't wrap himself in the garland, he just wanted to crawl underneath the tree after decorating it instead.

Christmas morning we had breakfast with my mom and sister and then my mom wanted to see Andrew's reaction as he opened up his gifts Christmas morning. Andrew is so animated and filled with excitement that he keeps everyone laughing.

In the afternoon we spent with Robert's family and had dinner over their house. We all had an enjoyable Christmas.

Andrew as "The Sheep" in Christmas Preschool Play

Andrew's preschool had a Christmas performance of the night Jesus was born. I was so excited to see Andrew in his first school play that I made sure I had the video camera all charged up and ready to go. My mom, sister and father-in-law also came to support Andrew and cheer him on.

It was a very short and sweet performance where there were two 4 year olds playing Mary and Joseph walking in with baby Jesus as someone narrated the Christmas story. Andrew's class came walking behind Mary and Joseph as Andrew and his class were all dressed as sheep, and another class walked behind them dressed as angels. Once they all got up to the stage the children patiently waited until the short skit was over and then they all sang a few Christmas songs for the audience. Of course all of the parents, including myself were trying to get as close to the stage as possible to get the best picture or video as possible. I only got a few minutes of the performance since the battery of our older camcorder died on me even though I charged it for a whole evening. I was so upset. I am a fanatic when it comes to picture taking. I love taking pictures, especially capturing all the memories of our son, Andrew. I think it's time to upgrade our video camera.....

I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with how all of the children (18months - 4years old) were doing exactly what they were supposed to do......walking in (not running in different directions)...standing still, patiently waiting for their que to sing and then how they all sang so nicely......Simple Sweet and Adorable.

Andrew Filling Our Shoes

Boy, It's been a challenge lately to keep our shoes in our bedroom since Andrew loves to pretend and walk around with them on. I am so afraid he is going to get hurt therefore I keep my shoes up high in my closet. Now he is walking around the house with Robert's work boots on. He is starting to get into the pretend stage where he likes to pretend he is someone else. I asked Andrew where he thought he was going with Daddy's shoes on (since he is well aware that I don't like him wearing our shoes). He said that he was going to get married to his friend Brooke and then they were going to go on their honeymoon. Needless to say I was a little surprise that came out of his mouth. Every now and then he'll pretend that he is a daddy and tells me to watch his son while he goes to the store. I asked him what his son's name is and he told me Ryan.

Meeting Cathy Harris & Ukrainian Delegation

Last weekend myself, Andrew, my Mom and sister, Marli attended a Ukrainian Angels Reunion and we met some of the Ukrainian Delegation members from Ukraine at one of the families homes near Baltimore, Maryland. I knew that Cathy Harris was going to be there and I knew since it was fairly close to us that I wanted to attend. I wanted to meet Cathy Harris in person to thank her for all of her help with adopting our son Andrew. She is a genuinely nice person who is very much down-to-earth. It was a pleasure to meet her and to introduce her to Andrew. She introduced me to Julia who also helped coordinate our paperwork with Valentina. Julia is also very sweet and friendly as well. They were both pleased to meet and talk to Andrew.



I remember when Robert and I were thinking of switching from an adoption agency to adopting Independently with the help and guidance from Ukrainian Angels that is runned by Cathy Harris. We couldn't believe how much different in cost is was from adopting Independently opposed to adopting through an agency. When we found Ukrainian Angels on the internet it was almost like it was too good to be true, but you know what...it was even better than that. You not only saved thousands of dollars adopting independently, but Cathy Harris connects you with all of her families that have adopted through her before.....and you can ask a question to the group and many families answer back their experiences. We were so well prepared through gaining so much wisdom before we traveled......that now looking back on it, I'm so thankful that we made the switch and adopted Independently with the help and guidance of Ukrainain Angels.

We also met up with the women from the Ukrainian Delegation for Adoptions at the gathering. They had a translator with them so it was so nice to be able to speak to them and introduce them to Andrew. I found out through them that the rumor that I thought was true was in deed false. I heard on a forum that Ukraine was banning Americans from adopting from their country until all of the American families that have adopted from Ukraine are 100% compliant with sending in their annual reports on their adopted children. WHOOO WHOOO!!! Just the news I was hoping to hear. When the women from the Ukrainian Delegation asked me if I would ever adopt from Ukraine again, I said confidently,"Absolutely". They were very pleased with that answer as they are here in the states to travel around to meet with different adoption agencies to let them know that Ukraine is open again for adoptions.

When I was speaking with these ladies from the delegation, the translator was translating what I was telling them. As they were translating and talking in Russian/Ukrainian Andrew was intently listening to them and watching them carefully. One of the ladies noticed Andrew and watched him closely and said to me, "Look, he recognizes and possibly understands what we are saying". I'm sure he did recognize the language since it has only been a year since we adopted him. He has picked up and has been talking in English since a month after we met him and has been adding to his vocabulary day by day that I forget sometimes that he understood Russian a year ago. Boy how time flies.

It was a real pleasure to attend this reunion and to be able to finally meet Cathy Harris, Julia and the ladies from the Ukrainian Delegation. We all had a nice time and I'm so glad we got this chance to meet them as well as some of the other families from Ukrainian Angels.

Super Andy

Faster than a Speeding Bullet (boy that's for sure), More powerful than a locamotive, Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.......It's a bird, It's a plane......NO, It's SUPER ANDY!!!

This year Andrew wanted to dress up like Superman for Hallelujah night. Our church had a night of children's games, food and candy of course. I was teaching Andrew how to run with his fists held up over his head while he is running to act like Superman. He had so much fun running around the church and playing the games with the other children. That costume was so appropriate for him too since he is always running every where he goes. And boy is he FAST.

At the end of the night when we brought him home we sat down on the couch with him to unwind a bit before we put him to bed. Andrew was so adorable because he took his blankie and put it over his head and asked me, "Where's SUPER ANDY?" Here he was calling himself Super Andy. Oh it was so adorable.....and a SUPER ANDY he is.

Happy 1st Gotcha Day!

Here is the video of us Singing Happy Birthday to ourselves to celebrate our first Gotcha Day with Andrew. We had just gotten back from our first Family Vacation and were busy unpacking, doing laundry, cleaning and putting things away after our return from being away a week, therefore Robert and I look a mess. We picked up a small cake to celebrate with and took this video of ourselves and Andrew as we sang Happy Birthday to our Family....

Andrew as you can see in the video was so silly and wanted to blow out the candles before the song was over and got a kick out of Mommy trying to stop him from blowing them out to soon. This video makes me laugh each time I see it and find it hard to believe how far we've come in only a year with Andrew.

Since we met Andrew a year ago, he has learned to walk, RUN more like it, talk and do I mean talk, Sing, voice his opinion (ohh he's not afraid to do that), smoosh you as he is trying to get his way and he is learning to swim.

There have been many times this summer that I have reflected on our trip to Ukraine and all of the wonderful people who we met and helped us bring our baby boy home. I have thought many times about our experiences in the orphanage and the other families we met. I have been in contact with a few of them and seen some recent pictures of their children they adopted from the same orphanage we adopted Andrew from. Boy have the children all grown and adapted and bonded well with their families. I wonder sometimes of Andrew's birth family and his birth mother and think of how courageous and selfless she was to give Andrew up for a better life than what she could give him. All the people who played a part in our adoption from the people in Ukraine to our families helping out with keeping our house, bills, vehicles and lawn in order while we were away and all of the people who graciously took the time to pray for us and our adoption and how God worked everything out for good. I get so emotional just thinking and reflecting on the whole experience even when I look back on it today. Anyway, enjoy the video.

Family Vacation - Cruising the Bahamas

We decided to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of becoming a family with a family vacation cruise to the Bermuda. Because of the hurricane moving over Bermuda on the day we were about to depart, the cruise line rerouted the the cruise to travel to the Bahamas. So we went to Nausau & Freeport islands in the Bahamas. It was our first Family Vacation since we've been home with Andrew. We decided to take a cruise that left out of a port that was local to us so we could drive to the port and bypass the flight. This made traveling with a toddler much more enjoyable.

It was quite an enjoyable trip. Andrew immediately made friends with all of the crew members. They were giving him high-fives every time they saw him. He got so used to it that Andrew was approaching crew members that he never met and would lift up his hand to give them a high-five before they would. He was very good at meal time, surprisingly. Our head waitress, Nelli was AWESOME. She made sure that Andrew's food got to the table before anyone elses and would cut up his food immediately after it arrived and gave him a lot of attention. We were very happy that mealtime worked out for us. Especially on the cruise since the meals in the dining room are much more tasty than in the cafeterias.

When we stopped in Nassau we took a walking tour around the Atlantis Resort grounds. Wow what a beautiful resort. We took a lot of pictures and Andrew especially enjoyed the huge aquarium and lagoon. It was amazing how you felt like you were scuba diving right next to the sea life of sharks, sting rays, tropical fish and more since you could walk down a stairwell to the aquarium and there was floor to ceiling glass to separate you from the sea life in the lagoon. Check out this picture of Andrew standing up against the glass with the shark on the other side. Looks almost as if he were right in the lagoon with the shark.

After our tour through the grounds of Atlantis Resort we went back to the ship to grab some lunch and take a dip in the wading pool with Andrew. Andrew of course LOVED the wading pool which was fun because when the ship would rock the waves would roll over in the 1 foot deep wading pool. We all had fun splashing around and keeping cool in the hot sun.

In the evening after dinner, Robert took Andrew into the video arcade to let him give his try at driving a race car. OOHHH Boy.....did he love that. He kept wanting to do it again and again.

The next day the ship docked in Freeport, Bahamas. We took an excursion to watch and learn about the dolphins. We were able to sit on the docks as the instructors talked about the dolphins and their behaviors as well as instructed them to do tricks, like SPLASH or should I say SOAK US! Yes of course it was just Andrew and I that got soaked since Robert was walking over to get the waterproof camera. Andrew started wailing since it surprised him as well. To our surprise the instructors showed us how to pet the dolphins and then said we could get in the water to pet them. When Robert got in the water first with Andrew, Andrew wanted no parts of getting anywhere near the dolphins until he saw his Daddy pet the dolphins. Then he was fine about getting in the water with me to pet the dolphins. We even got a picture of the dolphin kissing us.

All in all it was a wonderful way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of becoming a family. When we got home we bought a small cake at the store and and sang Happy Birthday to ourselves to celebrate our first Gotcha Day. I'm glad we got it on video since Andrew was so cute as we were singing. I will upload the video if I can figure it out.

Andrew Sings First Songs

Many evenings as I hold Andrew and rock him in the rocking chair before bedtime I will sing the songs out of a baby board book that has bible songs within it. He is now singing them with me when he can remember the words.

To my surprise one morning as I was getting Andrew dressed, I heard him sing a verse all by himself without me singing along. Here he sang,"For the bible tells me so". That is what he would sing over and over again. Then it dawned on me that he was singing the song, "Jesus Loves Me". When I picked up on what song it was I started singing it with him. Boy I bet that made God smile to hear one of His precious children sing Jesus Loves Me as their first solo even if he only could recite one line in the song.

Then about a few weeks later after picking up Andrew from preschool I catch him in the living room rocking in the rocking chair by himself singing by himself while he is doing hand motions to the song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He started the song with his hands over his head singing, "Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky". When I witnessed him doing this I grabbed the camera and made a short video of him singing,"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Too Cute. If I can figure out how to add a video to this blog, I will attach it.

Swim Lessons

We’ve enrolled Andrew in a swim class for toddlers and their moms. Since we will be around family and friends’ pools this summer and the ocean we wanted to start him out with an introduction to the water. We knew he would love it since he is like a fish in the bath tub. He will take the plastic glass that I have in the bath tub and fill it up with water and turn it over his head with it. Andrew has been having a ball in swim class. I must say that I am quite impressed with the class and instructor. The instructor, Miss Susan, brings it down to their level and makes it fun for them. We sing the Humpty Dumpty song when the kids are sitting along the edge of the wall waiting for the instructor to say “Humpty Dumpty had a great FALL”. When she says fall, the kids are supposed to fall into their parents arms (already in the pool). She also has the kids paddling and kicking as their parents holds them under their armpits toward little floating toys. Also we sing a song about a little turtle named “Tiny Tim” to get them to blow bubbles in the water.



Andrew is a ball of energy as usually but especially when he is at swim class. He gets so excited that he kicks and paddles with such enthusiasm and is starting to sing the Tiny Turtle song along with the rest of us parents. Miss Susan noticed that Andrew was the only child out of the group that was singing the song with the rest of the adults. She turned toward him and smiled. I was shocked that he was singing it with us since all week long I was singing it to him while he was taking a bath and he wasn’t singing it then. Our friends Ken and Jen also take their twin boys, Kenny and Kevin to the same swim class. It’s a lot of fun to be in the same swim class with them since the boys are only a month and a half different in age from each other.

Our Beach BABY

Over Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July weekend we took Andrew to the beach for a bit of fun in the sun. The first time we went to the beach we took him to the boardwalk and then down the steps to the sand. Since he was wearing his sandals he felt the sand immediately on his feet and in between his toes. He wasn’t sure of what to make of it so he just stood there and wouldn’t move. When he realized that it was okay to move along he did so and when he saw the Atlantic Ocean he bolted towards the water. He loves being in the water and he was all excited to see so much of it. The water was freezing on Memorial Day, but that didn’t bother Andrew. He would want to stand there at ankle depth with us and laugh when the waves came in and splashed him. We kept having to pull him out and bring him back to the area where we were sitting. Andrew had fun building sand castles with Daddy and his cousins Maria Clare and Julia. Robert would dig a hole in the sand deep enough for Andrew and Julia to dangle their feet over and wade in the water he would put in the hole.



When we went back to the shore house, Andrew and Julia were playing with Julia and Maria Clares ride on toys in the backyard. Andrew loved her lawnmower so much that Andrew would object if Julia took it out of his hands and would cry when we left for home since he loved it so much. So guess where we stopped on the way home…you guessed it, Toys R Us. I had a gift certificate in my pocket that I hadn’t used yet from Andrew’s birthday, so I told Robert let’s go to Toys R’ Us and get him a lawnmower since he loved it so much. Andrew was sooo excited that he had the biggest smile on his face as he was pushing it around outside and inside our house. The funniest thing was when Andrew stripped down to his diaper and sandals and was pushing the lawnmower around our living room with a gigantic smile on his face.

My First Mother's Day -YIPPIE!

The Friday before Mother’s Day when I went to my Mom’s house to pick Andrew up after work, as I approach the screened door I saw Andrew approaching the door at top speed as he was giggling and squealing with excitement to see me. I picked him up and kissed and hugged him hello. My Mom told him to tell me what he practiced all day. I wasn’t sure what she taught him to say until Andrew slurred the words out real quick “Happy Mama’s Day” to the point where it sounded like “HapMa Day”. I figured out what he was saying and was thrilled at the effort he put forth to say it. It was adorable. Throughout the weekend Andrew would say either Happy Mama or Happy Day.It was so cute. He got it right on the money though. I've been a Happy Mama ever since Andrew came into our lives and each day after that has been a Happy one. I am so blessed and thankful to God and Andrew’s birthmother for such a beautiful son. I think about Andrew’s birthmother at times and think of how courageous and selfless she was to want more for him than what she could give him. If she only knew how thankful we are for Andrew and what a blessing he is. Even though I didn’t give birth to him myself, I feel like Andrew has been our son since the day he was born. It’s amazing how God works things out for good. The month that God gave me the vision to adopt was the month that Andrew was born. God had designed Andrew to be our son from the beginning. I am so amazed when I look back on it now and how he worked it all out and how we were the first couple to see Andrew’s file on the day of our second appointment. God is so Good!

Selling, Renovating and Moving into our new Home

This past spring it has been a busy one. First of all I went back to work a couple of days a week and we decided to sell our home to move into a neighborhood that has better schools for Andrew. We also wanted more elbow room since we were very close to our neighbors’ homes. So we’ve been busy getting our current home ready to sell, purchasing and renovating the new home to get it ready for moving into it. It’s much different moving with a toddler in the house. Everything seems to take much longer to do since he always wants my attention or is unpacking boxes that I just packed or is messing up the house immediately after I just cleaned the house (to show the house for potential buyers). It was a bit frustrating at times but we all managed very well to the move. We got Andrew involved with helping us any way we could to keep him busy and focused on doing something constructive in order to keep him out of trouble. At times to give Andrew a break from the move we would take him over to the park near our new home and he would swing on the swings most of the time he was there. He didn’t want to get off even to go on the slide. When I would ask him if he wanted to go on the slide he would smile and say “SWING!”.



Andrew loves to get involved with whatever we are doing. So we gave him little tasks to help us as we were getting the house ready to move into. I was quite impressed at how Andrew now knows what a screwdriver and pliers are. Robert would have him go and retrieve them for him when he needed him. I guess when your Daddy is a “Mr. Fix it” it’s hard not to know what a screwdriver and pliers are even at 2 years old. It was hysterical to observe Andrew wanting to get a close up look at what his Daddy was doing when Robert was attaching a bracket to the wall behind the oven (so the oven won’t tip over). Robert was lying on the floor to get closer to where he had to attach the bracket and Andrew saw him and got all excited to watch that he crawled on top of Robert and straddled Robert’s abdomen and leaned into the area where Robert was working. Robert and I started laughing at him. Such a curious little boy we have.



After two months of renovating, packing and moving we were finally settled into our new home. Andrew had a few issues of confusion with where home was. He would go to the back door and point to it and say “Home”. As if to say “Let’s go home”. After a few weeks of telling him that we are home and making a big deal out of saying “We’re Home”, every time we would pull into our driveway to make him realize that this is our home now he feels more settled now.



We painted Andrew’s room a medium blue and decorated it with Thomas the Train décor. We purchased a twin bed and furniture for him since I figured that the reason why he was waking up so much during the night was because his crib mattress was so hard. When I would put him down for a nap in our bed at our old house, he would sleep like a baby. So we figured it was the bed itself, so I wanted to get his room set up with his new bed when we first moved into the house so we wouldn’t have to set up the crib just to take it down again. Praise God for that wisdom because Andrew sleeps like a baby now in his new bed. He loves it and the Thomas bedding that we got for him as well. To make his room more inviting and fun for him I tacked a fleece Thomas the Train blanket on the wall above his bed. It has a big picture of the face of Thomas on it smiling. I think he loved the fleece so much that he would stand on his bed against the wall and place his cheek against it and smile and say “Love, Love”. Each night for about a week after we got his bed, as I was putting him to bed, Andrew would give the wall a hug where Thomas was and say “Love, Love”. He is too funny.

Andrew's First Easter

I know it's been a while since the last update, so here has what's been happening this past Spring with Andrew and the Millilo's.





This year for Easter we decided to take Andrew on an egg hunt at a local farm. When we got to the farm, Andrew enjoyed visiting the bunny rabbits, goats and chickens. He was amazed at the bunny rabbits and how close he could get to them. When it was time to get in line for the hayride that took us out to the field where the egg hunt was, Andrew wanted to stay to watch the bunnies instead. Once we convinced him to take the hayride we piled into the trailer of hay and went for a ride to the field where they let the children out to go look for eggs. Andrew enjoyed running around and picking up the plastic eggs which had a piece of candy in them. His face lit up when he found the candy inside.





A couple of days after the hayride, I was keeping Andrew entertained by taking a plastic egg with jelly beans (which he loves) in it and shaking it to get his attention. He knew that there was candy in it since it made noise and from remembering the egg hunt/hayride a couple of days prior. His face lit up with excitement when I told him that Mommy was going to hide the egg. He then ran after me as I was trying to get away from him to hide it. I stopped abruptly in the dining room with the egg behind my back so he couldn’t see where I was going to hide it. Since there was a little basket on the table behind me I quietly and to see if I could fool him into thinking that I still had the egg I ran into the other room and when he followed me into the other room I asked him where the egg was. He immediately went into the dining room and reached for the basket on the table. When he took hold of it and pulled the basket off of the table the egg fell out and onto the floor. The plastic egg broke open and all of the jelly beans scattered on the floor. Andrew was ecstatic but cautious because he wasn’t sure if I was going to allow him to eat the jelly beans or not. When he realize that I wasn’t going to take them away from him he belted out a hardy belly laugh and scurried up the jelly beans and started shoving them in his mouth before I changed my mind. It was hilarious to watch him and to see his reaction.



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The night before Easter Andrew, Robert and I had a ball dying hard boiled eggs. One time Andrew dropped the egg too hard into the dye and the bowl of green dye turned over. We were able to clean it up before it hit the floor thank goodness. As he picked up one of the eggs he squeezed it too hard and cracked it. Robert thought it was funny so he encouraged him to keep squeezing it, so Andrew continued until his fingers were completely through the egg. Easter morning was a blast watching him hunt around the house for eggs and seeing his surprised look on his face when he saw his Easter basket filled with books & toys from Nana and some candy and toys from Mommy and Daddy.




After we went to church, we had an early Easter dinner over at Mom mom's and Pop pop's house. They surprised the kids with an Easter egg hunt in their yard. It was such a beautiful day for it as well. Andrew, Julia and Maria Clare quickly looked for as many eggs as possible. Julia cracked me up when she found an egg she would hold them over her head like it was her trophy. Too cute. Andrew ran around and filled his basket fairly quickly. All of the kids were funny at how wxcited they got when looking for and finding eggs. It’s so much different and more exciting experiencing everything through children's eyes.

Happy 2nd Birthday Andrew! 

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Happy Birthday Andrew! Last month we had a birthday party for Andrew to celebrate his 2nd birthday. We had it at a place that sells swing sets and holds birthday parties for children. I figured it would be a good place for the older kids and some of the younger kids to have the party, however, I was a little unsure if the swing sets would be too big for Andrew to have a good time at. I'm glad now that I overlooked that uncertainty and booked the place for Andrew's birthday party because Andrew and all of the other children had a BLAST! All of the kids played on the equipment to exhaustion.

I'm a Happy Kid! 




When we first arrived at the place, I climbed up the swingset to slide down the slide with Andrew a few times before anyone else got there. Well it just took a few times down the slide with Mama to give him the confidence to tackle the slide on his own. Andrew LOVED it! You couldn't keep him off of the swingset.

Able to reach tall buildings in a single bound. 




One of the slides was so tall that when you slid down the slide you were really flying. It was fast, however, that was the slide that Andrew wanted to continue playing on. It was hilarious to see Andrew sliding down the slide spread eagle with his hands and feet apart and his hair standing on end because he was flying down the slide so fast with a gigantic smile on his face. Too funny! All of the kids had a great time playing, even the older cousins of Andrew.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! 


That was FUN! Let's do it again! 




When everybody was singing Happy Birthday to Andrew, he stuck his finger in the icing and gave it to Mama to lick off. He dislikes any food being on his hands except when he is in a creative mood where he then sticks his whole hand into his food and then rubs his two hands together like he is washing his hands with his food and then rubs his face and hair with his icky hands. Yuck.

Climbing high! 




Since the kids were so busy playing on the swingsets the whole time of the party, Andrew didn't open up his birthday presents until we got back to the house. Robert and I figured that he will take a nice long nap after all of the excitement and exercise he got at his birthday party. Well no such thing. Andrew would not go down for a nap at all that day. He wanted to open his birthday presents instead. He saw those presents sitting in the living room and couldn't rest until he opened them up and played with his new toys. Thank you all for your generousity with all of your gifts and love to Andrew. He is so blessed to be part of such a wonderful family and have such loving friends.

Christmas 2005

Having Fun with Andrew on Christmas morning. 




Our first Christmas with our son Andrew was just as I expected it to be, outstanding. Seeing everything through the eyes of a child makes one feel as young as they are.



My first Scooter. Thank you, Aunt Rita! 




Andrew had a blast opening up gifts and tearing through the wrapping paper. He even loved standing on his gifts before opening them and laughing. What a comedian he is. So silly I must say. Christmas morning we stalled him as long as we could before coming downstairs so my mom, brother and sister could enjoy watching him open up his gifts as well. (Not sure how many years we'll be able to stall him from going downstairs and opening his gifts on Christmas morning). When we did come downstairs, a big wheel"Rock and Roll" was put together that our cousins Patty and Michael gave him and a ride on scooter was put together that my Aunt Rita gave him. Andrew went immediately over to the scooter first and started sitting on it and scooting around the room. Then he figured out how to get on the big wheel rocker. He absolutely lit up with delight as he rode both toys Christmas morning.



ZOOM, ZOOM!! This is NEAT! Thank you Michael and Patty! 




Andrew...intently opening his gifts. 




When we finally let Andrew open his gifts, he would tear them open and "OOOO" and "AHAHAHAH!" over the gifts, however, one gift that stands out in my mind is a book on Potty Training that we gave him. The children's book on Potty Training has a button on it that when you push it it sounds like a toilet flushing with a child in the background giggling. Andrew thought it was the silliest thing. He would want my mom or Nana as we call her now, read it to him over and over and he would SQUEAL with excitement and delight when he heard the toilet flush and the kid laughing. He was too funny. We all were in tears of laughter just watching him.



Giggling with Nana at the Potty Training Book that sounds like a toilet flushing 





Another silly thing that Andrew did on Christmas morning was when he opened his dump truch that his Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Bill gave him he thought it was just the right size for him to sit in. A few times Andrew went to sit in it and the truck would roll away from him.








Andrew had a ball on Christmas day over at Mommom and Poppops house playing with his cousins Nicole, Billy, Christina, Maria Clare and Julia. When it came time to open up his gifts we had a hard time retrieving him from a child size rocking chair that he discovered in their living room. He would rather sit in that all night than open up his gifts. Looks as if we get Andrew his own chair (his size that is). He likes to sit on boxes that are empty that are on the floor that are just his size to sit on or whatever else he can find that would work as a chair just for him. What is with it regarding a man and his chair. All he would need then would be a remote in his hand and he would be set. Maybe that is why Andrew is always grabbing the remote control whenever he finds the opportunity....it's a man thing.



Andrew's favorite chair at Mommom's and Poppops house. 




Thank you all for all of your thoughtful gifts to all of us and especially for making this Christmas extra special for our son Andrew.