First day of school!

Drew started at his new Montessori school on Monday! He was *very* excited to wear his backpack, though it does tend to throw him off balance a little. =) We got a lot of "cool!"s when we were walking through the school to his classroom, but when we got to the door he got a little scared. His teachers led him into the room... still scared... then he saw the gerbil and quickly forgot about Mommy & Daddy and life was all good once again! We've all had a bit of adjusting - a new schedule, packing lunchboxes, new philosophies, etc, but we're all working on it together. Drew unfortunately didn't share the climber very well on his first day and bit one of his new friends (sigh - doesn't he know this school is all about peace and love!!), but hopefully that will not be an issue and we will be working on sharing and being kind to friends (no one was bit today thank goodness). We'll keep you posted!

Drew and Daddy
A little blurry, but he is so happy to be wearing that backpack! What a big boy *sniff, sniff* Besides going to school, it's also been a big week because Drew's cousins Nicholas & MiMi are in town staying with Meema as Sammy and Elena make the move from Boston to Richmond. We took another trip to Lazy 5 Ranch with them, and the weekend before we took a wonderful trip to Tweetsie Railroad. I'll try to get some of those pictures up soon.

Fun with balloons

Title says it all...

Steve's new "do"

Introducing Steve with his new summer cut (with some comparison pics):
BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER Isn't he a pretty boy? It took them over 2 hours to shave him. He really seems to like it and it sure helps with the shed-factor that was beginning to drive us crazy!

10 things you may not know about Drew...

10. He has a southern accent (wonder where that came from?) - which comes out in the sweetest sounding "yay"s and "bye-bye"s in the whole world.

9. He has been off of thickened liquids since Friday and so far so good! Yay!

8. He is all boy. He loves trucks, trains, balls and - new this week - he looks at us, grins and giggles everytime he passes gas.

7. He starts his new Montessori school on August 24th. His assistant teacher's name is Hyacinth Muir.

6. He associates Meema's house with eating. The other day we were heading to her house and I asked, "Drew, do you want to go to Meema's" and he immediately did the "eat" sign and said "EAT"! As soon as we walk into her house these days he immediately goes to the table. Luckly, Meema has learned to be well-prepared.

5. We know that Drew is awake in the mornings when we hear a chorus of alternating "Hey!" and "Up!" coming from his room... Hey! Hey! Up! Hey! Up! Up! Up!

4. Some of his favorite things remain Elmo (especially the introduction song), fruit, Steve, Bob (what we call his stroller) and his "Softy" blanket.

3. While he can have his moments of tantrums and testing us, Drew has a very sweet and loving disposition. He loves to sit on our laps, give us hugs, lay his head on our laps or shoulders, have his hair or forehead stroked, and be patted.

2. If we whisper to Drew, he will whisper back in his own Drew-talk - very cute.

1. And the #1 thing you may not know about Drew is... he is going to be a big brother. His baby sister is due on New Years Day!!!!

Lazy 5 Ranch

A few weekends ago, we took a fun day trip to the Lazy 5 Ranch with Drew's Nana. Those of you around here with kids (or without kids) who don't know about the Lazy 5 Ranch - you've got to check it out. It is a large privately owned park in Mooresville that you can either drive through in your own car or take a horse-drawn wagon ride on a safari... the animals come right up to you and you can feed them - giraffes, zebras, antelopes, water buffalo, ostriches, and so many others! It is so much fun and Drew seemed to enjoy it. The main incident of the day came when Drew decided if the feed was good enough for the animals it was good enough for him and Mommy was just slow enough that he got a handful all the way into his mouth before being caught. He didn't think very much of the feed, haha! Here are some pics:

Drew and Daddy feed a water buffalo They don't make them much cuter than these two! Nana on the savannah An ostrich smiles for the camera

Our trip to the beach

Last weekend, we made the trip to Pine Knoll Shores, NC for a long beach weekend with our good friends Jason & Michelle. Drew had a great weekend and he did not want to sit still for a second (he likes keeping us on our toes these days). He was crawing on this, climbing on that, opening doors, opening cabinets, wanting to go out the back door, wanting to go out the front door, running, falling, climbing up the stairs, climbing down the stairs, pressing buttons, pulling plugs... he even crawled out of the playpen for the first time ever - I was quite shocked when I opened the bedroom door to find Drew walking around the room long past his bedtime. He didn't want to miss a thing! He wasn't all that interested in the water this year, but he really enjoyed playing in the sand on the beach.

On the 4th of July, Drew stayed awake long passed his typical bedtime for the fireworks (on the beach where we were staying you could see a couple of "offical" fireworks shows in the distance as well as individuals around shooting off their own firworks around us). We laid out a blanket on the beach and the 5 of us watched the various displays - Drew was not scared of them and alternated between choruses of "ohhhhs" and "uh-ohs". We think we even heard a "pretty" and "nice" come out of his mouth after a couple of them. =) It was a great evening - the temperature was so comfortable, the ocean breeze was blowing. During the middle of the fireworks Drew got so comfy that he fell asleep on my lap (this never happens - he really only sleeps in his bed and very occasionally in the car) and it is a precious moment forever in my mind with my little one on a great night on the beach with friends & family.

A big thank you to "Uncle" Jason & "Aunt" Michelle for letting us join them at the beach, for some wonderful meals, and mostly putting up with an active toddler and parents that are still somewhat new to this game. We had a great weekend with you.

Daddy and Drew head down to check out the surf Drew enjoyed the sand this year - he didn't try to eat it near as much as this time last year =) And he's off... This is what Drew thinks about sunscreen getting into his eye "This is the life" Little beach feet We made a trip to the NC Aquarium & Drew loved the fish. He especially liked the playful otters! Playing with "Aunt" Michelle This is the closest we got to everyone actually looking at the same time

Meema is coming, Meema is coming

On June 30th, Meema closed on her cute new home in Winston-Salem! Drew had already approved with rounds of "oohhs" and "aaahhs" as he previewed the house before and I know that he will love growing up with Meema just around the corner (Mommy is pretty excited about that idea too!) Her home is only a few miles from our house - it's possible to even ride bikes there. Welcome to NC, Meema... we are so happy you are here!

Here is Meema on her closing day in front of her new home with her favorite realtor:

Father's Day / Ballin'

On Father's Day, Brad requested that we all go to the park to play basketball. Drew looooves "BAW" these days - he knows what dribble means, he knows what "take it to the basket" means, he even will pick up the golf club (toy one) when we put a golf ball on the floor and try to hit it. Here are some pictures of Brad and Drew on Daddy's special day sharing some "Baw" time!

"That's a long way away..." "Daddy to the rescue!!" Dribble, dribble Our future 'Demon Deacon' All-Star

20 months

So, my goal over the next few days is to post each day to catch up on some recent events (we'll see what happens, but now that I've typed it out maybe I'll be more likely to stick to it!). So if there happens to be anyone out there regularly keeping up with little Drew, hopefully over the next few days will be entertaining.

Drew is 100% energy these days. You can not let him out of your sight for even a second without him dashing somewhere to get into mischief. Although Brad and I are exhausted with chasing him - we are also happy that he is a happy, healthy, full-of-life little toddler and he makes us smile and laugh so much every day.

Hopefully some of these upcoming posts will catch you up on some of the bigger events that have been going on around here, but we will start with the zoo. Drew took his first trip to the North Carolina Zoo a few weeks ago and we had a great trip. Believe it or not, he became the most excited about the bison (wouldn't you know it - I think every other animal in the zoo was for sale as a stuffed animal in the zoo gift shop but no bison... I guess that is not typically a favorite for people, but our son loved them. So if anyone happens to run across a stuff bison anywhere, please let us know!). Here is a video of him talking to the bison, followed by some other zoo pictures.

A sweet shot of him watching the bison: Drew & Daddy check out an elephant Drew making sure Daddy didn't miss seeing an animal: We loved the sea lions! An action shot of Drew on the zoo playground - this was a cool underground tunnel slide

18 & 19 month post

Drew's latest stats (taken a month ago at his 18 month appointment - I know he has only gotten taller since!): height 36", weight 35 pounds, head diameter 20 and 1/4". He is above the 99th percentile for all of those areas - surprise, surprise! He is currently getting all 4 canine teeth - but hopefully the worst of that is now over. He loves cars now - he loves to push his toy cars, stand in the yard and wave at cars and play with the play wheel on the playground or in the grocery cart like he is driving. His all-time favorite food remains bananas - but we have also recently found that he loves popcorn shrimp as well. All fruit is on the top of the list. He likes to ride on the bike with Mommy or Daddy - he was terrified at first but now asks for it almost everyday by doing the bike sign. We are doing well around here...

Here are some pictures of Drew at his Little Gym class. He concentrates hard on the balance beam: Then moves on for a perfect 10 on the parallel bars... And finally a slam dunk - such an athlete, he is: Drew, Mommy and Daddy went to go see "Elmo Makes Music" in Greensboro a couple of weekends ago. If any of you haven't been around Drew lately, then you wouldn't know that "MOMO" for "Elmo" is a pretty prominent part of his vocabulary these days. This child was absolutely mesmerized by this concert - not taking his eyes off of the stage for one second. Mommy and Drew at "Sesame Street": Drew patiently waits for the show to start. Doesn't he look like such a big boy in this picture?! (*sniff sniff*) My two boys: For better of for worse, Drew loves to imitate us these days: Now doesn't this just look so cozy? Finally a couple of videos to end on. Here is yet another important word in Drew's vocabulary - "Bubbles!"
Daddy recently taught Drew how to dip his food and he is quite a fan of dipping now; however, I think the best part of this video comes with the attempt at using the spoon:

Merlefest 2009

Uncle Denny, Aunt Lynda and Meema came up and stayed with us last weekend in what has become quite a fun tradition - Merlefest! Meema was kind enough to watch Drew on Friday and Sunday, so we could enjoy some "adult" time - but they both joined us all day on Saturday for the festival. I have to brag on that little boy and say that he was sooooo good. The weather was HOT and that was the very first day in almost 18-months that he did not take a nap, yet we couldn't have asked him to be better - the only tears shed were after he tripped and bit his tongue (ouch!) and when, in our parental naivety, we tried to *make* him take a nap(he needed it, right?!?! WRONG - he showed us and we learned a big lesson... it is sometimes OK to go with the flow a little more - the world isn't going to end and our toddler isn't necessarily going to turn into a little demon if his schedule is kept perfectly. Who knew?!) . He clapped his hands and stomped his feet at various stages, and enjoyed people watching and all of the kids activites as well. He was a very happy boy. Drew appears to love events just as much as his parents do!

Mommy and Drew-Drew share a dance at the dance tent. Fun in the sand box ...and fun with hula-hoops ...and fun on the swing, too! Just look at that face - does he not have the sweetest little eyes in the world?!?! Not to mention those big, pinch-able cheeks... Drew rocks out during the P Doodle Possum & Buffalo Barfield set at the Little Pickers stage. ~All the toddlers in the house throw your hands up - throw your hands up~ Notice in this video that he does his "hat" sign after he hears Buffalo Barfield sing about the hat - then he looks just to make sure I noticed!



Daddy's lap sure does feel good at the end of a long day
Thanks for a great weekend Uncle Denny, Aunt Lynda and Meema!!!