Thanksgiving 2009

Don't be fooled... this wasn't my approach to all Thanksgiving foods. I refused to try anything but the pie. No turkey. No stuffing. No mashed potatoes. No cranberry sauce. I have yet to experience Thanksgiving as it was meant to be. I did eat some peas and enjoyed watching football with "de guys". This picture was taken right before I bit into the crust of Mama's pie. It really can't be appreciated in full unless you've seen the picture of Dada and Nathan dripping with "meat sweats" leaning over the carcass of their Florentine Steak...

TOUCHDOWN PILGRIMS!!! I'm really turning into a guys' guy, and although I don't understand what a touchdown is, I make touchdowns all the time. Here's how it works - I run, dive onto the floor while making manly grunting noises, and then I say "Oh, I got a touchdown!" It's pretty funny. A few times I've come crying to Mama because I hit my head on the floor while making touchdowns on the tile. She reminds me that football players wear helmets for a reason. Anyway, here's hoping for more football next Thanksgiving, and maybe even a bite of turkey?

Two Years Old

I'm already two! My mama remembers when I was a little baby, she was looking at her friend's son who was 2 and thinking how sad it was that he wasn't a baby anymore. Now that's me! Hard to believe. Anyway, I am always getting smarter, funnier, bigger and more rowdy, and I wanted to share some of that with you!

My 2-year-old Favorites

Food: Burgers & fruit

Candy: Whoppers

TV Show: SpongeBob SquarePants

Movies: Cars, Toy Story, Bee Movie, Finding Nemo, Nightmare Before Christmas

Toys: HotWheels/Matchbox cars

Indoor Activities: Driving my cars, watching TV/movies

Outdoor Activities: OU football games, running, riding bikes, swimming

Places to go: Relatives' houses, gymnastics, Halloween Store, Target

Sports Team: Oklahoma Sooners

Songs to sing: ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Boomer Sooner, Happy Birthday

Funny Things I Say

What is that?

Oh my goodness!

Touchdown!

What that (fill in the blank) say?

No take nappies!

Mama/Dada hold you

Mama/Dada helpie

Ok! (As in answering my own questions - Andrew wants candy? Ok!)

It's very nummies!

It's very red!

Andrew wants diarrhea (I confuse it with "gasagna")

My Talents

I can read all my letters and numbers

I can sing my ABCs and count to 10

I can name almost every car on the road

I can speak in almost full sentences

I can go down steps without holding onto anything

I can jump with my feet actually leaving the floor

I can take my clothes and diaper off (uh oh)

I can eat with a fork

You get the idea. I could go on, but then I'd be bragging. Being 2 is going to be very different. I got my first-ever ear infection and began picking boogers from my nose, both literally as soon as I turned 2. My ears are feeling better, but my fingers are constantly digging in my nostrils. Every day I do or say something that surprises people. Like just a minute ago, I yawned and said, "Andrew's very tired." Mama thought it was such a grown-up thing to say! Last night, I was eating toast and I said, "Mmmm. It's very taste." (I meant tasty.) So sophisticated! Looks like Baby Andrew is all gone....

Happy Birthday Dear Andrew!

My 2nd birthday started with my parents singing "Happy Birthday" to me, and then singing it to myself for the rest of the day. I went to have birthday donuts with my cousins before going to their school so Dada could talk to all the kids about his job in the Navy. I was born on Veteran's Day, so my birthday will be a day off work for Dada as long as he's in the military! The kids had some good questions about his job and gave him some special cards to thank him for his service.

After a cheeseburger for lunch, we sang again and I blew out the candles on the only gift I had asked for (and had been asking for for weeks!) An OU cake!

My family came over for dinner to celebrate with me. Mama made German food with a Black Forest Cake for the third blowing-out-the-candles sing-along of the day! I had a fun time with my cousins and didn't get half as excited about my gifts as they did, even though I loved every single one. It was a long fun day, and I really enjoyed it. Last year I didn't get it, but this year was a blast! Being spoiled is something I could get used to... but we won't let that happen!

Happy Happy Halloween!

We're two-thirds done with November, and I'm STILL talking about Halloween. I am SO into it. As soon as the decorations appeared in stores (in August!) I was talking about Halloween constantly. I was very excited about being a skeleton and seeing "that guy" in the mirror. My costume is glow-in-the-dark, and I asked Mama and Dada all the time to "see that skeleton in the dark"! Mama took me a few times to the Halloween store. They had some scary stuff in there, but the spookier the better, I say! I'm still asking to go to the "Halloween place" every time Mama picks me up from school.

I had a blast trick-or-treating with my cousins, although they're sort of fast when it comes to going door-to-door. By the end of the night, I was dragging my weighted-down spider bag from house to house by myself (with supervision, of course!) I commented on all the decorations I saw, and was very pleased when no one stopped me from shoving massive amounts of sugar into my mouth. I'm still finding candy in our pantry, and Dada can't say no when in my sweetest voice, I hand it to him and say "Happy Happy Halloween!!"

Boomer Sooner!

Dada took me to my first OU game! I was very well behaved and really enjoyed watching the Sooners beat Baylor.

After each time the Sooners scored, they shot off fireworks, which I really liked. I sang Boomer Sooner along with the band, and even tried to pick little OU emblems off the chairs. (Bummer, they don't come off!)

It was such a fun day to share with all the guys in my family. Here I am with Dada and Uncle Marco, and with Uncle Basem and Vince. I can't wait for my next OU game. I constantly tell my parents, "I go OU football game with Dada. That be fun!"

Back to School

It was a fantastic summer, and surprisingly, I was happy to go back to Mom's Day Out. Clearly, I'm not lovin' the backpack. "Off! Off!" I cried!

Twenty-one Months Old

How sad is this? I'm giving my 21-month update just weeks before I turn two! And to tell the truth, I have changed so much in these past few months, I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what talents I had at 21 months. I can tell you one thing for sure. By the time I turned 21 months old, I could name almost EVERY car in a parking lot. Chevy, Ford, GMC, Pontiac, Honda, Toyota... you get the idea. One day, Mama starting showing me the emblems on the cars, and I soaked it up like a sponge. I do have a little trouble with cars I don't see often - Bentley, Astin Martin, Scion to name a few. It's an impressive talent for a less-than-2-year-old. My parents have gotten used to it, but strangers are always shocked. One lady told Mama she should get me on tv, and a man predicted I'd be future CEO of GM! Also, I know I told you I learned to read numbers. I've got that down from 0-9. Other than that, I can't quite remember what I was doing in August. I'll catch you up again soon... I promise!

Say Cheese!

When Mama tells me to "say cheese", I usually say "cracker" while running away from the camera. Imagine her delight when this time, I said "cheeeeese!", held still, looked at the camera and smiled! She was in shock and had to take advantage. Here are a few shots from the photo shoot...

These pictures were taken at the beach, the same day as the pictures with my family in Coronado.

The cutest 20-month-old little boy in the whole wide world! (Even when I've got a little sand on my face.)

A Beachy Day

While we were in San Diego, the whole family spent a day at the beach in Coronado.

I loved the water, like I did last year, but it was too cold! I couldn't go in for long before I started shivering. I made sand castles and dug holes with Oma and Dada. I was sandy from head to toe!

It's rare to have Mama's and Dada's families all together in one place, let alone in California, so it was really nice that we were able to spend such a nice day together.

Disneyland

My first visit to the magical world of Disney! I was amazing - we arrived late morning and stayed until 10 pm, and I never complained once! How could I? It was like nothing I had ever experienced!

My very first ride was in a rocketship with Auntie Tini!

Dada took me on the Dumbo ride. I loved taking the controls. I'm already a great pilot. I really enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean and kept repeating "See that guy!" when I saw all the pirate skeletons! Speaking of skeletons, the Haunted Mansion was really cool, too. Nothing scared me. I just soaked it all in and had a blast.

Here I am making my best attempt at a whistle, trying to chime in with "It's a Small World". Waiting in line is no prob when you've got so many things to look at. All the moving parts on the outside were just as interesting as the inside of the ride.

Still whistling as we enter Small World in our boat...
Dada and I are 3-D'd out, ready for a shootout with Woody & Buzz over at California Adventure!

We ended our day with a beautiful view of Cindarella's castle and a not-so-great view of the fireworks show. I got some souvenirs from my favorite movie - cars and a Woody sippy cup. I wish I could say I'll never forget it, but I will. At least I've got photos to remind me of my fun Disney day!

SoCal Summer

Now that summer is winding down, I have a little time to tell you what I've been up to. Here are the Morrow men swimming in Palm Desert. We were there for the national convention. I met lots of people that knew my mama when she was my age, living in California. It's so hot in the desert, there's not much you can do but wade in the water. I think I was the only fair-skinned blonde in the pool. It was literally a sea of hairy Arabs! We had a nice few days in Palm Desert before moving on with our Southern California adventure...

Sh*t!

I said my first bad word. I repeated it after Mama said it when she saw this! In 2 seconds, I ripped 21 keys off the computer. It took her 45 minutes to fix it.

4th of July 2009

Well, here we are, mid August, and I still haven't told you about my 4th of July! That should tell you I'm a busy boy, having lots of fun this summer. So, back to the fourth...

I started off the day by joining the parade in Uncle Marco's neighborhood. All my cousins and I hopped onto the golf cart and went for a slow spin, waving to neighbors as we went. Uncle Marco had a big party, and I spent most of my time there in the pool. I'm getting very good at holding my breath under water! We ate and played all day - an exhausting blast!

One of the best parts of any holiday is the food! My Auntie Tini made this flag cake, and it was THE talk of the party! It was as good as it looked - pound cake covered in cream cheese frosting and fresh berries.

Equally delicious are Uncle Marco's onion burgers. Often imitated, never duplicated. They're the best. In fact, I was a non-beef eater until I tried Uncle Marco's, and now I ask for burgers all the time! Any party is great when you've got these, but having fireworks, family and a pool around... does it get any better?

Celebrating our independence wore me out! Nothing like loud explosions to put a guy to sleep! At least I got to enjoy some of the fireworks before I was asleep.

Uncle Jim's Wedding

The main purpose of our trip to the Bay Area was to go to my Uncle Jim's wedding. He married a very nice lady named Tracy at the Elks Club in San Rafael. The wedding was out on a terrace with two big fountains that I just couldn't stay away from! The service was very nice, and then I got to run all around, play in the fountains and make Mama chase me in her heels!

Unfortunately, I took a spill down some brick steps and scraped up the side of my face. I was determined to master the steps once I stopped crying. It made everyone nervous, but after a few tries, I was going down the steps (on my feet!) all by myself. After we ate dinner (although I mostly had M&Ms for dinner) we danced to some great music. I was like the Energizer Bunny! I danced until I couldn't stay awake any longer. It was an awesome evening!

Congratulations Uncle Jim & Auntie Tracy!

GoGolf!

I went to Northern California to visit family, and while we were in Santa Rosa at my Nana's house, I got to play on the golf course! All weekend I was saying "GoGolf! GoGolf!" My cousins Brian and Tyler were there, too. We were having a blast!

The little red speck on the green is me! I played with Nana's golf balls, putting them in the hole and taking them out, until a mean old lady across the way came outside and started yelling at us, "Get off the course!!"

After Oma tried reasoning with the lady, golf course security came and made us get off the course. My Mama and Oma felt so bad when I kept asking to go back out to play. It was alright though, because Brian & Tyler brought some new toys for me, so we had a great time together inside Nana's house. Soon I'll be old enough to play a real game of golf on Nana's course!

Boulder, CO

Thanks to our friends Brendan and Angela for getting married in Boulder, Colorado! What a cool town Boulder is. I was lucky enough to be allowed to partake in most of the wedding-weekend activities! Brendan's mother is Mama's Godmother, and Dada and Brendan have been friends for a long time, too.
We went to a bar (yes! I went to a bar!) Friday night and visited with our friends. Saturday, we visited a nearby new-urban neighborhood called Prospect (www.prospectnewtown.com), which was very different from anything I've seen in Oklahoma. Saturday night was the wedding. I was so loud and whiny that Dada had to watch the wedding ceremony from the cry room! I stayed with babysitters while Mama & Dada enjoyed a night out at the reception at the Boulder Theater. On Sunday, we went to Angela's parents house in the mountains. It was a great place for me to run around. I played in their treehouse and ate one of Fast Eddie's World Famous Chicago-Style Hot Dogs! I didn't have mine Chicago-style, but you can tell by the ketchup on my face that I thoroughly enjoyed it! Fast Eddie is Angela's father, in case you wondered, and you can get your own Chicago Dog on Pearl Street in Boulder! My Aunt Michelle and Auntie Ney were there for the weekend, too, which made it that much more special.

It was so nice to meet the Ferguson family. Congratulations Brendan & Angela! We hope to see you again soon!

Busy Summer

I'm a busy little boy! So busy, in fact, that I haven't given you any updates in 2 months! Let me fill you in...

I've been busy learning. Just a week after I told you I called everything "yellow", I learned all my colors! Well, all the basic colors. I know and can say red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, brown and sometimes grey. I've also learned to read numbers! I sometimes mix them up, but I'd say I've got it down pretty well for a 1 1/2-year-old! I'm starting to learn to count. It's pretty funny when I'm wrong. Mama was taking me down the stairs the other day, and I was counting "Semmen! (seven) Eight! Four! Two! Five! One!"

We went with some friends to an event called Touch-A-Truck in Edmond. Here I am driving a big red tractor! I also took the wheel of a firetruck, a milk truck and a ski boat. I got to sit on a police motorcycle and inside a helicopter! I LOVED it!

It's hot outside, so I've been doing some lounging by the pool. Sometimes when Dada is at work, Mama takes me to our neighborhood pool. They have shallow pools with fountains - just my size! I'm a little too brave when it comes to the pool, but hopefully that means I'll be a good swimmer! I love putting my head under the water and I like to float (not swim!) from the steps to Dada all by myself!

Here I am in Dallas with my Aunt Michelle. I call her "Gum". Don't ask! I haven't told anyone why I call her Gum, and I'm not going to tell you, either! We had a busy weekend in Dallas. Gum showed us some really cool neighborhoods, and we visited Big Aunt Michelle and Katrina for dinner one night. Of course, Dallas isn't the only place I've gone this summer.... stay tuned!

Eighteen Months Old

I'm one-&-a-half years old! Everyone knows how fast I'm growing and learning new things, but let me just give you some examples. Here are new words I can say:

uh-sy (outside)

uh-foof (upstairs)
ogie (egg)

ongo (orange)

appo (apple)

koo-keen-hee (zucchini)

nuh-nuh (sandwich)

kick (stick)

lella (yellow)

kacker (tractor)

he (hair)

ubbo (elbow)

hen (hand)

Bubba (SpongeBob)

peents (pants)

teedee (TV)

i-keem (ice cream)

peez (please)

kiku (thank you)

bus
pizza
dirt

knee
corn

The list goes on. I can't really tell you all the things I can say because I say new things all the time. I'm starting to repeat things I hear, even if I don't know what they mean. I'll basically try to say anything you ask me to, as long as you don't have a camera and I'm not shy around you.

Here are some other things I can do now...

Point to body parts and name them
Climb onto tabletops

Say everything is "yellow" if you ask me the color

Clap and say "Yeah Baby" when I watch American Idol

Say "honk honk" and "vroom vroom" when I see cars

Throw temper tantrums

Brush my teeth

Reach the kitchen countertops (just an inch or two!)

Put Dada's neckties on and tell myself I "look like Dada!"

Sing "Boomer Sooner"

Run fast outside, but I know not to go into the street

Pull keys off our laptop

I like to associate objects with people I know. I've already told you how I associate Dada with the University of Oklahoma and Uncle Marco with Oklahoma State University. When Mama opens the fridge, I point to each beer and designate an owner - Dada, Papa, Oma and Auntie Tini. The wine is usually Mama's. Everything I wear is "like Dada". Cars are all Papa's. My Chargers football is property of Uncle Pablo. When Mama folds laundry, I tell her who each piece of clothing belongs to. Literally everything is someone's!

My favorite thing to do is to play outside. My favorite food (besides crackers) is pizza. My favorite song is "Boomer Sooner". My favorite TV show is SpongeBob Squarepants.

Here are my 18-month stats:

22 lbs 11 oz (just under 25th percentile)

32 1/2 inches (just above 50th percentile)

Palm Sunday & Pascha

I had a nice Palm Sunday in Oklahoma City with my cousins. We had lunch at Uncle Bebo & Aunt Dee's house and celebrated Mackenna's birthday.

On Easter morning, I woke up to find the Easter Bunny had left me 2 baskets! Mama and Daddy gave me a free day to eat all the candy I wanted!

We had an Easter egg hunt at the Elkouri's. I found lots of "ogies"! It was a great day spent with family and friends.

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!