Andrew Silas, 18 Months!

Today the inevitable happened. I caught Andrew merrily putt-putting down the driveway on his toddler car, moments before he pulled straight out onto our busy street - looking for all the world like he knew exactly what he was doing and where he was headed. He was none too pleased when I hijacked his joy ride; he held on for dear life and screamed bloody murder as I peeled him off the scooter. I'm not sure which part of the episode our neighbors will view as the most incriminating in terms of my failures as a parent....

Andrew loves to be outside ("Sigh!!" is his happy response anytime I ask him if he wants to play outside), and it is difficult to stifle that joy, especially since his older siblings currently require all kinds of bribery just to get them to step into the backyard for five minutes at a time. I have been lucky so far that the unending clutter of our garage usually keeps him entertained when I need to run in the house for a moment, but I knew it would not last forever. We were bound to hit a point at which his craftiness and motoring skills would finally combine to bring us to this near deadly injunction. Thank the Lord I'm pretty quick myself, when I need to be!

I know we will have a good many more hair-raising adventures with young Andrew, for this child was not born to be still!

Everyone needs a doctor who'll make them glove balloons.

Andrew is just over the 18-month mark now, and he is the strangest and most wonderful mixture of growing-up-too-fast and always-my-baby. On the one hand, he is determined and confident, keeping up with his older brother and sister in just about every way - except when it suits him to take a new path instead. He loves to play with whatever they are playing with, but he often quickly decides that he needs ALL of the toys, and he uses all his considerable toddler strength to achieve that goal. I think the big kids used to be quite generous with him, but they've begun to be disgruntled by the actions of their tiny tyrant of a brother, and so playtime at our house is often punctuated by shrill shrieks, frequent tattles, and sometimes open bleeding. Lord, help us. 

But on the other hand, I have never known a sweeter snuggler. Andrew has been this way since birth, and I know it is God's grace to me that I might savor this baby who will likely be our last. He may run with the big kids, but once I've got him in my arms, he nestles in close to my neck and offers his cheek up for the millions of kisses I can't resist giving. He grins his dimples big and touches his forehead to mine, makes a silly face and giggles, and it makes me so grateful to have this heavy, back-breaking toddler to carry around. 

Andrew is curious and headstrong; the other day he decided he wanted something that was too far back on the kitchen counter, so he simply leapt up and gripped the edge of the counter with his fingers, feet dangling, and began to scale the cabinet like a mountain climber scaling a vertical cliff. He probably would have succeeded if I hadn't been there to foil the plan - and it won't be the last time he makes such an attempt. He is especially covetous of most of the contents of our pantry; I have not had to child proof much in our house except the snack cabinet...

He's stuck. And not too pleased about it.

Sometime around the new year, he suddenly began talking. Granted, it's still mostly toddler mumbo-jumbo, but it was as if he woke up one week and finally decided that it was time to join the conversations in this loud house of ours. He has been able to say "Sawah" and "baw-baw" and "Mama" (arguably his three favorite things) for some months now, but he's added several other words to the list, and he often repeats words that hold special importance to him, such as "snack" ("snah") and "banana," which he pronounces by flipping his tongue up and down in his mouth to make that silly noise babies learn to make at an early age that doesn't mean anything but sounds like "bluh-bluh-bluh," which might as well be "banana," right? I was most amused that one of his earlier words was "gentle." Imagine how many times he's already heard that admonition in his young lifetime!

"Let's be clear that I claimed this tractor first."

"Better."

There is nothing quite like a third kid, is there? He is so different from his siblings, in ways I'd never have expected, but he fits into our family as if he were never not here. He is not the center of our attention all the time, but he knows (all to well) how to get attention when he needs it. He is smart and strong-willed, but he is also willing to settle for not getting his way in exchange for a little time being held tight. He uses his sense of humor to entertain us all with silly faces and sneaky moves, and he never passes up an opportunity to dance. We are so blessed by him already; I cannot imagine the wonders yet to come!