Drew's got the neat-freak gene! yay!

You can sort of see Drew's molar popping through in this picture. He has them on both sides and they've come through a lot more since I took this picture a few days ago. Here's Drew carrying his toys. You won't catch this guy crawling around much any more - he walks EVERYWHERE!


Drew is pushing his truck around the yard while Grandmom and Granddad are visiting. He also got to go to Monkey Joe's again to show them how fun it is!

Drew stole my napkins while I was eating dinner... and he started cleaning!! This messy eater has seen me cleaning enough to have learned how to do it himself. We've already decided that he's going to start helping us clean up his messes after mealtime now. :)

Hopefully we'll get a good video of Drew's new "trick" that he showed us tonight. It is the truth when they say that your baby knows and understands a lot more than they can say. Chad started asking Drew, "where are your shoes?" And Drew would walk over, look around, and pick up his shoes and bring them to Chad. He then asked for a book, ball, train, car, block, bat, hat, bottle... and Drew knew what everything was!! He would bring it to him every time! We were amazed. He never got the wrong thing. He got distracted a couple times and decided to play instead - especially by the time I got the camera out. But still...pretty cool! We were proud!

Our trip to Monkey Joe's!

On Sunday we took Drew to Monkey Joe's - a facility full of blow up bouncers!! They run a special on Sundays - just $3 for all of us! We weren't sure how he'd do...but he LOVED it! He didn't even want to hold our hand to walk from one bouncer to the other - he wanted to be independent and go, go, go! Here he is playing peek-a-boo with Chad (or is this hide n' seek??). Whatever it is, it's his favorite game! Listen to him squeal every time Chad "finds" him.

Here's Drew crawling through a tunnel!

Attempting to walk in the bouncer - but that's hard to do!

His favorite thing was the slide! Here he is sliding with Chad - look at his face! He loves it!

Then we got daring and let him do a slide on his own! He's definitely not fearful or hesitant!

Drew likes to get in his rocking chair all by himself! If we turn on his Baby Einstein video, he climbs in his chair to watch it!

Speaking of sitting in chairs...Drew is now in the "toddler room" in childwatch at the Y. He has graduated from the baby room! And the toddler room doesn't have highchairs. He sits in a little chair at a table to eat his snack!! I walked by and peeked in the other day and couldn't believe what I saw - what a big boy!

Drew has also started pointing with one finger. (Yes, we know most babies do this at like 7 or 8 months...but our little guy did the Hitler point and used his whole hand...) And another piece of EXCITING news for us - Drew has started trying new foods! We have really struggled with him and table foods, but I am so happy to say that he has been doing better. Today he ate grapes (couldn't eat them fast enough - loved them!), dried stawberries and bananas (Gerber Graduates), and even some Wacky Mac (veggie pasta) for the first time!!

Fun at Gymboree

If you say "Hello?" Drew will put his phone up to his ear, and occasionally he'll even try to say "hello." I've even seen him put other toys up to his ear too... oops! haha He's practicing so that he'll be able to call all his grandparents on the phone soon!! By the way - he's wearing his new sandals (that he got with his birthday money from Great-Grandma Greenlee) in this video...and he acts like he can't walk in them! I guess they'll take some getting used to.

Drew helps me check the mail by opening the mailbox - and this time there was a big package in there for him! He was so excited - he was giggling and hugging the package and laying on it! What a nut!

Once we opened the package, he was rolling around in the clothes! But I didn't catch that on video - but at least he says he likes what he got! (Thanks, Mom and Dad for the package!!)

Charlie enjoyed the package more once it was empty!

Drew also just got a bunch of winter clothes for next year from his Grandmom and Granddad when they visited today - thank you very much for those!! He's one lucky little boy to have so many peope love him so much!

Drew went to his friend Natalia's birthday party today at Gymboree. He HAD A BLAST! He climbed, jumped, rolled, slid, danced, clapped and laughed. Here are some pictures Chad took of all the action.

Here he is shaking his maracas to the music.
And climbing through the tunnel.


And squealing with overwhelmed delight! I'm sure his arms were flapping too!


The babies are rolling back and forth on the barrel - and the moms kiss them when they roll to us. Kinda silly, but Drew thought it was funny. Drew's buddy Jacye and his mom Anne are beside us.

And a little patty cake.

Slam dunk!

Popping a bubble on his finger.

Weeee!

Drew playing outside

Drew LOVES being outside, so here's some pictures of him out and about!

He's a basketball player!

Drew had his first basketball "practice" today! He LOVES the basketball gym now that he is confident with his walking. I've taken him in there a couple times when we get to the Y early. He picks up the ball and bounces it and says, "ball."

And here's a video of Drew in action!

Yay - more snow!!

We had another snow day yesterday - about 4 inches this time! And I was so worried that Drew wouldn't experience snow living in NC!! By the time we got out to play in it, it was mostly melted. But we still had a great time! chad pushed Drew in our "sled."

And we built a Drew-sized snowman. They kinda look alike! This one wasn't quite as impressive as all the others we saw in our neighborhood later on when we ran errands.

Our party animal is walking...a lot!

Drew's friend Sofia had her first birthday party today! It was fun - especially now that all the dads have met everyone. Of course, the little mini ball pit was a hit for everyone.

I can't believe I got all five of the kids in this shot (Ava was the only one that didn't make it). They all move around so fast now, a group shot is near impossible!

And even after the other kids moved on to other toys... Drew was still in the ball pit!

And then here's the birthday girl enjoying her cake!!

Drew has definitely figured out how to walk!! No more baby steps - once he's on his feet, he can go pretty much anywhere he wants! We went to Lenoir for Chad's mom's birthday on Saturday, and he walked all over for them. I got a quick video, but it was after the party and he was ready to start his bathtime/bedtime routine and is a little cranky.

Oh, and he is doing really well with soy milk (which makes me SOO relieved!). I hope to have him completely weaned within a week (although that's pretty ambitious!). We'll see! :)