Just Andrew

All the attention and focus lately have been on Tyson (new baby) and Jacob (starting Kindergarten) but what about Andrew, the middle child? Let's not forget about him.

With the arrival of Tyson, Andrew has been surprisingly good. Initially I had the fear of him regressing. Before the baby, he would babble when we tried to communicate with him. It was irritating since he could talk perfectly fine, quite advanced for his age. Baby talk was coming from a kid that corrected me on the pronunciation of Quetzalcoatlus. But now, the fear of regression is gone and all is (relatively) good.

Quez-al-co-at-lus. Duh!

He loves his baby brother very much, almost to a fault. He always wants to see him, lie next to him, hug him, play with him, essentially do everything with him. But with Andrew, he can be unintentionally rough. I don't know why but he is fascinated with touching Tyson's head, the most vulnerable and worst spot he can touch. Even though he means no harm, I limit his interaction with the baby. I'm just glad that he's not jealous or mean towards him.

So Andrew started his school year the same week as Jacob, returning to the church's ECC program. His first day was a breeze, no whining or crying. No sadness since it was his first time going without his older brother. Nothing. I think after Andrew witnessed Jacob going to a new, bigger school, it prepared him for this school year. It forced him to grow up along with his brother.

One last story that truly defines Andrew. Last week the kids were playing. To be more specific, running and screaming all over the house. When running, they imitate race cars, e.g. block, bump, cut each other off, with the ultimate goal of being first place. (Sidebar: Everything they do is a competition. It's always, "Who's first?" and "I win!") So I had brought home a DVD home theater system that my parents no longer wanted and left it in the hallway. Being how aggressive they are and Andrew being a known klutz, he ran into the edge of the sub woofer speaker. I heard a cry and yell like no other. He had a laceration on the bridge of his nose and blood gushed out like a faucet. He definitely needed stitches. But I didn't want to take him to an emergency center to scare him any further so I did the best I could at home. In the end, it wasn't a broken nose. Whew. But there may be a huge scar on his nose. We'll see.