What's in a name?

Andrew has started naming his toys.  At the children's museum the other day, his carousel bunny was dubbed "Pete."

And meet Andrew's bath toys.  From left to right: Andrew the Penguin, Bob the Polar Bear, and Bob the Hippo.

Lastly, his newborn cousin may be honored to learn that Andrew plans to name his firstborn after her, even though he was referring to a future baby boy.  "I'll name him Baby Kalin," Andrew declared. "She is really sweet."

When I am a grown-up...

Lately Andrew greets most construction vehicles, trucks, buses, landscaping equipment, etc with the declaration, "When I am a grown-up, I can drive that."  Therefore it is no surprise that his favorite exhibit at the children's museum is the so-called "city bus."

Lately his "When I am a..." statements have been expanded to the less achievable.  Such as "When I am baby again, I can eat my toys" or "When I am a cat..." (I can't remember what he was planning for when he becomes a cat.)

Hide and Seek

This is Andrew's chosen hiding spot, as seen from the park bench two feet away where I was counting.

Blast off!

I put some of our moving boxes to good use and made a rocket ship with Andrew this morning.  It got dicey there for a moment when he realized that the rocket wouldn't actually blast off.  Luckily he overcame this disappointment and we had a lot of fun.

 The Mickey Mouse motif is no accident.  Andrew is a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Mickey has his own rocket ship that actually blasts off.  This contributed to the moment of devastation when Andrew's ship stayed on the driveway.

Maine!

Andrew and I ventured north to my family's cabin in southwestern Maine for a family celebration this weekend. 

While wading in the pond Andrew confused his outdoorsy activities, announcing "I'm hiking!"

He took his new favorite dog Darcy on a walk.  During the 20 minute hike Andrew almost never stopped running and shouting at Darcy ("Follow me, Darcy!  Wait for me, Darcy!").  I think he was pleased to have someone to boss around.  While stopping for this photo op, he kept it up: "Look at my mommy, Darcy!"  "Smile, Darcy!"

Sitting around the campfire with Pampa.