andrew joseph nutter butter peanut butter jelly sandwich, or so he calls himself

The first few months with a new baby fly by and there are so many exciting changes, but my other little boy has been up to some of his own new things that I thought I'd share.

After two years of a Veggie Tales obsession, there seems to be a new love in his life.  Superheroes.  He'll do just about anything for one and can thank his new brother for getting so many (as "big brother" gifts) at once.  I often see him escape into a different world when he plays with them.  A friend says he vividly remembers how playing with superheroes empowered him to feel he could become something great.  So play away kid because mommy knows how great you can be.  Here is a picture of my cutie in his Spiderman costume.  He told us one night that he wants to go to sticky hand school so he can have sticky hands like Spiderman.  We have yet to find one of those schools, but in telling that story to friends, we now know several other people who would like to attend with him.  Maybe we should start our own.

While there is a new baby in the house, there is also a new big brother around here as well!  A fabulous one at that.  We were worried about the transition for Drew, but so far so good.  He loves to help with things like baths, burpings (he finds it hilarious), and bringing mommy supplies like diapers and binks.  In fact, he refers to his baby brother as "My Benjamin."  My favorite of all though is watching big brother care for his "My Benjamin" when he's upset.  See for yourself:


(As an added bonus, Benjamin will be all set for rollercoasters after these kinds of rides.)

It's hard to believe, but soon my Drew will be four years old.  He is becoming so much more independent and is even nearing the end of his first year of preschool.  We put him in a 3yr old class at the local Christian school (actually on our street) two days a week for about 2.5 hrs mainly to give him time to work on socialization skills.  We saw a big change in his personality when we first moved here.  Maybe it was inevitable, but he went from pretty crazy and outgoing to very shy with just about anyone new.  Being in a mostly older church, there aren't many kids his age for him to play with so we felt this would be a good thing.  He seems to love school, the kids, and his two teachers, but we are also quite impressed with how much he is learning there too.  He was amazed one day when he told me about the book, The Giving Tree, that they had read and that I pulled out our very own copy at home.  I told him that mommy used to be a teacher too, and now most everyday he asks about the things I did when I was a teacher.  :)  This week I got to help for a day and we ended with an Easter Egg Hunt.  What a fun peek at his life there!

A few other cute Andrew quotes from lately....

After receiving a huge Easter package in the mail from my parents, he called to tell them, "It's everything I've ever wanted!!" (with arms stretched out and a big smile)

While waiting for our eggs to finish getting colored in the dye, he replied, "This having patience thing is hard." (you're so right, kid!)

I often talk to Ben while Drew is near and tell him how he has the best big brother.  Yesterday he asked me, "Does Benjamin know that he has the best big brother yet?"