Pirate Andrew at 3 yrs and 10 months

He is ALL B-O-Y!!! Although he is still quite keen on his lions and tigers and all the rest of his animal family, his latest obsession is anything pirates. When I saw the foam sword at the Dollar Store in Canada, I considered for a moment whether it was an ideal toy for Andrew, but the second he saw it in the store, he was pleading for it, and I caved, thinking that if he must have a sword, a foam one would be the best way to go...along with a very strict rule about not "swording" anybody, his brother included. He just loves it, along with the hook, which I also picked up for a buck and the icing on the cake was the whole pirate costume that Grandma found and bought for him on my last trip. So far, the sword has only been taken away once, after "swording" me with it, and I think he learned the lesson as he was just dying to get it back. He is so incredibly excited about Halloween this year, and I SO wish that Halloween was celebrated in France like it is in North America, as for me, it was just THE best day of the year as a kid. Though the candy part was probably the best part for me, as in our house, I don't think we had an ounce of sugar in the house for the duration of the year!!! Deprived children we were, a big treat for dessert would be a bowl of fruit salad or a slice of watermelon!!! He has also begun counting the days til Christmas. And again, being the boy he is, the only thing on his wish list is a "squirter", aka a gun, I am so opposed to toy guns that I don't even want him to learn the word for it!!! I have told him countless times that squirters are naughty toys. I just don't want to encourage violence in any way, but perhaps it is pointless as he just uses other toys, like his power drills, and plays about his toys "squirting" them with his power drill!!!
The start of school this year was relatively good, much better than I had anticipated after all the fun we had at home/Canada this summer, but to this day, he throws a bit of a fit each morning about having to go to school, but generally by the time we arrive in the parking lot, he's accepted his fate and goes happily into the class room. He's generally very easy to reason with and when I tell him that if he cooperates we'll go to the playground after school, he is pretty content with the deal. I still hear absolutely nothing about his days at school, when asked what he did, "nothing", when asked what he ate, "nothing" and when asked who he played with "nobody". Jealous of those moms who get a complete recap of every detail of their kids' days! His best friend is a little girl named Maya (she goes to a different school) and often asks if he can play with her. When they are together, they both act super silly and hyper together, but it's all quite cute to observe. He gives her hugs and bisous (kisses), quite willingly even despite her resistance to them! His vocabulary has improved immensely over the summer, and I laugh often at the things that come out of his mouth, like when he asks for an "enormous" piece of cake for dessert, or when he takes the story book from my hands at night and finishes it himself with his own version of the story. He'll approach Ryan when he's being fussy and say something like, "what's wrong my little peanut...are you getting tired...do you need mommy...it's ok, mommy's coming". He continues to struggle with his 's' and 'sh' sounds and generally uses 'th' instead of 's'. I will enquire with the teacher at the end of this term whether some speech therapy would be helpful. Although he is still tall and thin, his appetite is enormous. For breakfast, he eats a big bowl of cereal (plain Cheerios or Rice Krispies) with a load of blueberries or sliced banana, and a muffin or two every day (carrot, blueberry or chocolate chip) and is usually starving within an hour! His dinner portions can often be bigger than my own, and this is even after a rather large snack (gouter) at 4:30.
He ADORES Ryan. This was definitely proven on the last trip home in which I took only Ryan with me. Everytime I spoke to him, his sole concern was how Ryan was doing, what toys Ryan was playing with, and how he missed Ryan and likes it better when Ryan is in France with him. He kept telling me that when he sees Ryan, he was going to hug him, kiss him and pet him, and he did indeed, to the point that Ryan just wanted him to go away! When he wakes up each morning, the first thing he wants to do is go wake up Ryan. That said, he does get annoyed when Ryan gets his hands in the toys that Andrew is playing with, and will ask me if I can "put Ryan away"! Doing something like a puzzle with Andrew is now not possible unless Ryan is taking a nap...Ryan will take all the pieces and crawl off with them, which frustrates Andrew to no end. But often they play together well, and Andrew loves to do things that make Ryan laugh, especially covering himself in a blanket and pulling it off, yelling "Peek-A-Boo", to which Ryan responds in absolute hysterics.
Not to my surprise, Andrew is generally a very well-adjusted boy, and usually adapts well to new situations. So when I went away for two weeks without him, which was my first time being away from him for more than 12 hours, he was totally fine. He and Robert got into a very good routine, school playground every day after school, and Robert spoiled him with all his favourite foods (mac and cheese, tomato and fresh mozarella salad, McDonald's, etc.), took him to his favourite place about 20 times (Petite Ferme) and let him sleep with him in our bed every night. The day before we arrived back in France, Robert told him that since Mommy was coming home, he was going to have to sleep back in his own bed, to which he replied, "Mommy can sleep on the couch"!!! Since Robert has been away, Andrew has been starting off his sleep in his own bed and sometime throughout the night, he finds his way into our bed, and I don't even hear him come in. But last night, while already in our bed, he woke me up telling me he needed the flashlight immediately as he had lost his doudou. So, I handed him the flash light and he was all over the covers looking for it, and since it was nowhere to be seen, I went to his room, grabbed his stuffed polar bear and stuffed killer whale as substitutes, in order to get him back to sleep. I've been giving some thought to moving Ryan into Andrew's room but my biggest concern is that Ryan sleeps best in total darkness and Andrew sleeps best with a very bright night light on, and I would hate for the brightness to wake up Ryan and hence wake up Andrew. Also, Andrew can be a little noisy during the night, which again, I wouldn't want one to wake up the other. But it would be nice to have that third bedroom available for our use, as it has always been Robert's office away from the office and he used it often as such before Ryan came along.
Andrew started tennis lessons in September, and it began with a troubling start as the instructor was so typical French...serious, and treated the children like they were training for the French Open at 3 years old. The first time Robert took Andrew himself, he tolerated no part of this type of instruction, totally yelled at the instructor in front of all the other parents (in English of course even though the instructor spoke only French)and pulled Andrew from the lesson... but in the end, he got him switched from Wednesdays to Saturdays with a new female instructor and it has gone much better ever since. However, I still question whether Andrew is really ready, despite his relatively good coordination, his span of attention is still pretty limited and hence, is often in la-la land while standing on the court! But he does seem to like it, and until that changes, we'll keep him enrolled. I think he especially likes the ice cream treat he gets after the class (comes by that honestly, that's for sure!).
His latest movie fave is The Cat in the Hat. Since he loves the book, I downloaded the movie as soon as I saw it. It's the first non-animated show he has shown an interest in, and insists on watching it before bedtime every single night. He laughs hysterically at his favourite parts, every single time.
Unlike some other kids close to his age, he continues to have ZERO interest in sitting down with crayons, markers, pencils, etc. As much as I've tried to introduce him to writing letters at home, colouring in a colouring book, etc. he just doesn't have the time of day to do it for one second. When given crayons, he still draws the same "bonhomme"/stick man that he has been drawing for a year. But other than that, he just scribbles frantically all over the page, usually until a piece of it rips off. I don't care all that much, I know when he's ready, he'll show an interest and until then, I am happy to let him play however he chooses, that's what being 3 is about. But I envy those moms with girls that can give their children a crayon and paper and they are occupied for hours! No such quiet play exists in this house!
His French continues to improve and I've been speaking more of it at home lately, with the intent of giving us both more practice. I find it funny when occasionally he asks me how to say a french word in english. I've also been putting on some french cartoons in the morning, with which he is completely happy.
He has gained a great deal of independence since the start of school this year and is quite adamant about doing things on his own now, with no help from Robert or me. He is perfectly capable of dressing himself (with exception to help with socks and some buttons) though often prefers to be lazy and asks me to put his clothes on for him, he can strap himself into the car seat now and insists on doing that himself and now he goes pee or poo by himself, wipes himself (and does a pretty good job) insists on privacy and hates when Ryan follows him to the toilet, and the only evidence that remains from a poo is a little bit of it smeared on the toilet seat. But I've come to the acceptance with 3 boys in the house that I will never have a perfectly clean toilet again, as even when he pees, he either dribbles or forgets to lift the seat up and I am forever taking the 409 wipes to clean it off!
So that's my big boy in a nutshell. His imagination is super creative, he is still most happy at home than anywhere else, continues to be my little helper (especially loves baking and mopping), and I cannot believe he's gonna be 4 years old in just two more months...time flies.