Andrew grew up some more. I'm sure it's connected to the fact that he moved up to the new class, but it's amazing how different he is, all of a sudden.
The main change is with his imagination. He can finally play by himself! If he's playing superheros, he has his guys talk to each other about saving someone or explaining what their power is. He talks about good guys and bad guys and throwing bad guys in jail. If he's playing cars he has some that can disappear, some that are super-fast, some that have shooters, and everything is awesome. When he plays legos he builds boats that can fly and rocket ships.
Today we threw a bunch of beans in a tub to play with. Andrew stepped in and in a very serious voice said "I'm superhero bean man. I never die!". It's the perfect example of how he plays.
Another thing that seems to have all of a sudden taken a big jump, is how well he counts and recognizes numbers and letters. We played a game the other day that we've played many times before, but this time he immediately recognized the number on the dice and then actually moved his guy the right amount of squares! It was crazy. He can count to 13 (although in his mind he can count to 14 because he always says "next-teen" as 14 and then just says a bunch of random numbers that he knows after that). It's funny every time.
He's also working on some new words. He says things are a "couple" hot, meaning their a little hot or he'll find something and say he's been looking for it for "weeks" when maybe he asked for the day before.
A few of his favorite things... His favorite thing to play/watch/talk about right now is superheros. He asked for a superhero birthday party months ago and it looks like that might be what we do because he is still really into them. He loves to be outside, mostly to swing or ride his scooter. He learned how to swing by himself the other day and was very excited about it (but quickly let me know that he still likes me to push him). And he loves suckers and gum. If I ever need to guarantee that something gets done, all I have to do is offer him either of those things and he's on it! His favorite show is Phineas and Ferb. Luckily it's a funny show so we're okay watching every night. And best of all, he loves Mason.
Another thing that has been fun to watch lately is how literal he takes things. Any time I use slang he always stops me and asks me what I mean (glad to know he's paying attention!). The other day he was separating his Cars cars from his regular cars and he left one in the box. I told him that was a Cars one and I showed him the eyes. I told him he could tell it was a Cars car because it has eyes. He looked at me and said "they have eyes
and wheels. I have eyes but I'm not a Cars car". True - got me there...
He's cute and funny and totally knows how to make us laugh. He's the coolest almost 4 year old I know!
Our first stop was to pick up aunt Melissa who was lucky enough to sit in the back seat with the boys. She bought them treats as a peace offering. :)
The party was a surprise. It was fun - haven't been to a surprise party in about 20 years!
Melanie made these delicious cake pops. The coolest part was the personalized M&M's!! They also had some with her picture on them - they were very cool!
She's a teacher, so part of her gift was to do some layouts for her classroom bulletin board (apparently a task she doesn't really enjoy). Luckily she has some crafty people in her life, and when you get us all together, really good stuff happens. :) She ended up leaving with a good handful of fun layouts. My team did a bowling theme - "good writing is right down our alley". Yep, I probably should've been a teacher. :) 
Then we headed home. We need to make sure the boys get a good night sleep so they're ready for our first trip to a pumpkin patch tomorrow!! Fall City Farms - here we come!! 
