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If you are not a fan of the Big Bang Theory (thats a television show, no we aren't believers in the theory), then you may not be familiar with the term "homunculus". It was defined as a "perfectly formed minature human being". David referred to Andrew as, "our little homuculus" the other day, and I cannot help but smile everytime I think of that moment. AJ was putting on his 6-12 month sized PJs from last winter and THEY FIT! To be fair, they are GAP and their clothes tend to run big and we don't have any other feet PJs that we can 'squeeze' him into from last year. So, AJ's a little on the small side, but he is growing. Back in April, the doctor was concerned his growth had stalled and the suggestion was to have him start drinking a Pediasure everyday. Well, we did a little of that, but also made our own homemade smoothies with added whey protein. Didn't really help. AJ was had (in all honesty) gone from being the 'fussiest baby ever' (David's words) to the 'fussiest toddler ever'. I was still struggling with the idea that something must be bothering my baby. I believed it was a food issue because well, poop tells a story. Despite the fact that AJwas primarily living off of cheese, milk, bananas, apples, pears, carrots, peanut butter, crackers, cereal and pancakes, I made an executive decision back in August---NO MORE DAIRY. I didn't know if it would help, but I thought, what the heck nothing else is telling us anything. We were going to see a new doctor, and before I go in there with some 'theory' I thought I better try something....within 3 days of no dairy...better poop. So, lactose intolerance? Maybe. Since, we have seen a GI specialist who said sounds like it but testing isn't feasible at his age (4 or 5 maybe). He gained over a pound the first month off of dairy and began eating chicken and veggies and in general trying new things (I think he is up to about 23.5 pounds now). Then he got a virus and well poop tells a story. We decided to try some cheese that was supposed to be lactose free (hoping it might actually help with the effects of the virus - 5 days later!). No better for 7 more days, so last week we went dairy free again not just lactose free and the last two days we are 'normal' again. I don't know if we will ever know the whole answer and I do hope he grows out of this, but fact is lactose intolerance in toddlers is VERY unusual. Mother's milk also contains lactose- so by nursing I wasn't helping his situation! (sort of sad) It does NOT seem like an allergy by his symptoms but if his body doesn't tolerate dairy protein in addition to the sugar, lactose, he may have bad poop. I think the hardest part of this is that we will never know for sure and that he is having to give up dairy and he loved dairy. He loved cheese and yogurt and milk. We are obviously substituting with soy products but I don't want him to get too much soy either and soy cheese is not cheese- the milk and the yogurt okay, but the cheese -ugh! So enough about his 'health' lets talk about the fun stuff.
AJ loves to throw balls and just about anything else, but hopefully he will learn what is appropriate indoors soon before something gets broken. He also loves JUMPING off of anything and everything. He really is all boy; pointing out every truck and tractor and airplane and helicopter and hot air balloon that we might see on our trips to and from Vandy. He knows his ABC's all the way through now, but also graces us with singing Row, Row, Row your boat, and Itsy Bitsy Spider! He is vocally more advanced than Samantha was at this age, which is truly a blessing since he is so much more stubborn!
AJ is really a very cuddlely 21 month old. He loves to climb into your lap and read books or watch football. He requests 'watch football' all the time...much to his father's delight. When Samantha was his age we had her cheering "GO TITANS", but this year, well not much to cheer about there, so AJ is learning "GO SAINTS"! David is thrilled with their season so far. 
Bath time by far is one of his favorite times of the day and he still likes to rock before he goes to bed (by far one of mine and David's favorite times of day). Like most toddlers there is an 'art' to putting him to sleep. Its taken me longer than David to get used to it. We must read at least two books (his favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Good Night Moon) and then we rock him and say prayers. The key is to pause the rock and see if he sits up and leans to the crib. If he doesn't, he isn't ready to go to bed, but most of the time he pops up and reaches. Interestingly, he rocks on David's shoulder, but wants me to hold him craddle position to rock. So sweet!
He has been saying momma and Daddy for a long time but he has recently been using Samantha's name much more and calling his 'classmates' by name and I just love to hear him really personalize his conversations. He calls Samantha, "Mantha Sissy" and she calls him "AJ Buddy". Its so, well, adorable (but I am their momma). He also has started to say "I love U" without even being prompted! He was talking with Grandma on the phone today and he said "Why Daddy not home?" Grandma said, "he is at work" AJ, "Oh, momma go bye-bye?" Grandma, "no, momma will stay with AJ". AJ, "Oh, OK." pause "I love U." Needless to say, Grandma was sort of surprised to have that conversation and thrilled to hear an unprompted "I love U".
