Andrew is going through a phase right now where he acts like a "know it all teenager." I still don't know what I think about it and I definitely don't know how to parent it. Suddenly all the rules we have in our home don't apply to him anymore (according to him). It's like he has reached an age where he believes he is old enough to decide the rules for himself and he knows everything and I know nothing. Of course this attitude has caused us lots of disagreements, but there have also been some funny moments. He loves to try and trick us these days. When we ask him a question he always tries to answer with the opposite answer or reaction. For example if I tell him to eat his food he won't touch it, but if I tell him not to eat it then he will quickly take a bite. If I ask him if he loves me, he will look at me from the corners of his eyes and with a big wide grin reply, "Nooo." The other night it was really late and we were leaving our friends house when Gilbert asked Andrew, "Do you know I love you?" to which Andrew replied "Yes" and after he thought about it for a second he said "I mean No." We both started laughing so hard. He is growing up way too fast.

We have always had a rule in our home that Andrew can't touch the DVDs, because he will scratch them. A couple weeks ago he decided for himself and came and told me out of the blue, "I touch DVDs." He now thinks he is old enough to cross the parking lot by himself, and there is nothing in our home too high for him to reach. Andrew loves to play cards with Gilbert and I, but he doesn't always put all the cards back in the box so we started to lose some of the cards. I have one deck of cards that I told Andrew was just for Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday he got a stool from the kitchen and took it into the living room, opened the front closet and climbed up to the top shelf in the coat closet and got the one deck of cards that are Mommy's and Daddy's. He decided he was old enough to play with them now.

With this new phase of his I definitely can't leave him alone for a second anymore. He is so independent in everything he does.

Andrew now sleeps with me while Gilbert works nights so that I won't be alone. My favorite moment of everyday is when Andrew and I go to sleep he always says, "Hold my hand Mommy," and we fall asleep holding hands. I love that boy so much and I hope I can learn how to parent his independence in a way that will be positive. :)

I just went to check on Andrew because he was being way too quiet while I was making this post, and of course I found him in the living room assembling Gilbert's fly rod. I don't know how he picks up on things so fast, but he had every piece out of the case and the two bottom ones already connected. He is way too smart and wants to be a grown up already.