Valentines Day!

Andre's first Valentines was very eventful. Mommy woke him up with a valentine bear and he said, "mamamama" (Andre-not the bear) She couldn't believe it so she kept getting him to repeat it...after three separate renditions she was convinced and wrote it in his baby book. :) What a great valentine for mamama! (Two weeks later he would say "dada") Yeah!

Andre got his very first valentine a few days earlier and gave it the 'ol taste test. It was from Gigi, his great-grandmother. "Mmmmm", Andre thought, "Valentines are delicious!"

Also that week, Andre was invited to a Valentine party at his buddy Preston's house. Here Preston aka "hunka burnin' love" according to his t-shirt, shows Andre the joys of being able to stand alone while holding onto something. Andre looks away- suppressing jelousy. It was a great party until...

Andre realized Canaan wasn't there!

It's ok Andre!! Preston doesn't know Canaan and surely you don't want competition with the "hunk".

Anyway-picking back up at Valentines Day. Mommy and Andre woke Daddy up to give him his present. Andre was poised and ready to taste test the card...

"It's mmphh ok dad!" munch munch.

It was a beautiful picture of mommy and Andre for daddy to put on his station at work. Andre couldn't resist giving his two dimensional mother a kiss. awww. :)

In keeping with Clark family tradition, mommy made pink waffles for dad. She wisely decided against turning Andre's formula pink, red dye #40 may not be a great thing to introduce to a 8 month old's diet.

Later that night Mimi (Andre's grandmother) and Auntie Amy babysat him so mommy and daddy could have a date. He had a great time, however, this picture is not from that night...it was just too stinkin' cute not to include! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

My Band

Maybe you haven't heard yet, but Andre has a developed a real ear for music. Mimi got him a Munchin Music Box pictured here and he loves the different instruments he can play. Recently, however, he has developed an affinity for the drum. Andre loves to bang on the drum so much he decided to take the show on the road!

He decided to start by asking Reese, Andre's newest cousin to join his band. After all-musical abilities run on mommy's side of the family. Here is Andre asking Reese to join his band. He interpreted her silence to mean that she didn't feel as if she had adequate control of her limbs yet to really be an asset to the band. No problem-there's always a spot for you Reese!

Naturally, the next person Andre thought to ask was his girlfriend Canaan. She's always been supportive of all of his endeavors. She stuck by him when he could only roll from tummy to back and not back to tummy. She held his hand when he told her about mommy introducing Squeggs in his diet (squash + eggs) What is she thinking? Here is Andre getting up the nerve to ask...

"Canaan, would you like to be in my band", Andre asked in so many words.

She tried acting coy, but she knew she would say yes, "Of course Andre, "she said not taking her eyes off the Baby Einstein video they were watching.

And so it began...



First things first- Andre and Canaan contemplated a name for their band.

"Rockin' Babies", "Dirrrrty Diapers" (rolling the r's), "The Teethers & The Droolers" and "Squeggs Stink" were just a few names that were thrown out.

Finally they settled on "Cutie and The Blowfish".

Now it was show time! Canaan got pumped up to play keyboard and Andre was ready to bring the house down with his percussionistic flair.

They of course had to wait until Andre's mommy left the room-she's not cool enough to hang out with the band just yet...

The first practice was a success! After about 15 minutes, though, both Canaan's and Andre's attention span was shot-it was nap time. So Canaan went home to dream about being a superstar. Andre, however, was on a drummer's high-mommy made him go outside to play the drum because the noise was deafening.

Unfortunately, as with many rockers Andre developed some bad habits. Here he is holding a piece of dead grass in his hands and wondering if mommy was serious when she warned him about eating strange vegetation...

This picture is self-expanatory.

Hey kids-pass on grass!

Andre learned from his mistakes and decided he was a little young to sow his wild oats just yet...

He kicked back with his orange butterfly and reflected on the day. Surely he would get some inspiration outside for Cutie and the Blowfish's next big hit-"Butterfly Hugs and Kisses" maybe...