A trip to the Zoo

One thing that Andrew does that I think is funny. Out of the blue, he'll say to someone, "hey, watch this!" and then jump and spin in the air.
He's also getting good at somersaults.   
He also likes to tell you all about something he's figured out lately and then ask, "did you know that?"

Sunday we were off to Alabama for the convention.  About half an hour into the drive, I asked Andrew if he could remember the Bible Book song starting with Genesis. Not only did he get to Deuteronomy - he continued with, "Joshua, Judges, and the book about Ruth"  which blew me away because we had only practiced that line a couple of times the day before. (its 'the book of ruth' but he says about.)  Andrew did really well I think. He had a meltdown after lunch, no doubt overtired and hot.  Ted got it under control and then he slept for an hour or so on my lap, sweat dripping down my arm from his head. I unbuttoned his shirt so at least most of his body could breathe.  One of the first things he said when he woke up, "I need some candy."  I'm not sure how he knew daddy had candy in his bookbag, but I told Andrew he couldn't have candy unless he went to sleep. He obviously remembered I said that!  So I gave him a couple of dye-free jelly beans, and the rest of his organic chocolate bunny cookies and that got us to the end of the day. 
  We watched the new "Listen, Obey, and Be Blessed" video that is a little animated video for children. Andrew loves it! It's been a good teaching tool for us too, teaching him what obey means, and that he can make mommy and daddy and Jehovah happy by his choosing to listen and obey. At the end, it tells you to get your song book and sing along as other children are singing the titled song - and he LOVES that. He is learning it quickly.
   I'm still trying to teach him that magic is bad - and that video touches on it. I think Andrew saw an episode of Caillou where there was a magic show. Some days he'll walk around singing, "magic magic, what do you do?"  although I have not heard any songs related to magic, I think it started before going to preschool. I didn't say anything to him, hoping that it'd go away - but it has resurfaced again lately. So now I'm telling him not to sing about magic, that magic is bad. The video teaches that Satan loves magic.. so I've also been having to try and teach him who that is and why we don't want to please him. Not conversations I anticipated having with a two year old at all.

   Monday morning, he locked me out of the bathroom so he could use it. I knocked on the door to ask if he was okay. He hops off the toilet and says, "Oh, Sorry." and unlocks the door to see what I need. He says he's fine and I say, "Okay, carry on."  And he closes the door and goes back to business.  When he comes out, though, there is a 1/4 of a roll of toilet paper unraveled on the floor, and 1/2 of another roll unraveled.  He looks up at me, "Toilet paper is white. And it can go in the toilet and goes down the hole like this (makes flushing noise while demonstrating something swimming down a hole)... did you know that?"   He looked a little lost for words when I said, "Yes I did know that." 
  On the way to school he kept asking about our neighbor Tracy and if he was at ____ (enter every place we passed.)  I finally told him to forget Tracy, that I didn't know where he works and to think of someone else, or find something else to talk about.  So he starts telling me the other buildings we're passing.  Then he's quiet for a minute as we get closer to school.  We drive by a Starbucks building and he says, "Mom! There is a place to drink coffee like this (acts like he's holding a tea cup and making the motion and sound of sipping out of a cup), did you know that?!"  I said yes and then we turn the corner...  " (gasp!) There's aNOTHer Starbuck coffee!"   "Yes, there is another Starbuck's Coffee place, it's inside the Kroger Marketplace."    "It's inside the Kroger!" he says with wonderment.

   Wednesday was July 4th and daddy was off work and there was no school, so we planned a trip to the zoo. Andrew wasn't as interested as we thought he'd be. We let him climb all over the playground first, and then he got thirsty. (It was 90 degrees before 9am) They gave us two options for drinks with unlimited refills - frozen drinks that were no doubt full of sugar and food coloring, or sodas. You couldn't choose both, just one or the other. Ted opted for frozen. Of course, Andrew got a hold of it and was chugging away at it. He didn't want to go look for animals, he just wanted to drink that sugary drink!  We kept walking and went to the dinosaur exhibit. He wasn't scared of any of it, but a couple of them made him nervous. They were pretty realistic. Once we were done with that, we headed for the elephants. Along the way was a carousel that he desperately wanted to ride on. We didn't feel like paying a dollar for the ride and Andrew had quite a meltdown about it.  Then we went into a bird sanctuary and paid a dollar for a tiny amount of nectar to feed the birds. Another lady had two birds on her and she kindly passed them off onto Andrew and Ted so they could feed them. Andrew liked it, but he was nervous at the same time.  Andrew was still bent on riding the carousel and I finally had to tell him, we could either look for animals, or go home. We continued on to the animals. Eventually, though, it started all over again but with a train. It's just silly to me to have to pay extra for the rides (and the dinosaur exhibit) when we're there to see the animals. Andrew fought us, and fought hard. But we pressed on. It was 102 degrees, and I was not feeling well at all, and having Andrew drag his feet and whine about not riding the carousel and train made it all the more exhausting.  He liked the elephants, the leopard cubs, the flamingos and the meerkats the most.  However, if you ask him what his favorite part of the zoo was - he'd say the dinosaurs. 
  Thursday he was rather defiant and mean - no doubt from the sugar and food coloring the day before. Food coloring makes him evil. In the afternoon, Ted was washing his truck and Andrew kept being disobedient. I dont know what all happened but he kept spraying Ted and doing things Ted told him not to, and then went and got Ted's gnome and smashed it to the ground more than once just to spite Ted.  Before I know it I have a very upset daddy sending a very upset little boy inside who is then yelling and screaming and crying and kicking everything and then slamming his door over and over. I was able to diffuse him pretty quickly thank goodness and we talked about what was going on and what he was feeling.  I'm sure it was from the junk he had at the zoo.
  
   Friday he was off to school again. On the way in, all of a sudden he says, "hot bam!"  We have no idea where that came from! And the first time he said it, it did not sound like bam! The second time it did.  We didn't bring any attention to it - just looked puzzled at each other as our happy little boy skipped along the sidewalk. (This is the second time we've heard him say a profanity) Then we went inside to  have breakfast together even though he'd eaten at home already. We had an easy drop off as he enjoys going to school now. We went to get him around 4:20 in the afternoon. The minute we walk in the door we hear from behind the front desk, "was that your little boy who was reading to me today?!" and all of a sudden there were a bunch of people telling us how impressed they were with Andrew and his reading abilities. Then we get to his classroom and hear it all again. They told us, "I know you told us he could read, but we thought you meant just some usual sight words... we had no idea!"  They were so impressed with his level of reading that they actually took him from class to class today to show him off. She said they were having him read all the signs and stuff in every classroom so that the other teachers and students could see him read.  They are very excited to have him to work with. One of his teachers has been teaching for 20 years and she said she's only had three as smart as him. She told me that he's probably going to be bored when he gets to kindergarten.. but here, when they start their curriculum in August - she is going to be putting him to work having him read to other students with her, and bring in workbooks just for him. She is really excited about it.  I told her it's all been of his own initiative - he is always asking what things are. She said that he asks questions to them all day long too. They also said that in circle time they were counting and Andrew jumped up and yelled, "I can count to thirty!" all excited. He can actually count to forty without help.. but obviously was pretty pleased with himself counting with his classmates today. 
   On the way home from school, we stopped by Lowes and bought him a little baby pool. At first he didn't realize what we were doing. Ted picked up one of the baby pools out front and walked inside. I told Andrew that it was for him. He paused for a moment and then took off running. There was an elderly lady standing inside the entrance and Andrew leaped in front of her and yelled, "I'm getting a new pool!!" and then kept on running. She got a big grin on her face (having absolutely no idea what just happened) and looked at me all puzzled.  Then he caught up to another gentleman and yelled "that pool is for me!" and then kept on running to catch up to daddy at the cash register.  His old baby pool had cracked on the bottom, so we put the new one inside the old one for added stability and filled it up. Andrew could hardly get his swimsuit and swim shoes on fast enough to go play in it. He had a blast splashing, kicking, blowing bubbles, and jumping in the water. 
   Also on the way home from school he started singing,"happy bird-ay" which we are assuming is birthday. I know two girls in his class recently had birthdays - so I'm guessing they sang the song in class or something.

   He is going to bed pretty easily for us.. brushing his teeth, getting his "pajammies" on and crawling into bed on his own. But he's not staying asleep all night. He wakes up a few times almost every night. It's been going on for several weeks now.. I really hope he grows out of that. Sometimes when he wakes up crying and one of us goes in to tuck him back in - his pillow is wet with sweat. So I'm guessing his wild imagination is producing bad dreams?

   Andrew thinks about other people, a lot. Every day he asks about someone and where are they and what are they doing. He is definitely a people person.