Socialite

I forgot to mention Andrew called the Lincoln Logs, "Lincoln Blocks"

It seems lately I have to remind him to 'speak clearly' and 'say it correctly' to get him to enunciate. Sometimes he thinks he's being funny by deliberately mispronouncing words.

Sunday Andrew was roaming around the Kingdom Hall as usual. At one point he started dancing in the back, and then across the hall locked eyes on the brother with the eye patch. He got a huge smile and yelled, "Are YOU a PIRATE?!"   The brother said "yes I am!"  Andrew got SO excited and came running over. They were engaged in conversation for the next ten minutes. His name is Roy Pope and although he didn't want to be a pirate, he wasn't given a choice. And he has a cockatiel named Bill who sits on his shoulder and talks. He also has a sugar bat and some other animals. He told Andrew he needs to come over and see them sometime. Roy pulled out an ipad and was showing Andrew pictures (and yes, he does dress up as a pirate sometimes too!)

Monday evening we had a small dinner party. He had a wonderful time showing our friends his games and puzzles. After dinner, all the adults started to play Imaginiff... and Boxers or Briefs. Landon had come over and asked his mom if he could play, but was told to entertain Andrew. A little later Andrew came over and said, "I want to play too" and promptly burst into tears without any of us saying a word. He covered his face as I pulled him closer, still sobbing.  I scooped him up and asked him if anyone told him he couldn't play. He said no. I told him to stop crying, and that he could play by helping mommy. We would be the blue team for Imaginiff.  He got to roll the die, select the person on the board, and read the question. He only stayed for one complete round.  Then the Strubles had to leave, so we changed games and he got his own seat between Lisa Whitley and Bruce Wright. 
We were all suprised at how well he understood and could play Boxers or Briefs. He even won a briefs token early in the game!  When it was his turn to read the cards, he correctly read each line on the cards - comprehended them - and accurately chose a funny and a true card.  Ted and I were blown away. He fit right in!  After his turn, he lost interest and went to play with his toys, coming back periodically to check the progress of the game.
When that was over (mommy won!) he could tell all of his friends were getting ready to go. He came over to me and very sadly asked if they were leaving. I confirmed. He tried to hold back tears and said, "I don't want them to go home!"  He got very upset when the all left, went to his room and sat in his chair and screamed.  I went in there, and said, "You sound very angry and upset. Can you tell me why?"  He had tears streaming down his cheeks, but stopped screaming to tell me he was upset. He didn't want his friends to leave. I told him I understood, and that we can invite them all over another time too - but everyone has to go home and go to bed because they have work and school the next day. He gave me a hug and very cooperatively brushed teeth and got into jammies and went to bed. whew

Tuesday on the way to school, Andrew started saying, "In one mile, turn left onto Peytonsville-Trinity Road." Then he kept repeating, "Turn Left onto Peytonsville-Trinity Road".  He giggled and said, "I'm being just like the computer" He was pretending to be a GPS for me!
Once we turned, he was looking out the window and asked, "What is that?"  I assumed he was looking through the window and I told him it was a gas station.  He said, "No, I think it's poo."  lol He was in fact looking at the bird poop that was stuck to the window and he told me we needed to wash it off.

One game he likes to play in the car is seeing how many words he can come up with that start with the same letter. I have to say - he's pretty good at it!

Tuesday evening, he told me my name was now Elient. (it sounded kind of like Alien-t but not a firm A sound.. a cross between an A and an E.)  Not Eliot or Alient though. I asked.  

Friday we took him to the Ringling Brothers Circus. Before the show, he got to go down and meet the clowns, and watch the dog show, and dance in the ring (he tried to start his own conga line). The show was pretty fantastic, but a lot of it was above his comprehension.  His favorite part was seeing people ride the elephants, the elephants doing tricks like laying down,  and the people doing tricks while riding the horses. And of course, seeing the dragons.  They had Shaolin warriors doing some pretty amazing things and I nearly got taken out by Andrew when he suddenly started imitating them.
Was he was most fascinated by, was a $22 toy that we refused to buy. It had lights that spun around on it. 
So Saturday we took him to Toys R Us and found a miniature toy that was as close as we could find. It was a candy handle (we tossed the candy and put a sticker over the word) with a small helicopter on top and the propeller lights up as it spins.

Andrew seems to not be sleeping very well lately. We don't know if it's his mattress, the squeaks in the springs under the mattress, or something else entirely. But we talked it over and decided to go ahead and get him a real bed. His crib converts into a full size bed so we went to a store and bought him a really nice mattress set, and then went to Target and bought two sheet sets. More than we expected to spend, but we think it's a good investment for him and long term abuse it will no doubt get. At the store, he hit it off well with another customer. She came over and showed Andrew how one of the beds has a remote that adjusts the bed and makes it bend. A little later a family walked in and was standing next to that bed and he got all excited and ran over "hey guys!!" - he wanted to show them how it worked.

Saturday evening we attended a Talent Show (and they really did have talent!!) We didn't stay long.. but in the beginning, after each act - he'd ask, "is the show over?"

We find it interesting how we will be in a room of people, and he will single out someone and befriend them and make great effort to talk to them as if he's known them for years.  He picked out another mom at the circus to talk to, another customer in the mattress store to share stories with, and even a lady sitting in a chair all alone at the talent show - he took his lightup helicopter and was sharing it with her and playing. They're usually all older ones, grandparents age. They are rarely my age or younger.