My loving little boy

Saturday evening we'd gone to a friends house for a get together. They are fostering two young children, one is a 5 year old boy. They didn't have a LOT of toys and the toys he did have, he had a hard time sharing. (he seemed to forget that when he was here Andrew let him play with everything)
Anyway, Sunday morning we asked Andrew if there were any toys he had that he'd like to give to James. That he didn't have to, but if there were any that he doesn't really play with anymore that he thinks James would like, James doesn't have many toys.  Andrew liked the idea and ran to his toy box. He pulled out a big Lightning McQueen car and said, "James can have this."  He also pulled out a big box of wooden blocks, a plastic rain stick, and one book about baby zoo animals and told me he doesn't play with those either.  I knew James would like the car so we selected that.
I guess he told James after the meeting because James came tugging on my arm begging to go get the toy car. It was nice for Andrew to give it to him, though James hasn't learned to be grateful or appreciative. He wouldn't have even said thank you if I hadn't told him to.

Sunday morning when we were getting dressed, he threw his toy violin into the middle of our bed. Then proceeded to tell daddy that he needed to get on the bed so he could get the violin. I think it's funny that he could think ahead that way to try and weasel his way onto the bed to play and jump.

Later in the day he asked for something - maybe ice cream or fruit snacks. Anyway, he told me he needed them. I said, "Oh yeah? What makes you think you need them?"  His reply, "Because I want them, so I need them."

Monday:
Andrew: "is Annelise here yet?"
Me: "Annelise isn't coming today."
Andrew" Why not?
Me: "She has to work."
Andrew, big pouty face, "I don't want her to work!"

It was really sweet when he went to pick out his play clothes for the day. He took notice of what I was wearing and wanted to match. 
His favorite shirt right now is a yellow tank top that says My Mom is the Bomb. I'm not really sure why it's his favorite, but he's been disappointed several times when I made him wear something else because it was too cold for a tank top.

Occasionally while driving to school he'll ask me to stop the music, and then ask me what a word means. Like 'honor' or 'praise' or 'serve'    I think it's neat that he's thinking about the lyrics.

Wednesday he was amazing. We left early to take the car to the mechanic since the air conditioner doesn't work. We were there for an hour and he was perfectly behaved and mannered.  We got to gymnastics just in time and he loved that. We then went to Nissan to have some lunch with daddy and he ate his half sandwich, an entire bowl of fruit, and a few chips and juice. Then we were off to Sports Season's sale to find shoes for mommy. It was a tent sale in the parking lot and I was really nervous about him staying with me. He was perfect! We were there for nearly two hours while we both tried on shoes and he was a little angel.  He fell asleep in the car on the way home so I sat for an hour in the Kroger parking lot to let him rest. He was a zombie when he woke up, but made it through Kroger and the post office. And he was really good through the meeting too.

Thursday *I* was the zombie. I put on a long Thomas the Train video series on for him and went back to bed trying to rest. He did come in a few times. Once was to ask if he could eat a pear. Then the next time he was telling me he was wet because he squeezed the juice out of the pear. I told him to clean it up himself and find himself some new clothes - but that I was not going to help. I heard him banging around in his room a bit but I didn't think twice about it.  Later, when I got up to make him lunch, I discovered he had pushed his bed to the closet so he could try and reach the top hangers. He was hoping to get his "onesie" footed pajamas to wear, but couldn't. (He came in to tell me that and I told him he didn't need pjs, to just get some shorts and shirt - which he did end up doing)

Friday was an exciting day for him. It was his last day at Spring Hollow until summer. He helped bake some vegan chocolate cupcakes, I made healthy chocolate frosting, and he added store bought chocolate sprinkles. He was so excited to get to share them with his Spring Hollow friends. They devoured them too and thanked both of us several times for the treats. I hope it made him feel special and understand that it doesn't have to be about a birthday.
He was also excited to tell every person that he got new shoes at Sports Seasons. "Aunt Joy" bought him a pair of shoes and he is very pleased with them and wants everyone to know. They are black with neon yellow/green soles.

Andrew came to me and asked, "Can I have a lollipop?"  I said, "sure! but you'll have to eat it outside."  He looked puzzled, "why?"  I told him, "Because it will start to melt and drip."  Then I realized I was thinking popcicle when he was asking for a lollipop.  I said, "Oh! A lollipop. You don't have to eat one of those outside."  He quickly tried to stop me, "Wait! I want the lollipop you're talking about!"  lol  So we had popcicles outside on the front steps as we waited for daddy to get
home. 

Saturday he warmly greeted my clients, and walked them to the studio, and then was sorely disappointed that I wouldn't let him stay and take pictures of my clients with me. He sat on the steps in the laundry room and said he'll just wait for me. Thankfully daddy was able to draw him away, but I still felt bad that he wanted to help and couldnt.

Saturday night, Andrew read most of the book "Love You Forever" to daddy. It was so sweet.

Sunday mommy was in pretty rough shape. I was having a difficult time walking and in a lot of pain. Daddy and Andrew filled the bath for me. The Andrew said, "I'll help you" as he helped me undress. He asked if he could pour water over me, and got a cup and poured water over my knees for a bit. He'd ask me periodically, "are you okay?"  "how are you feeling? It's going to be okay."   Later, after lunch, they had to help me walk to the bed. Andrew held one hand as I used my other on daddy's shoulder as a crutch. They walked me down the hallway and Andrew was whispering, "It's okay. It's okay mommy. It's okay." 
While I was taking my nap, he helped daddy install the water pump on daddy's truck. I'm told he's pretty good at ratcheting. Ted said that he was very good with the tools too, asking first if he can use one, and then putting it back where he found it when he was done. Andrew told me later that he was doing some work on his firetruck. Daddy says he really likes that Andrew likes working with his hands.

He is loving his legos. He cleaned off his train table, put all the trains and tracks away, and turned it into a lego table. He likes building cars, and trying to build mazes. And he prizes a pyramid that he and daddy built together.  He also enjoyed taking a tonka truck and filling the back with legos and driving it around the house. He makes the backup beeping noises too whenever it had to back up.

He also loves cooking in his kitchen. Any time we finish a container of something he asks, "Is that empty? Can I have it for my kitchen?"  I need to build him some shelves or get a basket or something to hold his empty containers. He has empty herbs and spices, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking powder, dried blueberries, cereal, eggs .... lots of goodies in his kitchen, but they are constantly falling on him when he's trying to cook.

We showed him the movies 'Monsters,Inc' and 'Robots' this week. He really loved both of those (he gets excited any time we let him watch videos! It has been a while!) He and daddy pretend to be robots nearly every night when it's time to get ready for bed.

He tells me "I love you to the moon and back" and comes and asks for hugs. I just love it!