Uncle Mary

One thing they do at Primrose school is a fill in the blank statement that they then draw a picture of.
Recently, the statement was "If I lived in a castle, I would have _____"  All the other boys said a dragon, but Andrew said "a moat." Another one: "under the stars I see .... an alien."  And, "If I were a cowboy I would fall off my horse!"  He's so funny. 

So remember that I learned a few weeks ago that I have 9 great grandson's - one named Patrick Olivia? This last week he has been talking about his grandson Mary. Yes, Mary. He lives in a light black house that has been painted blue, and he lives in Kentucky. I am happy to report that our southern accents are what have confused him - not the gender. Tuesday he was telling someone about Mary and said, "You know, like Uncle Mary!" I thought for a second and said, "You mean Uncle Murray?" "Yeah, Uncle Mary."

Tuesday evening he was in the pool with Annelise and asked her if she'd throw him. She said she wasn't sure she's strong enough. He swam over to her, "Let's see."  She put her arm up and he felt along her arm and up her wrist, "Yes, you're strong!"  

Wednesday evening, since he was all dressed up, I got a few photos of him in my studio playing the violins (the one we rent that is the right size, and one that his great grandfather sent him that he'll grow into!) They are lovely! At the meeting, he got to answer a few times. The first time it was "Loyal love" After hearing Parker give the same answer right after, he asked, "again?"  Everyone chuckled.
Another answer was "don't say the pledge of allegiance" (it was a discussion about challenges kids face at school) and Brian Stockholm didn't understand what he said (though he said it twice.) Someone else told Brian what he'd said.. then Andrew looked at us and smiled as he said, "He didn't know."  The whole backside of the hall chuckled at Andrew. Brian didn't know what we were all laughing about so daddy told him after the meeting what Andrew perceived - Brian got a good laugh too. 
Earlier in the meeting, Annelise raised her hand for a comment and brother Pingle couldn't remember her last name, and in the moment he paused trying to recall it, Andrew blurted out "Werme!" 
It's nice to know he's in tune to what's going on. 

Thursday was his last day at Spring Hollow. The teacher looked like she was holding back tears saying goodbye to him. She told me afterward that he was patting her back and rubbing it as he hugged her - that he is just so sweet, she's really going to miss him. 
After a really good violin lesson, we found a little park and played for about 20 minutes before meeting Charles and Marion Hailey, Annelise, and Daddy at BurgerUp.  He enjoyed trying to entertain them though when he got too loud and I reminded him to be quieter, he got very embarrassed. We went around the corner and hugged on him for a few minutes until he felt good again. Then he asked me if he could invite them to come home with us. I told him sure - and they said yes!  So they followed us home and we had dessert on the back deck and enjoyed a leisurely evening.

Saturday I had my last wedding to shoot - so the boys got a good full day together. They played at the park for a long time, and then had Moes for dinner and ice cream for dessert - a very good day!  Daddy said that they were running and Andrew was really close behind and Ted quickly stepped aside. Andrew went plowing past him and did a faceplant into the ground, but laughing hysterically at the same time.
Sunday morning he coaxed Annelise to get in the pool with him even though it was a bit on the cold side. He liked pretending he was a shark.  On the way to the meeting, he asked us if we could go to the big park after the grocery store. We told him probably not since we'd have groceries in the car.  Well... we got invited to have a picnic at the park, but we managed to get groceries and go home and change first. So we had a picnic with Sam and Stephen Pingle and Alexa Sparkman at the big park (gorgeous day!) and then the kids got to play on the playground for a while. Once Andrew came up to me and said, "I need some instructions!" So Ted said, "run up and down that hill five times!"  And he did! That was after he'd already run up and down it several times - falling almost every time when he got near the bottom of it.   All in all - a good, fun weekend for him!

Sunday night I was reading a book to him, and he stopped me and said, "It's still Sunday. Monday I go to Primrose."  We talked a little bit and I finally discerned, it's not that he doesn't like Primrose - he doesn't like being there ALL day. Poor guy. I really hope he starts to love it there.