Painting and Massages

Showing daddy what was under his bandaid after a skinned knee:  "I see my blood stream! But it stopped now."

Saturday I had to return an unused item to Sherwin Williams. Probably six months ago Andrew told me he wanted to paint his room Red. So I suggested maybe he'd like to come in the store and look at colors to choose one for his room, and told him he could even pick bright orange if he wanted to (since orange has been a favorite color his entire life). He immediately went over and picked a bright orange. I realized that he probably picked it because of me, so I had to ask him in several different ways what color HE would pick given the choice. Finally he was consistently picking red - and the same red when given options. But then Ted and I thought that all 4 walls being "Positive Red" might be overwhelming and dark. So, somehow we all worked together and came up with one red wall, one primary blue wall, an almost lime green wall, and a buttery yellow wall.  So the two main walls in his room are red and blue, then the wall with the window will be yellow, and the wall with the door and closet will be green. He is SO excited! 

Saturday I got the first coat of red done. I was putting him to bed and I laid down next to him to say his prayer and chat. He said he needed to touch the red wall and he quickly did and came back and smashed his head into mine. It felt like my skull shifted. I got up, had Annelise go say prayers with him, and used a massager to work on my neck before the pain would get too intense. But then I thought - if his head could knock mine that hard, what did his do?! So I went back in and got him to turn sideways in the bed so I could work on his neck and shoulders. He loves getting a massage. About the time I got his neck adjusted, he said, "I love you mom!"  I asked, "Yeah? Why do you love me?"  He said, "Because you're so nice." 

First thing Sunday he asked me if I was going to paint his green wall. So I did. He can't wait for me to get all the colors on the walls!

Sunday he cuddled with me at the meeting. He'd cough (sounded fake) every single time he heard someone else cough. I patted his back a few times and all of a sudden he coughed and it sounded real and rattly. So I knew he was fighting something. We went to lunch with friends anyway and when we got home, rubbed oil of oregano all over him and spritzed his room with it too. I gave him some homeopathics before bed. He coughed a little bit during the night, but not too much. I gave him more at 3am when he got up to use the bathroom. So I'm keeping him home Monday so I can keep pumping him up with herbs and homeopathics. I don't have time for us all to get sick!


Monday I got him down for his nap, but less than ten minutes later he came back out smiling saying he was done. I put him back in bed but then started to rub his feet for him. "Can you massage my head?" So I started rubbing all over his head and face - he immediately relaxed and his eyelids got heavier and heavier.

Daddy stayed home with him Tuesday and Wednesday so we could keep giving him herbs and medicine, and not expose him to more germs. Tuesday afternoon I set up my massage table and told him to put his face in the cradle.  "is it going to be scary?" he asked as he hesitantly put his face down.  I put a blanket over his back and used the vibrating massager over his back, hoping it'd break up any congestion in his lungs. He asked me to use it on his feet also, so I did.
Wednesday I had a rough day. I was on the floor studying and he asked if he could give me a massage. (which by the way, he rubbed my feet earlier in the week and he has great pressure! He's going to be good at it!) I said sure and he climbed onto the sofa behind me and rubbed my shoulder. Then he lifted sections of my hair, "let's see..." (trying to find my neck) I partitioned my hair and he said, "Oh okay..." and massaged my neck. Then he said, "Just stay still" as he tried to rub my forehead. Then he used his forearm and gently squeezed my head against his chest twice. I'm not really sure what he was imitating with that one, but I found it humorous.

Thursday Nana came to stay with him so he could have one more day home mending.They had a good day together and had good naps also.  In the late afternoon, he brought me a newspaper that headlined "Country Ham Festival This Weekend"  and asked, "Are we going to the country ham festival this weekend?"  There was a picture of the Predator Monster Truck and he is very interested. I told him I'd have to see how Saturday goes because Daddy was running the Warrior Dash too.

Friday he was glad to get to go back to school and play. They are, however, getting all the kids excited for halloween and Andrew is also excited at the prospect of wearing costumes. (I need to get him some just for fun)  So it was quite a bummer for him when he was told we don't do halloween either. (just got over the birthday disappointment) Saturday morning,  I squared his shoulders and had him look me in the eyes and I said, "you be PROUD that you don't celebrate birthdays and halloween. You are making Jehovah VERY happy!"  He wasn't entirely convinced but seemed to feel a little better too.  A little later he was eating an apple and peanut butter at the table. He told me something about 'if your brain breaks.'  I asked him how the brain breaks and he said 'you know, if it stops, it breaks, and a doctor has to cut off your head and put in a new brain." I told him that if the doctor cuts off the head, then you're dead. You can't live with no head.  He said, "Well, Jehovah can bring you back to life in Paradise."  I agreed, and added that we have to be sure we stay Jehovah's friend and do what is right so that we can be brought back to life. Then he started talking about how Satan was bad and that bad things make him happy.  He told me "like Cain. Cain was Satan's friend because he killed Abel."  But then he told me that daddy was Satan's friend. I asked why he'd say that and he said, "Because he spanked me."  [for throwing a spatula in irritation that it was time to get ready for bed]  So I then had to explain, that although that incident made Satan happy, it didn't make daddy Satan's friend. Spanking is a part of discipline and training, a consequence to behavior and actions that he was already warned against doing. I assured him we do not like spanking or being unhappy, or seeing him unhappy - but it does teach him what is okay and not okay. Then I told him that mommy and daddy can get in trouble too! He was definitely interested in that. I expounded that we have to answer to Jehovah. If we don't do a good job teaching and training Andrew - we can get in trouble with Jehovah and not get to live in Paradise either.  And somewhere in that conversation we talked about how Satan used to be an angel in heaven and he chose to disobey and got in trouble - and was given the name Satan the Devil. And he had some other angel friends who decided to act with him and they became Demons, and they will all be destroyed later.  But there were still plenty of good angels. He wanted to know what they were called .... "just Angels."  We are all striving to be Jehovah's friend and make each other happy and make Jehovah happy so we can all be together in Paradise when the time comes.

After Saturday nap, we took him to the Country  Ham Festival. We have had such a mild summer and Fall weather arrived on time. But this day - it felt like summer again. We let him bounce in the inflatables but we didn't want another heat stroke so we had to limit his time there. We got drinks and walked around. He got to see a helicoptor land, got to tour a fire truck and ambulance. He was concerned when he saw the ambulance, thinking they were there because someone was hurt. So when they opened it up to show him the inside - he refused to go in, but asked a lot of questions still. He got to see the Predator monster truck, though we missed getting to see it crush some cars, and didn't wait in line to get a ride in it.  We hung out with Joy for a bit before letting him go on an inflatable obstacle course one last time before leaving.  We took daddy home and hung out at Joys house the rest of the evening.  He enjoyed playing with Brice and Nevin, and later Lauren and Sydney. He told us some silly stories at dinner using things he saw around the room to enhance his story.
Later he found a bunch of word magnets on the fridge and brought me one saying, "uh oh! Look what this says!"  It said 'birthday' which he now equated to be a bad word. I told him the word was fine - that we all have birthdays. He said, "no we don't!"  So we reminded him it's the day we're born - we just don't celebrate and have a party for it.  Then he and Joy made a silly sentence with some magnets before we headed home.  (i'm thinking I should get some of those, he'd love those!)