Such a Sweetie Pie

I came home late from a really long day at school. I told Ted that I had just hit someone's cat with the car and started crying. Andrew jumped up from his table and ran to his room. He came back with his teddy bear and offered it to me to make me feel better.  I thanked him and he asked me if I wanted to keep it. I told him his hug was enough for me. He said, "He's soft!" I rubbed his cheek and said, "You're soft too!"  He giggled and fell into me. He's such a sweetheart.

We had our first toilet retrieval. One morning Ted and I were sleeping in and Andrew came in to tell me that there was a coin in the toilet that needed to come out. I told him to leave it for now and just use our bathroom. Sure enough, he'd dropped a dime in the toilet. I washed it and set it on the counter. He was so excited to discover it the next time he went in to his bathroom. 

Poor munchkin had one day of constantly getting hurt. I think he wasn't feeling great but still had energy. He fell and got hurt what felt like every 20-60 minutes of the day. At one point he was coming across the back deck saying, "bad decision, bad decision" and right before he got to me, he tripped over a rake and got hurt all over again. We never did find out what that bad decision was.

I suggested to Ted that we start doing one or two paragraphs of the Watchtower lesson every night so that he'll feel more a part of the meeting and hopefully understand more. So far, that is going well and Andrew is able to answer the questions.

I picked Andrew up from school but forgot to get a thermos or snack for him to have before leaving the house in the morning. As he was getting in the car he asked, "What did you bring me?"  I suggested we go to Whole Foods where he could pick out a snack (I know this is going to bite me later as he will no doubt suggest that as an option if he ever dislikes the snack brought along)  He loved the idea. He got excited to see a display of strawberries as we entered. I put some in his little cart and he said, "but I don't want those as my snack!" I told him they weren't for his snack and then put some beets in his cart too. He was about to get upset so I told him, "I promise - we will not leave this store without a snack YOU pick." He cheered up and was very patient and cooperative as we wandered the store.  Early in he saw things he liked but wasn't sure he wanted to settle for. I told him he knew they were there and we could always come back for them if he still wanted them once we'd gone through the entire store.  When we got to the yogurts, they were on sale. I picked him up so he could reach any that he wanted and let him put them in the cart. He loved that. I let him pick a string cheese to have a snack, let him pick one cookie from the cookie display too. Oddly enough, he didn't actually pick a cookie - he picked a cheddar biscuit that looked like a cookie (which he decided he didn't like after half of it.)  And then I let him choose a drink: a local dairy's chocolate milk.  We picked out some more grocery items and then headed to check out. He liked putting half the cart on the conveyor for me. He was SO GOOD and cooperative, and kind, and respectful. Very enjoyable trip together.

On the way home, he asked what road we were on. I showed him Pope's Chapel Rd on the GPS. He thought the word Pope was hilarious.

Andrew was sitting up in bed hitting his mattress. I came in and he had pushed his comforter to the foot of the bed and thrown his bear, dog, and blankies on the floor. I asked him why he was upset.... "because I bit my lip and I want someone in here with me."  I tucked him all back in and laid next to him, then rubbed his head, face, arms, and hands. Then he told me he wasn't going to fall asleep because of noises. "Can you guys try and not make noise. Both of you.  Sometimes you make noise that wakes me up."  I apologized and assured him we try to be quiet (I do anyways)

Thursday daddy gave Andrew an Armitron toy like he had as a kid. He was SO excited to have it. He likes that it is loud and that he can pick up legos and other toys with it.  On Friday I saw a small toy plane, Dusty Crophopper from the movie Planes (Andrew loves that movie) at Kroger and got it for him. I told him that because he's been so nice, kind, obedient, and cooperative, that I wanted to get him that toy. He flew it around a bit, and held it while getting to watch the movie that evening too. He also hooked it up to the armitron wires and said that it was filling the plane with air. 

Saturday I had a migraine just about all day. I tried to go out in service but had to cut out an hour short and go to bed.  Daddy brought home some bbq because I'd been craving a bbq sandwich all morning. He got other things instead though. One too hard to eat and the other didn't taste right to me. So the boys took Daddy's truck back into town just to get me a sandwich. On the way home, Andrew said, "You didn't have to buy her a new sandwich. I'd have shared mine!"  Such a sweetie.
Later Andrew came tiptoeing into my room to bring me a huge dandelion he picked out of the yard. He kissed my hands a few times trying to make me feel better too.  At one point though, he brought me his notepad. He had written "I want a toy" on it.  I reminded him he got two new toys this week.

In the evening I took a long bath. Halfway through, Andrew got in too. I turned my back to him and he watered my hair.  Then he kept squeezing the water out and twisting half my hair. He got frustrated and asked how to twist my hair up. He said I take two sides and twist them into one.  He was wanting to know how to braid my hair!  I showed him that it takes three cords of hair and that I'll teach him another day on a doll maybe.

Ted said, "Andrew! ....  I love you."   Andrew replied, "Daddy! ....."     "What Andrew?"    "Nothing." and then Andrew laughed because he knew daddy was expecting an I love you back. 

Sunday he was up super early. He sat and played games on his ipad until we got up. Later in the morning he had a breakdown of some sort. He decided he didn't want any of his toys anymore. He put away all his legos, all his trains.. everything got cleared and put away.  He did put some of the wooden train track back on his table, but that was it. He said he wanted to sell all his "baby toys" and get new ones (he says that every couple of months anyway). I explained to him that none of the toys he was looking at were baby toys, but he was welcome to put them away for a while, but we were not getting new toys. We talked about the importance of taking care of our toys too. I gave him an example of a time when I didn't take care of something I really liked having and once it was gone - there was no getting it back, no getting a new one. He decided he'd keep his stuff afterall.  But we also learned that he just needed to eat and he'd feel better.  I gave him some carrot sticks and ranch to munch on while I made him a half peanut butter jelly and half peanut butter honey per his request. He was a much happier kiddo after getting lunch!    He tried to take a nap but 30 minute later came out all chipper asking if he could stay up. I told him he could, but he should go read a few books as his quiet time. He did, and was very pleased to have read three big books himself.