Training Dragons and new Puppies!

Saturday June 14th, daddy hosted a lovely graduation party for mommy.  We had a small group of friends over. It was really good for Andrew to have friends to play with at his own house.  Ted left an opened bag of balloons in my studio and all the kids had fun blowing up as many as they could.  After dinner, some friends had to leave and later we did move outside so the kiddos could swim. Andrew literally turned a shade of blue with teeth chattering when he got out.  Near the end of the fun, Samantha was trying to organize the four of them on the side of the pool to jump in together. Andrew was trying to patiently wait for her to be ready. He starts wiggling his knees and said, "Sam, I'm trying to stay up, but I'm shaking! I'm gonna shake myself right into the water! I'm shakin!"  He's so funny!

Monday we were driving to the bank and Andrew saw where he used to have gymnastics. He told me he missed it and I asked if he'd like to go again. He said yes, so I pulled in to get a calendar. He has gone back and forth between wanting to go and not wanting to go.  I am giving him until Monday morning to make a decision himself.

Tuesday afternoon our neighbor, Amber who is 3 years older than Andrew, came to play for half an hour before bedtime.  When she was called to go home, she thanked us and started running toward the gate. Andrew yelled, "Wait!" and he opened the gate for her and walked her to her front door.  Such a sweet boy.

Friday morning we went out to the farm and picked up Kaleb who ended up staying until late Tuesday the 24th!   He got to go with us to pick out our brand new puppies that night.  We got one chocolate lab we named Charlie, and one Australian Shepherd named Cara - both from the same litter and absolutely adorable and sweet.  Cara is a little more wild than Charlie.  When they come up to Andrew, he throws his hands in the air, walks backwards, and freaks out a little bit. It's going to take him a while to adjust to petting them and getting them calm.

Saturday the 21st there was a going-away party at the park. I had to skip out for an hour and a half and during that time Andrew got hit on the head by a rock. Apparently there was blood streaming down his face and getting everywhere. One friend almost passed out at the sight of him. He was a trooper though and went back to playing.  Shortly after I got back there, he came from the playground with blood streaming down his face again.  I was going to use my shirt to makeshift a headband for him to hold a napkin in place with some pressure - but Miranda found a tie in her car that she let us use instead. That worked perfectly.  When we got home, I was able to put some oils on it and properly bandage it. 

Kaleb wouldn't sleep on the floor in Andrew's room. Andrew was a trooper and slept just fine in the pile of comforters from which we made a good floor bed. They wouldn't stop talking to each other or playing with the ladybugs that cast stars on the ceiling if they were in the room together. So we had to start making Andrew fall asleep in our bed and transfer him when we went to bed ourselves.
For the first few days of Kaleb's stay - everything was a competition. It was driving me insane.  There were a lot of tattles, whining, and a little crying; but overall, they did have fun being together.

Monday we went over to the Allison's house and the boys got to swim with the Perry girls, the Vaals, Arnolds, and Landon. Not for long, though, before storms rolled in and they had to play inside. They watched a Lego movie, did karaoke (Andrew sang "Soak Up the Sun" by Cheryl Crow), and some games. They also got to make ice cream sundaes after lunch.   Later we went to Andrew's violin lesson.

Tuesday morning we went to a Science magic show at the library. I still can't figure out how he did some of those tricks. Most of them were silly and you could understand how he did them. Andrew and Kaleb LOVED the show.  Then we were all off to lunch at Zaxbys before two rounds of bowling.  We weren't even there half an hour before Andrew was claiming he was hungry and wanted to check out the food place. We had *just* had lunch.  It didn't help that the other kids in the gang were getting candy and icees and snacks when there is no way they were hungry either.  I kept telling Andrew I was not buying the food... we were there to go bowling with friends.  He didn't understand why I didn't bring candy for him, or why he had to have water from his thermos that I did bring. He fussed and complained for two hours.  By then I figured he did need a snack so I did buy each of them a chocolate chip cookie ... but because he had been relentless about telling me he wanted to check out the food place, I had to stand my ground still that I was not buying their food.  If he had been content without it and then two hours later told me he was hungry - I might have given in. But it was a battle the entire time to the point that I had to give him the choice of leaving to go eat at home, or staying to bowl the game.   (lately he has been disrespectful to me, and not doing anything I ask or say to do or not do until I finally snap at him and sound threatening.)  Bowling took forever because there were 8 boys on one lane and not everyone was paying attention to their turns and were getting in each others way.
After bowling, we went home to care for puppies and collect Kaleb's things and then met Dianna half way to let him go home.

Wednesday Andrew and I had to take Hank (foster dog) to the vet and I decided to attempt it without an adult's help. It was a bit of a hassle. Along the way, we were getting off the interstate and Hank stepped on Andrew's seat belt buckle and it came undone. Andrew immediately started screaming and crying without even trying to rebuckle. He was yelling at me to pull over because he wasn't buckled. I finally had to yell back for him to pull himself together and TRY because I had nowhere to pull over right then.  He thankfully did!    We ended up waiting for 45 minutes before the vet checked Hank - but the assitant gave Andrew a coloring activity book, crayons, and some stickers to help keep him busy. He's getting really good at those word searches.

Mommy has been having a really rough week. I got stung on the toe by a bee and haven't been able to walk well, keeping Hank and the puppies separate, and playing referee for the boys, and some other conflicts that arose .... I've been really tired, and overwhelmed.  And of course really tired of Andrew trying to argue EVERYthing with me rather than just doing it or not doing whatever it is.  I was cleaning up a tipped over bowl of dog food and Andrew tried to argue with me about something and I finally fell apart (for the second time this week) and just started sobbing. He didn't know what to think. Then he started saying, "Just take a deep breath. It will make you feel better."  I took that opportunity to explain to him that what makes me feel better is him just listening and obeying without me having to ask/tell three or more times and finally having to snap at him to get his attention. And this particular time I had to remind him that we still live in Satan's world - there are going to be bad people that do stupid careless things and hurt others and it is my job to try and protect him and teach him - but if he doesn't listen, I can't.  And that in the case of being out so close to the road unsupervised - just because no one has tried to abduct him yet - doesn't mean it can't or won't happen. That it does happen to kids all around the world every single day, and it happens to adults too.  That my putting rules and restrictions on him is my way of trying my best to protect him and I dont like him being out front without me being able to listen and watch - because bad things can happen so quickly.  I told him I'm sorry that we still live in Satan's world and that things are so bad, but until we get to Paradise - it just is what it is and we still have to be careful. 
  Before I even started making lunch he started telling me he was going to refuse taking a nap after lunch.  Then I discovered that he still hadn't picked up the lincoln logs that I'd asked three times already for him to pick up.  (He'd just sit back down and play with them instead - building very cool houses and interesting things.  He even pretended all the littlest pieces were chicks and built a coop for them.)  I have been begging him all day to pick up the toys before moving on to other things, to put his books away, to stop leaving messes for mommy to pick up.  I sat on my floor after lunch trying to explain how helpful he can be and how unkind it is to make mommy have to do it when I have enough to do around the house as it is.  He still wanted to just argue with me so I finally said, "OH just forget it! Just go potty and go to bed!"   He sweetly said, "Thanks mommy."   UGH I told him no I was not cleaning it up, that I was still mad at him in that moment and I still expected him to clean it up after nap. But right now - he just needed to get to bed - I'd had enough. 
  As soon as he got up from his nap, he had a scowling look on his face and announced he was going to first clean up all the lincoln logs.  I praised him and told him how delighted I was that he was finally doing that and how helpful that is.  I sat down next to him and hugged him and kissed his head. That perked him up a little bit and he asked if I'd help. So I did. 
  Thursday was the first day he finally started trying to play with the puppies.  He got off the chore of putting silverware away because he was finally getting the puppies to play with him, with a ball and rope chewies.  They need to bond with him and see him as a playmate and owner.  Later daddy was running through the yard to get the puppies to run and I told Andrew to see that they need to run like that. So he gave it a try too and seemed to enjoy it. 
   He also got his bat and ball out and was throwing the ball up to hit it - and doing awesome! He was hitting it halfway across the yard sometimes, and hitting it nearly every time.

I gave Andrew a small handful of coins out of my backpack when i was cleaning. He went to add them to his piggy bank and came back to say, "Mom, 17 plus 11 is 28. I know because I counted my coins." 
Friday morning he was asking again for a toy he saw at Kohls. A long time ago, we bought a matchbox car police station that can attach to a table edge and then has a drop down section for 'underground' use.  There were other sets too, but he wanted the jail.  Ever since he has been asking for another set, "the one that was behind this one." He asked if the UPS truck would come today because he wants that toy.  I told him we didn't buy it so not to expect it.  He looked disappointed and then hopefully went to his piggy bank and said, "I'll give you ten dollars to go buy it today!"  :-\ 

Earlier on Friday morning we took the puppies outside. We ran in the yard trying to get them to run too. Andrew runs too fast for any of us to keep up. Even the puppies gave up trying.  Later Andrew turned on the hose for some 'water play' which the puppies love too. They were all so dirty and wet and happy.

Friday just after noon, we loaded Hank back into the car for the last time. We had to meet a transport truck hauling 40 dogs to the north to be fostered and adopted there. Hank is going to a foster in New Jersey. Andrew was very patient and helpful as we waited for about 45 minutes for the truck to arrive and longer to get Hank's photo taken and him loaded into the truck.  So afterward, I offered to take him someplace to play.  He wanted Shipwrecked - but it went out of business apparently. So he wanted the Monkey's Treehouse but it closed at 2 and it was now 3pm. So we went to Monkey Joes.  He still had a blast for an hour and a half. 
Then we went to the movie theater to buy tickets to see How To Train Your Dragon 2.  It was Andrew's first time being in an actual movie theater.  We had an hour to kill before the movie. I let him pick out a nacho plate and cherry coke at the concession stand and we sat and ate while we waited for daddy to arrive.  Then it felt like an eternity to get through all the previews and commercials.  After just 3 previews Andrew said, "I wanted How To Train Your Dragon."   He was very patient. He was so appreciative of the experience that he started stroking my arm when it started and then gave me such an endearing smile when I looked at him.  He started to get a little fidgety near the end of the movie. When it was over I asked him how it was, "It was AWEsome!"
Once home, we let the poor puppies out to play and eat, and Andrew caught several fireflies (and accidentally squished several too I think). He was so good today!!