Group Hugs!

On the way to school Monday, "When I have grandchildren, I'm going to let them buy as much as they want. Mostly toys."  I told him to plan on having a lot of money because that sounds expensive. He agreed. Then he told me that he's going to find that firetruck that he wanted ($12 toy at Kohls ages ago that he won't forget about) and he'll put it up way up high so they can look at it. And when he tells them not to touch it, they will disobey.  I asked him what he will do when they disobey. He said, "I'm going to smack them in the face."  I asked, "in the face, huh? That sounds awful."  He said, "Yeah, I'm just kidding. I'll put soap on their tongues. No wait, then their mouth will smell really bad."

I told Andrew he had a few more minutes to play before it was time to leave for violin lesson. He seemed agreeable. But when I told him it was time to go, he yelled, "I don't want to play the violin ever again!" and slammed the door. I didn't respond and just collected my purse and keys. I was heading back down to the studio when he opened the door and yelled again about something to do with wanting to stop playing the violin and not getting to I think. I told him I understood that he was tired and upset and wanted to play instead, and I wasn't really sure what to do about violin, but regardless we were leaving and he needed shoes.  Amazingly, despite his rage about something, he was still being cooperative and I never had to raise my voice or make any threats. He was fine once we got in the car, and he had an excellent practice.
While we were waiting for his session, the teacher's young daughters were trying to get snacks out of the vending machine. Andrew kept whispering how much he wished he could get a snack from the machine. Well, the youngest daughter ended up a quarter short and couldn't get it to work. So while she went running to find her mom, I gave Andrew a quarter and let him put it in, punch in the code she was trying to get to work, then get the snack out of the machine and deliver it to the little girl. He was very pleased, and I explained to him what kindness we just showed. Then he wanted to know if I had more money to buy another girl in the room a snack too. lol  I told him her mommy was there taking care of her. Andrew told the teacher that he gave her a quarter for the snack, and she reimbursed him at the end of his lesson.

Then we were off to Parent-Teacher conference. She said Andrew is doing great - all 18 kids are still learning the routine. Today he didn't stay on task and had to finish his classwork at home. He did enjoy showing us his illustrations in his journal he keeps at school. And when he was able to explain something the teacher said, "great job! Kiss your brain" and he kissed his hand and slapped his head. Lol.. it took me a second to realize what just happened, but that's pretty cute.

 We went to Olive Garden after the conference. On the way there he was telling me that he knew who Meemaw and Bebop were (Meemaw is the girl and Bebop is the boy) and that Bebop plays the fiddle. I told him Bebop can play the violin too (trying to keep him interested in the violin). He got excited and then said, "I wish everyone had two chins. Then we could play the violin and fiddle at the same time!"  Wouldn't that be interesting!

We came home to the floor covered in shreds of paper and debris left by two party-loving puppies. Several of Andrew's books had been in a bag on the couch - and they were not salvagable. He saw the mess and recognized the pages and burst into tears.

Tuesday morning I came out to bandaid wrappers on the floor. At some point Andrew had gotten up during the night to get one. Sure enough, when he got up (by the way, he's been sleeping past 7 this week!) he told me, "Mom, I can't go to school today because I have this (presents foot with bandaid on top). We need to send a note to my teacher to let her know I won't be in today."  lol  Such a cutie.
After school he was proud to tell me that even with a bandaid on, he could still run today. And he told me about gym where they "learned to run. Boys first and then girls."
He came home from school with a little book he illustrated. It was about how many letters were in his name. The first page was a drawing of himself. The second was him and someone else in "Gim" (gym). I think there was another page and then he had cut out each letter of his name and pasted it on the last page and wrote that he had 6 letters in his name.  It was cute and well done.
There was another book he put together that came with a popcicle stick decorated to be a worm. Each page had an apple and then words about the worm being above, below, between, or next to, and he could move the stick worm to demonstrate that. Pretty cute.

Wednesday morning I was up early. I happen to be at the computer with the security cameras on when Andrew got up at 6:40ish. He tied his two lovies around his neck so he had a double cape then did a face plant into his bed. Got up and came out to cheerily say, "Good morning mom!!"  I'm squatting in the hallway listening to him as he holds up a corner of a blanket. "Do you know what this button is for? It's a first one fire alarm and it's louder than any in the whole world. Wanna hear it?" I cover my ears as he's making siren noises. I join in and then say, "eeks! Put the fire out!" and pretend to spray him with water. We laugh and keep pretending to be sirens until he gets so loud it rattles your insides. Then he was off to play with his space station in the studio until he had to get ready for school. 
Daddy was working from home for a couple of hours before going in. He was standing talking to daddy and I was behind him brushing his hair with my fingers. Daddy told him he hopes he has a good day at school. Andrew replied, "that always makes my day so much better when you tell me to have a good day."  I kissed the top of his head and told him how much we love him and are proud of him and happy that he gets to go to school and do interesting things all day. He turned around and hugged me really tight. Daddy yelled, "group hug!" and Andrew begged to be picked up like we've always done for group hugs. Daddy scooped him up and we all squished together. Then Andrew, with arms around both our necks, told us, "I'm going to miss you guys" and he sounded all emotional. I told him we'd miss him too.. and then blurted out, "unique new york!"  and it all went back to giggles and smiles. He still can't say Unique New York three times in a row without saying Unique You Nork. He tried all the way to school - and he only gets it right if he pauses between the 2nd and 3rd attempt.
I asked him what he looked forward to most going to school today. He said he likes playing with the farm.  But today he is also very much looking forward to the arrival of Grandma Marlyn. Mommy and Daddy will leave Sunday to head to New Orleans for a cruise (mommy has classes on ship) and grandma is taking care of Andrew all week.

Thursday morning he wanted to just sit and watch the door waiting for Grandma to get up. It took some prodding to get him to get ready for school instead of just waiting. He was excited to have Grandma in the car when he got dropped off and picked up.  In the evening, he played in the sprinkler outside. Then he asked if he could make a waterslide with it. Daddy fixed it so it'd point down the slide. Andrew came zooming out the bottom of the slide making a lovely mud puddle at the bottom. Even the dogs were loving the splash of mud and water.

He wants to play with the dogs, but their teeth and nails are so sharp still that it's easy to get hurt and they're kind of scary to a small person. He holds toys out of their reach and then yells, "No Charlie! No Cara!" because he doesn't want them to jump.  He's learning to put his hand down on the back of their neck and speak calmly. He was so proud of himself for getting them to stop jumping.

Friday he spent the entire day playing with Grandma. She brought a Megablocks tractor that we all worked on building. We piled grass clippings into his trailer and he hauled it to his "secret place" at his playset and piled all the grass inside. They played ball, made sock bubbles, and splashed and swam in the pool. We observed a praying mantis eating a caterpillar too.

Unique You Nork

The other day I gave Andrew a few tongue twisters to try. He was actually fine with them until we got to Unique New York.  He could only seem to say Unique You Nork  (which is normal) and we all were laughing hysterically as he tried.  A few days later - he can say it just fine, but wants to say it wrong just to laugh. But I find it amazing that he literally can choose to say it correctly or incorrectly at any point! 

He has a fascination with Math right now. And not just simple equations. He'll ask you things like, "did you know that 10-4+2 is 8?" or "10+10-3 is 17"  or "10+10+10+10+10 is 50"  It seems like he is always working with numbers in his head, counting the people, cars, groups, or objects around him.

Last week he told me he wanted to eat in the cafeteria, not the lunch room. I told him I'd rather he eat lunches I pack because it's better quality food and will keep him healthy, but maybe some days he can choose to eat their food instead.  Monday morning I asked if he'd like to, and read him the menu, but he said no because he was too nervous to try the unfamiliar routine, it was 'scary'.  Tuesday, however, he told me he wanted to eat the cafeteria food. We looked at the "Taco Tuesday" menu and he wanted the "Frito Taco Salad."  I asked, "should I pack a regular lunch too just in case you change your mind?"  He said, "I don't think you can do that. I dont think it's allowed"  So I wrote a check for $2.40 and told him to be sure to let his teacher know that he was eating in the cafeteria so she can help him figure it out.  He was SO excited. When I was dropping him off, he didn't even say goodbye to me. Instead, he told the teacher helping him out of the car, "I'm going to eat in the cafeteria today! I'm so excited!!"
On the way to school, he asked me "If I pee off the moon, will it shower down on everyone?"  I suggested that it would more likely end up in orbit with the moon, but long term I really wouldn't know what would happen to it. But I was sure it wouldn't rain down on everyone like he was imagining.

After school Tuesday he wanted to ride his bike. It was crazy hot outside but I got some trimmers to snip the bushes by the sidewalk. I granted permission for him to drive his tractor in the front yard. He wanted to collect the clippings in his trailer and throw them over the fence in the back yard. I got him to stop doing that (they're prickly!) so he stood on his tractor and collected some leaves from a tree. By that point I'd cleaned up and was sitting on his green machine in the shade. He came by a few times and parked next to me to say hi. The second time, he was about to tell me something and his foot fell on the pedal and whisked him away. I could see him hitting the steering wheel and yelling at the tractor, "why did you do that?!..."  He returned saying, "Sorry about that!"   He nearly crashed into me one of the times he came by. He doesn't like being in first gear - only wants to be fast and he doesn't allow it to slow down early enough!

Wednesday morning we went to the county clerks office to work on getting Andrew a passport. We were crossing the street when he suddenly suspected Jail was inside the courthouse too and dug his feet into the pavement trying to go any further. We assured him we were not taking him to Jail. We got through the security checkpoint and waited for the clerks office to open. When we were leaving, the officer asked us to step aside for a minute as a bunch of inmates were being led in!  Striped jumpsuits, chains around their feet and ankles, and rough looking faces. I have to admit I was a little anxious seeing them all looking so criminal and watching us too; I'm sure Andrew felt the same.  He talked about jail nearly all the way to school. He seems to think it would be a neat place to go. He said, "When I go to jail, I'm gonna...."  and suggested the police would do whatever he asks for. We might have finally convinced him that it's a terrible place to go and people don't care about you or your feelings there, you will most likely get hurt more because the people there have done something really bad to get there. They're not going to ask him nicely to do something, they'll yell at him in a commanding way.  I reminded him that if he does something bad to warrant going to jail, he'd also have lost Jehovah's favor, and he surely wouldn't want to do that!  I urged him to just be the nice, kind, gentle person I know he is.
Once at school, I was trying to check him in - only about 15 minutes late for getting in the classroom, and probably only 5 minutes late for an actual activity... not bad.  He told the office we were late because he's going to St. Croix in October and they needed his picture first. I was still signing him in when they handed him a slip and told him to go to class. He hugged my leg and I barely patted him on the back and he was gone!  So glad I could tell him how much I love him as we walked in!

Andrew decided he wanted to talk at the door in service. So Friday evening I gave him an idea for a presentation and he liked it. He introduced himself, said he had a special tract that asks (read the front question), then turn it over and read the sample questions on the back, then read the little box that tells how you can find the bible's answers at jw.org.  Then he added, "here is your special copy." 
He worked it like a pro! 
Saturday morning he was mad about something and said he was never going to talk at the door. I told him that was fine, and it was between him and Jehovah - he wasn't hurting me with those words.
Once in the car we asked if he remembered his presentation. I started to demonstrate it as a reminder. I didn't even get to finish saying my name when he shouted, "I know the drill!" and decided to cooperate. He did remember the entire presentation.  He was very excited to share it with the service group too.

Once on the street, he asked me to take the first door, but he wanted to get all the rest of them. No one was home at that first door.  The next two were very sweet and kind to him. One was an older gentleman with a lot of yappy dogs. He closed the dogs inside and came out to listen to Andrew. Andrew gave an excellent presentation, and then I just added that we were out sharing good news with all people, because it doesn't matter what our religion or walk of life is - we have big questions. The website is designed to use the bible to answer them.  The man shook his hand and thanked him.
The next door, people were already outside - a group of them about to leave. The owner came down the driveway saying hi to us. When we got close enough Andrew introduced. The man squatted in front of Andrew and listened intently. When he was done, I again told the man why we were offering good news.  He thanked us, told Andrew he did an excellent job, and even offered us water since it was so hot outside.  We got back in the car for some water and snack while we waited for daddy and Bruce Wright to return too. Then he got another not-at-home with Bruce.  So technically, he placed three tracts.
I am so proud of him. He was so confident and sure of himself, didn't stumble over his words, made eye contact. I had to silently thank Jehovah for letting me share this moment with him.

 

Recently  Jamie Vaal was telling me that on the very first day of Kindergarten, they ended up having a substitute teacher in a class. I'm not sure why Andrew ended up in his presence, and I never knew that he had until this conversation.  But at the end of that day, this substitute told Jamie all about this really smart kid he met. He went on and on about how smart he is, and was even telling him about his digestive system and how it works.  lol… he was talking about my kid!  Jamie chuckled and said, "yeah, I've heard he's pretty smart!"  (the teacher didn't know we were friends.)

It made my day so much better!

A fortune cookie Andrew recently got, I find ironic given what happened at the convention. "There are no strangers here, only friends you haven't met!"  hmmm. 

At the Wednesday night meeting last week, we let Andrew sit with Samantha. He was pretty much in the middle of the hall. At one point, he had turned around in his seat and he was sticking two fingers toward his eyes and then pointing them at someone in the back. Then he pointed the fingers at his eyes, and then toward someone else.  That's what daddy does to say 'I'm watching you' but I don't know who Andrew was doing it to.
On the way home from meeting, I guess he scratched the cut under his nose. He fussed that it burned and then asked, "Why did Jehovah design me this way?!" We told him it's so we'd learn to care about ourselves and be aware of danger and what can hurt us. But it is healing, though slowly it seems.

I also forgot to mention that last Tuesday we went to Nashville. Andrew had decided to try and tune his violin himself (ha!) and the sound got compleeeeetely messed up. The teacher had told us that he could now sport the next size up, so I thought it'd be a good day to go do exchange it.  As we were walking to the building he begged me not to say anything to them about changing it's sound. I promised I wouldn't. Inside he right away told them he wants to play the fiddle and that cellos are boring. He finally got to see a cello in person, though, as well as a double base which is huge!
After that stop, we headed over to see Grandma Bess.  He got the grand tour of the entire house, from top to bottom. When she asked if we should go to lunch, Andrew asked, "Would you like to go to McDonald's? it would kill mommy."  [he didn't get to play after the Friday convention so we suggested maybe Saturday after dinner he could go to McD's to play instead of swim at the hotel... but that didn't work out either because I got sick so he just had to swim. But daddy had told him we wouldn't eat there because the food would kill mommy.. lol]  I explained all that to Bess, and she said she couldn't imagine that we really ever ate there. We all enjoyed some excellent mac n cheese at J. Alexanders instead.

Another thing I forgot to mention in last week's post was that on the way home from his first day of school, I told him I had prayed for him to have a good day. He made a loud inhale and exclaimed, "You made my day so much better!" 

Saturday afternoon daddy was splitting some wood. Andrew put it in the trailer of his little John Deere and then hauled it to the front door. He left it all in a pile at the front door so you couldn't even open it! He enjoyed having that job though.
Later he drove it into the backyard but I couldn't find him. He had driven it to the fence, in between two tall bushes, and was standing on top of the tractor with his arms draped over the fence... hoping to catch the attention of our neighbors (Amber and whoever she was playing with.)  I yelled to him to get down and give them privacy and then went into a coughing fit (sore throat the last couple of days) and the dogs went crazy.  I guess Andrew thought he was going to get in a trouble because he begged me not to tell daddy.  He started the 'don't tell...." when Katara was here. I only heard her say, "oh, don't tell your mom, she'll be mad at you" once, but I've assured him several times that I wont get mad at him for telling me things - I appreciate hearing about them rather than discovering them myself, whatever it is.  I don't think he's convinced of that yet.

Saturday night, he got out of bed, opened his door, crawled back in bed and started calling for me. His problem?  He needed to scoot down in his bed.  Seriously?? I told him that when I tell him to scoot down - he does it himself, I just move the pillow (which is he perfectly capable of doing himself too.)  Silly boy.

One day he let me do an acu-oil session on him. I was asking questions for myself outloud and he heard me say that I had to put it on the meridian for the kidneys. He tapped both sides of his chest with his fingers and said, "it's here. The kidneys are here."  I looked at my meridian model and he was actually spot on! The kidney meridian runs down both sides of the chest exactly where he had been pointing. 

He earned another Lego set. As much as he has protested about practicing or going to lessons, I wasn't sure he'd ever get to open it. When he got down to 10 more practice sessions to earn it, he got more interested. He really wanted the forklift, the truck that came with it was just bonus to him.

Mommy was sick so daddy got him to and from school Monday and to violin. He was in good spirits, but definitely a full and long day for him. 
Tuesday afternoon I picked him up from school. As he climbed in the car he immediately asked me how I was feeling and he was glad to see me as he thought daddy would be getting him. He told me he had missed me and asked if I missed him. Then he asked me if I cried.  I told him I did not, but I had prayed for him to have a good day. He smiled and said, "And it made my day so much better! You know who did that? (he started to say Jehovah) Jesus! I really like Jesus." 
He told me he talked to a girl at school about Jehovah and she didn't know about Him. His sentences confused me a bit so I don't really know how his conversation went with her, but he told her she was wrong. Then he asked me, "she's not going to live in Paradise, is she?"  I explained to him that it's all up to Jehovah. That there are plenty of good people who truly want to please Him and try to do what is right, they just don't know that they don't have the truth or haven't fully learned about Jehovah. That there will be people in Paradise who don't know Jehovah and we'll get to teach them without Satan's influence.  He didn't have a reply.
Then before getting out of the car he started to tell me something then said, "Nevermind. I don't want to tell you because it was a bad decision."  I assured him again that he is free to tell me anything he ever has to say - good or bad. I would rather hear it from him if he wants to talk.  He started to tell me about the other day when daddy said Amber (neighbor) could come over for a little while and she convinced him the best way to get into his yard is to bring his tractor to the front yard. I'm guessing he thought it was a 'bad decision' because he knows he's supposed to stay in the back yard.

Thursday after school we hung out at the park. At first, no one else was there. Andrew sat and watched every car go by - hoping one would stop. Eventually a couple came.  One kid was in another Kindergarten class at the school and drove Andrew crazy by not answering a question as simple as 'who is your teacher' or 'what is your name'. He kept trying to give Andrew clues and making him guess, but Andrew doesn't know all the teachers yet. I got tired of listening to it and finally told Andrew if it was that important to him - to go ask the mom!  Andrew did and was very pleased to get an answer.  There was something I really didn't like about this kid. He wasn't being 'bad', but he just seemed like the type who would be deceptive and misleading. (and I was right)  And when the other boys wanted to play swords and battle and protect their "ships" ... Andrew of course wanted to play too. I wouldn't let him play with them at first because they were in the dried up creek and throwing rocks, later they were swinging sticks around and running with them, or climbing on the outside of the bridge instead of walking on it. Then they were kicking and poking trees.  It was driving me crazy and there was no one else for him to play with. The longer Andrew tried to play with them, the more he started tuning me out, and getting more aggressive in his behavior. Daddy had a long talk about it with him at bedtime.
Friday morning we reviewed with him too - if other boys are wanting to play fight - what do we do?  "We don't play. It's up to Jehovah to kill the bad guy."  Right. It's not our place, it's Jehovahs. And if someone kills the bad guy, they no longer have a chance to learn about Jehovah and change their ways.   He accepts it in his head - but I know he wishes he could just play along anyway.
Friday he came home from school with a new toy. This is the 3rd one this week. I asked him what he has to do to get a prize from the treasure box and he says, "nothing."  Finally today a teacher said he was on 'Gold' today (they have behavior sticks and their names get moved up or down on it) so he got a treasure.  I never know the right questions to ask him to find out what happens at school and what he gets to do. I did learn today that when they come in from outside, they have to put their heads down on their tables - and if they do, they get skittles (or in Andrew's case, jelly beans w/out food dye). And when they line up to go someplace, they have to stand in their own tile square, link their fingers behind their back, and 'catch a bubble' that makes them silent as they walk.  

Compass, Conventions, and Kindergarten!

There is a song called Compass that we listen to sometimes. One lyric says, "so let your heart, sweet heart, be your compass when you're lost and you should follow it wherever it may go." Recently Andrew told me, "mommy, I want to be your compass."   He melts my heart when he expresses the love and compassion I know is in there.

Thursday, July 31st, we headed off to Kentucky to stay in a hotel for the District Convention held in Evansville.  He's been very excited to add two more states to his list of 'visited'. We all used backpacks as our bookbags to make it easier and be able to stuff them under seats. Andrew loved getting to use his lime green backpack we bought especially for Kindergarten. It's his favorite color.

Andrew was almost perfect on Friday. Mostly still and quiet. There was just one point that he was frustrating me and in sign language I begged him to please stop. He finally pulled out his notebook and wrote, "I'm sorry mom" on the paper. I drew a heart on it to let him know I appreciated what he wrote and he started drawing hearts too.
He made friends with everyone around us. He kept asking, "Mom, can I go talk to her?" and would strike up a conversation.  There were two girls probably a little younger than me that really took to him. They are apparently Nannies in Brentwood (Rena is one of them, I can't remember the other.) They sat in front of us on Friday and were very impressed with his good behavior and conversation skills. Andrew noticed she had a pen that had 4 different colors on it to write with and wanted to know what happened to the one he used to have. He told her he really liked her pen.   Those girls called out to him each day to say hi whenever they saw him, and on Sunday Rena went back to her seat and found the pen and gave it to him to keep. It made his weekend! Especially because half the pen was lime green, and one of the ink colors were green... his favorite color.
He was really excited that Lauren would be getting baptized on Saturday. He ran up to Gail Wetzel and told her that Lauren Chumley was getting baptized Saturday. She asked if he meant Lauren Milke and he said no, Chumley.  Then he came back to me and asked. I told him it was Lauren Milke.  He asked, "is it Lauren Chumley Milke? or Lauren Milke Chumley?" I told him there was no Chumley in her name, that Barry wasn't her daddy. It was just Lauren Milke. He looked distressed and said he needed to go find sister Wetzel again to "correct it because she won't know who it is!"  I told him I was certain Gail would figure it out.
Saturday I was not well and he asked a lot of questions about things he was hearing or telling me about things he saw. I tried to show him how to listen for certain words like Jehovah, Jesus, Brother, Sister, etc and draw a tally mark. He tried, but pretty much told me to tell him whenever I heard one and he'd record it.  Eventually he was making a mark and handing the notebook back to me because he didn't want to hold it, but then wanted it back when he heard a word. That got tiring too. Daddy's security shift started during lunch and went for a couple of hours. Andrew got to see Lauren get baptized and then we followed them outside. He ran around and played with a couple of other young kids.

I finally had to leave early. I had to take the elevator because I couldn't walk to the escalator without having to rest somewhere. We slowly made our way outside and across a parking lot. I couldn't get to the garage though, I had to sit on the sidewalk and rest. A cheerful friendly man started to ride by on his bicycle while telling himself to be careful not to cause a traffic accident. Andrew called out to him, "hey, would you like to come hang out with us?" And the guy turned around and stayed as Andrew told him how mommy wasn't feeling well and that we were in Evansville for the convention and staying at a hotel, etc etc etc.  The stranger started telling us false stories about needing a plastic piece for some engine part (that doesn't have plastic), and that he's borrowing his daughters bike and he needs new this and new that for all these things. He finally came out and asked Ted for money too which Ted nicely replied that he didn't carry any to give. I prayed to Jehovah during this and soon a brother came out to see if we need help. He had seen us from a window and saw us trying to cross the parking lot and me resting. He came out to offer assistance - and his timing was great. It got the stranger to leave, gave Andrew someone safer to talk to, and daddy a chance to go get the car. Joe Ramey from Glasgow, KY. 
We had to get onto Andrew and explain to him how that situation was potentially dangerous and that
he really needs to stop being so forward and free with strangers. I know he doesn't fully understand.

Monday we went to pick up our raw milk. I tried to get him thinking about if one gallon of milk costs $5, and I want two gallons, how much money do I need to give the lady. He needed help with that concept. So then I held up two $5 bills and said, "I want two gallons of milk. One piece of paper will get me one milk - how many papers do I need to give her."  He got that one. I gave him the money and let him pay the lady for the milk.
Then it was off to pick up the puppies from boarding. Boy were they excited to see us!

Tuesday evening we went to the school for Open House and met his teacher, Andrea Hobbs. I think she'll be good for him. She likes to talk in sign language and sometimes in Spanish too. She loves math and reading and looks forward to trying to find things to challenge him with.

Wednesday morning I knew Andrew was outside playing but I couldn't see him. I called and he didn't answer. I finally step farther out on the deck and see him at the fence talking to Mr. Brown who had stopped working to talk. He came running then and said, "I was about to tell him about Paradise and you interrupted!"  I said, I'm sorry and asked him what he did get to say.  He said, "Paradise is coming!" I told him that was great and next time Mr. Brown will be interested to hear all about Paradise and what he wants to do there.

Thursday morning Andrew wanted to be with Lauren. I told him that wasn't an option but we could go in service to be with friends, or he can stay home and play. He chose service. That didn't work out because the only ones who showed up were wearing fragrances. So I let him get a donut (and hand the cash to the cashier) and eat it at the park.  A few minutes before we left, Andrew was telling another parent that her kids were being mean to him and that mean kids don't make it to Paradise.  I didn't bother saying anything.

Friday morning, August 8th, was the first day of Kindergarten. I printed off two "First day" posters to take photos with. Daddy stayed home longer to get to be a part of taking him to class and help him get ready. Pictures are always hard. He forgets to stay looking at the camera, he doesn't know if he's really smiling or not, or what his attempt looks like. He buckles his knees or locks his knees. He hides his face behind the paper or holds it so far out in front of him he'd be out of focus. When he gives his natural and best smile - his eyes are closed or he's looking somewhere else, or I catch him with his eyes halfway closed during a blink.If he doesn't smile, it looks depressed.  It gets frustrating for all of us. I dont really know how to change it either, but he's always a trooper. This Friday was no exception.. and to make it worse he has a dress code to follow that requires polo shirts and belts which coupled with his wet, perfectly neatly combed hair - made him kind of look nerdish sometimes. I tried to get him to hold the sign to hide the belt since that did help a bit. Eventually I tried to mess up his hair a little too. But then I get mad at myself that I pay attention to these little details when I know they shouldn't matter... and they do not matter to him now and may not later either. He is a beautiful, healthy, happy child - and that is all that should matter. Not what he is wearing or where he is looking or how he is holding a sign. 
Sensing my frustration wasn't hard, and he did try to do whatever we asked. I finally gave up, thinking surely we got at least one in there!  When I got in the car he said, "Mommy, I love you."  It's so humbling. I imagine Jehovah is like that. He can see us frustrated or sick or at our worst version of ourselves - and still say, 'I love you' to us. I hope Andrew never loses that quality.  Even recently when his best child friend told him she didn't want to be friends that day - he still held her in high esteem, knowing it'd probably blow over. 
We walked him to class together, and ended up being there in time to respectfully stand for the pledge. He looked up at me and smiled when it was done - I guess because it was the first time he got to be with someone else who doesn't say it either (us) and was proud of himself for not participating. So we had to briefly tell the teacher that he knows to be respectful but he won't participate. She was cool with it. He will be her first JW student, but she's had friends who are JWs so she was at least familiar.

Friday afternoon I eagerly sat in the pick up line waiting for the students to be let out. He got in the car, all smiles. I asked him how his first day of Kindergarten was and he said, "it was awesome!"  But the only other thing I got out of him was that he got to read a lot of books at rest time or something.  In his backpack, the teacher wrote a note saying he had an excellent first day, and he got to be the line leader for the day and did an exceptional job.  There was a little toy he got from the treasure chest (I asked what he had to do to get to pick a prize and he said, 'nothing' so I dont know what the reward was for) and some stickers. 

After being home for a bit, he slipped in the bathroom and hit his nose on the cabinet. There was a tiny bloody line at the base of his nose, and then his nose ran a little bit with blood. It freaked him out a bit, so I explained that bleeding is good because it keeps germs out. I ended up just letting him sit and watch the Magic Schoolbus so I could make some immune-boosting soup for dinner.
After dinner he enjoyed practicing basketball with the inflatable pool set and then playing in a bath.