His First Interview

Sunday June 14th we took the puppies to the dog park for the first time. They had a blast!  Andrew had fun running around and playing on the dog training stuff too.  After the meeting, the Fox family came to our neighborhood park. Each of the kids got to take turns on Andrew's skateboard - he was SO good at sharing. Jesse, the girl his age, was very scared to stand up on the board, so Andrew gently held her and walked with her on the skateboard helping her along. He was being such a gentleman.

Monday June 15th we managed to make it to the library after our chiropractic appointments. He picked out some superhero books and comic books and sat for 2 hours reading.  He requested Aliens for Lunch, and Aliens for Dinner - but they didn't have them. I did let him bring three superhero books home and he's getting interested in Star Wars.  lovely.
After lunch I bribed him to take a nap. I offered him candy after nap if he would actually sleep. He suggested he get his ipad back three days early instead of candy if he takes a nap. I agreed.  He slept for nearly two hours.
When daddy got home, we learned that his cousin Dan was on a layover in Denver. So we headed out to meet him. Unfortunately, in an effort to find his hotel and parking near it amongst several one-way streets - we ended up in a fender bender. We moved the car into a covered ally to be out of the way of traffic. Andrew just sat by the car and read his new library books and asked Dan a lot of questions. Once all that fiasco was over, we walked to a burger place where they played several rounds of speed tic-tac-toe. We enjoyed meeting Dan and had a pleasant evening overall.

"I'm gonna have wisdom but not do what my dad said.... I'm gonna brush my teeth first instead of get in my pajamas."   He is often wanting to do something other than what we say, just to test the limits of his own power. 

Tuesday morning he came in my room all concerned, "mom! Colt's not here!!"  He didn't know that Murray picked him up from the airport Monday night. He wasn't supposed to be here! 
We got adjustments at the chiropractor because of the accident, and then went and picked Colt up from Murray's house. Andrew was so excited to meet him.  Kevin came over and they all played some video games and rockband. Colt spent the night in Andrew's room.

Wednesday morning they played together and then we got Tony Lopez and Kevin, both 15, and headed to Elitchs.  I told the teenagers we'd be in the kiddieland and they could go have fun but keep in touch. Andrew finally got to stay in the big tower with the air cannons and foam balls and not ride any rides. When his face was bright red and sweaty, I suggested we go to the water park to cool down. He enjoyed that, but was too nervous to go down the water slides without a life jacket on because he couldn't remember if he could touch the bottom. So we got one for him - and he could touch the bottom with his head and shoulders above water. So he ditched the lifevest and went down the slide more. That was exciting for him. Then he was cold. So we went back to the regular park, I let him try a caramel apple as a snack and we sat on a bench in the sun trying to warm him up. I finally suggested that running around in the ball place would help. So back there we went. When he got hot again, he was ready to go to water.  The boys joined us there, but a few minutes later lightning was nearby so it all shut down. perfect time to go home!  Two of the boys wanted Taco Bell so I took them there before dropping them all off at home one by one.  All in all - a good day for Andrew I think.

Thursday June 18th - I got up to find Andrew already making his favorite breakfast rather than waiting for me to make it.  He got a yogurt and had already stirred it. Then he had a cutting board where he'd sliced some frozen strawberries, and then had a toasted waffle on a plate he was cutting up.  He asked me to help him assemble it - but he did the work!
Thursday night he was chosen for a part where they interviewed three children about their favorite Bible character. He chose David. It took me all week to get Andrew comfortable to just talk about what he knew rather than try to memorize a script of what to say. Just talk from his mind instead.
And when he got dressed, he had a vest and jacket on too and he said, "I look like a little elder don't I?"  He helped the brothers set up the stage and plug in the microphones and then very anxiously waited for his part.
He mentioned how David killed a lion and a bear to protect his fathers sheep, but also killed Goliath who was taunting Jehovah's people. Then he went on to tell a detailed story of how David wanted to stop Goliath and knew Jehovah would be with him always, and went to a river and got five stones and put one in his sling and swung it around. The stone hit Goliath in the forehead and killed him. Then Goliath's army saw him lying on the ground and started to run away with the Israelites chasing after them and David won the battle.  And when he was asked why he'd like to be like David - he said he wanted to have strong faith in Jehovah.   He was so cute. 
After the meeting he said, "I didn't want to do that part. I wanted a longer part."  I told him he was the longest one up there! lol 

There was one day recently when I was trying to clean the house and do laundry, etc.  He came up and announced that he had helped me with the laundry so that I wouldn't have to do everything. So thoughtful.  I went downstairs later and he had taken everything out of the dryer (with ten minutes left on it) and put the slightly damp clothes on my massage table for folding.  Then he took everything from the washer and put it in the dryer and waited for me to push the button.  He's so cute.
He has been better the last week or so about cleaning up all of his toy mess downstairs. I know Daddy has been reminding him.

Friday morning he packed his own backpack with clothes and loveys while daddy packed up the car for camping. Andrew was very excited to be going camping and fishing (he tried to convince me that I didn't have to buy canned food for them because they'd be catching all the food they need to eat) but got a little emotional when the reality set in that I wasn't coming with them.  I sure hope they have fun!
Friday afternoon I got an email notifying me that Andrew was a winner in the Summer Reading week 3 from the library.  He won a family 5 pack of tickets to the Lakeside Amusement Park. That should be fun. A nice surprise for him to learn about when he comes home from camping.