Travelations!!

One of the Kroger grocery stores in town has kid sized shopping carts. So whenever we got to that store, I let Andrew pick out his cart and we use that to shop with. I'm shocked at how much I can stuff in one of those tiny carts. Last week, I was picking up some organic soups and behind me were all the snacks. He picked up a bag of sweet potato and beets chips and asked if he could have them. I  looked at the bag and told him yes he could put them in the cart. A few seconds later he hands me a bag of sweet potato chips and asks if he can have those too.  I held up both bags and I said, 'you can choose one. We don't need both. Just choose one."  So he picked one, put it in the cart, and put the other bag back on the shelf.  Somehow, though, when we went to checkout - I ended up buying both bags of chips.
  This week, he was trying to be all sorts of helpful in picking out things to add to the cart. I caught the sweet potato chips this time, and he asked about the organic cookies instead of just grabbing them. He tried to pick out a "chicken" but the turkey was too heavy for him - but I ended up getting one anyway since I have to cook one for a memorial service this weekend, so that actually was helpful. I got distracted by a potential photography prop when he discovered a stand with glazed donuts. First I said that we don't need those, but then he begged and put them in the cart. I just shook my head at myself and moved along.  In the next aisle he had the freezer open and was digging for ice cream. "But I need my ice cream!"  He was good and didn't fight me on it and we were able to leave without any frozen desserts.

Tuesday morning he was playing games on daddy's ipad when I asked him if he'd like to shower with me. (of course not) He didn't want me to close the door though so I had to coax him into sitting on the floor in the bathroom so I could still run the heater to make the room warm.  His hair stands on end with the exception of the day he showers and it gets wet. Even aloe vera gel won't keep it down all the way.  I have some "natural" but still toxic hair gel and I decided to put a blob in my hand, add some water, and put it in his hair. He totally flipped out on me. I showed him the container and tried to convince him that it was okay and that it is for hair.  He insisted he now needed to shower and get this goo out of his hair.  He wasn't going to have it any other way and I decided to lose that battle and let him shower but I did let him know that I was not happy with how he was behaving. 
  We were now barely on time to leave for school. I just had to brush my teeth and get his shoes on his feet. As I'm finishing up brushing my teeth, I hear a womans voice, "is your mommy there?"  and Andrew talking.  He answered my phone!  He was talking to one of my clients!  (which of course I then got stuck on the phone which made us late leaving)
   While I was on that phone call, he put a long narrow cardboard box (Ted cut eye and arm holes out for him) over his head. He accidentally got it on backwards though and now could not move or see and he started screaming. I asked my client to hold and got Andrew to calm down.  Then he proceeded to stick five "I've been Krogering" stickers to the office floor while I was still trying to help my client. I didn't have time to unstick them once I got off the phone - so glad they came off!

  Tuesday afternoon I went to get him from school. Right after I got there, he grabbed my hand and asked me to please come sit with him as he walked me to their circle rug. The teacher sat down as did most of the children. She then asked how to spell the word 'love' by sounding out each letter. She had a big piece of paper and wrote the letters L O V E across the top as the kids helped her decide the letters. Then they were asked if they did anything today that showed love toward someone else.... the kids came up with playing together, helping each other, and making another one happy as ways of showing love.  Then they were given a sheet of paper, asked who they showed love to/with, and then asked to draw a picture of what they did together with that person.  Andrew and Ella played 'Big Bad Wolf' together so that was their assignment.  The first thing Andrew did was write perfectly L O V E across the middle of the paper!! I was blown away! I know he can write most of his letters, but I've never seen him write a word before.  Ella (she's older than Andrew)  drew a house and made Andrew the wolf on the outside and her as the pig inside.  Then Andrew drew some grass and she drew the sun.  Ella wrote her name on the house and I asked Andrew if he'd like to write his name across the bottom.  He asked for the letters to write and I told him. But instead of writing them in a straight line, he kept trying to individually write the letter somewhere on the page. I had to keep moving his marker to the space where he should write it.  Anyway, I was proud that Andrew wrote the word Love so well.

Thursday Andrew asked me if he could play outside. I consented and went over the rules about staying in the yard, off the fence, to come get me if anyone tries to talk to him at the fence, etc. I was trying to clean house and would check out the door or window every few minutes. I did have to call him out from under the pine trees once. He was following Flash around. The next time I look, I see Flash run up the tree by the house and Andrew looking puzzled. He calls to Flash a few times and then comes up the deck and to the back door. "Mommy, Flash is up in the tree."  "It's okay honey."  "Well can you come out and get him down?"   "No. He'll get down when he's ready."  Andrew walks back outside and talks to Flash again.  Then I see him put his hands on either side of the tree and try to step up. No success. He takes a few steps back and looks up at the tree again. Now Flash jumps down and runs under the deck by going between two steps. Then Andrew goes to the step, turns around and tries to get both feet under and through. After a couple of attempts, he realized he was too big to fit between the steps and finally just runs around the side.  He continued to follow Flash around under the deck, out and around the pool. Finally Flash jumped over the fence into the driveway.  Andrew didn't know I was outside on the deck watching him.  He reached through the fence and tried to touch a few things. Then he saw a branch with leaves on it off to the side and he ran and jumped in it. Then he hurled about five rocks over the fence (I'm guessing he picked them up by the pool earlier.)  Then he threw a ball at the fence, then threw it again making it go over.  Then he stood there by the fence looking absolutely bored and lost with no one to play with.

  Thursday evening Ted change the oil in the car and I suggested he let Andrew help him drive the car back into the spot in the driveway.  Andrew came running in and yelled, "Travelations!! I just drove the car."    "Wow! Was daddy with you?"   "yes"    "Oh good, because we never want to drive the car without mommy or daddy with us, right?"  "Exactly."     
Ted came in after and said Andrew was supposed to tell me he was ready for his driver's license.

I was telling him that we might get to go eat at Amigo's Saturday night with the Perrys.  "Mommy, where is Amingos?"   "You know where Amigo's is. It's over by Target."   "No it's not. It's by Jet's Pizza."   Sheesh... he's more accurate than I am. It is next to Jet's Pizza ... across the huge parking lot from Target. 

It was a couple of months ago that Andrew had a meltdown insisting that he didn't need diapers at night anymore. We tried it diaper-free a couple of times but it wasn't as successful as we'd all hoped. So a few times I compromised and let him keep his underwear on but I still put a diaper on over it. Every night, he'd still say, "I don't need a diaper!" So Ted finally told him, if he can stay dry seven nights in a row - we won't put diapers on him anymore.  He made it!  Wednesday night was night seven and he was dry Thursday morning!! Though I did wake up to him yelling frantically, "I need to go poo!"  Ted had put him back to bed earlier in the morning so he was afraid he wasn't allowed out of bed.  So we've now explained to him (again) that anytime he needs to go to the bathroom, he can get up and go - just don't come get mommy and then go back to bed if it's dark.  We'll see how long it takes for that to sink in. 

I haven't worked with him on it in a while, but he knows all the books of the bible in order from Genesis to Psalms. He has been asking me lately what comes next. So he's working on Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. 

He has almost mastered the snaps on his pants. Sometimes he needs help getting it to stay closed, but he got it pretty quickly I think. Sometimes he can get his socks on by himself and other times he needs help. And his meeting socks - he prefers to be all the way up, not folded over.  And he does not want to wear meeting socks any other time - only to meetings.  And he always has an opinion about what he will wear.

We have trouble with one of our living room lights suddenly blinking like a disco. Andrew has discovered that everything blinks when he opens and closes his eyes really fast. He likes walking around blinking his eyes.

Ted thought it worthy to mention that Andrew has actually been cooperative since he stated that he would no longer be difficult. He's kept his word so far. 

He is officially POTTY TRAINED!! No more diapers at night!  Ted told him if he goes 7 nights staying dry, he'd not have to wear diapers anymore. He did it!  Thursday night was night 7. 

Friday evening we had to drive up to Celina,Tn to pick up a truck Ted was buying. Ted thought it best we not take Andrew along. I tried to find a friend for him to stay with but it didn't work out, so Nana graciously allowed us to leave Andrew there overnight. I am so thankful we did! She said he was absolutely delightful, agreeable and polite being his usual sweet self. We on the otherhand had no cell phone service, it took 20 minutes to find the motel in the pitch black, it was freezing cold inside, no hot water either.  We got little sleep before heading to the car lot - where we encountered just an unknowledgeable secretary of the misleading and lying car dealer who wouldn't even show up.  After an hour of being there, we finally get on our way only to have the truck die and leave us stranded on the side of the interstate for over an hour waiting for a tow truck. I'm so glad Andrew was not along for that.  I'm sure he had more fun at Nana's anyway and got to play with his cousins for a little while too.
He fell asleep in the car on the way home, I brought him inside when he woke up but he didn't want to let go of me. So I sat in the recliner and he fell asleep again on me for another hour.  We got up, showered and left again to go to a memorial service dinner (we missed the funeral) and ended up missing dinner too since everyone had already eaten by the time we got there.  But - the Perry family was there and Andrew had a blast running around playing with them. Then we went to Amigos to have some dinner and got to be with the Perry's longer.  Amber collected some quarters and asked if Andrew could get a toy with them from the vending machine. I said yes to the toy - but he came back with a handful of m&ms.  I didn't take them away from him, but knew I'd regret it.
 Sure enough... Sunday he was disagreeable, defiant, headstrong, emotional, sassy, mean, and fighting us every step of the way over everything. That's what food coloring does to him. It was exhausting.

Monday morning I was adding all the 4T pants to his closet and he was standing on his toy box throwing a ball into his basketball hoop. Each time I handed the ball back to him, he said, "Thank you Princess Mommy! Thank you for giving the ball back to me."  

"I'm not going to be difficult anymore."

Friday, November 9th. I pulled Andrew up into my bed and let him snuggle with me. He chatted away telling me all sorts of stories. The only one that stuck in my mind is when he used the phrase, "when I have a little sister"  ... twice!  Not sure why he thinks he will have one of those.

Saturday started off nicely. Andrew came in our room softly asking his usual question: "Mommy, where's daddy?"  I tell him to come here and then scoop him up and lay him in the middle of the bed as I ordinarily would if I'm already awake. He turns over and is pleasantly surprised to see daddy there too! So we all cuddle and chat for a bit. We leisurely have breakfast. Then it's time to get ready for the ministry work.  Andrew became a different kid. It was "but I dont want to brush my teeth... I don't want to wear those ... I don't want to _____ (fill in the blank with anything at all that you ask him to do.)  He was still cooperating to some degree while objecting to it all, but he was making it go slower. We ended up getting to Kingdom Hall late.
He was perfect through the meeting and afterward. We had Rick Mann and his daughter Delilah who is just over a week younger than Andrew with us. They shared books and toys most of the morning. At daddy's first call he even remembered the dog's name was Rex. Then we went on to the next call but I couldn't remember the guys name. Every wednesday when we drive down Duplex Rd to head toward gymnastics, Andrew asks about this guy.  So on our way to his house, I ask Andrew who lived up here. Interrupted from his etch-o-sketch, he looks around blankly and asks,"Jehovah?"  I laugh and after another moment's pause he suggests, "Jesus?"   I finally get him to look around and told him it was the guy who is often sitting outside his house.. and he said, "Oh! Randall"   Well.... he was close. It turned out to be Wendell.

The McDonalds in town has been getting a remodel. Although it used to say "Playplace" on the front, it now says it on the side. And I think that is when Andrew notices it the most. We were driving by the other day and he would have lept out of his seat with excitement had he not been buckled. He practically yelled "Play Place!!" and repeatedly told me to look that there was a new place to play.  So... we took him to McDonalds to play. He was super excited and could hardly contain himself. Right after we got there, a birthday party group arrived. A bunch of squealing girls. It was quite overwhelming. He kept telling me he wanted a cupcake so I told him what they were for, and that we could get our own cupcakes after dinner if he'd like. He wasn't ready to leave yet so he played longer before asking again.  I finally coaxed him into leaving and we offered him his choice of dinner.

Andrew wanted to go to Olive Garden for the "soup with the balls in it"  (Chicken and Gnocchi). Then we gave him the choice of dessert: ice cream, or cupcakes.  He chose ice cream. I even let him get a few m&m's in his ice cream even though they had food coloring.  He kept asking me if they have food coloring - so I think I confused him by letting him have them this time when he's been told no so many times before. 

After ice cream we went to target. I asked him if he'd like to pick out a new toothbrush. First he chose a winnie-the-pooh one and was singing that theme song. However, while we were reading toothpaste boxes,  he successfully tested out one of the electronic toothbrushes they had on display. So we shoed him the kid sized ones that were electronic and gave him the choice (the only had Thomas or one that came with stickers you could decorate yourself.)  We ended up buying him the Thomas the Train spinning toothbrush, and I got him some kids strawberry flavored toothpaste with no dye.  He was excited to brush his teeth that evening... and every time since. He is doing a better job now too. (and hopefully, he'll be less interested in brushing the mirror, and the sink, and the faucet - and everything else other than his teeth.)

That night, before going to brush his teeth... he was with Daddy. Ted said that it was like Andrew had stopped and reflected on things. Then he turned to daddy and said, "Daddy, I'm not going to be difficult anymore. And I'll stop whining."   Ted was taken aback a bit - and sure enough, that evening there were no battles over brushing teeth, wearing diapers, getting into jammies and going to bed.
Ted had also explained to him, that if he can stay dry 7 nights in a row, we won't make him wear a diaper anymore.  As of my writing this... he has been dry 4 nights.  We'll see how it goes.

He was an angel all of Sunday too. Very well behaved and cooperative and obedient. Not that he's usually the opposite of all that, but he's had his moments. Usually those moments come when we're all too tired.

Shredded sweet.

In the bathtub Andrew knocked on the wall and said, "Knock knock"  I asked "Who's there?"  He said, "nana!"  I said, "Nana who?"  He looked at me funny and said, "Nana Asta!"

Andrew was sent outside to get his shoes he left by the sandpile. While climbing the deck stairs to come back there was a loud rumble of thunder. He said, "Oh Dear!"  and hustled back in.

I've had three Cars themed metal wall hangings for several years. One is Lightning McQueen, one is Mater, and one is Ramones. I've always liked them but never really found the perfect place to hang them. Ted found them and showed them to Andrew and asked if he'd like them in his room. So when Ted was finished hanging them, Andrew looked up and said, "Oooh! I like that!"

There has been an old box of shredded wheat in the cabinet for who knows how long. Every once in a while, Andrew opens it and eats a few. One day he grabbed it and said, "I need some shredded sweet" and poured some in a bowl to eat from.

Friday the weather was gorgeous. We played outside for a while. He and Flash kitty were like a Calvin and Hobbes being busy side by side and playing together.  They even huddled under the bushes next to the fence and dug in the dirt.  Eventually, Flash laid down on the steps. Andrew then got a pile of leaves and carefully put them on the bottom step in a nice rounded pile.  Then he told me he made me a salad. I asked him what kind of salad.... it was a salad with ice cream and strawberries!
  A little later we moved to the sand pit. He was using a soup ladel to scoop sand into the back of a small toy dump truck. Then the dump truck would dump the sand into a tiny little flower pot. Then the sand would get sifted through the two tiny holes in the bottom of the flower pot into something else.  After a while, he made a bowl out of a deflated four-square ball, filled it with sand, and told me he needed to put it in the oven. I asked him where the oven was and he nodded his head in the direction of the pool pump. I suggested we use his overturned sandtable, put the lid on top of the legs - it made a perfect oven space. When he tried to carry his 'cake batter' though it was a little too heavy and started to spill so he asked me to take it. He opened the 'oven' door and I set the cake in it and he closed the pretend door.  We went back and played in the sand until the cake was ready. He was really excited to have made a cake that all his friends could share.  I asked him which friends were coming to eat his yummy cake and he listed all of the Perry family by name.  Then he pretended to "wake up his friends" that were sleeping in the tonka trucks and we all ate cake.

Apparently he hates corduroy pants.

Another Wednesday - another morning of gymnastics. I decided to try another month.  As soon as he found out, he started telling me he didn't want to go. He needs something to do that's active and we're hoping his little friend will join soon.  Anyway, we go there and I sent him out and he jumped in the pit for a while. As soon as the instructor asked for his class to come together and get started, he burst into tears. I got him started in the stretching, and slowly backed away as they did more. Before long, I was back in the parent area and he was participating just fine. He kept checking to be sure I was still watching, but he did great.  And he had fun despite his efforts to claim he didnt and wouldn't.

This week his favorite color has been yellow, and his favorite shape a triangle. 

"I'm having FUN!"

Thursday we had some running around to do early in the morning. Andrew was fabulous as usual. I took him to the library where he played with the train table for a while, did the Creative Movement dance class, then some art on the computer, then back to the train table. One of the other moms asked me how old he was and told me that he is so kind and plays well with the others.  Always nice to hear.

I bought Andrew his own small flashlight to have since he's  often wanting ours and we don't want the battery to run out on it.  Thursday evening after I had put him to bed already, I saw a soft blue light under his door. Then I got closer and heard him giggle. I went in there and he was shining the flashlight at the ceiling.  He had gotten out of bed, grabbed his flashlight off the bookshelf, and tucked himself back in. I told him it was time to sleep and took the flashlight away and told him he could play with it another time.

Sunday we had an impromptu photoshoot behind Annelise's house. I set up my camera so all she had to do was take the photos. At one point, she was taking photos of Ted and me and Andrew was repeatedly running down the hill and leaping, throwing himself into the tall grass.
  We went to her hall after lunch. When he was given a chance to read his answer during the Watchtower - he yelled the first word, shrunk back in his seat and said,  "oh, that was loud." That of course made the now very awake congregation chuckle. We convinced him to go ahead and try again and he did fine, but he seemed very self-conscious and disappointed in himself.
   After changing into play clothes, we took him to a place to ride go-carts and play some arcade games. He enjoyed that. Skeeball was a little scary to be around. He'd throw the ball and there was no telling where it'd go - but it'd come back somehow.  Then we went to Jim n Nicks for dinner. He ordered "a quesadilla and mac n cheese, and that's all!" while emphatically waving his open hand at the waitress with each word.

Monday - he started telling all of us things followed by "that's your two options" or "eleven options"
I let him go out early and play in the sandpile in the yard. He came running in and said he needed a steam roller and took my rolling pin out of the drawer before heading back outside.
   Later, we were in the office and he was rummaging in my drawers. He found a giant bag of rubberbands. He dumped them out into a "sand pile" and a couple of minutes later was tossing them up and they were landing all over the room. He cheerfully yelled, "I'm having FUN!"  I let him do it - then let him and daddy clean it up together later.

Tuesday, Nana and Andrew tagged along to one of my photoshoots. As soon as we start the car, he asks for "kingdom hall music".  He was belting out the words to "Preach the word" and it really was adorable and hilarious at the same time to listen to it.  Nana was nearly in stitches.

Tuesday evening I let him watch a video while he ate, to encourage him to eat more before bed. The video wasn't over when he was finished eating so I stopped it and told him he could watch it tomorrow.  Wednesday morning he came in my room at 6:47 and the first words out of his mouth, "I want my video."

Wednesday it was back to gymnastics, but this time we had a friend from the hall. Parker is the same age and absolutely fearless. It was perfect. The teacher couldn't be there today so they had to join the younger group but they didn't seem to mind. And at the end I requested that they let Parker ride the zip line in front of Andrew - and sure enough, that made Andrew want to ride it. They both had so much fun. They were rewarded (without permission) with candy. Both of them picked something red. Andrew had a twizzler. I let him eat it anyway, but it made for a more stressful afternoon and evening. He got a little wild, then he got mean. He'd kick you on purpose, do the opposite of whatever you said, and overall was just unpleasant to be around.  I wish red dye was banned.

Wednesday evening he read his answer but held onto the mic. He took a quick breath and started to say "I love you" as we whisked the microphone away from him. Everyone else only heard "i love"  
He has also recently caught on to the routine of passing the microphone down to whoever is commenting.  He got very upset when I passed the microphone directly to each other instead of letting Andrew help.

Thursday was gorgeous. Shorts and t-shirt weather. He played in his sand pit with his tonka trucks and tools and my rolling pin. I pushed him on the swings a bit, and he climbed his fort several times.
Later I was preoccupied in the kitchen and decided to let him have the rest of his train table that I've been hiding. I brought him a big box of wooden tracks and trains and cars to drive on them. He loved it! I even managed to put all the track together so it all fit and looped around and over so everything was connected. He's enjoying it so far.
 He was in my room and was stepping into my tennis shoes. He told me, "these are just like Aunt Eese's she used to jump on fire and she had her piggy tails to help her and she jumped over like Andy." He was remembering seeing pictures at her house of her jumping over fire during the Warrior Dash. She also had a photo of another friend jumping the fire who he thought was Andy Zylstra.
  In the evening we were all outside for a little bit. Andrew asked if he could use his go-cart but I told him it didn't work. We needed to charge the battery and we were unsure of where the charger was. He said, "It's probably in the freezer."  "In the freezer? I dont think it's there." I say.  Then Ted realized the connection - we keep batteries in the freezer and in his mind, the go-cart just needs a new battery.
  I got him to take a bath and put some dish soap in to give him some soapy bubbles to play in. He asked for a cup. He kept filling the cup and dumping water over his toy sailboat. A little later he took the washcloth and threw it to the back of the tub, then stood up and flung cups of water at it. With a huge grin on his face he squealed, "I'm having fun!" 

"I'll fix you. What's your problem?"

Last Saturday Ted got to take Andrew to "touch a truck" where there was all kinds of tractors, machines, commercial trucks, etc. Andrew had a blast climbing in them and on them, and also experienced his first funnel cake.
Saturday afternoon someone came over to jump in our very cold pool. She didn't feel the water, just jumped in and decided it was much colder than she expected, and colder than 66 degrees sounds.  Then Ted plunged in, followed by Andrew. As soon as Andrew hit the water he let out a long yell, but then was ready to do it again.  None of them lasted too long in the water, but Andrew enjoyed getting to do a polar bear plunge.  The pool was set up just in time for the weather to get too cool for swimming - so they were the first ones ever to swim in the new pool!

Tuesday I was really tired when I had to go pick up Andrew from school. He never wants to leave but usually when I explain that it's time to go home, all the kids go home, that he can come back another day, and it's time to say goodbye to Spring Hollow - he'll at least comply and come. Not Tuesday. I was too tired to battle it. So I had our usual conversation and he refused to come. I took his lunch bags and backpack to the car and came back in. He never noticed I was gone. I got down next to him and made him look at me, "Andrew, it is time to go home. I am leaving, and I would like you to come with me."   .... "No."    So I got up and headed for the door. I paused for just a moment at the door, he looked at me, and I went out.  Then he came running out bawling because he thought I was going to leave him.  I didn't say anything, just scooped him up and walked to the car as he cried.  I got him settled in his seat and got him to calm down and use his words to tell me what he was feeling. Then I explained to him that I would never leave him here, but I was going to sit outside and wait because I was too tired and overwhelmed to force him to come. That he needs to listen and obey. That the next time I ask him to come - he needs to do it.  He listened, took a deep breath and said,"Okay. Okay mommy."   We'll see how long it takes before we have that situation again.

Wednesday, I waited until the last minute to get him dressed and tell him we were going to Let It Shine. He burst into tears and asked if I was going to leave him there.  I assured him I was going to stay, that it is a safe place, and that Ms. Ray is there to help him. I suggested that maybe today mommy would get to help too.  He kept telling me that he was scared of the zip line and the balance beams and that he'd fall and get hurt and have to go to the hospital. I assured him that wouldn't happen. I told him that if he doesn't know how to do something, he asks Ms Ray to help him and wait for her to be able to.  Once we got there, he was very clingy. He wouldn't even sit next to me - he had to sit on me.  I spoke to Ms. Ray and she said this time I could stay with him and help him get comfortable. So we did some stretches and then slowly guided him to try things by feeling them first and talking about them. It was fantastic!! And it turned out - he was the only one who showed up for class today! So he had me and Ms. Ray all to himself.  He jumped in the soft foam block pit, on all the trampolines (on the long one he'd hop all the way to the end and then leap onto the soft pad doing a complete bellyflop faceplant and then getting up laughing), did somersaults and rolls on the wedges, stood on his hands upside down with his feet on the wall,  hung on the bars, did some kicks and jumps, etc. He did great!  He even walked on the balance beams all by himself a few times.  We're hoping that he'll feel more comfortable with all of it now and won't need me by his side for all the classes.
  Oh, and during his playtime at gymnastics, he told Ms. Ray that he was born in Wisconsin. I said, "No you weren't! You were born in Nashville."  He said, "No, I was born in Wisconsin."  "No honey, I was there. You were born in Nashville."   Then Ms. Ray told him she was born in Thailand. He said, "I want to live in Thailand."  Then started saying something about his grandma living in California.

 I had a doctors appointment after gymnastics. He was great there too.  Once the nurse left, he got on the doctors chair and said, "I'll fix you. What's your problem?"  LOL

Scared of Gymnastics

Wednesday morning Andrew woke up around 2:30 to tell me he was hungry. He wanted a bar which I knew would take forever to eat since he likes to socialize while he eats. So I offered him a piece of cheese and fixed some chocolate almond milk with green superfoods, vitamins, herbs, and protein powder, and sent him back to bed.  It took me to around 4:20 to fall back asleep. He was up again shortly after asking if he could get up and play with toys. Seriously? SLEEP!  But then he stayed in bed until almost 8am!! That was a nice surprise.
  Wednesday was his first day of gymnastics class at 9:30am. He has often asked to go to Let It Shine, but today he said he didn't want to go. I took him anyway. There was only one boy in his class that looked like a regular, and then a visiting boy and girl. So four kids total and one teacher. All of them seemed to have trouble paying attention and following directions. The teacher handled them great. Andrew was doing all the stretches and bars and flips fine at first. Then they lined up for the zip line. He completely fell apart. I was watching from far away and I couldn't tell if he was hurt or scared, but the teacher seemed to be handling it fine. I saw him start resisting her and decided it was time to intervene. She was telling him he didn't have to do it, but he just wanted me and wanted us to go home. I talked him into staying and just watching. Then they moved into another room where they had to jump, do flips, crawl through tunnels, walk across a balance bar, etc. We sat and watched for a minute and then he decided he was ready to try again. And he enjoyed it as long as I was there.  Then they got to jump into a soft pit of squishy squares for a while before doing another obstacle course.  The first trick was to lay on their back on a big soft round thing and then the teacher helps the kids flip over it. Again, Andrew got scared and started crying. I convinced him to just watch for a minute and if he wasn't ready for it, he could skip it and go to the next obstacle. So back in he went.  The teacher was so great with him.   And he ultimately did give it a try and succeeded and was very proud of himself.

Thursday morning Andrew slept in until 7am for which I am grateful. Every extra 30 minutes of sleep I get helps tremendously!  He helped me pick up the few toys that were out and we vacuumed the floors. He helped me do laundry. He jumped on his trampoline, did some tracing in his workbooks, played with toys. He was being super sweet all morning.  He ate quite a bit for lunch and then around 12:55 he said, "mommy, I'm getting worn out." Then he went potty, turned his air purifier on and crawled into bed! I tucked him in and gave him the rest of his drink to finish.  Love days like this!

Friday morning on the way to school, Andrew got a very firm tone in his voice and said, "Stop Andrew. Stop!"  I asked him what he was telling to stop. Then in a matter of fact way he said, "I was telling my finger to stop hurting."

I explained to Andrew at home and again before going in, that I couldn't stay at school at all today. I had to go to work.  I helped him get his things organized and asked for a hug and said goodbye. He was totally okay with it!  The teacher said that mid-way through the day they were playing music and slowing down and Andrew started to miss me. He told her, "I think I'm ready to go home now."  She explained to him what time it was and what time mommy was going to come back and he perked up.  He also got tired at some point and said he wanted to go home and nap, and he noticed that they don't sleep at school. You could really see in his eyes today that he was tired and needed one.  Yet, when I came, he was excited to see me but said he wasn't ready to go home. He wanted me to go back home and stay. I reminded him that everyone else had to go home too. So I waited for all the parents to show up and he could see all the other kids leaving. Then he was more agreeable, though he still wanted to stay and play.

I got two small hula-hoops and a velcro catch game for just $1 at a yard sale Friday.  Andrew told daddy he got a hoop-a-loop.  so cute!

He also says 'slippy' instead of slippery.  I put lotion with essential oils on his feet and he tells me his feet are slippy.


Sunday morning, Andrew says, "Can we go somewhere?"  I ask, "Where do you want to go?" 
"To Kroger. To get daddy something to eat."   I ask, "What does daddy want to eat?"
"Meat. Daddy wants to eat meat."    (mind you, daddy is still in bed sleeping.)

 Andrew to mom: "When I get bigger I can drive the car. And when you get little, you can sit in the car seat." 

When it started sprinkling outside, said in a very dramatic tone, "Daddy! Oh no! It's dripping!"

"I'm not a kid anymore. I'm the boss!"  (hmmmm)  He's been getting lessons from daddy lately that mommy and daddy are the boss and that Andrew doesn't get to tell them what to do.

Tuesday it was pleasant outside. We spent almost an hour outside on the school playground waiting for daddy to get off work. Then we met up and headed to the mall. Daddy needed something for his phone and mommy needed to go bra shopping. We were there for four hours! Andrew was an angel the entire time! Very obedient and well behaved and polite.  When we were heading to the last store to try I told Andrew that since he's been so good, we can get him a treat after the next store. We walk into the store and he goes up to the clerk, "Excuse me, do you have any treats?"  I finally sent him and daddy to the cookie store by themselves. Oh, and Andrew loved riding on the "eskewlators"

Wednesday, October 10th. Back to Let It Shine.  This time it was just him and another little boy who was doing a trial class. A different teacher.  They started off jumping in the jump house, and then did the zip line - which Andrew did twice! The other little kid was not a very good listener and kept running off to do his own thing and the teacher had to leave Andrew and go get him (while Andrew was in the jump house and on the zip line).  The teacher thinks that it is that scenario (being left alone for a minute) that made Andrew freak out and start crying.  After that - it was pretty much over. He refused to do anything. I asked him to tell me what was wrong and he said he was scared. I asked him what he was scared of and he said the teacher and the other kids scared him.  We just sat on the bleachers and watched the entire time. 
  He's having a morning of "I don't want to..."  and I've pretty much been ignoring it rather than acknowledge it at all.  A couple of times in the car I told him he was not being nice and then I turned his music off as a consequence. He didn't like that.  Once we got home he didn't want to get out of his seat (but did), didn't want to wear his shoes (but I silently put them on him anyway and walked to the door.)  He didn't want to come in, and although he started to come up the front steps, he then turned and ran down the sidewalk. I put everything I was carrying down and walked back out. I never said a word. I just walked toward him and he started saying, "don't spank me!"  I scooped him up and started walking in the house and he's practically grabbing my face asking, "are you going to spank me? are you going to spank me mommy?"  I never answered. I set him down inside and told him we needed to wash our hands.  This was the first time ever he didn't fight me on that.
  Then I sat down at the computer for a minute. He came in, picked up a toy and threw it across the room. I didn't acknowledge him. He leaves  and I hear him say, "Stop that attitude!" and he slammed my door. I didn't do anything.  Then a minute later he opens the door gently and said, "Mommy, I'm sorry I slammed the door."  I immediately turned around with a smile on my face and said, 'thank you' as I opened my arms for a hug. Then he had my undivided attention.  He told me that he threw a toy on the floor. I said, "I know, I heard you do it."  Then he told me he yelled and slammed the door. I said, "Yes, I heard that too."   Then he told me he said 'sorry' and I smiled big again and said, "Yes! And I appreciate that."   He told me he was "ready to cooperate." 
   Then he called me into his room and asked for a couple of toys that were up high in his closet. I got them down for him. He asked me to build something for him and I asked him if he could try. He told me he couldn't try. So I said, "well then why should I? If you're not going to try, then I'm not going to try either."   Guess what?  He started building some pretty neat things and showing them to me. I commended him for trying and said, "see! see what happens when you try!" He just smiled and laughed as he played with his inventions.

Another new school

Sunday I bought a small trampoline from another lady in town. She even delivered it. I left it outside at first but when we were listening to the meeting by phone (Ted has bronchitis and Andrew is coughing) Andrew was just too noisy. So I brought it in. He got all excited, "Is that for me?!!"  It took less than five minutes for him to start jumping from the trampoline to the couch and vise versa. He is really enjoying having it. 

Well, we made it a full three years before he got sick to the point of vomiting. Not sure what caused it. He's had a cough for a couple of weeks like everyone else we know, but hasn't ever acted sick.  Monday morning at 2:28a.m. I awoke to him crying hysterically for daddy. I ran in there and calmed him down and asked him what he needed. He calmly said, "I need a drink."  I said, "Okay, I'll get you a drink." He burped.. and then all of a sudden started throwing up over and over. I yelled to Ted to come help me. He brought some towels and when there was a pause, he ran Andrew to the bathroom. I got everything cleaned up, got him some water to rinse his mouth with, and some juice to drink.  Then it was back to bed. The entire incident was only about 35 minutes from start to finish and we were back in bed.
  He was talking around 4:30, babbling a bit at 5, and up at 6:30. He said he was feeling fine and wanted to go to school, but it didn't seem right. So... he missed his first day of school. I'm glad I kept him home. He cuddled into a pillow on the couch around 12:15 and I stroked his head and then laid on the floor. I checked at 12:30 and he was asleep.  He woke up around 1 and moved to his bed and slept until around 3:30.  He had no appetite all day which is unusual.

  Tuesday morning he woke up feeling much better. He still has that lingering cough. I asked him if he wanted to go to school today or if he wanted to stay home. He said he wanted to go.  A few minutes later, he let Flash inside and I overheard, "Flash kitty -  you want to go to Spring Hollow?"  

   I have been trying to teach him to say 'no thank you' if there is something he is offered that he does not want. Well, Tuesday morning, I was the one being corrected.  I was sitting on the potty and Andrew came in and offered me an envelope with sticky tape on it. I told him, "I'm on the potty, I don't want that right now."  He turned to leave and then looked at me and in a low tone said, "no thank you."  I smiled and said, "yes, you're right. No thank you is a much nicer way to say that."

  He seemed to enjoy his first day at Spring Hollow Early Learning Center. Before getting off the front steps, he had to double check that I was not going to leave him at the school alone. I told him I would stay for a little while and I wouldn't leave until he felt settled.  He double checked again before sitting in his car seat.  It felt a bit overwhelming when we got there. Lots of kids and parents and activity. Andrew was being a bit bashful and really just wanted to play with the wooden car tracks alone. A few people came to introduce themselves but Andrew made minimal conversation and went back to what he was doing.  At circle time (to get their day started) he was a little chatterbox at first, but as more kids collected to the circle and things started getting more organized, he clammed up and observed.
   Soon the kids were allowed to choose their activities. Andrew was trying to play with the wooden tracks again. The elevator of the garage wasn't working so the teacher gave him a screw driver, they took it apart, analyzed how to fix it, and put it back together. He really liked that.  Then all of a sudden he announced, "I want my rain boots."  He was very confused about where his belongings were. He was checking his lunchbox looking for his raincoat. I helped him locate his raincoat and went outside and showed him where his rainboots were. He wanted to ride the bikes so I got a helmet for him and off he went. After one ride along the sidewalk, I asked him if I could go home now and come back at 3 o'clock to get him. He said 'yes.'  I went inside to talk to the teacher briefly, and then asked again when I came out. He said I could leave!
   They said he was playful and seemed to fit in just fine over the course of the day. I was told he was the only child who said, "may I please be excused" after finishing his lunch.  They were in circle time for reflection when I got there. When he saw me, he came running out and said he wanted to go home with a big smile on his face. I told him we'd leave in a little bit, but he could finish in circle time. Then he decided he didn't really want to go home, he wanted to stay and play. It took some convincing for him to realize - everyone - was going home. I told him he'd be back on Friday.

   Tuesday evening I was exhausted and volunteered the idea that we all sit on the couch to eat our homemade nachos/taco salads and watch a movie.  At one point, Ted asked him if he was finished chewing the bite in his mouth. He started to pretend chewing to avoid taking another bite right away!
He's so silly.   But I'd say his first day at school was a success. He was even pleasant all evening despite the changes and having no nap.

"I washed my hands.... yesterday"

Last week, when Andrew was having one of those days where he was looking for praise:  He went into my bathroom, used the potty, then unraveled the entire roll of toilet paper. Then he started to roll it back up and called me in. He was so pleased with himself, "Mommy! I rolled it up just like daddy!" (he really rolled up only half of it and then tore it off leaving the other half piled on the floor.)  What he forgot was, the last time he unrolled the paper, daddy was upset with him and rolled it up himself. Andrew was forgetting that unrolling the paper was not good, but he was hoping for praise for rolling it back up.  I had to give him some clarification, that yes, rolling it back up was nice for him to try and do - but it would have been better if he didn't unroll it in the first place.  Silly boy.

He's been telling me lately that I'm a "silly goose" or getting someone else to laugh and then telling them "you're silly!"

Saturday daddy ran in the Warrior Dash with Barry Chumley. I told him that they were in a race.  "*gasp*  I want to race in a racecar too!"  I told him they were running, not driving. All morning he asked me if he could go race with them too.   Then he was telling everyone he met that his daddy ran in the grass and then got all dirty. (he saw the photo of Barry and Daddy all covered in mud.) 
We met up with Joy and Barry and daddy at Jim 'n Nicks for lunch in Murfreesboro and then went to the Nissan Family Fun Day in Smyrna. We had less than two hours before it closed, but he got to ride all the kiddy rides and bounce in a bunch of inflatables.  He had fun.  Since we weren't too far away, we popped in to see Nana and Papa.  Kaleb came over too and the boys ran around the yard, racing, playing ball, and throwing frisbees. They played with legos for a little bit and then it was time to go.

Monday I had to photograph a house for a realtor and Andrew ended up having to come with me. He was pretty good, but a huge distraction to me at the same time. It was a little past lunch time when I was done so I asked him where he'd like to go. "How about Olive Garden?" he asked.  We both ordered soup. When he was done, he was telling me some story. I'm not sure what was going on in the story but I understood that someone was crying. I asked him why the kid was crying and he looked me in the eyes and said, "Because he was in a lot of pain, like you mommy."  My heart sunk. He deserves so much better than this. I hate that he is so in tune to me being in pain - it obviously affects him. 

Tuesday I took him to a gymnastics class. There were about 8 young kids his size and 2 trainers. They were flipping over bars, tumbling, bouncing, jumping on trampolines, etc. He LOVED it! So I signed him up to go every Wednesday at 9:30a.m.  We're going to have a busy week with school Monday and Tuesday, gymnastics Wednesday, Thursday will be a whatever day, and school Friday!

Wednesday night, we were getting him ready for bed. Ted said, "you're getting so big!"  Andrew says, "No! I want to stay little."   Then when he crawled into bed and started saying his prayer, he prayed that he would "stay little."  so sweet.

Thursday morning I told Andrew we were going to go to Nashville, and maybe we could go get some fruit snacks at Costco.  Later he was driving his fire truck around and asked me to come to his "pretend costco".  A little later he said, "my grandma is coming. my grandma is coming to my costco and she's gonna be happy, did you know that?" 
  While at Costco, Andrew saw the toys and there was a nice Tonka Helicopter. He picked out the orange one, I think it was a coast guard helicopter. I was interested too until I saw it was 19.99. I decided I'd pass and check it out online (where it ranges from 26-35!) and told Andrew that it costs too much money. Then he started following us around saying, "I need some money to buy the helicopter!"  then I heard "I need to buy some money to get the helicopter."  Poor kid, he knew he needed money but really had no idea how to get some. I nearly caved in because it was pretty schnazzy and it was BIG and he loves helicopters and planes.  
   When I was checking out, I had Nana take him toward the exit and look at a real motorcycle to give them something to do.  When we were leaving, he kept asking if he can "have the motorcycle at my house?"  We told him he has to grow up big and have a job.  

Thursday evening we were eating rotisserie chicken and mashed sweet potato and Andrew excuses himself to go potty. When he comes back, daddy asks, "did you remember to wash your hands?"  Andrew starts climbing back up in his seat and says, "I washed my hands  (big pause)   yesterday."  We both busted out laughing.  He hasn't quite grasped what 'yesterday' means as opposed to 'today' so even when he talks about what he wants to do today, he'll tell you it was yesterday.  Just the way he said it was hilarious to us.

Andrew has been SO GOOD this week - listening and obeying and being kind. Probably because we got out of the house more. 

Three - "I'm older now"

Saturday evening he chose long sleeved pajamas to wear. He got in them all on his own and then promptly pushed the sleeves up to his elbows. I asked him why he was pushing his sleeves up and he says, "So I can get some air on my arms."

Every single night he cries begging us to let him wear underwear to bed. He is dry most nights, but the nights he's not - that diaper is f-u-l-l!  I think it will get easier when it gets darker earlier and we're not outside so late, and thus eating dinner later.

Sunday he was SO good during the meeting. Sure I had to threaten him a couple of times, but overall, he was quiet, responding when I told him to stop doing something, and relatively still in his seat. Daddy had to be on stage to read the watchtower lesson, and Andrew decided to sit in daddy's usual seat on the end of the aisle.  We had an answer prepared for him on paragraph 4.  During the discussion of paragraph 3, however, he gets out of his seat and says, "Mommy, I need to go potty."  I tell him to wait because his answer is in the next paragraph and he'd miss it if we go now. He looks at me blankly and says, "But I need to go pee pee."  So I tell him to get back in the seat and try to hold it until after he gives his answer, and he can go after. So he gets in his seat and holds his hand down there pushing in to keep the pee in.  He patiently waits for paragraph 4 to be read and a scripture to be read... gives his answer perfectly clearly "Jehovah saved him (David) from a lion and a bear." The second he was done - he leaps out of his seat, turns to me and holds his hand out and says, "you don't take me to the bathroom" and ran to the bathroom.  I decided to wait until everyone stopped answering on our side of the hall to go back there, or when the next paragraph would be read. I looked at the clock just to take note of the time.  Everyone else in the hall that saw him run off by himself was really nervous and couldn't believe I was letting him go by himself.  I had 95% confidence he'd be fine.  Anyway, he came running back after just two minutes. I didn't even get a chance to check on him.  I knew he'd gone, too, because his tie was now tucked into his pants.
After the meeting, several came up to me and said they were nervous in my behalf and nearly went to check too!  I probably won't do that again, but I did want to see what would happen.  It's not like I help him in the bathroom anyway.

Monday - he's officially THREE!   He has been excited about turning three since we told him last week. About a month ago, Ted was using the rototiller outside and Andrew asked if he could use it. Daddy said, "not until you're older."   When we told him that he wasn't going to be two anymore, he said, "I'm older!" I said, "yes you are. we get older every day."  Then he got excited and said, "I can use the tiller because I'm older!"   It was sad to bust that little bubble.

Monday we toured a new possible school for him. Spring Hollow Early Learning Center.  Its a very organic natural environment and toys. They are encouraged to explore and examine and evaluate the things around them that they are interested in. They learn to problem solve and understand their emotions.  It was very interesting to observe. Andrew immediately felt safe, included, accepted, and wanted to be involved there. When I tried to get us out the door he first tried to ignore me, then wanted to show me more things, and finally told me he didn't want to leave - even if it meant lunch with daddy at Red Lobster.  We got outside, and in the pouring down rain, he stops and just bursts into tears crying that he wanted to stay.  After that, he kept referring to it as "my new school" - so I guess we're going to give it a try even though the schedule is not convenient for me.

So on Wednesday I was doing laundry and Andrew came up to me and said, "Mom. Mac is in the hospital." 
I said, "yes she is. Would you like to say a prayer for her to have strength and to feel better?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Would you like to say it, or do you want me to?"
"I'll say it. On the phone."  He picks up his toy phone and says, "Dear Jehovah, please and thank you for Mac and strength and please help us feel better...."  

Thursday he asked to watch 'Listen Obey and Be Blessed.' so we're watching it. Then the Obey Jehovah part talks about magic and how it's bad. He turns to me and tells me princess Pea (from super why) uses a magic wand to write a C. (and all the letters). He's putting two and two together here.

WHY does everything have to have magic in it?  Some of the other times he's mentioned magic, I told him it's not really magic, it's science. Ted said, "I just tell him it's not real magic. They just say it's magic because it's too difficult to explain to the other little kids. He seems to get that."

He's also recently asked what the expressions "Oh my God" and "Oh Jeez" means. And what "respect" means.  He's a real thinker.

He's still intrigued with the function of his intestines. He pulls out his book that shows the inside of our body and asks about the bones and the organs.  We've talked a little bit about veins carrying the blood around - but his favorite part is still the intestines.  Even after he poops he'll tell me, "that came out of my intestines." LOL

Oh, and I discovered this week that when he goes potty by himself, he is now standing without  a stepstool! Not sure how I missed this. Maybe because he takes himself potty all the time? I was impressed though. 

Friday evening he had a chiropractic adjustment. He's been coughing the past week, mostly when he's lying down, but 1-2 times during the day too. Hoping the adjustment will help him get over whatever it is.  He weighed in at 32.8 pounds and 38-3/4 inches tall. He did awesome. No tears or fussing.
Afterward, we went to Fulin's for dinner. He got the green dragon roll and ate the entire thing by himself using chopsticks all by himself without dropping any of it, and 1.5 pieces of crab rangoon, one entire piece of my big crazy roll,  a few bites of fried rice and a bite of general tso's chicken, two cookies, and two full cups of lemon water.  Wow! Almost sounds like the hungry caterpillar.
After dinner we went to Target to find a lunchbox for him to take to school. In the clearance section, I line up every option and ask him to choose which one he likes. He pointed to most of them and said he likes those - but then I asked him to pick just one that he'd like to take to school. He picks up a nice one that is designed to look like an owl and says, "I like this one. It's gorgeous!"  I laugh as does another lady walking by who heard him say that. She turned around twice smiling and told me that was so cute to hear. 

Bored at home!

Well, he's officially been out of school for only 3 days and it's been awesome having my kind, loving, agreeable, happy little boy back!!
Monday he cuddled in bed for a little while, kissing me on the forehead and telling me "I love you so much."   We tried to pick up toys that had been left on the floor and do some light cleaning around the house. When I told him we needed to clean he asked, "Why? Who is coming over?"  I said no one is coming over - it's just that the house is dirty and I'd like it to be clean.  He still wasn't convinced.  I told him to go get dressed in play clothes. "Why? Where are we going?"  lol  Really? Do we only get dressed because we're going to go somewhere, and only clean house if someone is coming over? Am I that bad??
Last week I let him measure out flour, salt and water to make a dough with. We rolled it out together and made a handprint of his right hand and baked it.  His hand is almost exactly the same size as Ted's was - when Ted was in kindergarten!  This week, I tried making balloon heads. It was an experiment listed in one of his books and I thought they were cute. Ha! I dont know what kind of balloon I was supposed to use, but it was next to impossible to get much flour in the balloons I have. So we ended up with two small balloons with flour in them, I let him paint some cotton balls and glue them on as hair. Then I drew a face on one and he drew a face on the other.  He told me the face he drew was "scary."   You're supposed to be able to squish them and make the face change a little, and it can be a cute paperweight.  I think it was a project fail.  We got flour all over the counter and floor, which was a good excuse to let him vacuum the kitchen.
Soon it was lunch time and we sat at his little table together eating our turkey and cheese, fruit and chips. Turns out he loves Salt and Vinegar potato chips.
After nap, we spent the entire afternoon and evening outside blowing bubbles and riding bikes. He's finally getting the hang of his big boy bike. That if you want to stop you just push backward on the pedals. He hates wearing a helmet so he doesn't like to ride the bike for long, but today was the longest he stayed on it, and the most times he got back on. He only got nervous one time and that was because he took his foot off the pedal and thus lost control of the brake. 
He even got to ride on the lawn mower with daddy Monday evening.  Then we were off to Moe's for a late dinner. Another gentleman there complimented us on how well behaved Andrew is.


This kid LOVES shrimp. Loves it!  One day at Cracker Barrel he discovered fried shrimp was on the kids menu. When it arrived, he didn't realize it was shrimp because he'd never had the breaded shrimp. Half way through my own meal I realized the confusion and had to peel the breaded part off to show him that there was shrimp inside. Then he peeled most of the bread off the rest of the shrimp and ate them happily.

His favorite book, according to him, is Corduroy. He'll even go in his closet and pull out his overall-shorts to wear like Corduroy.

Wednesday night after the meeting, Andrew went up to a group of teenage boys and said, "hey guys! Hey guys!! Hey guys!!!" ... then after finally getting their attention said in a gruff voice, "I'm a pirate!"  They all just blankly stared at him for a moment and then went back to their conversation.
Later I was getting jelly beans out of the bookbag when he came to tell me that he was hanging out and talking with two of the teenagers (who were on the ramp behind the side of the stage). I just smiled and handed him a jellybean. He got all excited and ran back up to the boys and showed them. They even got excited and one took it and pretended to eat it. Andrew smiled and said, "hey! I want to eat it!" The kid gave it back. Andrew came back and told me about it and I gave him three jelly beans and told him two were to share and one was for him to eat. He ran back to the boys who *really* got excited that time!

 Thursday morning he finally slept until 7am which allowed me to get 5.5 hours of broken sleep. I sit up in bed and rub my eyes. "Can I turn the lights on?" Andrew asks. "No I'm not ready for the lights."  "Are you going back to sleep mommy?"  "No. I'm just really tired still and trying to wake up." Then he so sweetly says, "Can I help you get out of bed mommy?"  "No sweetheart, I can do it, but thank you."
  I took a few minutes to myself to check my emails as I usually do in the morning and Andrew said he wanted to work on his train table. Although I knew that meant trying to take it apart, I consented. He's trying to figure out how it works. It's just three big pieces that lay flat across the top together to make a tabletop inside a frame. He recently discovered that that tabletop can come up if he pushes on it from the underside.  He comes back to me a few minutes later and says, "It's a hard day. I need a drink. .... but I need some underwear first."   He wanted his morning milk, but decided he should at least put some underwear on first. He's not quite tall enough to reach the underwear drawer without standing in his bed, but he can't open it from there. Maybe it's time to rearrange the drawers in his dresser.
  Thursday after nap, he crawled into my bed and put his head on daddy's pillow and we chatted for a little bit. Then he sat up, "Mommy, can I cuddle with you?"   When he got settled into me and my pillow, he said, "I love you so much."  He knows how to melt my heart.
   After nap we went outside to play. His favorite thing to do is ride his bike in the driveway. He has three. One is a plastic tricycle, one is a Red Flyer Tricycle, and one is an actual Bicycle with training wheels.  This week is the first week he's shown genuine interest in trying to ride his bicycle. Today I tried to entice him a bit. I told him he could ride it in the road and go up to the creek if he rides his tonka bike. He got excited about going in the road but then said, "I need to change bikes."  I told him no and explained the deal again. He reluctantly consented. I told him it was okay to be scared, but he was being very brave trying to ride it even though he was scared.  Sure enough, he ended up riding it all the way to the creek. Then he stomped through the water barefoot and got to swing on the tire swing (i think for the first time.) He LOVED that!  Daddy ended up coming and picking us up because he had to go to Lowes so the joy was relatively short lived.
 
  Maybe it's because *I* am overtired this week and all he wants is attention, but the last few days he's decided to be more... testy. For example, I open the car door and unbuckle him and he just stays in his seat, "I don't want to get out." I calmly and nicely ask him to please get out of the car. He may or may not consent at that point. If he does, he then stands in the doorway of the car.  I will nicely ask him to get out of the car a couple of times, but it's like he waits for me to lose my patience and snap, "Get OUT of the CAR!" before he'll jump out - and of course be grumpy.  I then hold the keys out and ask, "Would you like to open the front door?"   "No."  "Okay, then I will."   "Noooo!! I want to open it!" as he starts whining and crying.  "Then you should have said yes."  Usually I just hand them back to him at this point, but I'm getting tired of this ridiculous routine he is starting.  So Friday morning I kept the keys and started walking toward the door, with every intention of asking him again when we got to the door if he'd like to unlock it.  But he stood in the driveway declaring that he was not going to come. I repeated, "come."  He came to the edge of the sidewalk, arms crossed, head down, face scrunched up, "I don't want to come to the front door."  I finally yelled at him to listen and obey and that I said to come.  He screamed at me the entire length of the sidewalk and stomped up the steps and turned around and yelled at me some more.  I handed him the keys and very sternly said, "Please unlock the door so we can go inside."  I barely spoke to him as we went in. He did something else that I can't even remember now, but he was being very rude and disrespectful and defiant. I finally went over to him and swatted his bottom. I told him I don't like to spank him but he HAS to learn to listen and obey. I can't protect him in important situations if he's not even willing to listen and react in ones that aren't as essential, and it's certainly not okay to tell mommy and daddy 'no' when we tell him to do something. Anyway, I knew he felt hurt that I spanked him and after talking to him I  encouraged him to cuddle in my lap with a blanket and just held him and reassured him that I love him dearly. It's exhausting though to feel like the simplest task in the world is more like a debate or battle.  
   One day this week I got him ready for nap with no problems, but when he got in bed and I went to put the blanket on him, he kept kicking his feet and laughing. I asked him to stop and he ignored me so I just tossed the blanket onto him without tucking it in and said, "I'm not doing this." and left. He cried out, "noo! Do this!" meaning to tuck the blanket it. I didn't respond since I was closing the door already.  This resulted in a meltdown. He got out of bed crying and yelling like he was reprimanding himself. He'd hit the door and then yell, "You stop that! Don't do that!" and other things.  I gave him a minute then I calmly opened the door and he jumped back in bed and softly said, "don't spank me!"  I told him I wasn't going to spank him, that I don't like spanking him. I asked, "do you like to be spanked?"  He said no and I asked him if it hurts. He said yes. I told him it's much nicer when he just does what he's told to do. I'm too tired to battle him over everything.  I asked him if he'd like a hug and he smiled and wrapped his arms around my neck. I told him I like hugs and kisses much better than yelling and spankings. After that he laid down. I dont recall if that was a day he didnt take a nap or that he did. He's had a couple of days this week where he didn't sleep. Ayeayeaye.

  Which reminds me... Flash will drive us nuts sometimes and I'll say "ayeayeaye.. sheesh."  Andrew now says that a lot. Its funny coming from him.

   He's now responsible enough to feed Flash. So I let him do that. Friday morning when he was going to get some cat food I heard him singing songs about Flash that he's heard me sing. I think this morning it was "Flash-a-roni, Flash-a-roni..." 
   And Friday morning, instead of coming to get me first like he usually does, I heard him go to the front door and let Flash in, and then he was talking to Flash in the office. "Flash kitty (emphasizing the tt's in kitty) Flash kitty!"  who I guess was ignoring him.  "Flash kitty! Stop licking! Stop licking Flash kitty!"  *big sigh*  Then he comes in my room, "Mom, Flash kitty won't stop licking!"  LOL  I explained to him that, although it can be annoying sometimes, that is how cats give themselves a bath.  But then he thought I was suggesting we give Flash a bath.

Changes and Mischief

We were sitting having lunch together at the table and Andrew randomly says, "Mommy, I don't have piggy tails."

He's cute when we eat out too. Whenever we leave he smiles and waves to the people still sitting at tables and says, "bye!"

Mosquitos LOVE Andrew. They hardly touch me this year, but Andrew has come in twice from playing outside in the evening and later had welts all over him. Now I bring him in and run a bath adding apple cider vinegar, baking soda, tea tree, castile soap, and coconut oil. It seems to be helping because he hasn't been itching thought they're still biting!

His favorite color has been purple for several weeks. 

His latest intrigue is intestines.  He understands that when he eats something it eventually ends up in the intestines. He understands that people and animals have them, but objects like the lawnmower do not.

Ted and I have been concerned that Andrew seems to have regressed since being at preschool just a few months. His language skills went backwards, his behavior went backwards.. it feels like we have to retrain him every other day!  Everyone, including his teacher, told me to look into Montessori. So we went and toured a Montessori school in Franklin. Love the school, I think Andrew would thrive there... but they only 'part-time' they offer is a half day every day. Otherwise its 9-3:30 every day. I don't like that. I enjoy having him home twice a week right now.  That and the drive would be twice as far.  So we're not sure what to do right now.  His teacher told me that it wouldn't even matter if they moved him up a level in the preschool because he already knows everything academically through the Kindergarten prep. At Montessori, he'd still be challenged and learning new things.  Anyway - on Wednesday, I gave the preschool his 'two weeks notice' that we're taking him out. We'll figure out later what we should do with him. 

Sunday, August 26th:
  I got up with Andrew and let daddy sleep in some. I asked him if he'd like to practice writing and we decided to write "Dad."  So I got some paper and a pen and described the letters to him  (first a straight line, and then a half circle that starts at the top and ends at the bottom of the line, or a small circle with a tail, or a small circle with a straight line that touches it but is next to it, etc)  He did beautifully!! I was really impressed with how well he wrote each letter.

The perfumes were really bad in the hall and I was feeling really sick. Daddy was operating the microphones so Andrew and I slipped outside and listened to the meeting by phone under the carport. I had my phone sitting between us so we could both listen. Every couple of minutes, I'd see Andrew's little fingers just walking their way to my phone (as if I wouldn't notice) and touching the screen to make it light up. Then he'd touch the unlock button and touch anything he could (like taking it off speaker phone) before I'd push his hand away.  He couldn't resist the temptation so I finally made him scoot over on the bench and just had the phone next to me.
We came back in on paragraph 17 so he could read his prepared answer. He read it very clearly.

After the meeting was over, I stayed in my seat up front, too sick to move around. A couple of friends came and chatted with me. All of a sudden, there are people yelling to me from behind and pointing. I was too fog headed to react quickly. I look across the hall where all the fingers are pointing to see Andrew on his tippy toes pulling the fire alarm.  As I turn to my friend and very gently ask, "can you please stop him?"  I saw Ted flying down the aisle. By then it was too late, though. The fire alarm had been pulled... but oddly enough, no siren!  So thanks to my dear son who probably read the words  "Pull Down" and followed the directions - we discovered that the fire alarm at the hall is broken!

After lunch and nap, we headed to the park. Ted was meeting up with several friends to play football. Andrew and I played on the playground for a little while and then went and sat on the bleachers (or "bleach chairs" as Andrew called them a few times before getting it right). We were only there for a couple of minutes when Ted got the ball, took off running and ended up rolling to the ground. Andrew immediately had a melt down crying that daddy fell and was hurt. I got him calmed down and then he wanted to play 'pretend football.'  You should have seen his fancy footwork and he imitated all the running around. He even had his own victory dance!

Monday morning he was up well before I was ready to be awake. He crawled into bed with me and we cuddled for a bit. Then I told him to go to sleep on daddy's side of the bed. "Okay mommy."  A moment of silence.  Then he starts singing, "listen obey and be blessed!"   "Shhhh. Honey go to sleep."    "Okay mommy."  A moment of silence. "chugga chugga chugga chugga WOO WOO!!"    Things like this went on for a good 20 minutes before I gave him the warning that if I have to ask him to be quiet one more time I would make him leave my room.  Of course, he did it again and I sent him out to play with toys in the living room. By then I only had 8 minutes left to sleep soundly and wake up again anyway.

Tuesday I was starving and didn't get a head start on dinner and I wanted a lot of food with protein. I can't even remember why now. Anyway, we went to support 10% off Tuesday at our favorite bbq place since it'd be good and fast.  Andrew had stayed in his pajama shirt all day and all we did was throw some shorts and sandals on him and left.  The cashier at the bbq place asked him if he was still in his pajamas. That really bothered Andrew and he got super self-conscious about it and tried to hide. Then he told me he needed to go home and change into play clothes. Poor kid. I told him it was totally fine to be wearing his pj shirt and not to let it bother him.

Fourth generation photographer?

Wednesday, August 8th, cousin Dylan was giving his first Bible reading so Andrew and I went to Smyrna to hear it. Andrew started following cousin Kaleb and another little girl their size around the Hall and all three of them were running. They were all reminded several times to walk. All the kiddos were gathering in the back school after the meeting, and pretending to give their own bible discourses. Andrew came up to me and said, "I want my bible!" I told him it was in his bookbag and he took off running to find it. On the way - he got in trouble. Another brother scooped him up in his arms and just held him while continuing his other conversation. Andrew didn't know what to think! Eventually the brother walked over and handed him to me saying, "He wasn't the only one, but he was the fastest." lol  I told Andrew that he got caught running and needed to walk.  Andrew walked up to the front and got his bible and returned to the back school.  The big kids lowered the podium for him and crowded around him.  He told them he wanted to read from Deuteronomy 17. So Grace Burnett found it for him. Right then, we were told it was time to go. So I quickly pointed to two lines at the bottom of his open bible and told him to quickly read those. Grace and Dylan both said, "i'll help him!"  I told them he could read it himself... and he sure did! Grace was so impressed, "He reads really well! How old is he?"  Dylan responded with, "I dont know, 4?"  He couldn't believe Andrew wasn't even three yet. 
  We spent the night at Nana and Papa's house since it was late when we left the meeting. There were two twin beds in the room we stayed in. We pushed one all the way against the dresser along the wall, and then the other bed flush against the first one. That way, Andrew wouldn't fall out of the bed on either side. He was a little nervous sleeping in a different room and bed. Then Nana reminded him it was just like staying in a hotel! That calmed him down a little bit, as did the reminder that Mommy would be right next to him all night.  There were several times during the night he called out for him, or reached his hand to feel for me.
   Thursday morning he woke up bright and early as usual SO excited to be at Nana's house and hearing the rooster crowing outside. I knew there was no way I'd get him back to sleep. We went downstairs and he immediately asked to play with Nana's toys. We played with Legos and played ping pong in the parlor. Eventually we took a walk down the driveway. There were some new baby calves that were interested in him and Daisy.  When we reached the house, I realized that I'd been wanting to do a picture of Nana and Andrew and the Rolleiflex cameras - and we were there!  So I changed Andrew's shirt into his meeting shirt and vest and Nana got the cameras. We stood in front of the weeping willow tree and I got some pictures I will treasure for a long long time. Both Nana and her father used those rolleiflex cameras back in the day, so it was special to me to have both Nana and Andrew pretending to use them. I love the images of them. I photoshopped a couple to look like they were taken with old film.


  Saturday we met at the hall to go out in the ministry. There were a lot of people there. When we were ready to go, I couldn't find Andrew anywhere! I was worried he'd slipped outside with a bunch of other people and was running around, but I couldn't find him there either.  I was starting to panic when Ted came and told me he found Andrew - he locked himself in the men's bathroom stall and was going potty all by himself.  *whew*  I have to say, I think it's neat that he knows he goes in the men's room when he's by himself or with daddy, and that he goes to the women's room when he's with me.

  We all of a sudden have a ton of little kids in our congregation. A bunch of new, young families moved in. After the meeting on Sunday, they all went to the back school. Andrew came up to me and said he needed his song book. Then he asked for his Bible. Then off he went to his secondary meeting. He was a good boy - he even brought his books back to me when they were all done.
   Sunday night before bed, I asked Andrew to go pick out a book to read. He chose the Dictionary. He knows I want to read stories to him, but he always chooses books that are about words. 

  Every single day, Andrew asks to go play outside. Once we're outside he asks if Amber is home and if they can play. She's our next door neighbor who is six. They both look for each other and ask to play. If we wont let them play together in the same yard, they throw a ball over the fence to each other. Andrew has even tried climbing the fence. He's made it all the way to the top before I've caught him and told him to get down.  He also picks colorful leaves off the bushes and gives them to her as flowers. What a sweetie.

The Red Seed

Sunday morning in the car, we were stopped at a traffic light and Andrew all of a sudden blurts out, "When I become Magnet Man, I can do this..."  I turn around to see him sticking both legs straight up in the air. My the abs he must have!  He said something else funny but we can't remember what it was. 

Andrew pulled two wallet-sized pictures off of the refrigerator, hopped on his little tonka truck, and drove to my desk. He hands me the two pictures and says, "here mommy, here are your clients."

Later he was eating a banana and sitting on the floor with his keyboard. He held the microphone up to his mouth and chewed loudly. Of course that awful gooey chewy sound was amplified through the microphone. He got a kick out of it.

Monday evening, I opened a brand new box of overnight diapers. I figured it'd probably be our last box of them. He is dry more often than he is wet - but when he is wet - he is soaked!  Since he isn't wearing pull ups during the day or at naps - I figured we'd use up the night time diapers we had stocked up on, and then finish up the pull ups and then be done entirely. Andrew had different plans. He took one look at that diaper and very sadly told me he didn't want to wear it. He almost looked embarrassed. I put it on him anyway and then he begged me to let him wear underwear.  I consented and changed him into underwear. Then he crawled into bed, pulled the blanket up and went right to sleep. (this is unusual - he usually talks or sings for a good 20-30 minutes before settling down.)
  I was nervous though, because we'd had a late dinner and he'd had a lot to drink.  So right before we went to bed, Ted and I woke him up and had him go potty. Boy was he mad at us! He was very defiant and irritated with us. He kept saying "I don't want to go pee" and I finally threatened him.. "go pee or I put you in a diaper." He immediately peed. Still mad at us and fussing. But he went right back to sleep and woke up dry!

Tuesday we ended up out to lunch and Andrew chose Fulins. He wanted sushi so I got him a green dragon roll. It had eel and other stuff inside and avocado on top.  He ate the ENTIRE roll by himself, and with chopsticks!  And he ate one of my pieces too. He loves his sushi!

Before bed, we turned the tv on briefly to see what the gymnasts were doing in the Olympics. Andrew saw them doing their somersaults and immediately started doing his on the floor, asking us to say "yeayy" and then would run for a hug - just like the ones on tv were getting from their coaches and parents.

I don't know if I've blogged this or not. Andrew fully understands and can explain to you the differences between boys and girls and the anatomy of them.  He knows how they are different, and how they are the same.  I am, however, still trying to get him to learn that only girls wear flower headbands. He likes going into my studio and stealing the flower headbands I've left out and wearing them.

At one point, Andrew was wearing a teal crocheted hat, a yellow tank top, bare bottom, gray socks, and pulling a train around the house. He's so cute. I just adore him.

Wednesday morning Andrew was on the potty and asked me to come sit on the side of the tub and talk to him. We chatted about all kinds of things. He told me about Moses and how the Red 'seed' got split in two "like this!" as he makes a swooping chopping motion with his arm. We talked about the waterfall painting and other random things.  Then he started talking about friends and how one name can be two different people.  Then I asked him if he had a most favorite friend. He said, "Yes I do."  Me: "Oh? Who is your most favorite friend?"  Without any hesitation he said, "Mommy is my favorite friend."  All I could do was hug him and kiss his forehead. What a sweetie.

"Where's My Shrimp?"

We have a new place to eat in town that features Chicago favorite plates and sandwiches. I ordered a Reuben and Andrew ordered grilled cheese.  He actually preferred my reuben to his cheese sandwich!

He's getting pretty good at getting dressed and undressed all by himself! Sometimes he has a hard time getting his arms out of his sleeves. Sometimes too he gets his arms out the head hole and pulls the shirt down over his body rather than just take it off over his head.

He is also starting to have opinions about what he wears. I tried to put a hawaiian shirt on him the other day. He said, "mommy, I don't like this shirt. I don't want to wear it."   He's done the same thing a few other times. He loves it when I ask him if he'd like to pick out what to wear and I hold him up to choose his shirt from his closet. Of course, he usually picks one, and as I get it off the hanger he changes his mind to another one.

Tuesday evening I had a ticket to get into the consignment presale. I didn't need any clothes for him, just a better pair of shoes for right now. I walked past the game table and ended up buying a bunch of new games for him. Two large canvas bags full!  I did find a size 9.5 shoe for him to wear right now, and a narrower size 10 to have in a few months.  When I was in line to check out, I was next to the toys and saw a bag of nice and big dinosaurs. He loves dinosaurs so I grabbed them.  He was in bed when I got home.
Wednesday morning Andrew woke me up as usual. I told him to go look on his little table (I had set out just one of the dinosaurs for him to find.)  He came running back to me, "It's a DINOSAUR!"  Then I gave him the rest of them. He lined them all up on his little table.  He pretty much talked to them non-stop while he was eating his yogurt. He was even offering them bites, "do you want a bite? do you want a pretend bite?  nom nom nom" as he held the spoon close to the dinosaur's mouth.  So cute.

Friday I had a rough day so Ted took me out to dinner at Olive Garden. Andrew ordered the Shrimp Mezzaluna (moon shaped ravioli) and a bowl of Chicken Gnocchi soup.  Then he kept asking, "Is he going to bring us some bread?"  When he brought our food, Andrew was served last. Before offering him the plate, though, Andrew asked "where's my shrimp?"  The waiter responded "oh no! I forgot your shrimp!"  Andrew looked puzzled and disappointed and was at a complete loss as to what to say or how to react.  Even after the waiter said he was kidding, Andrew was confused by it all.  There is no kidding around with Andrew.  He ate all of his shrimp, a few bites of the ravioli, and almost the entire bowl of soup and a whole breadstick that evening.  When I gave him some of it again on Saturday, he looked at his ravioli and asked, "where is the shrimp?!" 

Saturday out in the ministry, they were visiting with an old friend who has major health problems and doesn't get out much anymore. Andrew didn't listen to daddy and wandered off into the tall grass and fell over a concrete block and rocks hiding in the grass. He scraped up the inside of his thigh and apparently was inconsolable. They went to Target and Ted bought some spray on neosporin and a bandage and cleaned him up in the Target bathroom. Ted told me that Andrew was crying so hard that he was surprised no one thought he was kidnapping Andrew. They called it a day at that point and went home.  It took Andrew  a while to walk normally with the huge bandage on his leg.

He's been stopping us in conversation more lately asking us to talk to him instead.

Sunday we had some friends over for dinner. Right after we sat down to eat something made everyone laugh really loud and of course Andrew chimed in. Then Fred Arnold pretended to cry and Ann says, "look, you made Fred cry."  Andrew immediately stopped laughing and had a very concerned look on his face and looking at Fred solemnly says, "I'm sorry."  Then Fred stopped pretending to cry and Andrew asks, "Fred, are you all done crying? Are you all better?"  His kindness and sincerity were so touching, I nearly cried myself for real.  It melted everyone's heart to witness it.

Andrew really struggles to fall asleep at night.

Slip Sliding Away... to the Emergency Room

I'm always impressed with what Andrew remembers. I hardly ever wear makeup, wear lipstick maybe once or twice a year, and hardly ever even put on lip gloss.  Tuesday morning, Andrew comes in my room carrying what is actually parts to a broken castor wheel from a light stand. There is a little black metal tube and then a knob. He put the knob on top of the tube and then pulled it out and dabbed it on his lips and said, "Mommy, I have stick on my lips."  (lipstick)  I'm intrigued too with how his mind can take what he's seen and heard - and break it up. He didn't repeat what I would have told him "I'm wearing lipstick or lipgloss"  ... he broke it down himself into stick that goes on lips, therefore, he's wearing stick on his lips. 

I was writing a message to Annelise and I asked Andrew if he wanted to add anything. "Yes. Hmmm. I like Chicken. Tell her about Chicken."  LOL   I love how random that was.

Friday after school, we made a run through Lowe's to pick up some parts daddy needed. As we were walking through the store, somehow Andrew slipped or tripped and fell on his face. Even more puzzling, is that he split his chin open. As he walked toward me, arms out and wailing, I noticed the underside of his chin gaping open. I sat on the floor, in the middle of the store and just held him and rocked him. I lifted the bottom of my shirt and tried to hold it to his chin but it made him cry harder. Daddy had dropped everything and run to the bathroom to get toilet paper, but he wouldn't let us hold that to him either. So, we let him bleed.  We left everything with an employee standing by and headed straight to the hospital. He screamed all the way there and kept saying, "I don't want to go to the hospital!" He finally calmed down as we approached the hospital. We don't see an emergency entrance anywhere, so we had to go in and ask where to go. We just had to go a little farther around the hospital. We got him checked in and went to find a seat. They all looked filthy dirty. He announced he was hungry (it's after 5 by now) and we had no food or snacks on hand. He picked out a package of fruit snacks from the vending machine and ate those, quite content and happy.  He got called into Triage to get checked out - he was scared to sit in the chair for them until we said it was like playing doctor. They took his temperature and everything like that, then sent us back into the waiting room since no hospital beds were ready. It was an entire hour from when we got there and when they got a room ready for him. About 15 minutes before we got called into a room, I sent Ted to find food. He brought back Hardees chicken wraps, a hotdog, and a burger.  The nurse and doctor were GREAT with him.  They put a numbing gel on some gauze and taped it to his chin. Ted applied a little pressure to it while we fed him a hotdog and some fries and some chicken wrap.  They gave us a choice of using stitches or a lot of glue.  We opted for the glue just so we wouldn't have to come back and have the stitches removed and traumatize Andrew all over again. I explained to Andrew what was going to happen and that he was safe, and that it was okay to be scared. He was trying really hard to be brave. I left the room when they were ready to work on him, I knew they'd have to hold him down and still and I was certain he would cry and stare right at me looking for a rescue.  He was a CHAMP. He calmed right down and talked with the nurse and doctor the entire procedure. He still had to be still and lying down for ten minutes after they were done to allow the glue to set. He did not like that, but I talked to him about the glue and explained how it worked and that it was different from the "white glue" he uses at home.  Boy was he ready to leave when it was all done.. we were there for three full hours. We promised him ice cream when we got home.

Earlier on Friday, Ann Arnold had brought over a wooden train table. I hid all the wooden tracks and trains and just set his plastic thomas train sets on the table. When we got home from the hospital it was 9pm and it was the first time he was seeing it. He came around the couch, stopped, and said, "oh! Wow!"  Very pleased!

I had also purchased several toddler board games that arrived on Friday and I put them in a game cabinet that Andrew can reach. Saturday he had slept in until 9am (unheard of!) and thus went down for an afternoon nap late. I wasn't sure he'd even go down, but I told him if he goes to sleep, I'd show him a new game when he woke up. Boy was he excited! I played a couple of the new games with him, and then when my next photoshoot arrived, Daddy had a turn playing all the new games.  He's very pleased to have new things to do.

Andrew sings nearly all day when he's home. Whatever he is doing, he is singing as well. Usually it's "where is Thumbkin" that Papa taught him, and the "Listen, Obey, and Be Blessed" song.  He knows the entire chorus and parts of some of the verses. One line he starts off singing correctly and then it changes as he gets involved in an activity.  "If you'd be happy and enter his rest.." becomes "If you'd be happy and enter his friends..."  I know I've done that before. I'll have a song stuck in my head and later realize my brain has changed the words to something similar.

Sunday after the meeting, he took a couple of new friends and daddy into the back school and gave three talks at the podium! In one of them he asked his audience to "open to Matthew 24" 

He also explained to me twice this week that girls are "sisters" and boys are "brothers" and would name off people in the congregation and tell me if they were a brother or a sister.  I'm guessing they discussed family relationships in school - but since he hears 'brother' and 'sister' at Kingdom Hall, he has made the connection outside of the family unit as well.

Playing in the Rain

   I forgot to mention that while we were at the zoo, Andrew asked what the elephant's name was. We told him we didn't know, but asked him what name he would give the elephant. He thought for a minute and then announced, "Novat." (or Novato or something similar.)

When he is cold, he says, "Mommy, I'm cold. I'm sugaring."  (shivering) 

    He's also being a punk lately. We are apparently not giving him enough attention, so he deliberately does something he knows he's not supposed to do or that irritates us - just to illicit a reaction out of us. Sunday morning he was mad at me because I wouldn't let him watch a video. I pulled out the Great Teacher book so we could read a little together and when he got upset about something he looked right in my face and started singing "Magic Magic" and "Happy Birday"  because he knows we've told him not to sing those anymore.  He knows exactly what he's doing.   He'll even recite to you that he's not supposed to throw the ball in the house, that you can roll it - but he'll throw it up anyway. Or kick the cat. Or break the crayons. Or be a really loud train. Or just yell and scream when you ask him nicely to pick up the blocks that he's done playing with and correct him when he says 'no' instead.  Or when he's in time out on the couch for doing one of the above, and you come sit in front of him to talk about whatever just happened two minutes ago - he will just make a humming noise and open and close his eyes without ever looking at you (pretending to be Momo the clock.)
    *sigh* I am failing miserably. I know why he is doing all these things. People say it's just a normal part of being two... I disagree. It's because he wants (and needs) some attention and we've been too busy and focused on other chores around the house, that he is getting pushed to the side too much. He's a wonderful little boy when we get down on the floor and play for a while, or run around outside, or read books he picks out. I know he needs more of that, and it's just been crazy around here lately. I've been so chemically sick that I have no energy. So it's not often that I can play basketball with him in his room, or chase him down the hallway, or practice bowling in the hallway, or even just have a tickle fest rolling around on the floor like we used to just a few months ago.  I've been forcing myself to just try and keep up with laundry and dishes and cleaning up... that sitting down to play isn't the habit right now. And I know that is why he is acting out.  I think kids act out when things are feeling unsettled around them.. I dont think it's ALL just about the age and hormones and testing boundaries.
    And when Daddy is around, Andrew wants nothing to do with me half the time anyway. At the hall, he got in trouble for something and when he got back to his seat, I just gently rubbed his arm and smiled at him. He pulled it away and slugged me.  Later his pant leg was partially up so I just gave it a gentle tug so that it'd fall back down over his sock. He looked at me and said, "Stop it mommy." and then yanked his other pant leg up over his knee and stared at me as if he dared me to try it with that leg.

  Tuesday was a good day. I wanted to devote the entire day to Andrew, and thankfully I woke up with enough energy to do that. I let him watch a Leap Frog video in the early morning, and then he typed on the computer to Nana and Daddy with me. He tried to have one meltdown and I just looked at him and asked, "do you need a hug?" He smiled, said 'yes' and threw himself into my lap for a hug. After that he was fine.
   There was a music class at Shipwrecked at 10:30, so we showered and got ready. We were there at 10 which gave him some time to play first. Only 12 kids were allowed in the class which was nice since the place was packed. Andrew really enjoyed the interactive class that taught rhythms through vocals and movements. It was fun. We met daddy for lunch afterward and I told him we'd go play somewhere after lunch too.  I stopped at a consignment store to buy him a new pair of shoes (size 10!) before heading to a new play place called The Monkey's Treehouse. We stayed there for a couple of hours. That particular place was toxic to me - smelled like an overuse of chemicals. He enjoyed it for the most part and he certainly enjoyed having mommy to play with all day too.  When we got home at 4, I let him ride his tricycle around a bit. Then he found a deflated tube for the pool and wanted to take it to his little pool. So we did. He tried really hard to be patient while I blew the tube up. It's a little floaty that looks kind of like a jetski except that you sit in it instead of on it. He called it his boat and his ark. He had a blast making waves with it in his pool.  And he was so sweet and kind. He'd come out of the pool to come say hello and give me a hug and ask how I'm doing.  When daddy got home, he'd come up the step and say, "Good morning daddy." and give him a hug and a kiss too. Just as sweet as could be.  (obviously, a day of undivided attention did him well.)
   When we came in, it was with the offer of playing some games. First up was Operation. He did not like the buzzing so he would read all the cards and tell daddy which piece to get out, daddy would get the piece out and set it on the side. Then Andrew would use the tool to pick it up and set it on the rug. He'd even "buzzz" daddy when he was trying to concentrate on getting a piece out! Silly boy.   Next up was a game of connect four. He didnt understand that he should try and block daddy from getting 4 in a row - so they just had fun filling all the circles up over and over. I gave him a plate of shrimp and cup of veggie chocolate milk to eat while they played.  Then it was on to Don't Wake Daddy.  It seemed like Andrew got sent back to start the most, and Daddy won 2 out of 3 games. Mommy won once. Andrew didn't care though - he had fun playing. 
   We tried to practice reading afterward and he really didn't want to. He tried being silly by shouting the words like a military commander or something, or just skipping lines or repeating lines on purpose just to annoy daddy. So.. we quit and got him ready for bed.  He did really well all day for it being full of activity and only a 10 minute nap in the car on the way home.

  Wednesday, all the way to school, Andrew kept asking me how to say different things in Spanish. Guess I need to find my Spanish dictionary!   I can't remember most of the words he asked me, but the last two were "bank" and "everyone"  .. I knew bank, but wasn't sure about everyone.

 Thursday it was pouring rain in the morning. When it tapered down to a drizzle, Andrew really wanted to go outside and couldn't believe it when I said, "okay.. go ahead."  Without a word, he stood up and looked at me like he didn't believe me, then quietly but swiftly walked toward the door still watching my face to see if I was serious or was going to stop him. He paused at the door like he was waiting for me to tell him I was kidding and I told him "go ahead!" He went out the door and a few seconds later I hear a squeal of sheer delight.  He was stark naked and having a grand old time.  A few minutes later he comes back "sugaring" cold.  So he puts on underwear, a long t-shirt, a rain coat, socks and boots. Evidently, the raincoat really was just a light jacket because he came back soaked. So I took the jacket off and went hunting in the closet for a real raincoat. I finally found one - in kids size 5. I rolled the sleeves under and sent him back out in the rain. He looked so cute. He played at the sand and water table for a while, and then he noticed the sump pump shooting water out by the edge of the house. He screamed with delight and told me there was "another wave coming!" and he had his tiny toy bucket in hand ready for it. He was so excited when "the waves" spit out again! He sure loved being outside in the rain.  I guess the raincoat had never been washed before, because when I took it off of him, the shoulder of his yellow shirt was now dyed pink, as was part of his hair, and his knees from the red plain in the lining of the coat.

   Andrew went fishing through the box of plastic to be recycled and found an empty smartwater bottle. He asked me if he could have it and I consented. He started to move his step stool to the bathroom sink. I knew it wouldn't fit so I had him come to the refrigerator (we just replaced the water filter so the water would be good now). I showed him the "straw" that comes out of the fridge door and showed him how to put the straw in the bottle and then use his other hand to press the lever to get water out. I knew he wasn't paying attention as he was trying to grab the bottle and tell me he wanted to do it himself. And sure enough, when he tried, he got water everywhere because the straw wasn't in the bottle. So I told him he has to follow the directions, and showed him again.  Now there was probably a quarter cup of water in it. I told him he could drink it. He frowned and said, "no, this is old water." and went and poured it out in the sink. He did successfully get some water the second time and said, "see! I followed directions!"    I'm guessing he learned about "old water" when he'd reached for a sippy cup or a cup of water on the counter and I stopped him and told him it's old water and that I'd get him fresh water.   
 
  "Good morning mommy!!" Andrew says coming out of the bathroom and giving my legs a hug.   "good afternoon sweetheart."  "Good afternoon.  Do you know what is 'good afternoon' in Spanish?"  "Uhm.. I think it's Buenas Dias, can you say Buenas Dias?"  "Buenas Dias!!" he says with a big smile. 

  Andrew has a little train station that doesn't actually go with any of his train tracks. The roof opens up as a storage place. He put two trains in there and asked, "are the trains in the oven?"  I got all excited about having train cupcakes to eat. Then he did too! He took out two train cupcakes and brought them over for me to taste... "delicious!"

  I downloaded all the vocal songs from the "Sing to Jehovah" book. I opened one on the computer and when Andrew heard it he smiled and excitedly said, "It's the assembly!!" Ted thinks its noteworthy to mention that Andrew sings "in tone, not monotone"  though I don't particularly remember him being monotone.  

  Thursday evening, Andrew decided he was done being nice. We'd been reading books and playing in his room. All of a sudden he started throwing toys across the room. First his train track. I asked him if we are supposed to throw toys. He told me no. I suggested that he forgot. Then he threw the tunnel to his track and looked at my face. I told him that we need to be nice to our toys, please to stop throwing them and take care of them, and that if he can't, I would take the toys away. He picked up something else, something small, and threw it.  So I got up and collected the train track and tunnel. He asked if it was broken and I said no. He asked, "are you taking it away?"  I said yes and reminded him of my warning.  As I was walking down the hallway away from his room, he stood in his doorway and screamed once at me. I turned around and firmly stated, "No!" and he stopped. As I was turning my back to him again I saw him start reaching for his door like he was going to slam it shut. I heard something get in the way that slowed down the slam. Then I heard a cry - a cry of pain.  Sure enough, his big toe got in the way and he busted the toe nail. He hobbled to me, big toe bleeding. And now in an effort to keep him calm and off his toe (as I just experienced this same pain just a couple of weeks ago!) he is getting a video marathon. Oh well.

  Friday Andrew came home from school wearing a shirt that he had tie dyed - he did a good job! Its neon yellow and green.   Friday evening, Andrew got to try T-ball for the first time. I bought him a flexible and adjustable t-stand and it's perfect for him.  He can hit the ball pretty far!  And he loves it!

  Ted was brushing  Andrew's teeth and asked him "What's your most favorite thing?"   Andrew answered, "Sports!"  Ted was so proud!   He is pretty good at everything he does. His uncle Adam was that way too as I remember.  Andrew is good at basketball, soccer, t-ball....


  Andrew had his mega-bloks all over the floor after having us build things with him. When it was time to clean up, he went and got his plastic rake and shovel. Raked the blocks a little bit and then used the shovel to put the bloks back in the container.