To Huntsville

Sunday evening (June 23rd) Andrew built a pretty awesome looking car out of Legos. He built a rectangle and said it was the engine, and then kept adding to it once that was in place on the truck.  Monday morning he modified it to be a street sweeper "road cleaner" and then later it became a garbage truck with an arm on the side to lift the trash into the truck. 

Then he said to himself, "I want the house to be red" and he started building with red blocks, making an outline. Soon it turned into a maze instead with lots of colors used.  He was so proud of it he couldn't wait for daddy to get home to see it.

We had four trees each planted in 5 gallon buckets. Our friend Paula came by to pick them up. Andrew desperately wanted to help and insisted he could carry one. He had to stop and set it down three times between the garden and her car - but I was very proud of his effort. He'd say, "1-2-3-go!" and pick it up again and wobble toward the car saying, "I'm strong!" "I can do this!"

Tuesday he didn't have school so he got to have a nap before violin lesson. It seemed to me like he focused better being tired than he did today!  I could tell he was imitating her and things she's said and done in past lessons. Today he deliberately making a 'fox' with his hands instead of a bunny and said 'oh! look what I made! It's a wild animal that starts with F' as if he's trying to quiz her. When she asked him to get out of the chair and stand in position, he pretended he was stuck to the chair. Later she was instructing him on hand placement and he said, "Hold on. My phone is ringing" as he reached for his pocket (I had no idea he had his pretend phone in his pocket).  Usually he's 99% focused and cooperative, but today he seemed all over the place.

On the way home, to avoid traffic lights and backed up traffic I took 840 to Carters Creek Pike.  He saw the sign for it and asked if this was the way to Nana's house. He'd asked me that before and I thought it was a silly question since it's the opposite direction, but I finally made the connection today. We get off of 840 onto Jefferson Pike to go to Nana's. The Pike in both names confused him.

Thursday (the 27th) afternoon we headed off to Huntsville for the District Convention. He wasn't too eager to stay in a hotel, but he got excited when I said yes to his question, "can I jump on the bed?"
We made a bed for him out of chair cushions and pillows between our two beds - he liked that.

He did SO well sitting all weekend. Friday he was awesome - pretty still and quiet all day. Though at one point he started wiggling his feet up and down fast and his shoe came flying off and landed right in his lap! I was so relieved it didn't fly off somewhere else! 
Right off the bat he was listening and asked me, "What does Value mean?"  It took me a few minutes to figure out how to define it. I told him it was when you care a lot about something and want to keep it and protect it.
Andrew drew a good picture of a scary monster in his notebook. A few minutes later he did some more scribbling on it and told me something about a diaper. I asked him if the monster was wearing a diaper and he laughed and said, "No! It's not wearing a diaper! It's pooping! It pooed on my head!" And so begins the childish fascination with poo.
At one point, we were standing talking among friends and another one walked by and asked Andrew if they were bothering him. He said, "No, I'm entertaining." He does try to entertain people!
We took him outside after lunch and looked at the fish in the canal and tried to walk a lot. He enjoyed going over the bridges and climbing along a wall and getting to be with Aunt Eese.
After dinner we let him go play in the pool. He had a blast! He adopted another young mom and took turns jumping into her arms over and over. He also made friends with a handicapped person.

Saturday morning I knew it was going to be a long day because he was so full of wiggles and being loud from the second he woke up. We walked to the convention site, the fountain outside was working and shooting water really high. He got excited to see it and likened it to a geyser which they learned about in school recently. He really just wanted to sit at the side of it and watch it come on and off.
We saw the handicapped friend and he went up to say hi to him. As they were saying goodbye, the brother drooled a little bit. Andrew looked a bit disgusted and very matter-of-factly told him, "You're dripping." 
He was very interested in the pool at the convention and learning about baptism. He watched it on Saturday with enthusiasm. In the evening, after swimming in the hotel pool, he told us he got baptized there in the pool.
After lunch we went to the pond and he fed leftover bread to the fish and geese. We did a lot of walking and tried to get him to run and jump in the shade of some magnolia trees. After lunch, I wasn't feel well and I knew Andrew needed a nap. So we headed back to the hotel after lunch. On the way down, Andrew tripped on the steps and fell face first. He slid along several steps before catching himself with his arms. It scared us all and hurt his arms; he was a champ about it. Daddy ran around the railing and scooped him up and then set him down at the bottom to 'check and make sure everything still works.'  His forearms were red and tender, but everything worked. We continued on to the hotel where he ended up sleeping for nearly 3 hours!  We went and had dinner and then it was back to the pool for his physical activity.  Everyone would comment to me what a happy boy he is.

Sunday morning Ted and Andrew were walking back to the seats when another woman walked by on the steps. Andrew gasped and said, "you have really red lips!"   Ted was relieved that it wasn't anything else! Lately Andrew has asked friends about their big bellies or big bottoms! And recently he told me that I had really gooey eyes just trying to get a laugh. We're never sure what he'll say and we haven't discussed tact.
Sunday afternoon he picked a large maple leaf and brought it to me as a gift. Later he told me I should take it to bed with me and it'd be amazing.

Sunday evening, back at home - he built a car out of legos that had two regular wheels on the front but two squares as wheels on the back. He said it's not a truck, it's a Bep. He added a steering wheel to it and said, "There, my Bep now has a Perp."  Ted suggested calling it a burp instead and said "your Bep now has a Burp."  They're so silly.

My Little Thinking Man

Tuesday was another violin lesson. First, the teacher took the violin and said she was going to tune it while Andrew practiced holding the bow. She started plucking a string and Andrew said, "Hey! That's the E string!"  She said he was right and I about fell out of my chair! I just cannot comprehend how
he learns these things so quickly and seemingly so easily.

Ted took him to gymnastics Wednesday. There was a different teacher than usual and Andrew was hesitant to participate at first. Daddy said that Andrew was very attentive and obedient (which could not be said for a few of the other kids in the small class.)  This day they started jumping from a spring board to a pole. Daddy was surprised that he was about the smallest in the class, yet could jump so far.

Thursday morning he came in my room already dressed. He had his superman shirt on and came in singing the tune of the theme song using "dun dun" as the words for each note. He crawled into bed with me and said, "but mommy, but mommy, what if I were a superman?"  (imitating the words in the book 'I love you stinkyface') 

On the way home from school, he asked me how we float up into Heaven. I told him we don't. He said, "Then how did Jesus float up into heaven?"  I told him I didn't really know for sure, I could only guess that Jehovah used his spirit or that the angels have some sort of wings.  Andrew said, "Maybe he used his imagination." 

Thursday evening our cousins from San Francisco came to visit. He had a nice time playing with McKenna in the pool.  He is now launching himself into the pool, nearly doing a belly flop. He'll even spin jump off the deck. This night he asked if he could "fall in backwards." We told him he could and as he stepped backwards to get ready, he stepped a little too far and nearly fell in which startled him. He said, "I don't want to jump backwards now" and turned and jumped in like usual.

He walks around singing a pirate song a lot ... "Yar har fiddley dee, being a pirate is alright with me (something else I can't remember).... I'm a pirate, Arrrr!"  But there are a few words in there he isn't sure of so he kind of jumbles and makes some words to fit in the place. He's so cute.

Andrew seems very concerned lately with Satan. He tells me he doesn't want to make Satan happy (we've discussed how when someone hurts another, it makes Satan happy, but Satan isn't our friend and he won't take care of us like Jehovah does) and he knows that Satan will be locked up (and 'go to jail') when Jehovah makes the earth a paradise.  He was talking again about it in bed Thursday night. Sometimes it seems like he thinks HE has to destroy Satan. I assured him Jehovah will take care of it all and that Andrew just has to focus on being the good person he is. After I said that he corrected me and told me Jesus was going to lock up Satan. So I agreed, that yes, when Jehovah says it's time, Jesus will lock up Satan for a while.  (does he ever stop thinking so deeply??!)
  He then asked me if good people ever go to jail. I told him I hope not, because it's really a place for people who do bad things. He asked me what it looks like. I told him I'd never been, but it's like a room with a fence on it, and being locked in that room for a long time. I finally explained to him that he doesn't need to worry about that. That little people like him don't go to jail; adults do. So he asked if mommy or daddy would go to jail. I told him hopefully not - as long as we stay out of trouble and only do good things, we should be able to stay out of jail.

Friday we had appointments with Adam Roberts. He arrived with a bandaid on his finger (from school). The receptionist asked him if he had an "owwie protector."  He said, "No, it's just a band-aid." 
Later when we were waiting for Nana and Papa, we played in a grassy area next to the parking lot. He squatted next to a large car and was looking under the backend of it. He said, "Wow. It has a big engine, doesn't it? It has two exhaust thingys."  (I found out later Ted had told him months ago that when a vehicle has a large engine, it usually has two exhaust pipes.)

Friday after lunch, I took him to The Monkey's Treehouse to play. He was so good. There was another kid his size who was not as kind. He'd go down the slide and Andrew would be at the top checking to see if it was clear to go down, but then the kid would turn around and run back up the inside and go down again; never letting Andrew have a turn. Andrew was being so nice asking for a turn and patiently waiting. Most other kids would go down anyway.
When that place closed at 2pm, we moved up the street to Shipwrecked where he'd been begging to go. He still loves that little red dirt devil vaccum cleaner he remembers from years ago when we went. He'd push it up and down the ramp of the ship and all over the place. He also liked their cars and train tracks.

Sunday his answer during the watchtower was "some are getting sidetracked"  and after the meeting a friend came up to him and said, "So.. some get sidetracked. Do you even know what sidetracked means?"  Andrew just looks up at him and says, "distracted."   My kid is awesome. (yes I did tell him the meaning of the word when we went over the watchtower lesson earlier in the morning. I was surprised that he remembered though.)

Sunday after meeting I said, "let's get you out of your clothes" and started unbuttoning his vest. He said, "I can do these buttons! Hold on Skippy!"  I had to leave the room just so I could laugh. 

Our little water boy

Tuesday I had to get him from school early because it was the only time Adam Roberts could see us that day. As we were leaving, he picked up a small rock and told me he was bringing a treasure with him. As Adam was leading us down the hallway, Andrew tells him that he brought a treasure with him, for Adam. Adam said he'd have to find a special place for such a treasure, and when we went into the office, there was a little candle dish with rocks in it. He let Andrew choose a place in with the other rocks to lay the treasure.
Then after Andrew's treatment, he picked an oil that he thought Andrew would like and put some on a q-tip for Andrew to keep. Andrew said it was his treasure that Adam gave him. He made sure Adam gave me a treasure also. 

He had his second violin lesson. I was very proud of him for remembering the names of the strings (forward and backward!!), and how to properly hold the bow. Today he learned how to properly stand and got to practice playing on the E string. He did really really well for having had a long day.

Daddy asked him what he learned at school today and he said, "Music is a show for everyone to hear."  I thought that was a nice way to describe music. And he said he got to play the drums. He also told me about making a guitar out of "plastic things" and "colored rubber bands" and that he wanted to play it again but it broke. He was hoping we had colored rubber bands at home to make a new one. (I never got to see what he was talking about.)

Andrew made a mature observation and inquiry. He told me that we're not allowed to jump on furniture and I told him he was correct. Then he asked, "But isn't the trampoline furniture?" So I explained that it's equipment designed only for jumping and that was appropriate use of it. The rest of the furniture was not. 

Thursday evening we let him play a video game. Daddy mowed the lawn and I had to finish some work. When he was tired of playing Mario Kart, he called to me asking for help. My response was "hold on just a minute."  He waited a few seconds before saying, "Mommmmieeeee, you're wasting time! You're wasting time Mom!"  (He's heard me tell him that he's wasting his play time when he's standing around waiting for me to finish my own project rather than starting to play without me.)

Friday morning we had appointments with Adam Roberts. He really hoped that he could go alone. I told him that I probably had to come with him, but I'd ask. Sure enough, Adam can't legally see children without parents in the room. Andrew was really disappointed and acted all bashful and almost upset with Adam.  He was cool about it though and told Andrew that he needed some help. He pulled out two oils and asked him to smell them and tell him which one smelled better. Andrew perked right up, ready to be helpful, and was happy after that.

Andrew liked Bergamot the most. Adam said, "Do you know about Italy? Have you learned about countries?"  Andrew said, "I know about countries! I've been to Splash Country at Dollywood!"  We both got a good laugh out of that and thought it was a brilliant response.

Saturday we went to help a friend move. Andrew excitedly told him, "We're moving someone else in August! We're moving Annelise!"  Our friend asked, "Is she cute?"  Andrew said, "Yeah.. but that's beside the point."   He's hilarious.

In the evening I hosted a Glamour Girl party. When I was putting makeup on one friend he begged, "I want to paint Linda! Can I paint Linda too?"  Later he told her how beautiful she was.

Sunday we had a double going-away party. He had a BLAST with all the kids in the pool with him. Lots of splashing. There were some girls lined up on the side of the pool and Ted told him to splash them by jumping in. He smiled, said, "Okay!" and leaped in. After that - he was fine jumping in all by himself (with his life jacket on) over and over and over. Later in the evening he'd hold his breathe and put his face under the water and try to swim on top. He was very proud of his efforts (as were we)

"I'm gonna draw a picture and it's gonna be scary!"

A few days ago, Ann Arnold was showing Andrew some pictures on her iphone of her grandkids and a car they built (kind of like a pvc pipe kit).  They were at our Sunday meeting and when Andrew saw Nolan, he ran up to him and said, "Nolan! I really liked the car you built!"  Nolan had no idea what he was talking about and why, but I did and thought it was such a nice gesture.
After the meeting Joy told me that he was talking to her and ran out of things to say. There was a bit of a pause and then he shrugged his shoulders as he said, "Okay, well, I'm gonna go find my friend Parker."  She was humored by that.

Monday we had a fun day. We went to the little park first, but because the air was cool, I decided it'd be okay to go to the big park where there is no shade. This made Andrew very happy. He had wanted to go to the big park and told me it's more fun there. He played for a little bit and then saw a boy running on the paved trail and asked what he was doing. I said he was probably practicing running. He decided he wanted to try. So, we ran. This kid can RUN! I had a hard time keeping up with him!! As we were coming around to the park entrance again, Ann Arnold showed up with Nolan and Noah. They decided to run too and they were impressed too. One of them told me that if he keeps that up, he's going to be running as fast as a four-wheeler. Soon, Linda Vaal brought Allison and Cole, and later Kellie Pingle brought Samantha. They all had a good time together.

After lunch, I got Andrew down for a nap. Ann and Linda brought the kids over to our house to swim so I woke him up after he'd been asleep for an hour. I whispered to him and his eyes slowly opened. Then he sat up quickly, "Mom! Can we invite my friends over to play now?" I told him they were already here and in the pool and he couldn't get out of bed fast enough!  They had a blast in the pool.

Jenn and Houston came for dinner Monday. After dinner Andrew felt her belly and asked if he could feel the baby yet. She told him the baby was too small still to feel, but it was growing inside there.  He blurts out, "That's clever!"

Tuesday was his first day back to school for their summer program. It was pirate themed so he wore his pirate hat and went around saying, "Ahoy Matey!" and "Aye aye Captain!"  They built two big ships out of cardboard boxes, and made some costumes. He enjoyed playing in the sprinkler outside too.  After school and extra playground time, I told him he was getting his first violin lesson. He was super excited.  I think he did really well, he stayed focused and was kind and obedient. I was proud of him and amazed that he wasn't overtired for it. She showed him a lot in his half hour lesson.

I can't remember where we were, not home.. and he looked distressed. I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said, "No. My undercarriage hurts right here."   :(  Poor guy! I love how he told me though. And he was trying to be discreet about it. 

Early Wednesday morning he was sitting on the gazelle and making it swing fast. He said, "Mommy look! I'm going really fast! Fast like..... who is it that goes fast?  Speed.. speed..."   I suggested Lightning McQueen since he says 'speed. I am speed.'  He said "No.... Speed Racer!"  I found a pair of pjs with cars on it that looked like they'd fit him right now and Ted said it was speed racer. So we call him speed racer whenever he's wearing them (even though he and I have no idea who that is)

Wednesday morning at breakfast, Andrew wanted to learn more of the Bible book song. He showed me he could sing all the way to Acts. I am so proud of him - I can't believe how fast he learns it. It only takes him about 10 minutes to learn 4-6 books and I make sure he has those down before I'll teach him more.  So this morning I only introduced "Romans and the Corinthians, that's the way it all begins."  Since it has extra words in it, I'll teach him the next books when he asks. 
After gymnastics we went to Kroger. We saw Andy Zylstra there and they had matching buzzed haircuts. Andy said, "Can I feel your head?"  then Andrew asked to feel his and he leaned down and let Andrew feel it. He said, "Woah! It feels soft and fluffy!"  Then he asked Andy what happened to his belly. Andy tapped his stomach and said, "This belly?"  Andrew said "No!" and stood on tippy toes to reach the top of Andy's stomach. Andy frowned and shook his head.

Wednesday evening at dinner, Andrew was trying to scoop his cole slaw onto his fork and eat it. One scoop fell off and an empty fork went into his mouth. He said, "Ha! I ate zero. It fell off my fork."

We followed the picture instructions and he made a robot out of those blocks that snap together. He was very pleased with it and enjoyed playing with it most of the evening. He tried to take it to bed with him but I wouldn't let him.

In a kind of mean warning voice, "Strangers! I'm gonna draw a picture and it's gonna be scary!"  I overheard this as he was sitting at the table with his ipad and some paper. 

Thursday afternoon I asked Andrew if he'd like to help make a veggie pizza for dinner. He said no until I told him I'd let him use the knife to cut the vegetables. "A kids knife?"  I told him a real one - and then he was totally on board!  I was very proud of him (and rather impressed) that he listened and kept his fingers away from the blade and didn't try to do anything fast. I could tell when he was chopping the shredded carrots and onions that he'd watched me before as he held the blade with his fingers and moved it around the board as he chopped.  When he was grating the carrots - they pretty much went all over the counter. And when he was putting the veggies on the pizza, he favored the center of it and one corner. lol I had to help him spread it all over the pizza. He was a good helper.

Starting Wednesday after nap he woke up with his left eyelid looking swollen, dark under his eyes, and yellow discharge from his eye, and some yellow crust along his eyelid.  I know Tuesday on the playground there were tractors mowing the adjacent field but I didn't know if he was having allergies or developed pinkeye. I gave him some homeopathics and some herbs and vitamin C and kept him home. Thursday his eye looked perfectly normal so I sent him off to school.  Friday, his lid looked slightly swollen again and pink.  I took him to see Adam Roberts who said he wasn't sure that it was 'just' allergies, but he definitely had them and badly. So now I have to take him in 2 times a week until it gets worked out. 

Saturday he got to play outside a lot. He rode his bike all the way to the end of the street and back to the creek without stopping to play. He paused at one point going uphill and said his legs were tired. Ted told him he could get off and push the bike and I said I could help him but he hopped back on and kept going!  On the way back he slipped out of his shoes and got into the water but the waterglider bugs made him too nervous. Then when he jumped into an area, a hard shell hurt the bottom of his foot. It wasn't so fun afterall. 
Later in the afternoon I let him go swimming. I invited kids over to play, but it didn't work out. He got out once and told me, "I need other kids to play with!" I told him I tried.  I invited Linda Vaal to come hang out with me poolside and he held up three fingers and told her, "There needs to be three kids. Andrew is one, and Ally and Cole!"  They were busy already but of course he associates her with having the grandkids along.

Thief

We had a very bad day on Monday. I dont know if it's because he opted not to eat breakfast and just had some milk, or something else going on.. We did not mix very well. I literally could not take his obstinence and defiance any more and yelled (not at him, just that yelling at the wall in frustration) which made him cry and start screaming at me. He'd completely ignore what I would kindly tell or ask him to do, and it'd take yelling to get his attention. The beginning to the worst part started outside. I was working by the garden with Ted and saw Andrew try to put a dump truck of sand into the bottom of the stroller he pushed out there. I called to him and told him the sand does not go in the stroller. He yelled at me and then spit in my direction.  So I figured it must be time for nap (still earlier than usual). Of course this angered him and it all went downhill from there.  Every inch of the way was a war and we were both too tired to deal with it. (He would even fight me over my consenting to let him do something - nothing made sense.)  I had to leave his room for a few minutes to regroup. I managed to get him calmed down and agreeable to sleep and then I took a nap too.
He came in after nap and crawled into the bed with me and asked if we were ready to get up and play. After a short conversation I asked him, "Andrew, do you still love mommy?"
He said, "I always, always, always, do."    I guess he's heard me tell him that enough.

Tuesday he was wonderful. We went out to Aunt Eese's house to start cleaning and packing things. He did lock the screen door and then tell me he locked it to keep strangers from coming in. I told him I appreciated him telling me so, but we needed it to stay unlocked since I was hauling heavy boxes out. He kept locking it anyway until he finally got snapped at. I told him if he saw strangers at the door, he could always yell to me, Annelise, or Nana.
At the end of the workday, I noticed Annelise's miniature R2D2 in his pocket. I gently asked him if he might have any toys in his pockets that might need to stay. He said no. I asked if he was lying to me or telling the truth. He said the truth. We discussed who lying/stealing and being truthful make happy but he stood by his claim. I dont know if he really forgot that it was in there, or thought it belonged to him, or what. Finally Annelise spoke up and told him the toy was in his pocket and it needed to stay at her house so that he could play with it next time. He took it out and left it.

Wednesday we had a nice day. I decided I would not do any housework and just try to revolve my day around him. He rode his bike outside for a bit, then he rode it down the road while I walked. We ran over to the tire swing by the stream and pushed him on that until a wasp wouldn't leave him alone. Then he rode his bike the rest of the street. We played with Legos for a bit and had a nap shortly after lunch. Then we went back outside where he rode his bike and then we played baseball again with the tennis racket.  He got itchy and I brought him in to shower, and he went right back out to play.  He got to observe some workers replace daddy's truck windshield and then it was shower, dinner, and off to Kingdom Hall. I found a light colored 3pc suit for him and washed it - he was excited to wear it so he could wear his tan meeting shoes. 

Thursday - Ted has told me that Andrew must be in tune to his car starting because he always gets up right after Ted leaves. I thought that was impossible - we run a white noise machine in there and the car is at the opposite end of the house. But, I'm starting to wonder. Thursday Ted was able to work from home, and Andrew slept past 7:30! (of course *I* was awake early)  We headed out to Annelise's house to work more. Papa was there trying to clean and clear the hot water heater. Andrew followed him around like a shadow, talking constantly.
He also called Nana a thief, and then also said he was being swiper and pretending to take things -  trying to get some laughs out of her.  Papa invited Andrew to go to TSC and Lowe's with him. I told Papa, "if you want to be able to think - you might want to consider leaving him here." He took him anyway then when he was handing me my keys, he smiled and said, 'You were right. I would have been able to think without him." Andrew apparently was telling store employees that he was looking for parts for his daddy's lawnmower, and needed gas for the weed wacker.  Andrew returned with a toy gasoline can. He told me it was to put water in Daddy's gas tank. I told him never to do that, but he could water Annelise's plants with it.  He enjoyed that for a while.  After Nana and Papa left, Eileen brought her two girls over and they all had a blast playing with toys and then getting wet with the hose.

Friday, he helped me plant some veggies in the garden and played in the sandbox a bit. After nap we headed off to the park and played there for a few hours. He made friends with everyone - naturally.

Saturday at the meeting for service, he kept asking if he could have an answer. I finally told him that if he had a thought that had to do with service, he could raise his hand.  Soon he said, "I have a thought." and he raised his hand.  Brother Pingle called on him and he described a picture he found in the Awake. There was an illustration with a man with a zippered mouth and he talked about that.
Later in service, he and Samantha were being silly and taking the "zip your mouth" a little further - "zip your eyes" "zip your nose"    and when I suggested they play Paper Rock Scissors ... Sam thought you were supposed to say "Paper Rock Scissors Shoe" (instead of shoot which is when you reveal your choice)  and chose to be a shoe a few times. I thought that was funny.  They pretended that their fingers disappeared and would reappear. 
We walked one street and Tony took Sam and Andrew with him. I was across the street with daddy and he's walking down the sidewalk and yells, "Hi mommy! Hi daddy!"  and kept walking all proud to be on a mission with someone else.

Samantha and Andrew also played a competitive game of "I have ##"   I have 1 trampoline, I have 20 shoes, I have ......   Eventually they were in the thousands.  Daddy continued that game at home and I heard they had hundreds of socks and meeting ties, etc. He told me he tried to say "I have 1000 drills" Andrew said, "but you already said that one!"  Ted told me 'he remembers!! If I did say that - it was a while ago and early in the game!' 

I know he has said a lot of funny things lately, but I just can't ever remember them.

Buttons and Yard Work

One morning I came down the hallway to find Andrew literally climbing the shelves in the pantry. 

"I can do it all by my own."  I love that he still says that. He's getting the hang of buttons on shirts and pants, and is always so proud of himself even if it takes longer than he wants it to. I remind him that some buttons are still hard for me, and it's okay to ask for help anytime.

Tuesday daddy showed him how to weed the garden. He came in asking for some gloves and sunglasses. Then when daddy had the weedwacker going, I came out to find Andrew with his rain boots and sunglasses on pushing his pretend lawn mower around the garden beds.  Then he got his tiny wheelbarrow out and put grass clippings in it and pushed it to the garage. He saw me with the camera and stopped to tell me that it hurt his back to push that tiny wheel barrow.

He's been lazy about helping keep the house clean lately. He'll pull out something with a ton of pieces to it, leave it out and get something else out.  But then if I ask him to pick it up he says, "I'm not done with it yet" and will sit down and play for a minute.


Andrew put on a hand-me-down superman shirt.
I asked, "Are you going to be Superman today?"
He said, "No. That's pretend. I'm just a guy."


He has heard other people tell him "You're so smart!" a lot lately. I try not to tell him that (though sometimes I tell him to BE smart!)  This week he's started telling me, "I'm smart!"

Friday afternoon he pulled out the tennis rackets and asked to play Tennis.  We actually ended up playing baseball using the tennis racket as a bat, and a soft mini football and soft mini water volleyball as the baseballs.  He did alright!  We all had fun playing as a family. 

Saturday we had friends over. There were four kids. Andrew and Delilah (both turn 4 in September), and then Samantha who will be 6 in August, and Alexis who is 8.  The pool was open but the water still cold. It didn't stop them. We let Andrew get in with his life vest, and let Delilah use last years vest. Sam could doggie paddle a short distance and Alexis could swim but not touch the bottom. All of us moms were on the sideline stressing that at some point one of us would have to jump in for something. We had a few close calls. At one point, Delilah and Andrew were swimming side by side and she grabbed onto Andrew and pushed him under for a moment. He swallowed some water and fortunately was in arms reach of Alexis who was on the ladder. Shawna was able to pull him out of the water and I had him catch his breathe before letting him back in.  Later Delilah had it out with an inner-tube and thankfully was able to keep her head above water and got the tube off her head;  we didn't have to jump in. We decided to pull them all out after that and have dinner. Andrew was shivering in the pool anyway and was practically stuttering when I was changing him into warm play clothes.  They all played really well together and had a great evening. The guys played football, and us moms got to just sit and visit for a good while. Very pleasant pre-anniversary dinner for us.

Sunday on the way to meeting, he asked us if we could buy a clock that dings. Ted said something about a cuckoo clock and Andrew then asked if we could get a cuckoo clock. We asked why and he said, "Because they're cool and they're not too loud."  I told him when he can always tell time on that kind of clock - we will consider it.  I said something about him having to learn how to count by 5's first. Then he said, "5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 .... 60!"  I told him he almost had it and corrected him. He filled in those numbers and said, "See! I can tell time on a clock!" 
We went to the morning meeting so we could all have naps. Then we had Linda Vaal come over and babysit so Ted and I could go out to dinner together alone. They had a great time together and we got home just in time to get him tucked in as he was in bed telling Linda "I want my mommy"

Sunday he told me in the bathroom - "you don't have to tuck in my shirt. I can do it by my self." It's the first time he's said 'my self' instead of 'my own'

Florida Vacation

Friday May 10th, we packed up the car and headed off toward Florida. We drove a little more than halfway and stopped for the night. There was some sort of fishing evening going on in the area and we got the LAST hotel that even had a room. They had 14 rooms left when we checked in. Whew!

Saturday he enjoyed waffles and fresh fruit for breakfast then we left our hotel in Alabama to venture to Florida. Our gps and maps got confusing and we ended up taking routes that were probably much longer than they should have been - but the roads were nice and the drive was nice. The only problem was there were NO towns or places to stop most of that way. Andrew announced he needed to go potty and we finally found a small section of road with a shoulder, but Andrew said he didn't need to pee. Thankfully a few more miles up was a tiny gas station with a clean bathroom. I was a little worried when Andrew started chanting "I gotta go, I gotta go! I really gotta go!"  He was such a champ. A talkative one, but he really was great.  We ended up going straight to an acquaintance's house in Santa Rosa Beach where we were going to play for a bit and then have an early dinner and still be able to find our hotel (and hour away still) in daylight. Well, things didn't work out that way because the dad had to work and it got messed up so he didn't get home until 5.  Andrew enjoyed playing with their Kindergartner son and 19mo old girl. Though he got overwhelmed several times too and asked if we could go. He was a trooper, and very kind and considerate despite some of the chaos. The other boy kept trying to dress Andrew up in super-hero costumes which he thought was fun at first, but not for long. He bailed and decided to play with the toddler toys for a bit which really frustrated the other boy.
  We went to a hibachi sushi place for dinner. He ordered a Hawaii roll that had shrimp, mango, and avocado in it. He was awesome and so agreeable and well behaved.  He ate the entire roll himself with his chopsticks, never complained. I was so proud of him. The boy gave Andrew a toy Hulk at his house, and then after we were in the car ready to drive away he asks, "Am I really going to keep Hulk?"  I said, "i guess so" but then the mom appeared and said the other kid was flipping out wanting it back now. He was awesome about giving the toy back too.
   We eventually got to our resort. We went out on the balcony and he saw the pools and asked if we could check them out after breakfast. He's so excited to see the beach too. We soon got him settled in his king sized bed. He was crying three times. The first time it was the light on the fire alarm that scared him. The second time he thought he'd lost his blankets. Not sure of the third, but he slept til almost 8:30am!!
   Sunday morning we headed to a store to get beach toys, then went to a local place for breakfast - it was fabulous. We had to wait a bit for a table, but it was worth it. A quick jaunt through a grocery store and back to the resort. We let Andrew play in the pool for an hour (and try shuffle board, the splash pad, and playground), he had a snack on the balcony in the nude, and then we all took a nap. He thought it was neat that I let him nap naked. That was a first. Then it was off to the beach!!  He was really excited to use his new shovel to dig in the sand, but we left the buckets in the car and he kept telling me he needed them. next time.  Once we introduced him to the waves, he enjoyed jumping in them and screaming a lot. More than once he just took off running down the beach and daddy had to chase after him!  We were probably there for an hour before it was just getting too cool and windy and time to eat. As soon as we got in the car he was begging for a chance to go back to the pool after dinner. His incessant inquisition of what we will do next is overwhelming - I wish he'd stop worrying about what comes next, or which way do we need to turn, or what time is it, etc. Just enjoy now! 
 We made sandwiches for dinner, and then daddy agreed to take him down to the hot tubs for a little while before bed.

Monday - May 13 - Andrew doesn't know a stranger.  Everywhere we go, he adopts someone to play with or talk to. He'll tell them anything they want to know.  Yesterday at the grocery store, in the check out line, he was sitting in the rocket ship grocery cart waiting for us to pay. An older gentleman behind us went "beep beep!" and Andrew tuned in and started playing with him. They are visiting from Kentucky (and Andrew told him Kentucky is right above TN) and  Andrew told him we were from Nashville. They talked about some other random things.  This morning we went to the orientation at the resort just to see what merchants would show up (we were interested in Shell Island tours). Andrew chats with one for a while, then when other folks show up and sit down - he just sat down next to an older couple and started talking like they were long lost friends. They too were from Kentucky. I didn't catch much of the conversation because I was across the room observing. It just seems that everywhere we go - he finds someone else to talk to.
  After some time playing shuffle board and basket ball with daddy, and some lunch, we headed off to take a boat tour of Shell Island (which by the way is where part of Secondhand Lions was filmed!) and searching for Dolphins.  It was his first time on a boat. As soon as it left the Marina, they gave us cheetos to feed the seagulls. Even Andrew held his arm out and waited for a seagull to take it out of his hand. I ended up having to hold him so he could reach farther - but it was pretty cool! He also enjoyed just throwing pieces off the side and watching them all dive for them.  When we reached Shell Island, it was a beautiful beach. He liked sliding down the dunes, and scraping the sand and throwing it, running in and out of the shallow waves, and collecting shells. He went for the super big ones even though they were broken.
  After an hour on the beach, we were walking on a boardwalk back to the boat and saw a live crab catching some dinner. Andrew had been telling everyone that we might get to see a crab at the beach - now he can say he did. Next we were off to see dolphins. We found a big pod of them and even got to get close and also see a baby. That was pretty exciting for all of us. He got to pet a horseshoe crab twice too on the boat. It scared him the first time, but he laughed the second time. On the way back to the Marina, he pranced all around the bottom level of the boat and pretended to be a waiter serving us food he was collecting off the murals. Oh - and he got to drive the boat for a couple of minutes too, and blow the horn! The captain was super nice.
  After dinner, we stopped at a local playground and let him play for a bit, then went to the resort and got in the hot tub. We started trying to teach him to swim yesterday, and today he got a little farther. We put him in his life jacket and that helped him stay afloat.  Oh, yesterday he was running into the pool and tripped and went under. Daddy pulled him up and surprisingly Andrew didn't cough and gag... he held his breath when he went under!  Tonight, I told him he could jump in and I could catch him, but a couple of times he plunged under. I think he got water in his mouth just once or twice but didn't swallow or choke. I was proud of him. And - with the help of his life jacket, he did swim across the hot tub without either of us holding on to him, though he didn't know that.

Tuesday May 14 - We had a lazy start to the morning. He got to watch some of the movie Robots while mommy rested a little longer after breakfast. Then it was off to Pier Park. It's really a cute shopping strip but there is a kids carnival there too. He got to do some bungee jumping on a trampoline (he was in a harness). He LOVED it at first, but soon he felt like he was jumping too high, and a few minutes later said he was done.  Then he climbed a high netted tower. The rides weren't open yet, so we went and ate some lunch and explored a couple of shops before returning to the rides. We bought him a wrist band for unlimited rides and were there for a while. We went for ice cream and came back for more rides. He really liked the Scrambler which spun really fast (Ted said he squealed with delight and was practically drooling he was laughing so much), the ferris wheel, and some cars that look like old fashioned pedal cars that just go in a circle. But he also liked the Merry Go Round and some planes and hot air balloon ride, oh and a giant bounce pillow that you just jump on.  He made several little friends there - even a 3 year old girl who talks just as much as he does! Her parents said "she doesn't know a stranger" lol  Sound familiar? 
Andrew was very polite today. After every ride, he told the operator, "Thank you for the ride!" And he was good about asking to go someplace or do something before running off to do it himself.
     And, we also got to take a mini train ride through town too. We all three crammed into one little car, but he had fun waving to everyone on the sidewalks. We could always tell when someone else smiled or waved back because his face just lit up with pleasure.
     We went back to the resort and got in the pool and hot tub. We got him to swim on his own!! (with his life vest on)  I had to get a little forceful with him, but it worked. Ted and I were about 4 feet away from each other by the end and he swam back and forth to us voluntarily.  We were proud of him for finally trying, and he was proud of his success too.

Wednesday May 15 - We started off the morning playing a bridge design and construction game on his ipad while daddy slept in. After everyone had breakfast, it was off to the pool. He and daddy played at the pool pretty much all day. This morning he was charming several older women and showing off his newfound swimming skills. Daddy said Andrew used his knees as a launching pad and would jump off and his face went underwater 5-6 times and he laughed instead of freaked out.  They had hotdogs by the pool for lunch and then it was nap time. I was feeling rough so I stole Andrew's room (quieter) and made him his own comforter and pillow bed on the floor in our room. When they got up, it was back down to the pool.  I brought them frozen juice pops and let daddy have a break. More than one person said how well behaved and sweet Andrew is, and that we are really good parents. We played on the playground for a little while. He pretended it was a train and he was the conductor. He also liked climbing and swinging from anything he could hang on. He saw two older ones playing shuffleboard and kept cheering them on. He made a friend with a five year old and we all played until I got too cold to stay in the water. He enjoyed swimming all over the pool (with his life vest on of course) and added swimming on his back and twirling in circles today. He also was willing to slide off the edge of the pool into the water and allow his face to go under. he was pretty proud of that. (one of his hesitations to learning to swim was he didn't want to get water up his nose) After showering, we were getting ready and he pulled the cushions out from under the comforter/bed I'd made him and used them as lily pads and he was the frog jumping from pad to pad.  He sure is a good jumper.  We got cleaned up and went to a dinner buffet where we tried tender crab legs and cheese grits for the first time (not together). He didn't really care for their crab cakes, but he did ask for seconds of green beans, corn, and macaroni. I was surprised he didn't eat a mountain of shrimp... maybe he is over the shrimp phase.  At dinner, he randomly asked, "When someone stole daddy's trailer, did it make Satan happy?"  He comes up with those kinds of questions just out of the blue - I love that he thinks so much. 
He was sitting next to me while I typed this and got all concerned, "Who stole Andrew's room quieter?!" 

Thursday May 16 - During another lazy start to the day, we made reservations to take Andrew on the Pirate Ship tour. It only departed at 1. We killed a little time in a couple local shops and then went to the boat. Grabbed a quick bite to eat and boarded the ship. Andrew was really excited. While we were buying our tickets he saw the pirate gear you could buy and asked if he could be a pirate. The boat tour was two hours long and definitely catered to the kids. They introduced the crew members and the 'meanest one of all' was 'Wench Midnight Amanda."  Andrew looked up at me and asked, "is that you mommy?"  They had a running agenda of games and activities involving all the kids. They pulled out water guns and had a water war (Andrew couldn't believe he was getting to use a gun and get away with it!) oh - and during that water fight, he turned around and another woman was bent over her child and her rear was right at his level... he smirked, aimed, and fired!  They had sword fighting... one of the pirates was sword playing with him and said, 'hey, you're shoes are untied'  Andrew looked down and the pirate poked him in the belly. Andrew laughed, but after that he was doing it to everyone else. I was playing with him and he sliced my toes and said, "Your toes are broken!"  They had the boys get mops and pretend to wash the floor, then they got their faces painted and got pirate hats. Andrew was happy to have a big curly mustache, but his hat did not want to stay on after a little while of running around. I was trying to fix his hat and he very seriously told me, "Don't mess with the mustache." They pulled out tamborines and had a conga line dance, as well as a limbo. They did the chicken dance too, and at some point the captain said something about getting in the pirate spirit and Andrew started yelling, "Arrrrr, Arrrr" They got to fire a toy cannon by hitting a knob with a hammer which resulted in hacky-sack style cannon balls to go flying out of the cannon. They also went on a treasure hunt and helped pull a treasure box out of the water, and then got to pick out three treasures (little toys) and for not being greedy they got a pack of smarties candy. He didnt like those, so I pulled out a package of gummy worms from our bag and we went inside and had a snack and some water. It was his first time having gummy worms. Before seeing them he said, "Are they real? Are they cooked??" He enjoyed the treat. Then they gave him another treasure - a necklace to wear. We bought each of us a pirate bandana - Andrew looked so cute in the red bandana cap and his painted mustache.  The rest of the afternoon, he kept singing some pirate song and when people would ask him, "are you a pirate?" he would smile and then yell "Arrrrrr"  He got a kick out of it.
When we were pulling into port on the Pirate Ship... Andrew asked if he could stay on the ship and be a pirate.

After that adventure, we went to a store that among other things, sells chocolate pasta. While there we tasted flavored vinegars and dressings. It was pretty cool. Andrew liked two of them, but the rest I'd ask if he thought he'd like them on food, he'd say, "Uhm... not really."  They had a dog named Lucy in the back and he got to pet her and enjoyed that.

He got to try fresh lobster bisque at dinner and ate most of my bowl of it. He got a lot of smiles from other customers as he sat in his seat singing about being a pirate.

After dinner we stopped at the park down the road from the hotel. There were a couple of girls there on the swings. They asked if he knew how to swing and he said no. They gave him one push and he was swinging all on his own after that - the girls thought that he just all of a sudden learned from them. lol  He was hamming it up with them trying to be silly and make them laugh.

At the end of the day he was in the bathtub and started crying. He asked, "can we just go back home to Tennessee, can we? I miss home."  I asked him what he missed and he said something about all his toys and something else and started crying harder. My baby is homesick!!

 Friday May 17 - Friday, he woke up cheerful and did a lot of math on his ipad (by choice) while he waited for me to wake up. He decided this morning it was okay to go to the beach. We planned to just stay a couple of hours, and then come back for lunch and nap and then play at the pool. Well, we ended up staying at the beach. Right off the bat, another 3 year old came over asking if he could play with Andrew. I ended up being the primary watchdog over both of them as they ran in and out of the waves collecting water and sand, and building sand castles on the beach, and filling buckets with water and sand. They had a wonderful time together. or andrew's new word: glorious. I dont know what the other boy said, but Andrew replied, "I know! Isn't it glorious!?"  I think he was talking about a shovel.  We ate lunch at Schooners right there on the beach, and then continued to play for a while. We apparently had all the right toys because we ended up with 4 little munchkins playing together in our spot. They were all good.  Twice he got buried in the sand. Daddy dug a deep hole and buried him up to the waist, then up to his armpits. That time, he nearly got stuck in the sand. Daddy tried pulling him out and had to dig him out! But Andrew didn't freak out. he started to, but kept it together. 
  Ted went off swimming past the waves. Andrew saw him and got concerned, "Is that my daddy? Is he okay?"  Daddy got stung by an electric eel, and caught a lot of pretty shells only to discover creatures were still living in them.  Oh we also got to see a tiny baby lobster, or something that looked like one anyway. And clams that were spitting stuff out of the shells.
 He didn't want to leave the beach. We told him we'd go to the pool once it was shaded as we got way too much sun today. For the next three hours he was asking if it was time yet to go to the pool. He played with his monster trucks, and we gave him some ice cream to hold him over. After dinner, we went down to swim one last time. yet again, he was charming the older ladies in the pool. They told me what a sweet and polite little boy we have. They seemed to enjoy him. We also played a few rounds of corn hole. He got a little upset when we were trying to get his sandals back on and I said, "Somebody's tired." He blurted out in a pitiful voice, "Me!"  When we got to the room he started holding back tears asking if we were going back to Tennessee. This time he didn't want to.  I bribed him to take a shower and get into jammies by offering him some m&ms and chocolate milk when he was done. That prevented a melt down and then he brushed teeth and went to bed easy. 

Saturday May 18 - we finished packing up and headed home. I don't think we would have made it if we didn't have dvd players for him. He watched Monsters,Inc, Kipper a few times, and a couple Leap Frog videos. But the entire time he was still asking, "What road are we on?" "Are we still in Florida?" "Is this Alabama, are we in Spring Hill yet?" "Can we go somewhere to play?"   And all the way home he was saying "I'm still hungry" though he'd been eating plenty of snacks, had a big breakfast, and an early lunch.  At one potty break we decided to go through a neat car wash. He enjoyed that, especially with a moon roof! We got out at one rest stop 2 hours from home and let him run a little bit. There were no decent places to stop and eat dinner so we managed to get all the way back to Spring Hill.  Our cat-sitter Miranda joined us at Olive Garden and we had a nice dinner and visit. He was SO happy to be home!! He ran to his room and checked all of his toys, then he was bouncing all around the house and happy to see Flash.

Sunday morning he was still up early and played with his Legos for a long time. Helped me make smoothies for breakfast and chased Flash all over the house. He's still working through his toys.

A Mischievous Monkey

Monday morning, Linda Vaal and I were cleaning house. The bathroom floor was wet and Andrew walked through it and promptly slipped on my bedroom floor. I held him for a moment and then asked if a piece of chocolate would make him feel better. (what was I thinking?!) He calmed down and I gave him a small piece of pomegranate chocolate. In the next 10-20 minutes, he hurt himself three more times and came running to me suggesting he should get more chocolate.  A sly one he is.

Monday evening, he pulled out daddy's container of tuna-egg salad and asked to have that for dinner. But he wanted extra jalapenos in it.  After he ate two bowls of that, he said he wanted cereal. I asked, "do you want a big white bowl?" (as opposed to the small glass pyrex bowls he's eaten his cereal out of the rest of the time.)  He said, "Yes. I like big white bowls."  I said, "Just like you're daddy."  He said, "Yeah. He's smart."

He told me if he were a girl he wanted his name to be Jessica.  Then he said, "Where is Jessica?"  I said, "I dont know - WHO is Jessica?"  He raises his hand says, "I'm right here!" and laughs. 

Tuesday daddy took the day off so he could work on his blue truck and get some chores done on a pretty day. Andrew loves working on the truck with daddy, and he helped repot some plants, and plant some raspberry bushes.  We also took him strawberry picking which he enjoyed. He was very good at checking the whole berry to make sure it was red all over before picking.

Tuesday evening, we told him we had a present for him that he could have after showering. Apparently there was a fiasco in the shower of not obeying or being kind (we've had issues with that for several days now) and he was told he couldn't have the present. Andrew of course cried, and I reasoned with him about the importance of obeying. We read the scripture at Ephesians 6:1 and 5 about children being obedient to parents that it may go well with them. We disected the verses to make sure he got the point. He recalled that if you listen and obey, you will be blessed.  Then he cried, "I'm not blessed!"  I assured him he was, but told him that the opposite is true - that when he disobeys, things can go wrong. We came up with some examples together of how he could get hurt, get soap in his eyes, fall, etc if he doesn't listen to what mommy and daddy say.  He got the point.
Then a couple of minutes later, he really got the point.  He was pretending to cook pizza in his kitchen and when he gave a piece to daddy, he told daddy not to eat it.  Daddy did anyway and Andrew got upset. He told me he was upset because daddy ate the pizza. I said, "because Daddy didn't listen, he didn't obey?" It was like watching a light bulb go on in his head.
We secretly gave him a few chores to do to see how he'd respond and he reacted immediately, so daddy set the gift bag on the floor. Andrew didn't even notice it when he came back in the room.  We thanked him and told him since it appears that he understands and will work on listening better - we'd like him to have his present.  The look on his face was total surprise and he looked as if he might even cry.  We showed him the bag, and he started taking the tinsil off the top, "is this my present?"  We assured him that was just decoration, to keep digging.  He started tearing off the tissue paper and yelled, "It's my own Ipad!!"  He was genuinely excited and stunned. He thanked daddy and gave him a hug and daddy showed him the code to get into it. Then he sat down and started playing a game that teaches how to tell time. He often can read the clock anyway (or get pretty close), but this will help him fine tune his knowledge.  There are only educational games on his ipad.   After a few minutes of playing, daddy showed him how to plug in the charger and explained how to use it and let him try a few times. Then as he was walking back to the couch he softly tells himself, "I got my own ipad!" Still in amazement I guess.  (shoot! I don't even have my own ipad or iphone or anything cool!)  But I asked daddy to get something for Andrew to use as a computer, because half the keys on the keyboard of his toy one don't work. So Ted is going to get a keyboard to hook up to this ipad too so he can use it as a computer while I'm working on my computer.

Wednesday morning he comes to me half naked, "Mommy, you're out of toilet paper."  Hmmm. "I am?"  "Yes, you're out of toilet paper, c'mon I'll show you."  I start to follow him and in my bedroom doorway he turns and asks, "Are you going to spank my bare bottom?"  and then smiles at me. I said, "I hope I won't need to."  We walk into the bathroom and he shows me the roll of toilet paper. The entire new roll of toilet paper was unwound into the trash can. And three little squares had been used and in the toilet.  "See, you're out of toilet paper."   I dug it all back out of the trash and set it in a pile on the floor and told him that it was not okay - that it would be wasteful to throw it all away. *sigh*

Andrew discovered this week, and proudly announced, that he can unbuckle the chest latch of his seat belt.

He also was very proud of himself for buttoning his meeting pants and meeting coat all by himself.  I'm enjoying that he gets proud of himself for getting dressed. Though, for some reason lately, he's getting his underwear on backwards. I think it has more to do with he likes the pictures of the cars and you can see them better on the backside of them, but he puts the pictures in the front. Though he'll tell you the tag is supposed to go in the back.

He tries to hang on everything. He gets in trouble a lot for trying to hang on the doorknobs. Anything with a ledge, he hangs on. He gets to hang on the bar of the gazelle a lot.  But he's also starting to try and put everything around his neck - bags, strings, etc. I can't seem to instill in him the danger to that.

My loving little boy

Saturday evening we'd gone to a friends house for a get together. They are fostering two young children, one is a 5 year old boy. They didn't have a LOT of toys and the toys he did have, he had a hard time sharing. (he seemed to forget that when he was here Andrew let him play with everything)
Anyway, Sunday morning we asked Andrew if there were any toys he had that he'd like to give to James. That he didn't have to, but if there were any that he doesn't really play with anymore that he thinks James would like, James doesn't have many toys.  Andrew liked the idea and ran to his toy box. He pulled out a big Lightning McQueen car and said, "James can have this."  He also pulled out a big box of wooden blocks, a plastic rain stick, and one book about baby zoo animals and told me he doesn't play with those either.  I knew James would like the car so we selected that.
I guess he told James after the meeting because James came tugging on my arm begging to go get the toy car. It was nice for Andrew to give it to him, though James hasn't learned to be grateful or appreciative. He wouldn't have even said thank you if I hadn't told him to.

Sunday morning when we were getting dressed, he threw his toy violin into the middle of our bed. Then proceeded to tell daddy that he needed to get on the bed so he could get the violin. I think it's funny that he could think ahead that way to try and weasel his way onto the bed to play and jump.

Later in the day he asked for something - maybe ice cream or fruit snacks. Anyway, he told me he needed them. I said, "Oh yeah? What makes you think you need them?"  His reply, "Because I want them, so I need them."

Monday:
Andrew: "is Annelise here yet?"
Me: "Annelise isn't coming today."
Andrew" Why not?
Me: "She has to work."
Andrew, big pouty face, "I don't want her to work!"

It was really sweet when he went to pick out his play clothes for the day. He took notice of what I was wearing and wanted to match. 
His favorite shirt right now is a yellow tank top that says My Mom is the Bomb. I'm not really sure why it's his favorite, but he's been disappointed several times when I made him wear something else because it was too cold for a tank top.

Occasionally while driving to school he'll ask me to stop the music, and then ask me what a word means. Like 'honor' or 'praise' or 'serve'    I think it's neat that he's thinking about the lyrics.

Wednesday he was amazing. We left early to take the car to the mechanic since the air conditioner doesn't work. We were there for an hour and he was perfectly behaved and mannered.  We got to gymnastics just in time and he loved that. We then went to Nissan to have some lunch with daddy and he ate his half sandwich, an entire bowl of fruit, and a few chips and juice. Then we were off to Sports Season's sale to find shoes for mommy. It was a tent sale in the parking lot and I was really nervous about him staying with me. He was perfect! We were there for nearly two hours while we both tried on shoes and he was a little angel.  He fell asleep in the car on the way home so I sat for an hour in the Kroger parking lot to let him rest. He was a zombie when he woke up, but made it through Kroger and the post office. And he was really good through the meeting too.

Thursday *I* was the zombie. I put on a long Thomas the Train video series on for him and went back to bed trying to rest. He did come in a few times. Once was to ask if he could eat a pear. Then the next time he was telling me he was wet because he squeezed the juice out of the pear. I told him to clean it up himself and find himself some new clothes - but that I was not going to help. I heard him banging around in his room a bit but I didn't think twice about it.  Later, when I got up to make him lunch, I discovered he had pushed his bed to the closet so he could try and reach the top hangers. He was hoping to get his "onesie" footed pajamas to wear, but couldn't. (He came in to tell me that and I told him he didn't need pjs, to just get some shorts and shirt - which he did end up doing)

Friday was an exciting day for him. It was his last day at Spring Hollow until summer. He helped bake some vegan chocolate cupcakes, I made healthy chocolate frosting, and he added store bought chocolate sprinkles. He was so excited to get to share them with his Spring Hollow friends. They devoured them too and thanked both of us several times for the treats. I hope it made him feel special and understand that it doesn't have to be about a birthday.
He was also excited to tell every person that he got new shoes at Sports Seasons. "Aunt Joy" bought him a pair of shoes and he is very pleased with them and wants everyone to know. They are black with neon yellow/green soles.

Andrew came to me and asked, "Can I have a lollipop?"  I said, "sure! but you'll have to eat it outside."  He looked puzzled, "why?"  I told him, "Because it will start to melt and drip."  Then I realized I was thinking popcicle when he was asking for a lollipop.  I said, "Oh! A lollipop. You don't have to eat one of those outside."  He quickly tried to stop me, "Wait! I want the lollipop you're talking about!"  lol  So we had popcicles outside on the front steps as we waited for daddy to get
home. 

Saturday he warmly greeted my clients, and walked them to the studio, and then was sorely disappointed that I wouldn't let him stay and take pictures of my clients with me. He sat on the steps in the laundry room and said he'll just wait for me. Thankfully daddy was able to draw him away, but I still felt bad that he wanted to help and couldnt.

Saturday night, Andrew read most of the book "Love You Forever" to daddy. It was so sweet.

Sunday mommy was in pretty rough shape. I was having a difficult time walking and in a lot of pain. Daddy and Andrew filled the bath for me. The Andrew said, "I'll help you" as he helped me undress. He asked if he could pour water over me, and got a cup and poured water over my knees for a bit. He'd ask me periodically, "are you okay?"  "how are you feeling? It's going to be okay."   Later, after lunch, they had to help me walk to the bed. Andrew held one hand as I used my other on daddy's shoulder as a crutch. They walked me down the hallway and Andrew was whispering, "It's okay. It's okay mommy. It's okay." 
While I was taking my nap, he helped daddy install the water pump on daddy's truck. I'm told he's pretty good at ratcheting. Ted said that he was very good with the tools too, asking first if he can use one, and then putting it back where he found it when he was done. Andrew told me later that he was doing some work on his firetruck. Daddy says he really likes that Andrew likes working with his hands.

He is loving his legos. He cleaned off his train table, put all the trains and tracks away, and turned it into a lego table. He likes building cars, and trying to build mazes. And he prizes a pyramid that he and daddy built together.  He also enjoyed taking a tonka truck and filling the back with legos and driving it around the house. He makes the backup beeping noises too whenever it had to back up.

He also loves cooking in his kitchen. Any time we finish a container of something he asks, "Is that empty? Can I have it for my kitchen?"  I need to build him some shelves or get a basket or something to hold his empty containers. He has empty herbs and spices, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking powder, dried blueberries, cereal, eggs .... lots of goodies in his kitchen, but they are constantly falling on him when he's trying to cook.

We showed him the movies 'Monsters,Inc' and 'Robots' this week. He really loved both of those (he gets excited any time we let him watch videos! It has been a while!) He and daddy pretend to be robots nearly every night when it's time to get ready for bed.

He tells me "I love you to the moon and back" and comes and asks for hugs. I just love it!

Ridiculous

Monday morning he crawled into bed with me. Then he'd pop his head up, "Are you ready to get up yet?"  Then he told me, "you just put your head up, and then your feet up, and then put your feet down and sit up! That's how you get up!" 

In the early afternoon, Jenn and Houston Cox were here. Houston was playing with Andrew and jokingly told him that his name was Fred, not Houston. When I tried to tell Andrew that Houston was just playing with him and that his name was Houston - he thought for a second, smiled and said, "Noooo!"  as he laughed. The Houston pulled out his driver's license to let Andrew read that yes, his name really was Houston.  So Andrew said, "Okay. You're Fred Houston."  And from now on, he probably will be.  And Houston kept calling Andrew "Fredrew"  which he got a kick out of .

Monday late afternoon we were playing "What Time Is It Mr. Fox?" in the backyard.  Andrew was the fox and daddy and I would ask him the time. After a few rounds, Andrew suddenly would answer, "Let me check" and he'd make a "chickachickachicka" sound while making short burts of movements with his arms up and down from the elbow and moving them from right to left as he'd turn his body. Maybe he was being a robot somehow. Then he'd stop making the 'chicka' sound, look toward us and hold up 5 to 10 fingers and announce the time.  It was hilarious to watch and we have no idea where it came from.

Annelise was here in the evening and we were talking and Andrew would come up and say, "Excuse me. Excuse me mommy!"   .... "Can I talk to Annelise for a minute?"   And when she went to play Legos with him and I was still talking to her, he came back to me and told me to stop talking so she could play.

Tuesday morning he came to me for a hug and seemed like he didn't want to let go. So we sat on the floor cuddling. I told him I loved him and he said he loved me too. Then I whispered "you're my boy" in his ear. He very softly said, "and you're my girl" as he tighted his hug around my neck. 
Though on the drive to school, he saw a lady in her driveway and asked if it was grandma. I told him Grandma was in California and we were still in Tennessee.  Somehow we ended up in a conversation about daddy being grandma's boy all grown up, just like mommy was nana's girl all grown up. Then I told him daddy was grandma's boy just like Andrew is mommy and daddy's boy.  He said, "No.. I'm Papa's boy. I'm Papa Bruce's boy."   Okay.

While we were still getting ready for school, Andrew was playing on our bed. I walked in and he points to the cord hanging from our light and says, "yours works mommy. mine doesnt." I said okay and got him to come brush his teeth.  I didn't think anything else of it.

Hours later, I walk in the room, the light switch is already up but the lights are off. So I find the remote on the bed and I'm pushing the button and nothing is happening. I go back and check the light switch. THEN I remember what he'd told me. I pulled the cord on the light and then hit the remote, and the light worked.  I'd have never figured that out if he hadn't told me. lol

Thursday we toured the Tennessee Career Institute again. When we arrived, the director came out saying, "Hi Andrew!"  Andrew had his hands in his pockets and pulled one out at a time to introduce us, "This is Annelise. And this is Amanda.... my Aunt Annelise and mommy Amanda."  And put his hands back in his pockets.

I asked Andrew if he had a favorite word. He thought and said, "ridiculous."  I'd agree with that. He's been using it more lately and laughing.

A couple of weeks ago he asked me play "Annelise's phone"  (my ringtone for Annelise which is Fur Elise.)  So I showed him on the piano how to start the song.  This week, he went to the piano, pushed on a key and then worked his way up until he heard the right one. And started playing those first two notes of Fur Elise like I taught him!  I was impressed that he remembered the tone and matched it.


Friday he begged me to let him take his "delicate violin" (the real one) to school. I wouldn't let him, so he asked if he could take the toy one. I said yes but told him he'd have to teach everyone how to be gentle with it. He was so proud to show it off, and he let everyone who wanted to try it have a turn.
He is still very interested in learning the violin. I've asked a friend for their teacher's information, but she hasn't given it to me yet. I'm hoping that it will work out to get him lessons soon.

Saturday morning Ted introduced him to the amazing violinist Lindsey Stirling on YouTube video. He watched and listened to the Ice Castle one, completely mesmerized. When it was over, he looked up at daddy and said, "Wooow! Coool!"   Then we showed him the Shadows one and he enjoyed that too.  After nap, he asked if he could watch the girl playing the violin again. 

I just have to say - I'm so proud of him. He is so polite and kind. He has no problem sharing. He is helpful. We rarely have to ask more than once to get him to do something - he complies quickly. Age and race mean nothing to him when it comes to making friends. (Strangers don't mean anything either... he'll chat with anyone and tell them anything they want to know!)  He is just such a wonderful boy. 

"There's Satan!!"

One morning, Andrew woke up a little sad and upset. He told me he'd been crying, so I think that was in his dream.  I suggested he find his bear and snuggle back into bed with it. The next thing I hear is him crying outside my door. I leap from bed and he tells me he can't find his little bear. I go in his room where he has taken out all the stuffed animals from the basket. I am not sure where his little bear is, so I suggest he put ALL the other animals in bed with him. He got a huge smile on his face, "YeAH!"  As I'm picking up animals, I hold up a tiny stuffed sheep, "This looks like Ms. Clare's goat Grandfather!"  That got him excited too! He helped me put them on each side of his space and then he crawled in. Amazingly, he fell back asleep for a couple of hours!

Tuesday he wanted to take his stuffed "Grandfather goat" to school with him. He took the big basket too as a pen.  He really enjoyed sharing it with his school friends and teachers. That goat at school has become a special part of them all, and here Andrew had a stuffed toy that looked just like it!

Wednesday he helped me rearrange his room a bit and clean house. For a while now, he's had a little table next to the couch by the kitchen that he could eat his breakfast at or sit and do activities. He's big enough now that he can just do all of that at the regular dining table as far as I'm concerned. I wanted the little table out of the way. So I moved it into the office and set it up as his own desk and put his play computer on it.  Now, whenever I'm at my computer, he doesn't pester me with what I'm doing or what he'd rather do or see on my computer, he sits down as his computer and plays the games on it. Sadly, though, several of the keys on his keyboard don't work anymore, so even if he knows the right answer on the games (they're all educational) - he can't always get it right due to keys not working.  We're looking into getting him his own ipad computer setup kind of thing that he can play educational games on.

Not too long ago, he wanted to make a necklace from beads, and two of the beads broke that day. Ever since he's been asking if he can make a new one. Finally, we did on Thursday. I took his old one apart and let him make a new one. It looks really good!  It made him feel good when daddy asked to wear it when he got home.

At dinner on Thursday, Andrew did something and then reached up to ask daddy for a high-five. Daddy starts to put his hand up and Andrew swings his arm away and says, "Too slow!"  Then puts his hand up again. Daddy starts to go for it and Andrew takes it away and says, "Ya gotta be quick!" 
He sure learns fast! 

Well.. sometimes. Earlier on Thursday we were doing some math together. We started with 0+__ and he got all of them right. Then we did 1+___ and he got those right.  But then when I was doing ___+0 he seemed to start guessing instead of thinking about it. Even when I used his trains in his hands to show.. if he had two trains, and I add nothing, how many trains does he have... ' zero? one?'  Uhm.. no.  So I gave up. Usually he does really well and stays focused, but I think by my incorporating the trains he got excited and just wanted me to keep adding trains like it was a game. 

Friday at school, Andrew and Lucas were playing in the water table…and it was soooo cold…but
Lucas:  Scoop out more water.  We need more for the soup.
Andrew:  Sounds good.  Ms. Casey, we are doing important work.  Don’t bother us.
Me:  I was watching and taking notes.
Andrew:  Oh…well…thank you.

Andrew was carrying around a bag (purse).  Me: "So what do you keep in your bag?"  Andrew: "mmmm... just my phone."  



Earlier in the week, we started teaching him the story of Adam and Eve in depth. We read Bible passages and discussed pictures, and then reinacted the story with each of us changing rolls. We had to do it over two nights since there really is a lot of information in that story. 
Nearly every day this week he has asked to "play Adam and Eve"  One morning the two of us were playing it out. I was to be Jehovah and he ate the fruit.  But then when I got my stern voice, "Adam and Eve? Did you eat the fruit of the tree?"   He got a panicked look on his face and changed the story.  "No, it was icky! I spit it out!"   I tried not to laugh and said, "But I told you not to eat of the tree. You cannot live in this garden anymore."   Andrew desperately pleaded, "But I didn't eat it! I spit it out!!"   LOL 

He's really interested in Spiderman. He's never even seen it, but he gets excited about it. I'm guessing boys at school have introduced the idea of it. We've inherited a few clothing items with spiderman on them and he likes to wear those, and he also has a winter hat that covers his whole head and has holes for the eyes and mouth - and it is a spiderman mask with matching gloves. He likes putting that on and pretending to be scary. I keep trying to tell him Spiderman is friendly and nice... "No he isn't! He's scary!" 


Saturday morning I was up and working on my computer. Andrew comes in and says, "It's a pretty-a-ful day outside!" I agreed cheerily. Then he said, "The sun came back around the earth .... to the bright side!" 

We were able to apply the lesson of Adam and Eve Saturday morning. He was sitting at the table started messing with something else. I told him to stop. He didn't so I yelled "Andrew!" and he stopped. He said, "I'll just do it one more time."  I reminded him of the story of Adam and Eve. I asked him something along the lines of how many times did Adam or Eve eat the fruit before getting in trouble, and did it matter to Jehovah? (I asked good questions, I just can't remember them)  He answered my questions correctly and totally got the point. I told him I shouldn't have to tell him to stop more than once. He needs to listen the first time, and that he deliberately disobeyed me when he heard me and chose to do it again. But - he did get the point.

Saturday afternoon we were in Nashville near the Opry Mills mall, so we stopped to introduce Andrew to the Rainforest Cafe. He found it fascinating. As soon as we got there, he saw a huge snake in the tree and yelled, "Hey! There's Satan!!"  (remember we'd been discussing Adam and Eve all week)  We were seated near the Tigers, which ended up being his favorite display (over gorillas, an elephant, aquariums, and who knows what else). He is really into robots too and was excited to learn that each of the displays were really robots.  He asked me where their roar comes from so I explained that they had computers inside them that are programmed to make the robot move every ten minutes, and to make that sound.  I told him that if they were real Tigers, they could have jumped down and eaten us since they're carnivores. So he made sure that the robots couldn't walk or jump or chase us, and all they could do is move their heads and roar.  He was a little nervous after that conversation, but still fascinated.
After lunch, I saw that there was a Lego store in this mall. He LOVES Legos but we only have one tiny box of them, and it didnt come with a large base to build on. So we went and got him two large bases, and a box with 650 building pieces, and two sets: monster trucks, and fire fighters.  He wanted the monster trucks as soon as we got home, so we put those together first, and told him we'd open the other later. He's really enjoying playing with them all.

Grandfather the Goat

Monday, April 8th, I agreed to do a senior drape photoshoot for a set of twin girls since that is all they needed. Andrew greeted them at the door and they were immediately drawn to him and engaged him in great conversation.  He got one to start reading a book to him while I was taking photos of the other, but after one page I got him to read it to her instead. The three of them hit it off so well they almost didn't want to leave here. Andrew kept asking them to stay and play, and then invited them to come to school with him tomorrow.  They just loved him!

Wednesday morning he was excited to learn that his friend Samantha Pingle was coming to gymnastics class too. He loved showing his friend how to do everything. He was so pleased, that he kept telling random people that she came to his gymnastics class.

Friday morning I had him ready for school and then went to take a shower. He came in the bathroom as I was starting to get dressed. I put my bra on and he gasped and pointed at my chest and said, "They match!!"  I said, 'Well of course they do."  but then realized he could be talking about anything. So I asked, "What matches?"  He used the tone as if he were stating the obvious, "Your bra matches your underwear!"  LOL  He's so perceptive. I hadn't even noticed they were the same color.

One of the teachers at school has goats and one had three babies. The runt is TINY, wobbly, and has to be bottle fed. So she also has to bring it to school and take care of it while she works.  He's about the size of a cat and so adorable! His name is Grandfather (the three goats were named after characters in the book Heidi).  Well, early Saturday morning Andrew came in the room. I said, "It's too early honey, can you go back to bed?"  He told me he was sad and that he had been crying (must have been in a dream) so I gave him a hug and suggested that he find his bear and snuggle back into bed with the bear.  A minute later he was outside my door crying. I get up and he says, "I can't find my little bear!"  I can see in his closet he's dug through the stuffed animal basket. I dig through also and say, "it'll turn up somewhere."  Then I see a stuffed lamb that looked just like Grandfather goat. I pick it up and show it to him and tell him that. He gets a big smile and says, "Yeaahh!!"  Then I suggest he just get all the stuffed animals in bed with him. He liked that idea so he helped me pile them on either side of his pillow, he crawled in giggling and I went back to bed. I could hear him talking a little bit, but soon - silence. He actually went back to sleep!! This was at 6am and he probably fell asleep again around 7 - but then slept til almost 9! 
  We had a pleasant morning in service. Andrew got to read a scripture at the door for the first time. He read Revelation 21:4 and did very well despite getting distracted by the man's phone ringing. We invited friends to come play in the afternoon. The Davis' brought their foster kids over (5yr boy and 7 yr girl) and then the Weavers came with the Brent kids too. They range from 8-15 I think. Oh and two small dogs.  They all had a wonderful time once they got over the initial fear of the dogs.

Flooay and Glued Hair

Sunday before going into the hall, Andrew gave the most heartwarming wonderful prayer. I can't remember it all, but he thanked Jehovah for the Kingdom Hall, and the Watchtower magazines, for "Paradise where we can pet the animals", (a lot of other wonderful things), and even prayed that we're not a distraction to others during the meeting.  We were both so touched.  He used to give really lengthy thankful prayers and then for a few months it was just, "Dear Jehovah, please and thank you for our food and for our things, in Jesus name we pray, Amen."  That was it. Every time.  We both have had talks with him about saying the same thing, and trying to speak what's in our heart, and that he can pray about anything. And I'd offer suggestions to things he can include in his prayers before we say them together.  He's finally starting to think about them again.

Ted and Andrew were playing the Mr. Bump Memory Game. It was getting down to the last few cards and Andrew said, "Someone's gonna win, and it's gonna be me."  Even with both "Lose A Pair" matches (he doesn't seem to understand that you don't want to get those) he had 12 matches. Ted had 8 matches but was able to hang on to the Mr. Bump trophy and get an extra 4 points - so they tied. (I figured out later he was quoting a Magic Schoolbus episode where two teachers are racing, and that is what one of the teachers say in the triathalon.)

Monday when I was getting lunch ready, Andrew asked if he could have the sparkling water he picked out at the grocery before the assembly.  I consented and poured some into a cup. I hand it to him as it is still foaming and bubbling. "It looks like soap!!"  Then he tasted it.  He scrunched up his face and said, "It's kinda yucky."  ("yeah?")  "Yeah. I like it!"   He's so silly.  He was excited to have bubbly drink and said it was like Sprite. Then a few minutes later he decided, he really preferred milk and didn't like the sparkling water afterall.

Tuesday pretend cooking in Andrew's kitchen... "Are you going to have some floo-ay?"
Ted:Souffle'?    Andrew: "Yeah, floo-ay" 

he loves to play "steam-roller" and take turns rolling and being rolled over by daddy

Wednesday he had a blast at gymnastics, and then it was off to Herbal Health and Wellness for his own Chinese Medicine aromatherapy session.  I knew of three stressful events during pregnancy and then his concussion when he was two - any and all of which could have greatly impacted his body. Sure enough, he had an issue area with his stomach that started shortly after conception.  I can only guess that the stress and trauma I experienced when I miscarried the twin and thought I was losing him when I was two months pregnant might be the trigger.
Daddy came home not feeling very well so I suggested we get his oils and rub the areas that were bothering him. Andrew very gently started applying the oils to the back of daddy's knees and said, "It's okay. Deep breath."  Then after rubbing the oils in he said, "Okay, this knee is good to go!"  He helped apply the oils everywhere else daddy was feeling sore and then helped me give him a foot massage and hand massage. He was so tender and sweet. 

He has been remarkably sweet and kind lately. I don't know if it's because he was home with me over a week on Spring Break and had little outside influence (and no videos or electronics at all) or what. But I only have to ask him once to do something and he says, "Okay mommy!" in a cheerful voice. He has been so agreeable. He's been very kind and sweet and gentle.  Very enjoyable to be around.  Not that he's usually horrible or anything, but we've had moments here and there where he is not very kind and trying to get a reaction out of me or deliberately trying to drive Flash crazy.

Friday was really nice in the afternoon so we stayed on the playground for an extra hour and a half after school. Andrew wanted to be pushed on the swings so we started there. He was singing very loudly over and over again, "Let the heavens rejoice! Let the earth joyful be! For Jehovah has become our King!"  After about 25 rounds of that my arm was tired and I went to sit down. He stayed on for a couple of minutes and got off. Another little girl got on a swing and was yelling for her mom to come push her. Andrew turned around said, "I'll push you Elze" and very sweetly started pushing her on the swing. All the moms on the playground were touched by his kindness and how cute it was to see him doing that. 
It was also the first day for another little boy (Japanese I think but spoke English well) and the mom told me Andrew was very helpful all day and that her little boy was drawn to anything Andrew was doing.  Andrew also took the initiative to push him on the swings later as well.

After school Ted and Andrew were in the yard talking to the neighbors. They were talking about how kids say or repeat the funniest things. Ted thought of an example but couldn't remember what he'd told Andrew to say one time. So Ted turned to Andrew and asked, "Remember when we were in Target that one day and you were wearing your Spiderman mask and I told you to run up to a couple and say something? What did I tell you to say?"  Andrew looked down and thought for a second and then said in a gruff voice, "Who wants some?"    Ted was shocked Andrew could even remember.
Apparently, Andrew was wearing his full spiderman face mask, and Ted told him to run up to an  older couple with no kids near the toy department and hunch over and flex his arms under and say in a gruff voice, "Who wants some?!"  (I wasn't there for this)  Ted said he did it perfectly. 

Saturday, we went to a baby shower. As soon as Andrew walks in to the kitchen, the dad excitedly says to the expecting mom, "THAT is the hair I want!! I want that color hair - I want that hair!!" He was pointing at Andrew who now looked petrified as if he was going to be scalped. He very nervously replied, "My hair is glued to my head. You can't have it."  I explained that the man didn't actually want Andrew's hair, but he loves the color so much he wishes he had that color of hair. 

Adventure Week

We had our Circuit Assembly on Saturday and Sunday. Andrew did really well considering it's not easy even for adults to sit so long listening to talks.

Saturday morning (March 23) as we were getting ready, he came in and made a funny face and deep voice asking, "Am I fuuuun?"  I said, "are you fun??"  .. he said "No no! I'm _____ from the Little Engine that Could!" then made that funny long face and deep voice and said "Am I fun?"  lol  


He loved playing with his cousins Kaleb and Dylan, pretending to be a train and being silly. He was very happy to see Katara and all his "Kingdom Hall friends"  that he's met or seen recently. I thought this was really sweet:  When Joy came up to say hi to him, he turned and ran away - he went running to get Kaleb and bring him back to introduce him to Joy!! 

He decided during one song that we was not going to cooperate and threw his music on the floor. Then the music stopped and he started crying because he didn't get to sing!

I was told he was talking to Jenn Cox during the lunch break once and she told him that she used to hold him in her arms when he was a tiny baby. He looked at her and said, "Never again!" But then he said, "Look what I can do!" and he did a spin jump and then stood on one foot with one foot in the air and his arms out, and he just froze in that position.  lol

He called Ted out on a fib.  They saw a snowboarding competition on tv and Andrew asked where it was coming from. Daddy told them the snowboarders fall from the sky. Andrew thought for a second and said, "Nooooo. They don't do that."   So I explained that they were on top of a mountain and snowboard down it. 

We're on Spring Break this week (though it snowed Monday and Tuesday) We've played a lot of games. Grandma sent him a memory game with all the Mr. Bump characters. Andrew is actually really good at it. Not quite as good as mommy yet, but he can hold his own for the most part. I help him out sometimes.  He's not a big fan of losing, but he's getting better about that too. He is realizing, it's better to have someone to play with and lose, then no one at all. 

He seems to be getting a better handle on his understanding of Jesus' life course, but he doesn't understand why there are no pictures of Satan or how Satan influences people on earth but we can't see him. We've been talking this week about wanting to be Jehovah's friend and what that involves, or things we could do (like lie and steal and hit) that would actually make Satan happy instead and how we really don't want to be his friend. He will tell you that Satan didn't like Jesus for being good and obedient to Jehovah, and is responsible for Jesus being killed. And that Jesus kicked Satan out of heaven down to earth and is going to put him in 'jail' to be locked up someday. And that if we are good, and kind, and a friend of Jehovah - then we can live in Paradise.  
He was SO GOOD at the Memorial. I told him he could pass the plate of bread to daddy, but that he was not to touch the glass of wine. After passing the bread plate, he was very pleased with himself and said, "That was COOL!"   When the wine was being passed by, his hands went up a little and you could see he desperately wanted to touch it - but he had excellent self-control. For that I squeezed him and told him I was so proud of him for his self-control. He was holding back tears and said he was sad. I said, "I know, but you did such a great job, I think we should get a special treat after the meeting."  That cheered him up.  After the meeting he asked about the treat. I asked what would be special to him. He said, "Ice Cream at Sweet Cece's!"  I said, "I think they close at ten so they're not going to be open."  He thought for a second, "Can we go to Mexican?"  lol  Oddly enough, we did end up going to Amigo's with about 60-70 other people!  We sat at a table of 12 and he got a huge bowl of fried ice cream to share with Samantha Pingle, and got to play games on daddy's phone since all the other little kids had game gadgets to play.  We didn't get home until after 11:30!!

Overheard from Andrew in his room:  "Hello? I have a cat named Flash and he jumped on the bed and mommy told him to get down. Okay. bye."   (pretending to be on a phone call apparently)

Wednesday morning Andrew pulled out every toy from his toy box, but then told me he couldn't put them away when I told him to.  He avoided it as much as he could get away with. He started carrying around his stuffed "Big Muzzy" doll. I suggested he show Muzzy how well he could put away his toys.  He walks out of the room, "Muzzy, do you want to help me put away my toys? Okay!"  Two minutes later, he was jumping around in the living room - most of the toys still on the floor in his room.

Thursday, Aunt Eese came by in the morning and brought him a new book Love You Forever.  He was SO excited to get a present to unwrap. They sat on the couch and started reading it. Before long, Andrew was singing the song whenever they got to it. It just melted my heart. I did get some video. "I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." 

That afternoon, daddy got off work early and we went to the Adventure Science Museum. He was so excited to be going. We waited in line for a bit, and then he wanted to start by going up to the second level and seeing the dinosaurs.  Well, we ended up on some sort of jungle gym that is a really the inside of the body. He went into a tunnel (blood vessel) going into one side of the heart - and we never saw him come back out!  It's just a short tunnel, but we didn't know which hole to expect him to come out of, so we were obviously looking in the wrong one when he did come out. But instead of calling for us, he just took off!  To us, he disappeared into thin air! No one else had seen him either. A young boy offered to crawl through the heart again to look for him, but he wasn't in there. He said, "I'll find him!" and he disappeared too.   I went up and Ted went down, but he was nowhere to be seen.  I went back down to the heart and called for him. Eventually I started hearing his voice, "Mommy, where are you? I can't see you!"  I couldn't figure out WHERE his voice was coming from! It sounded so muffled like he was inside something.   It turns out, he was clear at the top of the museum, as high as you can even go, and overlooking all of Nashville. The boy had found him there, and was bringing him back down to me.  I couldn't thank him enough. I felt so scatterbrained by then too. I tried calling Ted on the phone but he wasn't answering, and just the few seconds I was looking down at my phone screen, Andrew was gone again. I said, "now where did he go?!" But he was just around the corner from me, looking up at what he'd climbed up earlier.  Not even there for 5 minutes and we'd lost him... what a way to start.  He asked if he was going to get a spanking and I said no, but we did take him down and talk to him about how important it is to stay with us. And the next time he tries to get away from us - it will be a spanking.  Which he did get - but he didn't forget after that! He was very good at pointing in a direction and telling us that is what he wanted to do.
He told us his favorite part was climbing that tower several times (he went with Daddy a few times later), and the "dark room" which was in the outer space section and mimicked being in outer space with pitch black and a bunch of stars.  
The Magic Schoolbus exhibit was slightly interesting, the dinosaurs were less than impressive. He did enjoy a water section that was supposed to be the inside of arteries I think, and also a sport section where he got to throw a football. OH, and racing around in wheel chairs.  Those were his highlights.



Saturday (March 30) we met for service and I suggested he raise his hand and say he wants to work with Samantha (the only other child out.) So he very proudly did so. It didn't work out to work with Samantha's family, but her dad suggested they take Andrew with them. We let him go and they had a wonderful time together.  Sister Whitley told me that Andrew calls her "Sister Witness" and she doesn't want to correct him because she loves it!  They all told me he was really good and didn't start to get loud until close to the end of the morning when they decided to become dinosaurs.
 We invited Sam to come home with us. They were a bit competitive and trying to "one up" each other on everything, but ultimately still played well together. 
Then it was off to a kid's party at Bruce and Lourdis Wright's house. On the way there Samantha told him a joke. "What does a cow wear in Hawaii. .... a moo moo!"  Then Andrew says, "What to do you call a Tiger in Japan?"   she asked 'what'   He says, "A Tiger in Japan."  lol
After dinner of my homemade mac n cheese and some watermelon, I let him choose a plate of desserts and he really just wanted the chocolate fudge, but chose a frosted cookie and a rice krispy treat too. Then he only ate the fudge and was off to play again. He loved getting to have a Caprisun (flavored sugar water!) and some ice cream, and a wafer sugary cookie. I wouldn't let him have a goodie-bag of candy and he was  good sport about it. He did get to bring home one of the party balloons which excited him. And some stickers.  We taught all the kids the "What Time is it Mr. Wolf" game, where everyone in a line asks that question, the wolf gives a number and everyone takes that many steps toward him. Eventually the wolf yells "dinnertime" in response and everyone goes running back. It's really cute and all the kids enjoyed it and got to take turns being the wolf.

Ted put Andrew to bed and said, "i love you to the moon and back." 
Amdrew said, "Ohh. I love you to the moon and back, and to the moon and back to our house, to inside the balloon, and back."