"I haven't had enough massage yet"

Andrew rubbed his chest and said, "My pects hurt."  I love that he is learning some of the muscles in the body.

Recently Andrew pulled out one of his paint brushes and told me that he thought it was too thick and had cut half the hairs off. I have no idea when he actually cut the brush, but he did a good job since his goal was to make the brush thinner.  He was used to a different brush and I guess assumed that this one was supposed to be the same size.

Jenn and Houston were here for the last maternity photos and of course Houston and Andrew have quite the antics.  Andrew told Houston that the spanish word for chicken is chickalente. 
And whenever Andrew would speak to Jenn's belly, Houston would mumble words replying back to Andrew. Andrew of course knew it was Houston and was laughing hysterically.  Even more so when he rubbed Oliver's bottom that was sticking up and Houston made tooting sounds. Later Andrew walked by asking himself if Oliver would toot again and he put his hand on Jenn's belly but no one made any sounds. He called everyone's attention and when Jenn made the sound he said, 'that wasn't it"  So he did it again and Houston made the sound and Andrew yelled excitedly, "That's the one!"
They were still calling each other FredDrew and Houston Fred - and tonight left calling each other Andrew-chickalente and Houston-chickalente.  They are so silly.
I had a big bag of clothes ready for Jenn and Houston to take with them, and a couple of toys. I told Andrew if there were any toys that he'd like to give to baby Oliver - to go dig them out now.  He said, "I want to give Houston my firetruck!" and he got his beloved ride on toy, and got a fireman hat to put with it.  And when they were leaving, he carried/pushed the firetruck all the way to their car and helped load it up. I was so proud of him for giving away a toy that has meant so much to him and that he has loved so much.  I am also very glad to not always be moving it out of the way!

Monday Andrew got in the car after school and pulled a few legos out of his pocket and told daddy that he got them from school. They had a little discussion about taking things that aren't for us to take and Andrew suddenly understood what he'd done and how wrong it was. So as soon as they got home, they put those legos in a baggie and back into his backpack. First thing Tuesday morning, he took the baggie to his teacher and apologized for stealing them.  He was very upset and trying not to cry.  Then daddy took him aside and told him how proud he was of Andrew for having the courage to admit what he'd done and to apologize himself while returning them, and his honesty is appreciated, and he is still very loved. Andrew perked up.
Ted told me he wanted to reward Andrew for being truthful about taking the legos and for willingly returning them so he could associate telling the truth with a reward rather than a punishment. So after dinner, we explained to him again how proud we were of him for telling us the truth, and we were going to take him to the store and let him pick out an entire set of Legos.  He came home with a lego set that builds a semi and a bulldozer that can ride on the trailer of the semi.  We came home and helped HIM build the bulldozer. He did a great job!

One evening, I got out of the shower and Andrew was in the bathroom trying to figure out how to properly put on my bra. Then he randomly asked, "mom, why do you have a hole in your vagina?"  The look on his face when I told him it was where a baby comes out (figured it was safe since we'd been talking about growing baby's and getting to feel Jenn's) was priceless. I told him that when it gets time that hole gets big enough to fit a baby's head through. He asked if the baby just falls out and I told him there are doctors there to help and it doesn't usually come out that fast. He was so intrigued and I could tell he was visualizing all of this too. I told him how the baby's head comes out first, slowly, then the shoulders, and then the doctor is able to hold the baby and pull him out the rest of the way. But then we talked about the umbilical cord and how it fed the baby all it needed to grow and was attached to the inside of the mommy, and that the baby doesn't eat with it's mouth while inside. Then after it's born, the doctor clamps the cord closed, and cuts it off so the baby is no longer attached. That shrivels up and becomes what we see as the belly button.  He thought that was really cool, but then asked more questions about the umbilical cord. I had to use the cord on the fan as an example - how the fan doesn't work unless it's plugged into the wall, and the electrical outlet 'feeds' the fan electricity through the cord.  The same way, the baby gets fed what it needs to work through that cord. He seemed to understand. I think I did a better job explaining it in person, than I am repeating it typed.   It will be interesting to see how he incorporates his new found information into his own stories or more questions to come soon.

Wednesday night during the meeting, he pulled out his big notebook and some pencils - and drew the most perfect flowers!  We were proud of his new accomplishment.
Andrew wanted an answer written out in his notebook. When his answer only filled up half his little page - he requested more words for a longer answer. No one would give him more, so he started writing letters hoping they'd make words and then asked, "what words are these?" I told him they aren't real words and he looked disappointed and then covered them over with his hands. Then he gave his answer in a tone as if he were mad and being forced to say something.

Friday evening, Andrew was given the choice of soup or turkey sandwich. He opted for the soup. Took one look at it and said, "I'm not eating that. I dont like it."  I told him he'll be hungry then, so he decided he wasn't hungry at all anyway.  I asked him to please try it, and he made all sorts of faces (I feel like I live in a Calvin and Hobbes comic book sometimes)  like it was killing him to try something new. I told him he didn't have to eat all the pieces in the soup, he could just drink the broth. So he was doing that fine until some dripped and daddy cleaned it up first. We were back to Andrew not wanting to cooperate because HE didn't get to clean up the mess.   I finally gave in and said he had to eat 3 more big bites to get something else (I know this backfires plenty)  He happily ate three more big bites and hopped down to get cereal.   He complained about the choices in the cabinet and got all dramatic about it.  I showed him a box of Honey O's and he got excited to try them.
After another dramatic episode over trying to interrupt and having to wait his turn - he said, "with each bite of my O's you all will get all my powers and I won't be able to speak."  Ted got excited and started acting more silly and energetic with each bite Andrew took. 

Ted bought Andrew that Simon game where it lights up in a pattern and you have to follow it. The second time he tried it, he got all the way up to level 7.  I'm not good at it at all. Ted has gotten up to level 11.  I think the highest I've seen Andrew get is 8. 

Saturday morning I was feeling rough and stayed in bed. When I got up, Andrew came out of his room in his underwear (changing into play clothes) with a bouquet of roses and said, "I love you mom!"  It brought tears to my eyes, as I so needed to hear that. 

Saturday afternoon he asked me if I could massage him. He was laying on the floor in my studio next to daddy in front of a heater. So I started rubbing his back. He didn't like it and said "that's enough massage."  As he was saying it I started giving him a scalp massage instead, "Oh that's good! I haven't had enough massage yet." 

Andrew has been begging me since mid October to make pumpkin bread out of the pumpkin he brought home from a field trip. Sunday was finally the day - as I had to use up a bunch of apples and over-ripe bananas, might as well cook the pumpkin too!  I told him he could help me make pumpkin bread after the meeting.  He did have one request, "make it gluten free so that Annelise can be part of our family"  So he helped me make some pumpkin cake essentially.  A few bites into it he decided it wasn't his thing. 

Sunday night after prayer, he tried telling me some story about how some stars fall and like the be kept in a "thing with a lid on it"  All I could assume was he was remembering catching lightning bugs and putting them in a jar.  But then he said some like to go back up with all the other stars. I told him that was a good place for them to be.   He tells such crazy stories.. I wish I could video him talking all the time. They are quite strange and detailed and elaborate. It usually involves someone getting hurt though with is disturbing.

"Welcome to the grocery store!"

Saturday, we were still doing a special tract campaign and he kept referring to the tract as "the command"  He was told he could offer one at the next door, "can I please have a command to hold?" 

Monday he stayed home from school with me. He was so excited, and well behaved and polite all day. While we were at Kroger, he kept calling out to people, "Welcome to the grocery store!"  And when we were checking out, he was reading name badges on the employees, "Welcome to the grocery store Jeremy!" (the bagger)  "Welcome to the grocery store Amanda!" (cashier)

Tuesday he had his second special education assessment. Math. We knew he could do some basic math - some simple addition and subtraction, count, identify which group is larger or lesser, etc. We did not expect the psychologist to come back out and say he did SO well that again, he is likened to an 8 year old. That surprised us. Though she did tell us too that when she asked him addition problems, he always chose the second number as the answer. That is his way of telling you he doesn't want to do it.  He also tried to test her knowledge when they were using counting blocks, she had to remind him that she is there to test him, not the other way around.  She told us that if we want to pursue this - to go ahead and schedule the IQ testing because she's certain he's going to pass all three assessments with excellence. So that meeting is scheduled for December.  We'll have to enroll him in school so he's in the computer system and can be tested, but he won't have to take classes there or anything yet.  We rewarded him with his choice of dinner. He chose Buffalo Wild Wings.

Wednesday morning, I heard him get up at 2:28am. I kept waiting for him to go back to bed, and it seemed too long. I got up and he was just hanging out on the couch. (The security camera showed me later that he got up, turned on lights, and then fished through my lunchbox to see what was in it, and then went and sat on the couch.)  He told me he was just waiting for everyone to get up. I explained that it was way too early and he needed to go back to bed.  He appeared again at 3:16, fiddled around. Ted found him asleep on the couch with his blanket over his head at 5:30, when he woke up again. We're not sure how long he was awake that time as it didn't register on the camera.

Wednesday was also his second field trip! His school went to a local Kroger and learned more about foods and prices. They each got to spend $1 on food to donate. 

Wednesday as he was eating dinner, and Annelise came in and he cheerily asked her how she was. She said she felt like her head was going to explode. I quickly told him that it's not possible and not to worry - it just means her head hurts. Then she asked him how he was, he replied, "I feel like my head is going to explode.... and my eyes are gonna go with it."  He's so funny.

Right before bedtime, he kept trying to interrupt a conversation. We stopped and let him tell us a silly story of finding a skunk in a toilet and it turning around and spraying and saying ewww. The second time I told him to wait until daddy was done talking. He scrunched up his face and got upset. I managed to finagle him through teeth brushing and potty and getting into bed. Before lights out, he said he didn't want to pray because he had a broken heart.  So Ted pulled out Psalms 34:18 and had him read how Jehovah is close to those brokenhearted and how it's now that Jehovah wants us to pray to him the most so he can comfort us. That made Andrew smile.

Saturday afternoon, both Shipwrecked and Monkeys Treehouse were both closed for private parties, so we took him to Goofballs. The boys played for two hours while I sat and studied for exams. Andrew had a good time, but they both were exhausted. 

Sunday I made a full turkey dinner and Andrew helped chop up the shredded carrots for the stuffing. He was a good helper in setting the table too.  He just about went crazy though wanting someone - anyone - to play with him.

Sunday night in his prayer, after thanking Jehovah for those who have lost loved ones and "helping bring them back to life in paradise where they can see their children again" .... he also thanked him for the big tower he and daddy are going to build in Paradise and be able to paint the inside walls. His prayers are always interesting. 

Watch This!

He doesn't always get the attention he is wanting. I hear "mom! look at me!"  "mom! watch this!" even when I've seen him do the same thing the three previous times he asked me to look.  So now, he has started saying, "Hey Jehovah! Watch this!"  

Wednesday November 6th, Andrew had his second bible reading. Ted just happened to see it on the information board last Wednesday, so we had less than a week to get him prepared. The reading was Titus 2 and had several long words - but he did really well. We were both very proud of him for sticking with it.  He stumbled a couple of times, and lost his place once, but he did great.  Someone in the audience kept gasping with awe when he'd get a long word spoken clearly. Then I heard, "he reads better than I do!" It sounded like an older person, but I never looked to see who it might have been. We took him to Baskin Robbins for an ice cream sundae afterward.

Friday he came home with some assessment papers for Bracken School Readiness Assessments done at his school. He made 100% in each of colors, letters, numbers/counting. He made an 82% in sizes/comparisions and 85% in shapes. That gave him a 92% overall - but put him in the 99th percentile rank and "very advanced"

Saturday we had a little bit of a rough start. Lately, Andrew has been completely ignoring what I say to him, or not listening when I answer his question.  This morning he was going into overdrive with it. He was laying on the floor in the kitchen with his feet propped up on the drawers and kept asking me a question I'd already answered. I answered it three more times and he just wasn't listening. I finally told him to stop asking. He didn't, and so I told him to go hang out in his room. He whined and fussed and I told him again to go to his room. He continued to whine so I finally yelled REALLY LOUDLY. That finally got his attention. I'm pretty sure people in the next state could have heard me. He ran to his room. A minute later I walked in and he was hiding under his covers. I asked, "so, how does it feel to get yelled at like that? Does it feel good or bad?"  He said bad.  "So how do you think it feels to me when you are not listening, and you're not hearing the answers to your questions."  He said, 'bad.'  I told him I do not like yelling at him, and I do not like spanking him when he doesn't listen or obey either. But I need him to try and work on listening so we can all have a good day and have good things happen.  He came and ate his breakfast and didn't fuss.
Saturday he was intrigued with big bellies and was curious why someone's belly might be big if they aren't growing a baby.  We discussed different reasons and then I told him it wasn't polite to tell people they had big bellies. He seemed to have forgotten, as we were with two other people in the morning and I heard him asking one dear friend if she was growing a baby. She isn't.

Sunday morning he helped me make some waffles for breakfast. He doesn't like to crack eggs open anymore because, "I dont want to have to wash my hands again." 
Later he was playing with some toys in the hallway and missed his target. He'd yell out "ARGument" whenever he missed.

Sunday during the public talk he got frustrated that I was getting on to him because his pencils were noisy. He wrote ARG on a paper and started scribbling really hard. He climbed on my lap after I took the noisy pencils away. I gave him a back and shoulder rub, and then he leaned back into me. A few minutes later, he was sound asleep. I slouched down in my chair to make him more comfortable and he didn't wake up again until the next to last paragraph of the watchtower lesson! He was really out of it, but still asked for an answer.

We managed to get an impromptu family photo session in when we got home. He wouldn't sit still, nor did he want to look at the camera and not make a face. They're hilarious to go through in sequence.  We had friends over for dinner and he had a blast getting to play.

He says such funny things all the time - but I can never remember them long enough to get them written down!  :( 

A Trained Monkey and First Field Trip

Sunday we had to stay home because mommy was feeling really sick and daddy was hurt. Andrew was wearing a shirt with a picture of a monkey on the front. Then he put on a vest that had a train on it. He bounced up and down on the couch acting like a monkey and said, "I'm a trained monkey!"  We thought it was an interesting play on words, given the monkey and train on his shirts. 

Monday, mommy was sick and had to work and daddy had to go to the Dr for a sprained ligament in his knee. So Joy was kind enough to take Andrew to school early in the morning. She said they had quite an interesting conversation.
With a sad tone, "My mommy and daddy are both sick."
Joy, in her kind tender voice, "I know, but they will get better."
A: "No they won't."
J: " Why do you say that?"
A: "Because daddy ran out of laughs, and mommy ran out of air."
Then he suggested they needed to go to Hobby Lobby to get laughs for daddy. Joy envisioned getting helium for me to take in, so I'd talk funny, which would make daddy laugh. Problem solved.

Tuesday he got to go on his very first field trip! They went to Walden Farms and got to pet several animals, play, have a tractor ride, and pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. He has been begging ever since to make pumpkin bread from his pumpkin.

Wednesday night at meeting, he saw a microphone sitting in the chair on the stage awaiting a demonstration. He leaned over to me and asked if he could go up there and grab the microphone and say 'hello' into it.  We laughed and objected but he didn't quite understand why not and said something about having been able to say hello into the microphone once before - a long time ago. I asked Ted later about when Andrew might have said hello into the microphone - he said it was a LONG time ago - like two years ago!

I've been so proud of him. We discussed Halloween weeks ago, explaining what people believe ghosts are and why it isn't true - and that is why we don't celebrate the holiday. He seems okay with it, especially since we've told him that when he says no to those things, he makes Jehovah very very happy (and us!) and he'll add "and it makes Satan sad. I want to make Jehovah happy."  Love him! Anyway, everywhere we go, people are asking him what he will be for Halloween. Neither of us say anything so that Andrew can tell them whatever he wants.  So far, every time he has said quite adamantly, "I'm not doing anything for halloween! I don't celebrate halloween." 

Thursday I met Ted and Andrew at Spring Hill Elementary School to meet with the psychologist and special education teacher there. Andrew sat patiently and was extraordinarily well behaved! He politely introduced himself before we went to a classroom. He said, "excuse me Ms. Casey, can I please play with these toys?" before pulling any out. After a little discussion and some paperwork, we were asked to leave while they did the reading and comprehension assessment.  Later they will do math and basic knowledge of his environment. Anyway, she reported that he was exceptional in his reading and comprehension.  It looked like she had about four pages of stuff and she said that of everything they went over, there were only two things he didn't know (and shouldn't at his age anyway.)  The first was syllables. When she asked how many syllables were in a word, he instead counted how many letters make up the word. She said even that was still advanced. We can't remember what the other thing was.  She said his reading and comprehension is already at a level that she would just be *starting* with 8-9 year olds. It's not that uncommon for a 4 year old to be reading before kindergarten, but usually at that point - it's all just words still. For Andrew, he could read an entire story, and tell you a lot of the details in it even if they weren't directly stated. For example, they read a story about some kids who had an empty fish tank and had to fill it. By the end of the story they had a red fish, blue fish, and yellow fish.  It never said there were three fish... but one of the questions she asked him was 'how many fish did they have?"  He told her three. That was information that he had to come up with on his own - and kids his age just don't do that.  Another example was a story about a Java cup.  In the story, it never tells you that a java cup is for coffee. We can't remember what she said the story actually was about - but the question she asked at the end was, "what is a java cup?"  Andrew told her "it's a cup that you put coffee in and it keeps it warm"  Things like that. She said she does see about 3-4 kids each year that have a higher intellectual ability than most, but she said Andrew, at least in the reading and comprehension department, is "truly exceptional"  He not only read "eloquently" and fluidly, he understood and could expound on what he read. She said he also knew that a period "stopped the sentence".  He clearly passed that assessment with flying colors.
We plan to meet back on November 12th to continue the assessment. 

We were really proud of Andrew's cooperation and how polite and kind he's been the past two days. The psychologist let him pick out two treasures from her box (a pencil and then a large plastic Eeyore figure) and then we told him that we'd take him to dinner for anything he wanted.  "Sushi at Fulins, and I want to pick out where we eat and I want to pick out which one I want to eat."  We told him he didn't get to choose the table, but he could pick what to eat.  He asked the waitress, "does the rainbow roll have food coloring in it?"  We told him it does not, but it is layers of raw fish on top. He opted to have his usual - green dragon roll. 
He had the server, the manager, the sushi chef, and even other patrons involved in conversations, stories, and a debate.  He told them that he had ten grandsons but they weren't alive yet, he was growing them in his tummy. But they will live in (and he listed several different states) one day. Then one story about having a cat (similar to a waving statue they have for 'good luck') in his room that glowed gray, green, and pink.  But then one gal tried to relay it to another and said it "glew in the dark" which sparked a debate about the past tense of glow. Even Andrew told her it was "glowed".

Later in the evening, I was giving daddy a massage, and Andrew was playing with toys. He came and went a few times. Once he came running in in a panic, "Mom! There is a stranger at the door!!"  I told him it was okay, that it was just kids who celebrate halloween coming to ask for candy. He was very concerned that they weren't going to go away. I told him they'd probably already left.  "Forever?"  Yes.  He raised his hands up in the air and cheered.

Saturday morning he was digging around in his legos and found a game piece to one of the 'trouble' games. We have one that is scooby-do and a travel size regular one that I bought at consignment sales.  I asked him what it went to and he said, "It goes to the snoopy doopy"   

We found out Wednesday night that Andrew has his second Bible reading next Wednesday. So we have just under a week to get him familiar with Titus chapter 2!  He's doing pretty well so far as long
as he stays focused.


Saturday evening I got to hear him play the beginning of Twinkle Little Star on his violin! He didn't even look at the paper with the notes written on it!  And I noticed he goofed on one note and then adjusted his fingers to get the correct note. I'm so proud of his progress since he rarely practices at home. Though I guess it has been, what? close to 6 months already of learning.

We played Rock Band again Saturday night. He decided to play the drums for a few songs and got all excited... "pause it! pause it until I get back!"  And he ran and got one of his muslin blankets and the warrior dash viking hat. He put the blanket over his head as hair and then put the hat on top - and then got his drum sticks with the flames on them - all ready to rock n roll!  Then it was his turn to choose a song... they are listed in order of easy to most challenging. He quickly scrolled all the way to the bottom, picked the hardest and worst sounding song and said, "Yeah.. this one." 

Sunday he loved getting to play outside in a pile of fallen leaves.  He and daddy swept all the ones on the deck together and played in those before pushing down to a pile on the ground.

Three blind mice

Andrew came home with a drawing last week that said, "My Family" but was only a drawing of himself.
Me: "I like your picture, you did a good job drawing yourself. Did you mean to only draw you, or did you run out of time to draw mommy and daddy?"
A: "I ran out of time."
M: "Would you like to finish it then? I can get your crayons"
A: "no, I like it with just me."

but he did tell my sister he deliberately only drew 4 fingers on one hand because he's four years old. So that is him holding up 4 fingers.

We decided to buy Andrew an inflatable punching bag. Its the same height as him. We want him to have a safe outlet for getting out anxiety and anger and frustration. He LOVES it.

Tuesday evening daddy and I had an appointment out and didn't get back until after bedtime. He had asked Annelise to leave the door open so we could say goodnight to him. We snuck in even though it was quiet, but he suddenly sat up and said, "Arg! Shiver me timbers! I can't see ye without the light!"  We all three started laughing as we also climbed into the bed with him to shower him with kisses. He asked me if I was feeling better and I said "yes, are you?"  He said no. So I kissed his nose. His answer was still no, so daddy blew on his cheek. Still no.  "Well what would make you feel better?" I asked.  He said, "If you massage me when I get up."  So I massaged his head and said goodnight.

Wednesday Andrew got up at 2am. Turned on the lights in the living room and kitchen. Found slippers we bought for him that he hadn't seen yet and tried them on. Took them off and played with some toys. Went potty. Then came knocking on our door.  "Can you guys keep an eye on me in case I see another mouse?"  ... "Andrew! It's 2 in the morning! Go back to bed!!"  .. "why?"  ...  "Because - 2am is the time when everyone in the world should be sleeping. Go to sleep!" .. "okay."   (he saw a mouse the other morning) 

Wednesday evening he was playing on his electric keyboard. "Mom, since we have mice in here, I think we should play 'Three Blind Mice.'

Saturday we had a congregation get together. He started off playing football with Bruce Wright and daddy - loved it. Then we moved to the playground for a while. After dinner he liked throwing hedge apples in the ravine with other kids, then back to the playground we went. Then he got invited to play kick ball.  That was pretty funny to watch. He liked kicking the dirt and watching the dust cloud billow at his feet. He did kick it and make it to first base without getting out, but someone else did. The next round they let him start at first and with the audience helping him know when to run - he made it all the way back home and scored a point for his team.  They seemed to all have a blast.

"Good call!"

Someone gave him some pajamas that are spaced themed and has tiny stars on it that glow in the dark.  The first time he wore them, just a few minutes after putting him to bed, he called to us telling
us he didn't want to wear them. Why?  "Because these stars do not turn off."  (the glowing ones)

Last week we let him pick out a mask, and he chose Ironman. We went out to dinner and he was wearing a blanket tied around his neck as a cape, and his Ironman mask. He wore them very confidently.

We were invited to a kids Princess and Imagination party (that ended up getting postponed til Spring) so I ordered him Ironman and Spiderman costumes that came with masks and gloves. I hung them both out on the clothes line and then just waited for Andrew to see them hanging outside. I knew he'd be excited.  I waited.. and waited.  Finally, we dropped some hints and suggested he look outside. His face lit up, he gasped with his jaw dropped ... and then said, "Look at that moth!!"  He instead became fascinated with a moth on the door.  lol  It wasn't until we suggested he GO outside to see the moth that he finally looked out just 10 feet past the door, straight in front of him, and said, "hey!! there's Ironman!" and he went out asking to wear them.  We went out to dinner at Cracker Barrel with him dressed up as Spiderman, and put in our 'reservation.' So "Spiderman, table for 4" got called over the intercom. 

Daddy has been trying to fix Andrew's "bed head" each morning before school. Tuesday when they were riding home, Ted said he had bed head again.  "No daddy, I have school-head"

Wednesday was a difficult day for all of us for various reasons. Andrew had a complete meltdown in the car on the way home just because he had to wait his turn to talk. When we said it was his turn, he fell apart (overtired).  Once home, he kept crying.  Daddy talked with him and Andrew continued to cry. I got in bed next to him and sang to him and rubbed his head and arm. Once he calmed down we started talking.
 He said, "Mom, things are not going well for me."
I told him, "I know. Things didn't go well for me today either. I'm very sad because one of my teachers wont be at school anymore."
"why not? Did she walk over to another school?"
"No, she doesn't have a job right now."
"I'll give her a job!"
"Yeah? What job would you give her?"
"Well, I'd give her your flashcards and she could build something. ... Or massage. She could massage."
"You'd pay her to come give you a massage? How much would you pay her?"
"Fifty dollars. .... Do I have fifty dollars? Is that all my money?"

Then he told me he had been crying because he was hungry. I told him that I knew he'd told me he was hungry, but because of how he was acting and crying, I couldn't give him a snack now. Because if I did, he'd learn that crying and fussing was a way to get what he wants, and it's not. That if he had handled himself differently, then I could have given him a snack when we got home. Amazingly, he accepted that.

Wednesday night Ted related an experience the teacher told him. During naptime, there was a little girl who would not obey the teacher or be quiet. Finally the teacher took her out of the room so everyone else could fall asleep. When she returned, Andrew said, "Good call! She was keeping everyone up?"


Daddy bought him two new books "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and "A Light in the Attic"  He likes the silly pictures in them. I'm hoping they'll read them together.

Friday at dinner, he asked for a drink. Ted started to get him a cup of water but Andrew started to flip out and whine and run from the table. I immediately halted him and reminded him of the experience Wednesday night where he didn't get what he wanted because of whining and crying. I asked him, "can you think of a better way to handle this situation?"  He calmly used his words and said, "daddy, may I please have some juice instead of water?"  Ted piped up "Because you asked so nicely, I will get you some juice." 

Saturday afternoon the boys were chasing each other around the yard and playing ball. Andrew kept holding onto his britches while he ran and pulling them up higher a lot. A few minutes later, he was chasing daddy and all of a sudden his pants ended up around his ankles and he fell flat on the ground. The button had come out of the elastic hold that allows you to adjust the waist line. Good thing he had a long sweater on!

Saturday we went out to dinner at Frankie's Pizza and Grill.  Andrew drummed up plenty of conversation with two of the waiters, and impressed them when he asked for jalapenos on his cheese pizza. Later our waiter, Danny, said, "you have a really bright little boy."  I said, "you have no idea!"  He said, 'yes I do, I have a 24 month old and an 8 month old'.  Ted picked up the little dessert menu and handed it to Andrew and said, "Here, read this."   Andrew thought he was getting to choose a dessert saying, "Hmmm, I'll have......"  Then the waiter asked, "Can you read me the first one?"   Andrew read it smoothly and perfectly - even 'liqueur'  and the waiter was dumbfounded.

Andrew IS strong

I forgot to mention that on Saturday I learned that our friend Jennifer Pingle had wrecked her truck and it caught on fire. She managed to get out before it blew up, and she had no scratches or breaks - but does have a concussion.  After I told Ted about it, Andrew was asking questions. I said something about how the 'truck went up in flames' and he asked,"did it come back down?"   lol 

He also had asked me last week about chimneys and fire. He thought fire went up the chimney and I told him the fire stayed in the fireplace, but the smoke went up and out the chimney. He asked if it'd make the fire alarm go off and I said that the alarm is supposed to sound if the inside of the house fills up with smoke. It took a few times of me trying to explain it all before he totally got it.

Sunday October 6th, we were invited to attend a recorded viewing of the annual meeting of the Governing Body. Ours was for 3pm in Mt. Pleasant. We heard it was almost 4 hours long, so we let Andrew stay home with Annelise (attended Saturdays). He was very upset that we were going to the meeting without him. I'm sure he'd have done fine, it's just a long time to ask a little person to sit quietly. We all got the new release of the revised New World Translation Bible so I was a little bummed that he wasn't there to get his own at the same time. Soon though we can take him to the literature counter and he can get one there himself.  We got home around 9pm and Annelise said that he requested she leave the bedroom door cracked open so that we can come in and kiss him goodnight.

Monday for family worship we wanted to talk to Andrew about Halloween. He already knew we didn't celebrate, but we were hoping to expound on why, and talk about the different aspects of it. He blew us away with how much he already knew.  He told us that it was when people dressed up as witches and ghosts. We explained to him that ghosts aren't real, they're demons tricking people into thinking the dead are up walking around. He knew about the demons already so we questioned him about whether or not dead people can act or seem alive. So we asked him what happens when you die and he demonstrated for us that you make a gagging sound and fall to the ground. lol So we asked more questions and he told us the 'heart turns off' and he plugged his nose to stop breathing, you can't think or move, etc.  He reminded us that Jehovah will bring us back to life - so we reminded him, that yes, that happens later after Jehovah restores Paradise. In the meantime, we have to make sure we are Jehovah's friend and not doing the things that makes Satan happy.  He said something else that I can't remember. I told him that we don't have to worry about Satan and the demons though because Jehovah is stronger and more powerful, and He can protect us and take care of us and help us. But then we told him that if one of us dies, we know, that as long as we're doing good things Jehovah likes, then we will be together again in Paradise.  I asked him if it was hard for him to not celebrate Halloween and he said yes. I told him I understood but that each time he doesn't dress up and go door to door for candy, and (he brought up christmas earlier as another trick Satan uses) not celebrate christmas and get together to give each other presents then, and each time he has a birthday with no party and cake - that we "make Satan mad" were his words but mine were "make Jehovah happy, and mommy, and daddy, and Annelise, and Nana and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa, and Joy and Barry - and all our friends at the hall - HAPPY"  We also reminded him that not everyone knows all of that - like the people at school and those who will ask him what he's going to be for halloween, but all the friends at the hall do know.  We told him we were so proud of him and that he's a good boy. 
Later he and I were playing dinosaurs and mine asked his, "What are you going to be for Halloween?"  His dinosaur replied, "No! I don't do halloween!!"  I had another dinosaur tell his, "I'm so proud of you" and give him kisses.  Then our dinosaurs ran the warrior dash together. The second dash around, his dinosaur kicked mine. I started to pretend crying. He came running back to help my dinosaur up, ran and got a pretend bandaid for his leg, got a tissue to blow his nose, showed him where the sink was to wash his hands, and then they started to race back together. Then his dinosaur tripped and got hurt so mine had to get the bandaid, tissue, and help him wash hands. Then they finished the race side by side together.   He's such a sweetie when he decides to be.

Sunday morning I let him help me juice. The machine got jammed on the carrots so I had to take it apart and clean it. I was having trouble getting it off. He said, "Do you want me to do that for you?"  I told him it was nice of him to offer, but that I am stronger than him so he wouldnt be able to do it. He got very upset. He told me he was stronger than me and I assured him that someday he will be, when he is grown up, but now, because I am bigger, I am also stronger. Then he decided I was telling him that he isn't strong at all. ayeayeaye I felt like I was talking in circles explaining that I know he is strong - and just to let it go. For the next five minutes, though, he was picking up random things like celery stalks, cups, and toys, "see, I'm strong"

Painting and Massages

Showing daddy what was under his bandaid after a skinned knee:  "I see my blood stream! But it stopped now."

Saturday I had to return an unused item to Sherwin Williams. Probably six months ago Andrew told me he wanted to paint his room Red. So I suggested maybe he'd like to come in the store and look at colors to choose one for his room, and told him he could even pick bright orange if he wanted to (since orange has been a favorite color his entire life). He immediately went over and picked a bright orange. I realized that he probably picked it because of me, so I had to ask him in several different ways what color HE would pick given the choice. Finally he was consistently picking red - and the same red when given options. But then Ted and I thought that all 4 walls being "Positive Red" might be overwhelming and dark. So, somehow we all worked together and came up with one red wall, one primary blue wall, an almost lime green wall, and a buttery yellow wall.  So the two main walls in his room are red and blue, then the wall with the window will be yellow, and the wall with the door and closet will be green. He is SO excited! 

Saturday I got the first coat of red done. I was putting him to bed and I laid down next to him to say his prayer and chat. He said he needed to touch the red wall and he quickly did and came back and smashed his head into mine. It felt like my skull shifted. I got up, had Annelise go say prayers with him, and used a massager to work on my neck before the pain would get too intense. But then I thought - if his head could knock mine that hard, what did his do?! So I went back in and got him to turn sideways in the bed so I could work on his neck and shoulders. He loves getting a massage. About the time I got his neck adjusted, he said, "I love you mom!"  I asked, "Yeah? Why do you love me?"  He said, "Because you're so nice." 

First thing Sunday he asked me if I was going to paint his green wall. So I did. He can't wait for me to get all the colors on the walls!

Sunday he cuddled with me at the meeting. He'd cough (sounded fake) every single time he heard someone else cough. I patted his back a few times and all of a sudden he coughed and it sounded real and rattly. So I knew he was fighting something. We went to lunch with friends anyway and when we got home, rubbed oil of oregano all over him and spritzed his room with it too. I gave him some homeopathics before bed. He coughed a little bit during the night, but not too much. I gave him more at 3am when he got up to use the bathroom. So I'm keeping him home Monday so I can keep pumping him up with herbs and homeopathics. I don't have time for us all to get sick!


Monday I got him down for his nap, but less than ten minutes later he came back out smiling saying he was done. I put him back in bed but then started to rub his feet for him. "Can you massage my head?" So I started rubbing all over his head and face - he immediately relaxed and his eyelids got heavier and heavier.

Daddy stayed home with him Tuesday and Wednesday so we could keep giving him herbs and medicine, and not expose him to more germs. Tuesday afternoon I set up my massage table and told him to put his face in the cradle.  "is it going to be scary?" he asked as he hesitantly put his face down.  I put a blanket over his back and used the vibrating massager over his back, hoping it'd break up any congestion in his lungs. He asked me to use it on his feet also, so I did.
Wednesday I had a rough day. I was on the floor studying and he asked if he could give me a massage. (which by the way, he rubbed my feet earlier in the week and he has great pressure! He's going to be good at it!) I said sure and he climbed onto the sofa behind me and rubbed my shoulder. Then he lifted sections of my hair, "let's see..." (trying to find my neck) I partitioned my hair and he said, "Oh okay..." and massaged my neck. Then he said, "Just stay still" as he tried to rub my forehead. Then he used his forearm and gently squeezed my head against his chest twice. I'm not really sure what he was imitating with that one, but I found it humorous.

Thursday Nana came to stay with him so he could have one more day home mending.They had a good day together and had good naps also.  In the late afternoon, he brought me a newspaper that headlined "Country Ham Festival This Weekend"  and asked, "Are we going to the country ham festival this weekend?"  There was a picture of the Predator Monster Truck and he is very interested. I told him I'd have to see how Saturday goes because Daddy was running the Warrior Dash too.

Friday he was glad to get to go back to school and play. They are, however, getting all the kids excited for halloween and Andrew is also excited at the prospect of wearing costumes. (I need to get him some just for fun)  So it was quite a bummer for him when he was told we don't do halloween either. (just got over the birthday disappointment) Saturday morning,  I squared his shoulders and had him look me in the eyes and I said, "you be PROUD that you don't celebrate birthdays and halloween. You are making Jehovah VERY happy!"  He wasn't entirely convinced but seemed to feel a little better too.  A little later he was eating an apple and peanut butter at the table. He told me something about 'if your brain breaks.'  I asked him how the brain breaks and he said 'you know, if it stops, it breaks, and a doctor has to cut off your head and put in a new brain." I told him that if the doctor cuts off the head, then you're dead. You can't live with no head.  He said, "Well, Jehovah can bring you back to life in Paradise."  I agreed, and added that we have to be sure we stay Jehovah's friend and do what is right so that we can be brought back to life. Then he started talking about how Satan was bad and that bad things make him happy.  He told me "like Cain. Cain was Satan's friend because he killed Abel."  But then he told me that daddy was Satan's friend. I asked why he'd say that and he said, "Because he spanked me."  [for throwing a spatula in irritation that it was time to get ready for bed]  So I then had to explain, that although that incident made Satan happy, it didn't make daddy Satan's friend. Spanking is a part of discipline and training, a consequence to behavior and actions that he was already warned against doing. I assured him we do not like spanking or being unhappy, or seeing him unhappy - but it does teach him what is okay and not okay. Then I told him that mommy and daddy can get in trouble too! He was definitely interested in that. I expounded that we have to answer to Jehovah. If we don't do a good job teaching and training Andrew - we can get in trouble with Jehovah and not get to live in Paradise either.  And somewhere in that conversation we talked about how Satan used to be an angel in heaven and he chose to disobey and got in trouble - and was given the name Satan the Devil. And he had some other angel friends who decided to act with him and they became Demons, and they will all be destroyed later.  But there were still plenty of good angels. He wanted to know what they were called .... "just Angels."  We are all striving to be Jehovah's friend and make each other happy and make Jehovah happy so we can all be together in Paradise when the time comes.

After Saturday nap, we took him to the Country  Ham Festival. We have had such a mild summer and Fall weather arrived on time. But this day - it felt like summer again. We let him bounce in the inflatables but we didn't want another heat stroke so we had to limit his time there. We got drinks and walked around. He got to see a helicoptor land, got to tour a fire truck and ambulance. He was concerned when he saw the ambulance, thinking they were there because someone was hurt. So when they opened it up to show him the inside - he refused to go in, but asked a lot of questions still. He got to see the Predator monster truck, though we missed getting to see it crush some cars, and didn't wait in line to get a ride in it.  We hung out with Joy for a bit before letting him go on an inflatable obstacle course one last time before leaving.  We took daddy home and hung out at Joys house the rest of the evening.  He enjoyed playing with Brice and Nevin, and later Lauren and Sydney. He told us some silly stories at dinner using things he saw around the room to enhance his story.
Later he found a bunch of word magnets on the fridge and brought me one saying, "uh oh! Look what this says!"  It said 'birthday' which he now equated to be a bad word. I told him the word was fine - that we all have birthdays. He said, "no we don't!"  So we reminded him it's the day we're born - we just don't celebrate and have a party for it.  Then he and Joy made a silly sentence with some magnets before we headed home.  (i'm thinking I should get some of those, he'd love those!)

Excited to be FOUR!

Monday, Andrew told me he was 4 years old. I told him "that's tomorrow!"  He held back tears and said, "No! It's today!"  I assured him today was Monday the 16th but if he wanted to call himself 4 that was fine. I wasn't going to get into a debate about it.

Tuesday morning, first thing I said, "hello four year old!!"  He looked like he had forgotten and then smiled big. I know he was hoping we'd make a big to-do like the kids in his class do, but I reminded him that we do special things ALL the time!  But it was still okay to be excited that he was a year older. He stood tall and said, "Look how BIG I am!"

Tuesday evening I was laying on my studio floor while daddy and aunt Eese made dinner. I overheard daddy tell Andrew that mommy was relaxing and to be mindful. Andrew stood his distance and asked me why I was relaxing. I told him I was sad because someone had said some unkind things to me and hurt my feelings. He asked, "Was it me?"  I told him no. "Was it daddy?"  No. I told him it was someone he didn't know.  Then he carefully got close to me and laid down on his stomach so he could see me. Then he told me he was sorry I was sad and that he loves me. I kissed his forehead and thanked him and told him he was being very kind. Then he gently and slowly took my glasses off of my face, folded them, and rested them next to my head. Then he asked, "Do you know why I took off your glasses?"  I asked why.  "Because you're supposed to be relaxing."   lol 

Daddy suspects we have more mice, so he brought home some mouse traps. He said the only way he could pry Andrew from school was to tell him they'd go mouse hunting when they got home. So after dinner, they went under the house to set out mouse traps. I'm sure it's a little confusing after playing the game 'Mousetrap' but we did try to explain to him how it works and what it's purpose is, as gruesome as it is.

Wednesday Andrew apparently threw mulch on the playground. Upon learning of it, Ted said he felt like HE was getting scolded by the teacher and some of the kids. Apparently, a kid in another class recently had to have eye surgery because of mulch throwing. Ted nearly snapped because throwing mulch is huge "no-no" but they let the other kids hit and punch each other with hardly a consequence??   I think every 2-3 days Andrew tells us that a boy punched him (and we've witnessed it ourselves too).

Getting Andrew ready, Ted wet his hair and shuffled it so it spiked all over. Andrew said, "I look like a band!" and then started making DJ noises and funny hand gestures. Hmmm ??
Then he put a sticker on the side of his head and said, "I look like a listening burp, right?"  Uhm.. whatever that is.

Thursday Ted talked with the other preschool class' teacher to ask her opinion of the rowdy class Andrew is in. His seems to be out of control, and the things they allow are unacceptable. She had the same opinion and said if she had to be in that class, she'd quit in two weeks. Ted then went to the director of the school demanding that Andrew be transferred into the other class. He would spend a little time in the new class for two days, and Monday he'll be in there full time.

Saturday, Parker refused to come with us in service because he has a major crush on Cairo. One of the Wright boys volunteered to come with us, but their daddy had to bribe the other with a milkshake. Thankfully, the fruit smoothie machine at that gas station has no dye in it, and it made Andrew feel very special to be allowed to have one also. We had a nice morning...
After service, we headed out to Smyrna for Nissan Family Day. He really wanted to swing on the swing set, but we told him we didn't come to swing, and that he has those at home and at the park. So he opted for some kid rides, he enjoyed winning a few prizes playing games, got a tattoo on his hand (after waiting an eternity for the face painter and giving up), and then had a BLAST bouncing in a bounce house with a slide. I let him taste cotton candy for the first time and then we moved out of the kiddie area. He really liked one trailer that was a 'walk in space', it was black inside and you walk across a bridge while the entire room around you spins with colored stars on it.  He got to ride one more ride, an air balloon ride with Annelise, and then spent the remainder of the time going through huge bounce house obstacle courses.
When we left, we met up with Jenn and Houston for some dinner. He enjoyed being with them. When Jenn let him feel Oliver kicking inside her, he asked, "Is he trying to get out?"  and seemed slightly concerned. Then he said, "I think he's going down your small intestines."

"Ata Boy!"

I was lying in Andrew's bed, waiting for him to return from brushing his teeth. He didn't know I was in there, came in with daddy and gasped with a smile on his face, "There's a bear in my bed!"  I laughed and said, "You mean goldilocks is in your bed and she's still there!"  He thinks it's a lot of fun to have mommy lie in the bed with him, and great fun if daddy gets on the other side too when we put him to sleep.  But lately he'll roll over and say, "I wanna love on you!" and give me kisses. One night he just rested his head on my shoulder. So sweet. 

Andrew after drinking a cup of milk I made for him: "Can I have another cup of milk?"
Me: "Sure."
Andrew:  "That's my girl!!"

Friday September 13th was the last day of my exams and I got my massage table. So all of us went to pick Andrew up from school, a jaunt through Costco, and then to Sushi dinner to celebrate passing all the exams. Andrew ordered a "Yummy roll" and ate the entire thing after eating a bowl of Miso soup (and all the handouts from Costco as well as a full thing of Sprite since I forgot to bring a thermos of water for him), and then finished it off with a piece of tempura ice cream. WHERE he was putting it, I don't know! He out-ate us!

Saturday morning Andrew and I played games in the studio while we waited for everyone else to wake up. At one point, he jumped up saying, "Good job mommy! I love you" and almost tackled me as he gave me a hug (and accidentally smashed my glasses into my face.)

Saturday afternoon we went to Arrington Vineyards for a while with Annelise and a few of her friends. Andrew went down to the vineyards and got a pile of rocks. He brought a rock for each of us. A little later, we saw him trying to carry a HUGE rock. It was heavy!! He struggled to keep holding it, and dropped it a few times. At the bottom of the hill, he dropped it and asked for help. When we didn't come help, he stopped and pushed some other kids on a swing. Then he picked up the rock and hiked back up the hill with it. The thing was huge.. I really don't know how he didn't hurt himself carrying it. I hope he didn't anyway!  Besides that, he enjoyed meeting other children running around, doing lots of somersaults, and even playing a couple of rounds of Catch Phrase. That was cute.. it's a game where you have a word and you try to get your team to say that word - without saying it yourself. Of course that was over Andrew's head, so when it was his turn, he'd just read the word, we'd repeat it like we were guessing - and he'd get all excited "you got it!!"  It was fun.

Sunday morning Ted was working on his truck and Andrew was being his little sidekick. Andrew asked for a popcicle and was denied. Then he said he was thirsty. Daddy asked him what he'd like to drink and Andrew suggested lemonade. We don't have any lemonade but daddy said maybe after the meeting they could come up with something. Andrew said, "like Sonic?"  Daddy said sure but told Andrew to remind him after the meeting.  They were literally driving home and Andrew piped up, "Are we going to Sonic dad?"  Ted (who had forgotten) said, "Yes we are!"  Andrew replied, "Ata boy!" 

There is air in my outer space

Conversation in the car:
Daddy: Andrew, can you please stop making that noise.
Andrew: I'm being a rocket ship.
D: There is no sound in outerspace.
A: Yes there is.
D: No there isn't. You need air for sound, and there is no air in outer space.
A: Well, there is air in MY outer space!

After a couple of errands and lunch at a pizza buffet, we took him to play at Monkey Joes. He LOVED that. Daddy used him as a basket ball once and put him through an inflatable hoop and let him hang in it. Andrew thought it was funny.

I forgot to mention in last week's post that one night I was putting Andrew to bed and he said he was ready to give another talk so he could see Nana and Papa at his kingdom hall.  So sweet.

And I think it was Sunday night, I was laying in bed next to him chatting. He asked me how someone get's married. I told him not to worry about it because he has to be much much older. Then he asked if he could marry me.  I told him I was already married to daddy, and that when he is older he'll find a girl that he loves and wants to spend the rest of his life with and they can get married. He asked how he was going to find her. I said not to worry - because he was going to have to be 18 or older, have his own car, a job, and it'd be good to have a house of his own to live in.  He thought for a minute and said, "How about we go to the Arnold's house, I can marry them!"  I just smiled and squeezed him.
Then he started telling me about all the people he loves - he has a big heart.

 Andrew has been so sweet this entire week. He's come home in good spirits and gone right to playing with toys. One evening when I announced dinner was ready, he asked to help and went to get silverware out of the drawer and set the table himself - even folding napkins for each of us. He's made great use of his manners and been mostly cooperative.

On Friday morning I was pulling out things to make my lunch with and Andrew says, "Can we go out to eat?"  I told him "you eat out every morning - you eat at school!"  He said, "No, for dinner!"   Neither of us had even had breakfast yet and he was already worried about dinner?!  We did end up going out. They chose Fulins and we all had sushi. He ate his entire crazy roll and a crab rangoon. And because he didn't sing Happy B-day to a classmate we took him out for ice cream after dinner and let him have an adult small cup instead of a kids cup (waaay too much!)  I can't believe he was even able to eat all of that! He ate just as much as I did!  He did say his tummy hurt on the way home.. so much so he claimed he couldn't talk! lol

Saturday in the ministry, Miranda asked him if he could say "oscillococcinum" and he said, "I can say that!" and he DID!  There was another long hard word she asked that he was able to repeat exactly without asking again to hear it first like I would have had to. 

Sunday we went to Tito's for dinner before grocery shopping. He enjoyed trying to help me quiz Annelise on muscles. Every time she got the answer he said, "yep! I got it right!" 
On the take-out box, he wrote his name perfectly and in a straight line! I think he was 2.5 the last time he wrote in a straight line - after that it was more diagonally. I guess because all the kids around him were just learning to write and were all over the page.

in his prayers Sunday night: "thank you for the bugs that are outside and not inside" 

Heat Stroke

Monday the 26th daddy was home sick. I was getting Ted fed and taken care of before turning my attention to Andrew when he said, "You forgot about me! Take care of me!"  lol 

He still struggles with wanting to call avocados "applecados" but he knows it's incorrect when he tries and ends up asking how to say it. I sliced up several avocados and drizzled them with balsamic vinegar. His first bite he said, "This avocado is too vinegar-y" 

I surprised him by picking him up from school on Tuesday. He was very happy to have me there with him during snack, storytime, and playground fun. On the way home, Annelise helped him send a "thank you for taking me to school" message to Joy. Afterward he started getting super silly. He made a freeze face and a strange sound and then said, "I was just freakin' out."  Then he did it again, "I just freaked out again."  After the third time I told him although he was being silly and it was funny the first time, he'll have to do something else silly to be funny again.  So he put his hands up and froze again and said, "uh! I'm a tree!"  Then he transformed into all the different signs and some restaurants he saw along the way.  I love that he wants to make people laugh most of the time.

He went swimming in the evening with Aunt Eese. She said that he started falling backwards in the water and said he was practicing getting baptized like the people in the 'Jehovah video' he saw on Sunday at the Kingdom Hall (the circuit overseer showed a video about the translation process and there was a clip of someone getting baptized at a convention.)

Wednesday, Ted picked him up from school but called to tell me: Andrew was speaking to the teacher and Ted thought he was talking slower than usual but didn't think twice about it until they were leaving and Andrew was fumbling around and complaining of a headache. We both called the school and the teacher said that he had water on the playground, they're not aware of any falling or hitting or anything - and that after they came in from the playground, the kids cooled down and worked at their activity centers just fine; nothing unusual.  The director, however, told Ted that it sounded like heat stroke or heat exhaustion and he needed medical attention right away.  When he got home is when he told me what she said, and sure enough, he had the symptoms of it. He was headed into the heat stroke category for sure. We immediately gave him some coconut water and juice and got him to recline on the couch. His temperature was 102.1 an hour after being picked up from school (5:20) - which is still high, but we have no idea how high it was coming down from!  His skin was hot to the touch all over but he complained of being cold and did not like the idea of a cold compress on his neck and head, or anywhere. He asked me to read The Stinky Cheese Man book while he relaxed.  He did eat a yogurt and a few bites of tomato soup, but then it seemed like he went downhill again. He took a little nap in his bed, but woke up wet and still very feverish. We finally convinced him to take a warm bath with clove oil and peppermint oil in it. I gave him a tiny amount of baby tylenol and some homeopathics. After his bath I cuddled on the couch with the towel loosely around him and fed him some raw milk mint chocolate chip ice cream (to get peppermint oil in him), and a cool damp rag behind his neck and over his head to his forehead. When he started drifting off asleep I took the towel off his shoulders completely. FINALLY his fever started going down. By 10pm it was 99.7.  I woke up at 3am worried about him and wondering if I should check on him. A few minutes later, I thought I heard him whimper so I bolted in there. He was stirring (wet again from all the fluids) but this time his temperature was 97.9 which was a huge relief. I asked him how he was feeling and he said, "Terrible. Just Terrible." 

Thursday daddy was able to work from home so he could keep Andrew indoors and calm, and he called the school to tell them what happened. They are now going to review their outdoor play policy to make sure it won't happen again. The boys watched a couple of movies and went out to lunch together and had a nice day. He was definitely acting like he felt better, but now he was complaining of a sore throat.

Friday it was going to be 94+ degrees outside. I called the school at 2:30 to make sure that Andrew would not be going outside. She told me no one was going out.  They apparently didn't make it clear to the kids though, because when Ted picked Andrew up from school, he thought daddy was early and he was missing getting to play outside and it was daddy's fault! He was NOT happy about that.

Saturday evening I really needed to get out of the house, so we tried a restaurant we'd not been to before in Columbia. It really isn't worth mentioning. But.. it turned out to be attached to the Mall which we wandered around in briefly. I went into one store hoping to find cheap pjs for him, but instead found some castle building blocks for super cheap (that I'd also just purchased online!) He asked instead if he could have a truck that when you pull the lever, it pushes out a bar from the front. It was a very cheaply made looking toy, but cost $20!  So we told him no. We told him that we would get him the castle blocks. He liked that idea, but said, "but can we also get this truck so I can knock the blocks down?"  Ted and I liked his quick thought process, but still said no.

Andrew has seen the grocery store named Piggly Wiggly several times on our ventures to Columbia and for the past two years has been asking to go in one. On our way out of the mall we told him we'd take him on the way home. He started doing a wiggly dance and was singing the words 'Piggly Wiggly' all the way to the store! He wasn't as intrigued with the store as he thought he'd be.

First Day of Pre-K

Monday August 19th - Andrew's first day of Pre-K1 school.  There were no tears, no fussing as he got ready and went off with daddy.  When he came home he was in good spirits.  I asked him if he liked his new teacher and he said no. So I asked what he did not like about her.  "I did not like the whole body of her."

Tuesday we tried taking some "first day of school" photos since I didn't have time on Monday. It was still dark at 6am so they're not great. We retook them in the afternoon but his smile then was a bit more posed and awkward.
He got to ride with daddy and take Grandma to the airport before getting to school. He was very disappointed when I told him no to his question, "will I get to drive the plane too?"
When they got home, Ted said that Andrew's teachers told him that he is way way way ahead of all the other kids in his class in pretty much every area, including writing. That they are going to have to try really hard to challenge him and keep him from getting bored.

Thursday and Friday both, Ted knew right off the bat he must have been given food coloring. He was mean and difficult from the moment he arrived at school to get him, until bedtime.  He had a hard time staying focused and cooperative during his violin lesson on Thursday too.  He was still a crankypants Saturday morning, saying he didn't want to go in service, and he didn't want to be with Joy and Barry - but he did enjoy being with them/us despite what he claimed afterward. Stinker.

The Best Party Ever

Monday August 12th was my first day at school. He asked me why I had to go to school. I told him to learn massage and ways to make people feel better. He said, "But you already know massage! You do it here at home!"  I love that he wants us to be home together.

Tuesday evening Grandma arrived and we all attended an open house at Andrew's school to meet his new teacher and everything. On the way to dinner, Andrew asked if he could recite his talk to Grandma - and he did. (I was not happy to hear that, as I have been discouraging him from reciting it since he wouldn't know if he was saying anything wrong - Andrew needed to focus on READing it.) But Ted was pleased and impressed.

Wednesday: Finally time to give his talk on stage in front of the audience. He was excited. Several people tied in by phone just to listen to him, and some family and friends came to our meeting for it also.  He did a great job for a three year old, but he read much much better on all of his practice sessions. He got distracted by his hand sticking to the bible page, he kept looking out at the audience and grinning. He lost his place at one point near the end and ended up skipping a couple of lines.  Most people were not following along anyway, they were all beaming with joy watching him read with great enthusiasm and energy.  The conductor told us later that he followed along for the first three verses and then just closed the bible to watch. A lot of the young ones crowded around him after the meeting, some of them saying, "He reads just as well as we do!" and they are in fifth grade!
We went to Sonic with a couple of friends afterward and he got to play on their playground and eat an ice cream sundae.  When we got home, daddy gave him a wrapped present: his own Optimus Prime transformer!

Thursday Grandma and daddy got to experience his violin lesson where he learned robot arms and robot wrist for using his bow.  We went to Mellow Mushroom for pizza after that and they had live music on the square. After dinner we stayed and listened and Andrew did some fancy footwork dancing to the music. 

Saturday was our big summer splash party! We rented an inflatable bounce castle with a water slide, and also an inflatable slip and slide with a pool on the end. They were a HUGE hit! Andrew got to play for a while all by himself before lunch and a nap, and when he woke up our friends started arriving.  The only thing that didn't show up was summer. It was a high of 69 and there was a light breeze sometimes... Andrew turned blue twice! But that didn't stop any of the kids from having so much fun. There was sheer joy on all their faces. There was a lot of colliding and crashing - but no fighting or hurt feelings. Everyone played so well. When it got dark, Ted gave each of the kids sparklers to play with, and then he shot off some fireworks - also a huge hit!  More than one child, even some of the older ones, said, "This is the best party ever!!" 
Sunday August 18th, it was the most mellow all the kids in the hall have ever been.

"I'm a Genius"

Tuesday morning Nana and Papa surprised Andrew by coming out to swim and have lunch together, since this is the last week we'll both be out of school together until holidays arrive. The air was not hot and the water felt cold - but they all enjoyed the time together. 

The weather was perfect for taking Andrew to the Williamson County Fair on Tuesday evening. He was 1/2 inch too short for a bunch of rides, but he enjoyed the ones he did get to.  It was all a pretty nice set up and they had cute things for the younger crowd.  He started rubbing his eyes around 7:30 so we shared a funnel cake with caramel, chocolate, and walnuts on it. That sugar got him through the rest of the evening.


Wednesday, we had prepared a scripture for him to read during the congregation bible study. He sat on my lap and raised his hand high. You could tell the conductor was a little nervous calling on him for reading it, but he did... and Andrew read it perfectly - much to the relief of the conductor I'm sure. He was very excited to participate that way too.

Thursday the Laffertys came over to swim for a couple of hours and in the evening it was time for another violin lesson. He's doing a really good job progressing. We are on a new schedule and now Taylor Buffington has her lesson after him, so we stayed and he got to see Taylor practice for a few minutes.

Friday, I heard him talking in his bed. So I snuck in and he was completely under the covers, talking away. I whispered "where's Andrew?" as I sat on the side of the bed. He threw the covers back, smiling, and sat up. He took a deep breath, and then just kept.on.talking.  I don't recall what he talked about, but he hardly took in a breath between sentences and subjects. I just leaned back and listened and smiled - soaking him in. We had some giggle time and then I told him I had something special for him today. I was taking him to aMuse'um in Columbia to play.  He had a lovely time there despite a couple of girls being really mean to him several times. He was a trooper, so kind and polite to them anyway. I was proud of him.
I asked him what he wanted for lunch and he said pizza, so we tried out a new pizza joint in town. It wasn't great, but he ate two pieces and we enjoyed being together. I even let him get root beer.  They had a little dessert menu on the table and he read through the entire thing. As he was reading he said, "Cole Slaw ...."   I stopped him, "Cole slaw??"  He said, "Yeah. Cole slaw" as he pointed to the word 'Colossal'.  LOL  He's so cute.

Saturday, he helped daddy mow the lawn. He's okay at driving it and controlling it, but his best job is cleaning it. Ted said he's showing himself responsible enough to get the blades clean after the job is done.  He was also helpful in washing windows with Aunt Eese.

Ted saw a shirt at Kohls in Andrew's size that says "Boy Genius" on it. We thought it was funny given how smart he is. But, no, I do not think he is a genius like some have asked or suggested.
Sunday morning I was folding laundry and I showed it to him. He read it to me correctly and I asked, "Do you know what genius means?" He guessed, "Happy and proud?" LOL I told him it is when someone is really really super smart; smarter than most of the other people the same age. Then he started prancing around singing, "I'm a genius! I'm a genius!" *sigh* I told him he was not a genius, though he is really smart.

Last week of Summer School

One of my past clients has a little boy who is in Andrew's class.  She told me that Monday, when she was picking up Cooper, Andrew came up to her all happy and said, "My mom is coming to get me too!"  It broke my heart to read her message. Daddy comes to get him.. not me. But he is still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, I will walk through those doors early to get him.

He is doing an amazing job on his bible reading!! When we timed it, he read the entire thing in 4 minutes and 5 seconds, and that is with him fumbling just a couple of times briefly. We are SO proud of him!  Tuesday we both cheered when he finished reading and we startled him which scared him and he started crying and yelling out of genuine fear. We both felt so bad and tried to apologize. It took a while to calm him down and explain that we were just excited - but that we do understand that we scared him. Daddy reminded him how we don't like it when he is loud, especially in the car, so we do understand how he feels. (I'm so thankful we can reason with him!)

The other day he was walking around the house singing, "Sinful Passions! Sinful passions!!"  Its a phrase he picked out of his bible reading.

Wednesday night after the meeting, he practiced the reading from the podium. I expressed concern that so many people are going to want to see him read, that there will be a bunch of people standing in the back school and that might become a distraction to him. That and if anyone laughs or anything - he is extra sensitive thinking he's not doing a good enough job.  Ted took that to heart and decided maybe the front will be better. So the brothers got step stools out for Andrew to try reading from the stage podium, and lowered the microphone to his level but didn't turn it on. All the stools were too short. He did the reading, but he had trouble seeing the words and keeping his place because his own hand blocked his sight. So, daddy is building a tall step for him to stand on.  Andrew LOVED being on the stage and wanted to touch and feel everything. I think he's starting to get excited - and I'm glad that we are introducing him to the podium and stage beforehand so it's not so new. Ted has planned to let him practice with the microphone on at the podium Saturday after service.

Thursday I had a photoshoot so he had to hang out with Annelise for a while. Amanda O'Gorman let Jillian play with Andrew while we focused on Kerrigan who is 9 months old. Before they left, Kerrigan was standing in front of the couch and Annelise was stroking her arm. Andrew came over, "Can I pet her too?" 

Friday was his last day on the summer schedule of Primrose. He will be home for two weeks before starting back full time. 

Ted built a nice step stool for him and took it to the hall Saturday for Andrew to use while practicing with the microphone on. Andrew was really excited at that idea all morning. Ted said he did a great job reading despite a thunderstorm that was literally rattling the building. He did it in 3 minutes and 18 seconds, and he did giggle a few times.  He told me later, "I thought it was cool, and it was."  

Uncle Mary

One thing they do at Primrose school is a fill in the blank statement that they then draw a picture of.
Recently, the statement was "If I lived in a castle, I would have _____"  All the other boys said a dragon, but Andrew said "a moat." Another one: "under the stars I see .... an alien."  And, "If I were a cowboy I would fall off my horse!"  He's so funny. 

So remember that I learned a few weeks ago that I have 9 great grandson's - one named Patrick Olivia? This last week he has been talking about his grandson Mary. Yes, Mary. He lives in a light black house that has been painted blue, and he lives in Kentucky. I am happy to report that our southern accents are what have confused him - not the gender. Tuesday he was telling someone about Mary and said, "You know, like Uncle Mary!" I thought for a second and said, "You mean Uncle Murray?" "Yeah, Uncle Mary."

Tuesday evening he was in the pool with Annelise and asked her if she'd throw him. She said she wasn't sure she's strong enough. He swam over to her, "Let's see."  She put her arm up and he felt along her arm and up her wrist, "Yes, you're strong!"  

Wednesday evening, since he was all dressed up, I got a few photos of him in my studio playing the violins (the one we rent that is the right size, and one that his great grandfather sent him that he'll grow into!) They are lovely! At the meeting, he got to answer a few times. The first time it was "Loyal love" After hearing Parker give the same answer right after, he asked, "again?"  Everyone chuckled.
Another answer was "don't say the pledge of allegiance" (it was a discussion about challenges kids face at school) and Brian Stockholm didn't understand what he said (though he said it twice.) Someone else told Brian what he'd said.. then Andrew looked at us and smiled as he said, "He didn't know."  The whole backside of the hall chuckled at Andrew. Brian didn't know what we were all laughing about so daddy told him after the meeting what Andrew perceived - Brian got a good laugh too. 
Earlier in the meeting, Annelise raised her hand for a comment and brother Pingle couldn't remember her last name, and in the moment he paused trying to recall it, Andrew blurted out "Werme!" 
It's nice to know he's in tune to what's going on. 

Thursday was his last day at Spring Hollow. The teacher looked like she was holding back tears saying goodbye to him. She told me afterward that he was patting her back and rubbing it as he hugged her - that he is just so sweet, she's really going to miss him. 
After a really good violin lesson, we found a little park and played for about 20 minutes before meeting Charles and Marion Hailey, Annelise, and Daddy at BurgerUp.  He enjoyed trying to entertain them though when he got too loud and I reminded him to be quieter, he got very embarrassed. We went around the corner and hugged on him for a few minutes until he felt good again. Then he asked me if he could invite them to come home with us. I told him sure - and they said yes!  So they followed us home and we had dessert on the back deck and enjoyed a leisurely evening.

Saturday I had my last wedding to shoot - so the boys got a good full day together. They played at the park for a long time, and then had Moes for dinner and ice cream for dessert - a very good day!  Daddy said that they were running and Andrew was really close behind and Ted quickly stepped aside. Andrew went plowing past him and did a faceplant into the ground, but laughing hysterically at the same time.
Sunday morning he coaxed Annelise to get in the pool with him even though it was a bit on the cold side. He liked pretending he was a shark.  On the way to the meeting, he asked us if we could go to the big park after the grocery store. We told him probably not since we'd have groceries in the car.  Well... we got invited to have a picnic at the park, but we managed to get groceries and go home and change first. So we had a picnic with Sam and Stephen Pingle and Alexa Sparkman at the big park (gorgeous day!) and then the kids got to play on the playground for a while. Once Andrew came up to me and said, "I need some instructions!" So Ted said, "run up and down that hill five times!"  And he did! That was after he'd already run up and down it several times - falling almost every time when he got near the bottom of it.   All in all - a good, fun weekend for him!

Sunday night I was reading a book to him, and he stopped me and said, "It's still Sunday. Monday I go to Primrose."  We talked a little bit and I finally discerned, it's not that he doesn't like Primrose - he doesn't like being there ALL day. Poor guy. I really hope he starts to love it there.

Pescatarians

Andrew was looking at the photos on my studio wall. There is a young man with a tattoo of his wife's lips on his chest. Andrew points to it and says, "who is that person with the stamp on them?"

Sunday evening when it was time for bed, Andrew told me his ear hurt. He said it hurt deep inside. He woke up about every 20 minutes or so crying because of it.  I put some homeopathic drops in his ears, gave him some homeopathic pain killers and put tea tree oil and helichrysum oil all around the outside of his ear.  Ted ended up sharing the bed with him to help comfort him. Ted said he kept reaching out all night to make sure daddy was still there, and at one point, reached over and squeezed daddy's nose closed!  

Monday was Andrew's second whole day at Primrose again. I was really reluctant to wake him up when it was time after having such a rough start to the night before. He was in good spirits, and he said his ear was fine!! 
He told me he had a good day at school. He got to paint a cactus (last week it was making castles) and play games on the computer that had to do with letters and words. He chose an activity that had to do with people, and there was a guy in a wheel chair and the wheels moved (i'm guessing it's a toy?). I asked if anyone was nice and he said yes. I asked if anyone was mean and he said RC kicked him in the stomach and it was on purpose. But then he said the teacher said something kind to him and told RC to say he was sorry and that made him feel better.  He told me wanted to cry at nap today but didn't, and that he was able to stay quiet (he expressed concern earlier that he's not able to stay quiet and not cry.)  I smiled big and gave him a high five and told him I was so proud of him and I knew he could do it. I asked if he had to pray to Jehovah for help and he said no, he did it all by himself.  He was in good spirits all evening. We played a few rounds of chutes n ladders, and after dinner he did his entire bible reading (with lots of questions in between about the little reference letters or what some words mean).   I gave him a little "treasure chest box" that I found at Hobby Lobby today and he was super excited about that. I also found a neat whistle at Scarlet Begonia that Nana ended up getting for him since she was already checking out. It's pretty cool and he enjoyed whistling and figuring out different noises and tones with it.  (it has a stick that you pull in and out to change the sound) 

 Tuesday and Thursday he enjoyed his time at Spring Hollow, but Wednesday and Friday he started the mornings off crying because he didn't want to go to Primrose. The teachers say he does fine during the day. 

Saturday we moved Annelise so he had to go elsewhere. Originally he picked the Pingles so he could play with Samantha, but she ended up sick. So he spent the day with Joy, Barry, and Lauren.  Joy said that Brice and Nevin were there (young teenagers) and they all played well together and played with Legos.  They played at the park too and he was showing other boys how to go down the fireman poles, climbing the dome and swinging down from it.  While on the dome there was an older boy watching him go up and down on it, Andrew was talking the entire time and the boy wouldn't reply. Finally Andrew asked, "Can you talk?"  The boy said, "i can talk."  Andrew finally begged him to talk with him. 
Later when they were making fish tacos, Andrew was playing Legos with Lauren. Joy and the boys were having a conversation about vegetarians who still eat fish. Lauren yelled from the living room that they're called pescatarians. Joy couldn't hear so Andrew volunteered to tell her. He walks in the kitchen and says, "They're pescatarians."  Then he told them, "That's Spanish for fish and bread."  LOL 

Long week

It's been a difficult week.
Monday July 8th: With little warning, we got Andrew out of bed (he was just waking up) and sent him off to his new school. Daddy signed him up for breakfast there, and dropped him off and went to work. The teachers said he was having a good day and fit right in and made himself at home - and that he particularly enjoyed the playground. Daddy said that when he came to pick him up, Andrew saw him and seemed to hold back tears. Probably tears of relief that he hadn't been forgotten since it was then after 4pm.

Tuesday he went back to Spring Hollow from 9-2. He was very happy to see me and wanted to show me some art he created. I looked at it and we talked about it for a moment, but then I told him to get his socks and shoes on and he fell on the floor crying saying he wanted to play outside. I told him we had an appointment and had to go - but he wouldn't cooperate. I got up to gather his things and he followed me trying to grab my legs like he was afraid I'd try to leave him. I ended up carrying him out.  At our visit to Adam Roberts, he was complaining of his stomach hurting. AR said that Andrew is stressed out about something and it had to do with Spring Hollow and the new teacher.
Wednesday morning he told me that while at school on Tuesday, another girl put her hands around his neck and squeezed really hard and hurt him. He demonstrated and made his face turn red.  I contacted the lead teacher and she knew nothing of it but when I mentioned the name of the girl she said that Andrew was no doubt telling the truth and she'd talk to their family, and also tell Andrew next time to tell her if someone else is hurting him.

Wednesday I took him to his first real dental cleaning. He was nervous, but a champ. They said he does have one small cavity in the back upper right that they'd like to clear out and seal. lovely.
I took him to Primrose after the dentist, in time to have lunch with him. He kept telling me he didn't want to go - that it wasn't going to be as much fun as Spring Hollow is. When it was time for nap and me to go - he fell apart. I sat with him for just a minute and told him that I would come back after my appt and check on him. It only consoled him long enough for me to get out the door. When I came back, the teacher said he was still unsettled and was upset for 45 minutes but they couldn't sit with him any longer.  He saw me and burst into tears so we went out in the hallway and talked and cuddled. I told him it was okay to be scared with all the new changes and that I was so proud of him for trying anyway.. that it will get easier when he learns the routine of it all.  I left again when there was only an hour left before daddy could get him and he was about to go outside to play.

Thursday he was coughing more so I didn't send him to Spring Hollow and I cancelled his violin lesson. He was a pill all day. I'm not going to write out how it went because I'd rather forget - but he was very rude and defiant and disagreeable all day over everything. I know it's just because of all the upheaval in our regular routine but it's very taxing on me.

Friday was the same as Thursday. I kept him home so he could get proper nutrition and rest - but it was a very difficult day dealing with him.
Daddy took us out to dinner Friday night so I could have a little break. We went to Olive Garden. It was cute when we were almost done he was conversing with the waitress and then pointed at her and said in a super cute way, "Don't you smile! Don't do it! Don't you smile!"  We all laughed. That's what people end up saying to get him to smile when they want to take a photo.  He was very agreeable while we were there. He even tried ravioli's, and bread with bruschetta instead of his usual soup.

Saturday we started off the day with a major fight and meltdown over breakfast. I think it was good for him to let out a lot of his frustration and rage in the way of screaming and hitting - but it was very hard to listen to. That was finally diffused and we headed out for field service. He really wanted to read the scripture at the meeting for service but I couldn't get to it fast enough... but I did let him read it at one of my calls. He did a great job and they were very impressed.  We had a pleasant morning and went to Sonic with the Buffingtons so the kids could eat together outside and then play on their little playground. That was very good for all of us.
After nap we headed out to Annelise's to start moving some of her things here. Andrew was really good and helpful - and was disobedient only a few times and we avoided some meltdowns. On the way home, he told me he had a grandson. I explained to him that HE is a grandson, not a grandfather but he insisted otherwise.  Then he told me a very elaborate story.
  His grandson is named Patrick Olivia and lives in Mississippi next to Alabama. He lives in a blue house on a farm. But the house is not built yet because when Andrew was visiting last, a tornado came and sucked up the bricks and Andrew got stuck inside and was very scared. And it sucked up more bricks and he and his grandson were trapped and crying.  He went on and on and I didn't quite follow some of it and at this point can't remember either. It was quite long though. At some point he said that he died and would never be seen again. So I asked, "well, did he serve Jehovah?"  Andrew said yes. So I said, "Then he can be seen again!"  And Andrew recalled that when Jehovah turns the earth into a paradise, he will bring people back to life and he got excited that he'd see Patrick again.
Sunday we had a decent start to the day. He got to help daddy pick a big bowl of blackberries, and later he got to use a remote controlled boat in the pool. He practiced his Bible reading too:
Tuesday I had told Ted I had an idea. His mom would be out here in August, wouldn't it be neat if Andrew could do the Bible Reading that week. His first one, and she'd get to be here for it. So I made sure Andrew could read that week's assignment. Saturday morning Ted asked the brothers if that was a possibility and they said sure! So.. for now, Andrew is assigned the Bible reading for the week of August 12th. We'll see if we can keep him interested long enough and if he can stay focused on it.

Sunday when we got to the hall, we took the big bible and let him try reading from the podium in the back school. He did pretty well, but he kept losing his place because he'd get distracted by the kids coming in to listen. We'll keep working at it. 

Trying new things

 Monday we went to tour two potential preschools for Andrew.  After the second one, all three of us chose that school, The Primrose School. Afterward we took daddy back to work, wasted some time, and then met him for lunch at an Indian Buffet. The food was amazing!! It looked terrible but tasted great. Bombay Bistro.  The manager came out and talked with Andrew at good length and told him if he eats all his lunch, he'd give him a chocolate bar.  He made friends with the older couple at the table next to us and chatted a bit. They all loved seeing such a young person willing to try all the different foods and liking them.
 While at a stoplight:  Andrew: "Mom, what's a canoe?"
Me: "It's a kind of boat. You use paddles to push the water and make the boat move forward."
Andrew: "Oars. You use oars, not paddles mom." 

Tuesday morning Andrew came running in to my room... "mom, there is food in the toilet with my poo! Come see!" You could see the noodles from last night's dinner and he pointed to the toilet with a big grin on his face. He was a slightly concerned but thought it was cool. And then he said, "but you can't see the carrots or peas."

We had an appointment with Adam Roberts later and I asked him what he was working on. He told me the intestines. I told him about the noodles being undigested and didn't know if it was relevant. He did some more muscle testing on Andrew and told me that Andrew was stressed because he's been given too much information and doesn't know how to process it, and it's resulting in his digestive system reacting. Nothing serious or to be concerned about, that Andrew would be fine.
The convention maybe?  I know he was listening because he'd ask me questions. And for the entire drama he was asking me "which one is Mordecai? Who's the king? Is the queen in the pink dress? Why are they wearing those long shirts with belts? Who are they? What are they doing? .....  you get the idea. I was narrating the entire drama the best I could.  But then Monday we toured the schools so maybe he's trying to analyze all of that too.  Or maybe it's just because we were completely off our usual schedule and he's trying to sort through that. 
I realized a lot about Andrew that Tuesday.  After our visit with Adam we went back to the Primrose school to give the paperwork and pay registration. They let Andrew visit with the class he'll be with while I did paperwork. He immediately  made friends and felt comfortable enough to join in the activities. The children were friendly even to me, so that is a good sign.  Anyway... talking to the director, I told her one of my concerns is that it's such a long day for him. Right now he's used to 9-2 or 9-3, and he knows how to read the clock enough and knows when to expect me. I don't want him to get anxious when much time goes by and he hasn't seen us again. And I asked if it was normal for children to be so concerned about what time it is and what is going to happen next, and after that too.  She didn't tell me it was normal, but she told me I'm not going to change him and that he had to have gotten it from one of us.  That he is the type that wants to know what the entire day holds and has it organized in his mind how it's supposed to play out. And anything, even the question 'do you want to go to the park' will throw his entire day off even if he would enjoy that venture - it's just that he wasn't expecting it and doesn't know how to process it right away. It wasn't in his plans.  I realized at that point - that is exactly how I am too.  I don't have to have everything planned out for the entire week, but I make a plan for the day when I get up, or maybe the day before - and I'm good at following that plan. When something all of a sudden changes, I can go with it, but it throws me off mentally and emotionally and will stress me out a little bit as I process the changes.  poor kid. 
I realized then, he NEEDS a regular schedule that doesn't change. Right now, Mondays and Fridays are whatever we need to do days. Tuesdays and Thursdays have been for school at Spring Hollow. Wednesdays Gymnastics.  Although he knows what to expect each of those days for the most part, I think he will thrive on every day being the same. I'm feeling better about him going to school full time.  I can't really explain why he is obsessed with knowing what is the name of each road we're on, and where we are going, and what roads we need to take to get there and why. I've never met another child like him. But because of my visit with Adam and my revelations while at the school - we're just going to have to indulge him and answer his million and two questions. If we don't - we're only going to stress him out because he's not getting the information he is wanting to process. We try to tell him not to worry about it, to just enjoy the time right now. Even though he'll say, "Okay"  he is still
stressing about it.  It breaks my heart that he stresses so much, now that I'm recognizing it better.


Andrew was in his carseat and told me, "My stomach hurts. I need to eat some ginger to make it feel better."  Not sure where he learned that.. but that's my boy!!!

Thursday it rained. All day. Daddy was working in the workshop and I put a raincoat and boots on Andrew and let him play outside. Ted told me that he was jumping in a puddle for a little bit, but apparently that wasn't enough. Andrew went and found a chair and pushed it by the puddle so he could jump off the chair into the puddle and make a bigger splash. 

I overheard him in the other room saying  "I'm in the town of Joppa. I'm in the town of Joppa. (pause) I don't know how to spell Joppa.  Papa rhymes with Joppa."  

Andrew calls me to come wipe his bottom and then puts his feet up on the seat. "Look mom, I was standing on the seat, and that was silly."  Then he says, "When I was little, I fell in and someone flushed me down."  I told him that didn't really happen and he asks, "Why? Would that be scary?"  I told him he's too big to fit down the toilet, even when he was little.  He said, "even when I was an eeny teeny tiny baby?"  I told him when he was that small, he was still inside me.  He had nothing to say to that.

He tells strange stories. For a while he was telling everyone that daddy climbed a tree, fell out and hurt his head.  Lately he has been telling everyone that he went to the circus and fell off an animal. They ask which animal and he says he was riding a tiger and the elephant caused him to fall off.

He almost always wants to help me do whatever it is I'm doing - especially if it's cooking. Some days I really just want to get it done quickly and without mess, but then I feel guilty that I'm not including him in the experience.  I sometimes let him measure out all the ingredients when I'm baking (and have to send him off to wash his hands repeatedly because he can't resist tasting every ingredient.)  Thursday evening he helped daddy pick all the banana peppers and jalapenos from the garden. Then he helped me cut the tops off (yes he got to use the knife) and de-seed them. He also helped grate all the cheese. Then I put cream cheese and bacon bits in them as he stuffed them with cheese and chopped spinach. We made a good team - albeit a slow one. He'd pick up 2-3 threads of shredded cheese at a time and I'd have to tell him to get more, or he'd squeeze the cheese into a big blob and I'd have to tell him not so much. Same with the spinach. Silly boy. He's an extremist sometimes.

Andrew has been asking every day since visiting the Primrose School when he gets to go back. Friday morning, I decided to call the school and ask if they have any part time availability now.  He'd love the interaction, I could really use the extra un-divided time to get things ready and done before I start school in August.  So, he starts Monday.  He'll go to the new school according to Ted's work on M W F, and Spring Hollow from 9-2 on Tues and Thurs.  Spring Hollow is only for the next three weeks and then he's done with that.  I think this will help him ease into the longer schedule and new environment whilst phasing out the old one. This will also allow me to catch up on my work, and get done all the other things weighing on me that need to get done and I just haven't had the ability or energy to focus on.  Lots of changes for all of us!

He told us he wants to do a Bible Reading at the podium in the back school. I told him he had to show me that he could focus on reading from the bible for 4 minutes.  Sunday he asked if we could time him while he read from a new brochure. I told him we could, but it had to be from the Bible. I flipped to a chapter in the Psalms that looked relatively easy and set it down in front of him. He started reading and came upon a few big words he had to have help pronouncing. He got frustrated and said he couldn't do it. I explained to him that when someone on stage is reading - it's not the first time they're reading the chapter, they practice it over and over and over again before getting up to read. Andrew was doing *awesome* at reading the chapter. I told him not to worry so much about how long it takes to read, but focus on reading all the words and reading each line without losing place.   In less than 8 minutes, he read the entire chapter, and that was with him stopping after a few verses because he thought he couldn't succeed, and also getting up and moving to the couch instead of being at his table.  Ted and I both were very impressed. He stuck with it and read the entire chapter, line by line. Ted said he's going to talk to the brothers and see if there is a reading coming up that we can go ahead and let him practice and see how he does.