Time with Andrew

This past week, our friends Helen and Scott had some family business to tend to, so we got to have Andrew quite a bit.

He stayed several evenings and one overnight.  I picked him up from the bus twice and dropped him off once.  We played hard and did so much that one evening when Helen came to get him, he actually started crying, saying he didn't want to go home!  (I felt so badly for Helen in that moment, but I know from the time when the Gonzalez's took care of Jack for me that there is something so reassuring in knowing your child is so well cared for that he doesn't miss you at all.)

When I look back on the week, though, I realized that I really did turn it into a mini-vacation for him, which was exactly what I think his parents were looking for.

Making Cookies

I think Andrew had actually asked for Dairy Queen this evening, but Jeremy placated him with the idea of helping to make homemade chocolate chip cookies that we could eat and then send home to his mom (and possibly his dad, but probably really his mom).

Andrew loved helping in the kitchen.  Both he and Sydney did most of the steps themselves, including cracking one egg each.  Andrew was tasked with pouring the eggs into the mixing bowl and Sydney enjoyed the drama of the moment: "Be care-fra!"

 Dress Up

Sydney and Jack have accumulated an impressive dress-up collection, and thanks to Gram and Nana, it isn't all princess and fairies.  Andrew got to chose between soldier, chef, football player, fireman, policeman, and doctor.

Sydney stuck with her usual fairy princess, this time with her ball gown and the masquerade ball mask she made at school...

which also looks lovely on a football player, it turns out.

 Backyard Fun 

Andrew really, really, really wanted to play in our backyard.  His is much more shaded and I think he gets to be in it more than the six months out of the year that we get our sunny backyard.  But we do have a pool and an umbrella and it is manageable, even in 100+ degree weather.

This was the evening that Helen tried to pick him up and he really didn't want to go.  Helen did point out that it is a lovely backyard.

In fact, she thanked me for giving him all of these magical childhood memories in a backyard wonderland and then added that when he is an adult and reminiscing about it all, she has no intention of helping him understand that the backyard of his memory wasn't actually his!

 Going on a Bear Hunt 

Andrew actually came over with the promise of swimming this day, but Jack was napping and we had time to kill.  I saw Sydney sitting under the table and brought out a blanket and told them we could make a cave, complete with a lantern.

  

Caves made both of them think of bears and pretty soon they were both talking about going a bear hunt.  I had forgotten that I had introduced Andrew to that book one time at my school, and so he really does associate it with me at this point (and since it's one of my favorites, that's just perfect).

I showed the kids how to reenact the bear hunt through the house.  At this point, they had just put on their boots in order to "squelch squerch" through the mud.  Sydney, once again, feeling the drama of the moment.

Having played going on a bear hunt a few times, they obviously wanted to read it as well.  And happily for us all, reading the book is a loud enough activity that Jack woke from his nap and off to the pool we went.

Splash Pool 

This was actually our second pool adventure, but I didn't think to bring the camera (gasp) to the other.  And anyway, it was the indoor pool, which any of the kids can tell you is inferior to the Splash Pool in all ways.

 

We stayed at the Splash Pool for two hours, leaving only because every other time I kept Jack in the water longer than that, he wound up throwing up some amount of pool water and I hate to be that mom.  And also, Jack was beat.  Poor guy.

 

  

The Museum

After the pool, the kids just played around the house (I swear I do let them do that quite a bit, really), but the two hours in the pool had worn out all three of them and Sydney and Jack had kept each other awake the night before, so I knew their good natures were on a short fuse.  With that in mind, I played with them to help the little rough moments.  Sydney, when tired, becomes even more bossy than normal, and she convinced both boys to be puppies.  I actually did have to pull Andrew out of the room and make sure that he didn't mind her commanding him all over the room.  He said he didn't.  I guess that's one of the reasons they work so well together.

During the playtime, Sydney said they were going to do a performance, so I got out the video camera.  It turned out to be less performance and more Sydney telling us all what to do, but once again, since no one minded, it was all good.

At the end, Sydney mentioned that the playroom was a museum, though, and that sparked my imagination.  I got out some arts and crafts supplies so we could all do some art for the museum walls.  Andrew thought a museum was a fine idea, as long as he could be Spiderman.  He asked me if I had a Spiderman mask, and I had to tell him that I did not.  But I could make one.  So while the kids did artwork for the walls of the museum, I made a mask.

Then we cleaned up the playroom (another fine side effect of a museum is that it must be tidy) and I reminded the kids of Toy Story 2 and how Woody was going to be part of a collection in a museum.  We looked around the playroom for other collections and gathered them into different places.

All three kids made the Toy Story exhibit.  Jack and Andrew did a car exhibit while Sydney did a My Little Pony exhibit.  I put the art work on the walls and put the kids' Nutcrackers out.

I then helped the kids take Sydney's one person car that she had made for her "performance" into a three person car for driving to the museum (a car which Sydney had to stop and fill up with gas).  I played the part of the curator, took their money, and led them around the museum showing the exhibits and telling them not to touch.

Andrew grew tired of wearing his Spiderman costume and decided instead to make a Spiderman exhibit, which I thought was very cool and let him get out our Marvel universe book to complete the showcase.

When Scott arrived to pick up Andrew, the kids told him to close his eyes because they wanted to show him a surprise.  Scott was such a good sport that he really did close his eyes and right after I got this picture, Andrew walked him into the door, which I thought was hilarious.

  

Scott thought the museum and Spiderman mask were wonderful.  He told me I was the "best mom ever" which I thought was a little bit too high of a praise, since Helen is such an amazing mom, but I took it nonetheless because I know he was really saying, "thanks for taking care of my boy."

In fact, Helen and Scott have not stopped thanking us and really, as we told them, it was no trouble.  I mean, sure, I did a lot more actual activities this past week than I even would have considered in the second week of school.  Jeremy did have to take our kids to daycare one morning so I could take Andrew, but both of us were at work on time.  I ate too many calories on the cookie day.  I also made it to the pool two times more than I would have otherwise.  And I was forcibly pushed through the beginning of year slump that seems to always happen to my maternal responsibilities as my teaching duties move back in.

Mostly, though, it was no trouble because of what a great kid Andrew is.  He just fit right in with us.  In all the time the kids were together, there was literally one fight.  Sydney started it by not sharing a balloon and I could hear Andrew clearly telling her that she was hurting his feelings.  I intervened and found another balloon.  Sydney said she was sorry and then she got to learn a great lesson about how sometimes saying sorry isn't enough as Andrew's feelings really were hurt and he was too angry to accept her apology.  Since I am the exact same way (and I suspect Jack is as well), I did what I prefer and told them they had to play apart for about twenty minutes while he moved past his anger.  Once he had time to calm down, he accepted her apology and they were back to playing together as though nothing had happened. 

I really am sorry for Helen and Scott and the difficult week they had, but we had a blast over here and honestly, I know that if anything happened with my family or Jeremy's, Helen would take a midnight phone call and come get our kids in a heartbeat.  And I know a lot of other folks would, too, but Helen is the only one who actually lives in Georgetown and I have felt so much better since I've gotten to know her and realized that I finally had the safety net that I gave up by moving away from family.  So I was honored to be hers as well.