Andrew's two cents about moving

Preschool Fieldtrip to Cornbelly's

I can sum up Andrew's thoughts on moving in two words, "I'M BORED!"

The poor guy.  His life was pretty fun and awesome in Arizona!  He was much easier when he was with a buddy, so we rotated between 5+ boys in the neighborhood and were constantly doing play date swaps.  That is all that he ever cared about and it was the first thing I'd take away if his behavior was questionable.

Moving to Utah has really cramped his style in the friend department and he has turned to electronics to cope.  He asks me for movies or iPad time all.day.long.  He struggles entertaining himself and can only play with Kendall for so long.  He is my hardest child to keep entertained - unless he has a buddy (or a movie).  He seems ok with his preschool friends, but he never talks about them or asks to play with them (plus they all live 20 minutes away).  His primary class in my in-laws ward is small and he hasn't connected with any of the other little boys enough to invite them over more than once.  Playing soccer was GREAT for him because he felt like he was part of a team and that they were all his buddies.  But it is hard to connect to people in Orem because they all know we are leaving soon and that this situation is very temporary.  Andrew has told me on many occasions that making new friends is hard and that he is done trying to make new friends!  He is already looking forward to a visit to AZ when he can play with his buddies (that - and Stapley Pool - for some reason he really misses going to Stapley).  It's sad, but I am looking forward to getting settled somewhere where we can find some new friends for Andrew.  I know that will really cheer him up!

Out of the three kids, he has had the hardest time adjusting to the weather and wearing appropriate clothes.  It is like pulling teeth to get him to wear pants and a jacket is out of the question.  At first, I wanted him to learn by natural consequence, but I swear that wasn't working and he was never cold enough to ask for more clothing or learn anything.  So we made weird rules - like pants to preschool and a jacket has to be worn walking to the car, but can be taken off in the car, and no flip flops for awhile.

In the ward we are attending, there was an opportunity to serve by providing a musical number at a nearby nursing home.  Andrew doesn't mind performing at all, so I signed him up to sing one of his favorite primary songs.  We practiced and he was ready to go!  He is pretty used to singing in rest homes since my grandma lived in one and we'd go sing to random residents, so I thought for sure it would go great.  Well, this time, it did not.  He clammed up and sang like a baby, and I was kind of embarrassed for the both of us.  When I asked him what happened, he told me that they were all staring at him, "like this" (while he showing big eyes).  We had a good laugh and I had bribed him a couple bucks to do it, so I paid up.  He has since redeemed himself by performing brilliantly in the primary program (he really sings loud like his daddy and he knew almost all the words), giving a talk in primary on serving his family, and giving a few outstanding prayers in primary (ones that even impressed Brandon and I - we gave each other a fist bump like we had something to do with it, but that time was all him and he had volunteered, so there was no prep).