Some Andy Memories
The day before Andy died,  he came home from school and he went out to play.   He came back and told me that he had taken flowers to some of the neighbor ladies.   He told me he got the flowers from our front garden.  I said 'Andy I think those flowers were sort of dead'.  He said 'Yeah, I know but they're still nice'.
After Andy was potty trained but before he was using the big toilet Andy pulled every mother's favorite toddler trick.   He painted the bunk beds that he and Robby shared with the contents of his potty. I was furious because I knew he was trained and he knew exactly what he was doing. I sent him to a timeout in my bedroom and started the cleanup.   Robby came up and saw that Andy was in trouble but I had enough cleaned up that Robby didn't know exactly what Andy did.  Robby asks me 'what did he do?'.   I said 'it's not your business Robby'.  Robby starts on Andy 'what did you do, Andy?,  what did you do?'.   Andy responded 'I pooped'.   Robby started teasing, as is the big brother's job.  'Ewwww  you pooped in your bed!,  Ewww now you're going to have to sleep in it!  Ewwww!.   Andy looked Robby right in the eye and calmly replied 'No, I pooped  in your bed.'
Andy and Robby were playing one day on our stairs.  The floor at the bottom of the stairs was supposed to be hot lava.   They were trying push each other off the stairs (not the safest game, but they didn't ask my opinion).    Andy fell in the lava and Robby said 'you fell in the lava you're dead, I win'.   Andy said 'no, I came back to life'.  Robby said 'you can't come back to life - that's impossible'.   Andy said 'Robby,  it's a GAME,  anything is possible'.   It was one of the those moments that really displayed the differences in my two oldest.  Robby is very bright, very logical and respects fairness and the rules.  Andy is also very bright but a bit of a free spirit, believes rules are meant to bent and anything is possible.
When Andy's brother Timmy was born,  Andy was leaving the hospital with his grandparents.  He saw a man working there and much to my parents embarassment he said to the man 'Wow,  you are really bald!.'
The man said 'yes, I am'.  Andy said 'No, you are REALLY bald.  My baby  brother was just born yesterday and he has more hair than you!'.
We went to a restaurant when Andy was 5.  As we were going out the door a man in a wheel chair was coming in.   This man had a neck brace on, and an arm in a cast.  He had lost one leg and the other was in a cast.  He had bruises on his face.   As we were waiting for the man to navigate the double doors,  Andy said in a loud voice - 'Wow!  That had to hurt!'.
The man was very good natured and just said 'yes, as a matter of fact it did'.
When Andy was around 2 1/2 I came home once and went in my bathroom.   I looked in the toilet and there was a big plastic hippo.
I said 'Andy, what's he  doing in there?'.  He said 'He's swimming, mommy!'
Once during a routine doctor visit Andy picked up the otoscope.  He looked through it in the direction of the doctor.  The doctor said 'Andy,  what do you see?'.  Andy responded 'I see your soul'.
Andy got an injury report from school.  The note said he was pretending to be Frankenstein in the bathroom and someone opened a stall door quickly.  Andy got hit in the nose with the door. When I asked him what happened he said 'I think the boy did it on purpose'.   He said 'He punches me every day'.   I said 'Andy, maybe you should just stay away from this little boy'.  He looked at me, rolled his eyes with exasperation and said 'Mom,  he's my best friend!'
When Andy was around 3 years old I found him in the bathroom cleaning his arm.   I asked him what happened.  He said 'the cat bit me'.  The cat was very old and hardly moved if he didn't have to, so I asked 'what did you do to the cat?'.  He said 'nothing'.  I said 'the cat just walked up and bit you for no reason?'.   He said 'well...,  I wasn't trying to put a sock on his head!'
Many of Andy's classmates came to see us and shared their memories of Andy.  One little boy told me that when the other children didn't want to let him play.  Andy stood up for him and said 'if he can't play,  I won't play'.   Another little boy said he was new to the class and Andy was the first to befriend him.
Some workers were installing windows at a neighbor's house.  Andy went over and was chatting away with them.  I brought him home and in an effort to teach him a little about 'stranger danger' I said 'Andy you can't just go up to complete strangers like that'.  He looked up said 'mom, I was going to ask them their names!'.   No one was a stranger to Andy.
In a restaurant,  Andy told the waitress he was going to eat the centerpiece because he was so hungry.   The waitress said 'if you eat that you'll get sick and then you'll have to go see the doctor'.  Little 3 year old Andy responded 'That's ok, my doctor is Dr. Ritchey and he's a good man.'
At the start of first grade the principal at Andy's school asked he what he thought of his new teacher.  Mrs. J teasingly said 'do you think she's mean?'.
Andy said 'she seems harmless so far'.
A woman frequently walked her dog past our house.  If Andy was out he would always run up, pet the dog and chat with the woman.  One day he ran up and hugged the dog a little too tight.  The dog yelped and the woman said 'some dogs don't like to be hugged like that'.   Andy said 'yea, some girls don't like it either'.
In early 2002, when Andy was 4 he had get a CT scan. The tech told him that if he could be still they would not have to sedate him.  Andy was as still as a little statue.  I was so proud of him.   I said 'wow, Andy you were really brave'.   He said 'no,  I was brave and mighty!'
A couple in their 70's live next door to us.  Two of their grown children live with them.   There are no children in the home.    Andy knocked on the door and asked if the younger man who answered the door could come out and play.  The man said 'no,  Andy,  I have to get ready for  work'.    Andy said 'oh, well how about that old guy with the grey hair.  Can he come out and play?'
After a storm our cable TV was knocked out at the pole.   The pole is down in a ravine behind our back yard.   After a few days without cable Andy was quite anxious to have it back.   When the truck pulled up, I said, 'the man is here to fix the cable TV'.   A little while later I hear Andy, outside, yelling to get the guy's attention.   I look out and Andy is standing at the edge of the yard in his PJ's yelling "Hey,  Hey,  the TV is up here - it's in the play room".
When Andy's class was walking in the hall to lunch, Andy was dancing, hopping and twirling. His teacher said 'Andy, we have to walk'. He said 'do you know why I do this?'. She said 'why? Andy'. He said 'because I can. You know when I was sick I couldn't hop (he had a little nerve damage due to chemo). Now I can, because I am so healthy, so I do'. The teacher didn't even try to win that argument and just let him hop.
When Andy was three, he came running out the bathroom all excited saying 'Mom, mom  I made Mickey'.  I went in and sure enough there were the three circles, one larger and two smaller ears.   I laughed and said how wonderful it was.  Then I flushed Mickey away.   As we were leaving the bathroom Andy said 'Next time I'm going to make Pluto'.
Andy was late to school one day because he had to get an ultrasound of his abdomen.  When he arrived at school, his teacher said 'Andy, we missed you this morning, where were you?'.   Andy said 'oh, just getting a little jelly on the belly'..
When Andy was 3 or 4 his cousin said to him - "Andy you're bad!".   I don't remember what Andy had done but I will never forget his response....
"I'm not a bad boy,  I'm a happy boy!"
He really was.