David's Fifth Week

Hello...

So this week David skinned his knee. We were out for a walk, and he took off at a run and tripped, and fell. He skinned his knee. He said that it hurt in his cute pre-schooler way. When we got home, I sprayed Bactine on it, and that made it all better. Then he asked for something to protect it, so I got a band-aid. He was happy after that. I think this is the first time he's actually been injured where skin was broken.

A bigger issue has been that he's constipated. Dot, my baby sitter, has been helping me with this. She suggested prune juice. David only had one cup, and now I've got lots of prune juice that he won't drink, and neither will I. Oh well. But I've found out that it seems that his rhythm has changed...so I'm changing icky diapers at different points than I was before...

The last thing is that all of a sudden this week he's decided that sleeping when it's bed time is not the thing to do. Instead, he stayed awake until after 11 one night, and then woke up several times over the night. I was very tired the next day. So I've learned that him being in a toddler bed is about process: put him back in his bed, show him how to close his eyes...the next night I had him close his eyes after I put him to bed, and he would peak at me for a while until he finally fell asleep. I still find him on the floor...I don't think that's going to change any time soon. On the other hand, I find that if I go in to his room now, he will get back in bed if he's awake, and if he's asleep I can put him back in his bed. It's taken about a week of checking, rechecking, and rechecking again to get him to stay in his bed long enough to fall asleep.

Did I mention that David is really smart? On the night of the Superbowl, he was asking me to go for a walk...but I told him no, it's too dark. So, he went and got the flashlight! I was soooo amazed by this. I don't know how he put that together, except to credit his intelligence. It was just a wonderful thing.

I'm not much in a literary mood this evening. It's been a struggle for both David and me, with me learning again how to be a parent to him. He changed without telling me, and I'm sure that will happen again and again. We went to a place called Choxotica...which sells all kinds of exotic chocolates, and they are very expensive! David thought the place was great. It's cool, and has lots of space. I didn't buy any, but still. It was an experience. I'm getting David used to being out more in more places. I'm finding that to be a challenge, too. David's tantrums are great? He has them, then goes on with life, usually in the corrected fashion that I was trying for first. But it's hard to deal with sometimes.

David likes to play a game he calls "boo-wa!"...we set up the plastic bowling pins and he hits them all down with a bat, and I set them back up. And then we do that again until I'm tired of it. :-)

I'm not really sure what else to report at this point. Is there anything you'd like to know? Anything you think I've missed? I feel like I miss all kinds of things when I write this...it's important that you know what's happening with him. I can't remember everything...and I don't want to leave things out.

So let me know. I'm trying to tell you everything about David...

Rusty