David Weekly #12

David had a rough weekend this past week. He was very sick. He threw up a lot! He would be fine for while, then suddenly just vomit everywhere! It started on Friday morning before Easter, and didn't really finish until Tuesday. The problem, too, is that he was off and on. Easter morning, and most of the day he was fine, but he threw up again Sunday night. But then I got sick on Tuesday, and David hated it, because I turned into a bit of blob...he wanted me to do stuff with him, but I just couldn't. It scared him when I threw up into the toilet, because it's a noisy affair with me. But it didn't last long, fortunately. Sorry for the TMI (too much information), but it's something that he experienced...

Today's grammar lesson is 'apositive phrase' and means a word like, "too" or "again", usually at the end of a sentence. David can now say things like, "Do it again!" or "The other cat is eating, too!" It has other meanings, too, but it's important to note his growing use of English in a way that only a native speaker would know. He has a firmer conceptual grasp of some things, which is really cool to watch. He called the cats "Cat 1" and "Cat 2" the other day. And he says the cat's name, "Pockets", very clearly. In fact, his speech is getting more and more clear. He's also figuring our plurals vs singulars, and possessives (David's, Daddy's, e.g. "Daddy's car!"). Tuesday I called in to work because of how I was feeling, and at some point later in the day we were outside, and I felt I saw him 'grow' mentally, because there was a global change to his understanding and interaction with the world, but it's hard to describe. He just seemed to understand so much more, and make more sense out of things than even a minute before. He went from calling a cup a "bup" to calling it a 'cup'.

For naptime lately, rather than go to sleep in his bed, he wants to go to sleep in my bed. So I let him, but then later I find him asleep in his own bed. He goes down very willingly now, and easily. Our routine is working out well.

We went to the Library on Wednesday. They have a reading time every week for toddlers his age, and I got some ideas on books to get for him to read. He was very good in the library, too, since when I told him to whisper (in a whisper voice) he imitated me and whispered. We wandered around the library for a while, and left without getting anything, but I have a much better idea of the kinds of books he needs for his level of development: picture books with single sentences. Next Wednesday, we'll go for "Toddler Time", which is a 15 - 20 minute reading group. We just missed it when we were there before.

He can say his own name now: "Day-Did!" I think he's figured out "big" and "little" because big things are the "mommie" and little things are the "baby" but only when seen together. For example, we have a large peanut butter jar for me (the chunky), and a smaller one for David, which he calls the "mommie pea-bu-er" and the the "baby pea-bu-er" and the de-yee, which sounds close enough to me to 'daddy' that I can't tell at first if he's calling me, or just saying "Jelly!"

Today (Friday), we were outside, and playing with some of the neighborhood kids, I saw some more of David that I wouldn't have seen otherwise: he gets the idea of 'turns' but only in the context that it's always his turn! "Day-did's turn!" he says...it was very frustrating for him when the other kids would have a turn with the "Dowa ball". He always wanted it for himself. He also surprised me that he knows "hide and seek", because he said the name, stood against the big oak tree in my front yard, closed his eyes, and counted! Now, it wasn't actual counting, because he does count things that he can see, but just counting as a measure of time -- he's not there yet. Anyway, he made some kind act like he was counting, and then they played chase.

I told the brother and sister from across the street that they can speak in Spanish around David if they choose, since it will be good for him. Colleen used to go over there, and I could tell she was learning Spanish just by being around it, as she would come home and say a word or two in Spanish. I'm sure at David's age, he'll learn it more, and more quickly.

Here's a couple of pictures of David. I'm thinking about trying to include one every week, but that may be too much. Feedback on this is appreciated. If you'd like larger, better images, let me know. We took these two photos (and a few others, but these are the best) this morning. He's quite a model. He enjoyed getting the picture taken then looking at the result.




Finally, here's an essay I wrote about my experience with David and his throwing up episode. Until this weekend, he'd never really vomited before (there was one time in Cracker Barrel about a year ago (?), but that was a different experience because he wasn't sick). So I wrote a little essay. I hope you enjoy it.

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(Imagine sitting in class, lots of chairs, other people, board up front, and a dour looking professor type walks in)

"Welcome to Child Vomit 101. I'm sure many of you here are parents, or will be parents in the coming months. As I'm also sure you are aware, children will throw up, and it will not be pretty, in spite of a few names for vomit, like 'technicolor yawn' or 'praying to the porcelain god, at the porcelain altar.' If you remember these names from college (or high school, for some of you) [now some people are laughing quietly in the background], you are not alone. At least you had the benefit of someone holding your head as you let loose in the toilet, or had friends get upset with you for yakkin' on the floorboard of their car.

"Your children, on the other hand, will vomit just about anywhere! You may or may not be prepared for this. They will vomit in the grocery store just after drinking down a cherry red slushie, and then scream loudly about how it's not pleasant. YOU will have to deal with this! Oh the terror of red-slushie puke everywhere. But you must remain calm, get the handy wipes you keep with you out, and hope the staff comes running! The best you can do is wipe the child's mouth and face, and try to maintain some dignity as you walk out of the store with a screaming child. If you were lucky, you didn't get any on you. But, as you will no doubt discover, because of the sudden nature of these violent vomit attacks, you will have some on you, somewhere, and it will smell.

"You must be prepared for these attacks day or night! As you go through your child's infancy, you have certainly been awakened by a screaming, hungry child. Vomiting children are no different! If you are lucky, they will scream and tell you they are nauseated before vomiting (and hopefully you won't get nauseous). You will then have time to move the child, and yourself, to the bathroom before the event. The child will occasionally let you know that he or she is about to begin selling buicks. Hand motions to the mouth, accompanied by unhappy screaming, usually indicate some kind of 'reverse digestion' event. If you are unlucky, you will be awakened by a vomit covered child, which will require at least a three step cleaning process: the child in the bathroom (with bath and new clothes), the child's bedding, and finally, yourself, because there's almost no way you can avoid getting sticky, smelly, icky [shudder] liquidy stuff on you because you are comforting a screaming, sickly child.

"Your reward for remaining calm, and not being angry at the child for not being considerate or knowledgeable enough to not vomit on your carpet or clothes? Sleep! Great stories later in his or her life, when the child is dating! An interesting lecture from your child on 'frow up' as he or she tries to understand the vocabulary, and context of what just happened. That's actually pretty funny!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, make sure you have your cleaning supplies at the ready! For your educational pleasure we have brought in a video from 'America's Funniest Home Videos' just to show you how often and unexpectedly small children vomit."

Hope you enjoyed the lecture from the missing manual of parenting. :-)