David's 9th Week

Somewhere in a baby's gestation, there is an ultrasound. I remember when Amanda and I were so worried about David that we went to the OB and he pointed out a little dot on the monitor: "That dot is your baby," he said. What a relief. Later on we found out that his hand wasn't developing normally. We were given the choice not to keep him. I'm glad the doctor had the sense enough not to make it clear that this was a choice. But it was never a consideration, anyway. I can't imagine not having him.

David won't let me get in the car and drive off without putting on my sea-bope. He was in a terrible terrible way on Tuesday morning. He didn't want to go to Dot's, didn't want me to leave him there, didn't want anything but me. Dot lies to me when she tells me he stopped crying as soon as I left her house. I know better. He was better himself, though, when I picked him up that night. He still lays awake at night in his bed, and plays, etc until at least 10 PM, no matter what I do. He sleeps on the floor. I don't pick him up off the floor since it just wakes him up.

Saturday we went to the Celtic festival in Zephyrhills. David liked watching the bag pipes, liked the music. He really watched the parade at the opening ceremonies. I noticed later that he got a bit sunburned, since his cheeks were rosy-red, and his nose. He didn't notice, and it faded by the time he went to bed. I had to call Amanda to ask her what clans she's descended from: MacKenzie and McKay. So David is from three clans that we know of (I’m from the Russell clan). Sunday he got to spend some time with "The Boy" or "My Boy" (his cousin, Jared) and "mom" (his cousin Avery), while I went to work.

On Monday night, David did something amazing! I was in the other room, and he has a new dinosaur book…he counted the dinosaurs 1 - 10 with no prompting, no words, no numbers on the page, and in the correct order…I was delighted! I wasn't even around. He just did it for himself. I'm sooo impressed.

His language is developing well. He doesn't say "neer" or "nurr" for down anymore. He says "nown" instead. Doesn't put those sounds completely together yet. And speaking of sounds, tonight we were driving in the rain, and he heard the sound of the water hitting the underside of the wheel wells, and said "Wa-er sound". He amazes me on a regular basis with little things like that.

He's beginning to repeat things I say in French, though to tell me it's not the French word for the object (like shoes and socks: des chaussures and des chausettes), it's the English word that he knows. I've found that if I introduce the word by saying "In French it's..." then he doesn't object so much, or so strongly. By coincidence, there was an article in the paper that mentioned resources for raising a bilingual child. So I'm going to try to do more of that.


And did I mention that he likes my singing now? He asks me to sing different songs, even spontaneous ones I make up as I go. Then I have to remember what I just sang, because now he says "SING!"

Meanwhile, David is learning how to defy me. We play outside lately in the beautiful evenings, and David has a little toy car thing that he pushes around. Well, I told him not to run it through a puddle, which he did anyway, so he got put in time-out, and his toy-car-thing went inside (after drying off, of course!). So he's learning consequences for his defiance, too! :-) He's very good about looking for cars, and not going out into the street. I stay close to him just in case, and I got a couple of balloons from work (which he calls moons), and I tie one on to his arm...he's even safer with that, because it makes him taller, and more reflective.

He's getting more expressive, too, in his face. He opens his eyes wide, his eyebrows go up, he smiles. Sometimes when I'm sitting at my computer he'll come to me, turn my chair to the side so I can stand up, grab my finger and say "'mon! 'mon!"...he wants me to follow, and RUN with him. It's very exciting to him...and fun for me, I have to admit. I just think it's funny how he turns the chair to get me to go somewhere.

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