David Weekly #17

David has done wonderful things this week. His favorite show is "Super Why!" on PBS...He asks for it every day! Here's a sample of our routine: He gets me up in the morning lately, because I want to sleep in...and I turn the TV on for him while we have breakfast. He really interacts with the TV shows, and he's learned the order of the shows, yet still asks for "Super Why!" At some point in the morning he gets tired of TV and wants to go outside. So we go outside and play for a while, and sometimes I do yardwork. Most days I sit in a chair and watch him run around while I drink hot tea. He usually gets me to participate in whatever he's doing, by dragging me by the arm, and not letting go. We have lunch a bit later...and then he asks to watch Pee-Wee, but I have started playing Skoo-Skoo Rock (School House Rock), and he loves it. Especially the "trains" (Conjunction Junction, what's your function?). But we do go through all of the different songs, which are a bit advanced for him, but it's good for him to see the words and numbers and all the different things that they show. Lately when we get to Dot's he jumps into his bed there and takes a nap right away, rather than doing this at home.

On Sunday I was trying to watch the only show I really care about (CBS Sunday Morning), and after most of the show was over, he finally figured out how to entertain himself: reading a book! I wondered why he was quiet, so I went in his room, and he was paging through one of his books! It was wonderful. I don't read to him as often as I should, but we do go to the liberry (library!) on Wednesdays still, and he's getting a bit better about sitting still for the story time, but not there yet. I took him again today and we read a couple of books there. He actually requested to go the library, and the park. He told Dot that we went to the library, or that we were going to go...It's amazing how his vocabulary is growing. I told him at the one park about how it was mulch, and he repeated, and used the word once or twice more to understand what it was. David tells me everything that's going on now. He was always expressive before, but now he's got words and concepts he can discuss and tell me about. So he does!

He does not like the nebulizer. When he says the word, he stumbles over all of the syllables, and it sounds like he's saying "Nebuchadnezzer" -- yeah, the guy from the Bible. The reason for the nebulizer is that he had a genuine asthma attack on Wednesday night. He was coughing some, but since he ran a fever, too, I thought it was minor. I gave him some cough medicine, and he slept through the night until about 6 AM when he woke up coughing. I gave him more cough medicine, and the usual Claratin (not sure on the spelling there), but he was coughing so horribly, and he was soooo whiny and difficult...he went to sleep at 10:30 Thursday morning, and then woke up a couple of hours later STILL coughing. So I dragged out the nebulizer. He screamed and cried (through coughs), but didn't fight me on it at all. After we did the treatment, he was happy as could be. No wet coughs, no ragged sounding breathing, just normal all the way around. I gave him another one on Friday morning, and he's been fine ever since.

While David was with Amanda, she discovered that the combination of Claratin and Benadryl almost completely healed his eczema. I discovered that it's the Benadryl that's doing the trick, because his hand in particular broke out on the Claratin alone. I've been giving it to him every day...but after just two days of the Benadryl by itself, his hands are remarkably better. I spoke with his pediatrician, who did not do a great job addressing this discovery of ours, and she said I should do all of the other stuff that really wasn't working...she also suggested Zirtech (?) for him, because it's a different kind of allergy medicine, and won't make him sleepy. So maybe I'll try that. She also said that he's not ready for the potty training bit, since he resists it so much, and she said not to push it. Okay...I won't. He knows to have me change the diaper very soon after he fills it...I ask him to tell me before, but he absolutely won't! Sigh.

So that's my week. I hope yours has been full of wonder, discovery, and joy.