David Weekly, #19

David has an appointment at the Shriner's Hospital on September 19, 2008, at 1:15, for his hand. I called for this appointment two weeks ago! Yikes! I will need help going forward to learn how to teach him things like tieing his shoes, or dealing with the social issues that may come up. Otherwise, he uses his hand as if nothing was wrong with it, and accepts its limitations.

David goes outside and plays in the back yard, asking "Where's David?" He can say his name the right way now: day-vfid...it's just more refinement going forward. Oh, and he says ffffingers now. No more ngingers...

David can answer questions such as where or what or who but not why or how. He's more concrete than conceptual, able to handle responses that deal with nouns, or the physical world, but not process or chain of events. I've said before that he does have a concept of time, but I'm not sure how refined it is. I tell him half an hour, an hour, a while, a little while, which is distinguishable from "a big while". He can communicate a list of things, like the animals at the zoo.

David has names for the chairs in the living room: daddy's couch, mimi's chair, mommy's chair. It's interesting to note that he hasn't seen Amanda sit in that chair for almost 6 months now (or even longer), yet he has had a concept of it long before he could communicate that the chair had ownership, or that he knew that mommy always sat there. Now that he can communicate it, he does. It's been in his mind for quite some time.

Lately, we are spending more time at the park, where I play the troll under the bridge. David likes it when he's standing over my head, and I chase him to the slide...this on the playground equipment at the various parks. He likes to scream! At home, David hides under the table and says he's a ghost sometimes. Sometimes, he puts his blanket (bwankie, bud-dy) over his head, and says, "I'm a ghost!" Other times, he's afraid of monsters. It's cute because he's playing like he's scared. "Scerry" he says. He even fake trembles for good effect.

Yesterday, he didn't want the TV on, so I asked him if I could put on music instead. He got so excited when the music started! He says, "Dance me!" His version of us dancing is just running around touching things, like the mirror in my bedroom, or the closet door in the hallway. I'm also seeing that is beginning to touch walls or whatever it is we're near, like kids do...he touches them as we walk along. He does this in the house, or when we're outside walking along...I guess what I'm noticing is that this is a kid behavior, not a toddler behavior.

And his body is changing, too. He's going from physically feeling like a toddler more into a little boy. His legs feel thicker and sturdier, his torso is more robust. I remember having to hold him in the right position so his body was straight enough to burp him, and now he burps and tells me about it! "Burbping, daddy!" He's so much more independent.

We had two wonderfully idyllic days this week, when everything was just perfect: the weather, the day...David and I both in good moods, full of energy...we got some chores done (David helped!), and played some, ate some, and went off to work and babysitter without much complaint. It's hard on days like that to go to work...

Amanda had David for Memorial Day weekend, so I don't have a lot to report, except that I'm sure a good time was had by all.

I hope your week can be idyllic, even if for a little while.