David Weekly, #26

Hello...David was gone for three weeks to visit his mom, and then he came back to Tampa...I'm sorry I didn't send this out sooner. I got out of the habit of writing it.

Here's the story of he and I in the airport after I went to go pick him up in St Louis...

So we go to get something to eat after going through security...$20 for a sandwich, a chef salad for the boy, and two drinks (one OJ, the other cran-grape).

Naturally, he doesn't want to eat a whole lot, though I did get some ham and a tomato in him, and a little bit of gold-juice. He ran around for a bit. Way full of energy. He did well waiting to get on the plane. I was sitting on the floor waiting for our turn with him, and I had my leg bent at an angle at the knee and he was going under it repeatedly (I didn't want to say he was going under it over and over, though. LOL :-). He was also doing somersaults until I told him to stop. He's very good about taking turns. When it was our turn...we got on the plane. He charmed everyone on the plane, because he talks to them, still not completely intelligibly, but enough once in a while. He's not like most kids who won't talk to people they don't know. He would tell people my name, not just "that's daddy." And his own, of course. When we got to our seats, he wanted to sit on my lap or stand next to the seat. He hated sitting in the seat when it was time, and he did not like the seat belt. That's okay, because take-off was worse. He didn't want to see the outside of the plane, so he shut the shade. Yeah, I put him next to the window for control purposes. He didn't like the plane powering up, or moving forward so quickly, or leaving the ground. He understands that we're flying, but I guess it's the old sausage analogy: you don't want to be a part of what goes into it. He especially hated the fact that it was a bumpy ride, and this caused much screaming. He said he was scared, and I would tell him his fine, and he'd say, "I'm NOT fine" or I'd say, "You're so brave" and he'd say, "I'm not brave, I'm scared!" And he cried a little bit, holding the armrest for dear life. My arm got sore from trying to hold him the right way. After a little while of being in the air, he fell asleep. It was a smooth 2 hour flight, for the most part, and he was awake for the worst of it. Poor kid.

There was a really nice guy that sat next to us who is going to interview at the Y in Plant City, and he was really good to me. I'm glad for nice people in this world. They are out there. And I'm glad for Southwest Airlines. They're the best. Anyway...David woke up for the descent ... and more bumpies, as we went through the clouds on our way down. He didn't scream as much, but it was still not so great. There was a point after we landed that he was talking about "touchdown" and some other landing terms. The lady behind us was impressed by his able descriptions of what was going on...Of course, it's just cute when a 3 year old says it. :-) When we were waiting to get off the plane, he looked up at the man in the seat in front of us and said hi, and introduced me, and he really charmed the guy in front of us. It was quite a thing.

Then we went to my sister's and hung out there for a couple of hours. He ran up to my mom and gave her a big hug, and to my sister, too. The boy and my niece and nephew played, and we all went swimming at my sister's and had an all around good time. He ate a full piece of pizza! I never did get him to eat any more of the food I bought...Oh well. Too much excitement at the airport, and on the plane, and then sleep. But he ate at my sister's house.

We went to Lowry Park on Monday, and when we were in the aquarium, he was up on a bench to see some kind of terrarium which had a snake or a spider or something like that in it, and he pushed another little boy right off the bench, and that kid landed flat on his back. After checking on the fallen child, and handing him back to his mother, I took David directly out of the park, and straight home. He was repeatedly asking me to put him in Time Out instead, and I said no. We went back on Friday and he said to me over and over that he wasn't going to push anybody else off of any benches. I'm glad he got the message. He still loves to see the elephants, and the giraffes, and zebras, and the rhinos.

I took him with me to the store the other day, and while we were waiting in line, he just says Hi to the people in front of us, and just starts talking away about whatever's going on. It's great to see people be moved by the way he seems to accept them, and how he talks to them with no reservation. He's got a real talent for that.

David has begun going to pre-school. He's going to Garbielle's Glen, which is Colleen's old pre-school/day-care. He's going 3 days a week for 3 hours a day. Enough that he gets a routine, but not too much that he can't spend time at home with daddy...They feed him breakfast and lunch...It's good for him so that he gets more socialized around more kids, and has a structured environment. He's not real good at letting me go in the mornings, but that's just part of it. So far he's gone just 3 days, and they've all been good ones. He calls it his new school, and Colleen's old school.

Well, that's about all. I'll try to get on my regular schedule this week. See you Friday!