David Weekly, #31

I'm still working on my narrative, story telling skills. So far, though, all I've got is a list of unrelated items, except that it's all about David.

Last week, David had pizza and peaches for dinner, and loved it so much that he's asking for it again.

The other morning, we waited outside for Jesse next door to come out before she goes to work, and David sat very patiently waiting. I'm impressed with him for that, because this is the first time he just sat and waited. He was quiet, watching the world go by, and didn't get upset, or any other negative thing. He played a bit as we waited, but it was a normal thing, it seems...

He likes to count backwards for some reason...he'll say 5 more, then 4 more then 3 more then 2 more then 1 more...I tell him we can't do something anymore, so he starts with "we'll do 5 more, then 4 more..." It's very cute. We still practice counting in French, though he can count to 10, he doesn't some times.

We've discovered Blues Clues. David sits in rapt attention, watching this show. He especially loves the Mystery Builder episode. He quotes pieces of it to me. And asks to watch the Mystery Builder, over and over. Now, watching something over and over is a running theme for him, but what's different here is the raptness with which he watches this show. He puts one of his chairs close to the TV, and doesn't stop watching, except to tell me about it. And for now, we're done with Scooby Doo. I'd rather watch Blues Clues over and over again than Scooby Doo. Another "debate" that I'm having with him is watching actual shows on TV. We watch PBS, of course, and they've started a new season with a bunch of new shows, and I don't know the schedule, and I don't know what the shows are, but they seem geared for older children, rather than younger ones like David. I just need to invest in more Blues Clues, I guess. :-) He also takes spoons and hits them together, and calls it a "band"... this is what he's getting out of another Blues Clues episode about rhythm and making music.

David came into my bed the other night, for about 5 minutes, around 2 AM. I guess just to see if I was there. I roll over, give him a kiss, tell him I love him, and he goes back to his bed, and goes to sleep. He's getting better about waking me up in the mornings: I ask him if he can play in his room for a while so I can finish sleeping, and he does.

Tuesday morning, I got a full checkup from him: He looked at my eyes, my ears, my chest, my legs, my arms, and my back...not totally sure what prompted this...he mimed a bit putting something on my back and listened...he says he was 'something' the doctor...and speaking of doctors, he was rescheduled for the Shriners Hospital for October 21, 2008 at 1:30.

David's words of the week: "Really?" "That's better." and "I don't know." It kills me when I hear "I don't know" because I don't know if he doesn't know. Or because he can say it. It's an interesting concept when I think about it. It's part of self awareness: he knows that he doesn't know, and he can communicate that fact to me. This is different than just not knowing, because there's two things going on: not knowing, and then realizing that this blank exists in his mind. More about his cognitive development: I'm trying to get longer term thinking into him, by giving him a sequence of events that we're going to do, and then naming these events as they occur: get up, eat breakfast, go to the zoo, go home, go to Dot's, repeat. I like that he can follow what I'm saying for things like directions, and the fact that this longer term thinking is related to his favorite activity: going to the zoo. We can't go every day, but he knows if he does things he's supposed to, that we will.

In spite of the fact that Florida doesn't really have seasons, acorns are falling off the oak tree. David is keenly aware of this (because he sees them falling and hears them hitting the aluminum roof extended from the carport -- which is very loud!) and has collected some to bring inside, and then he makes them fall off the table and says, "It's just like it's falling off the tree, daddy..." He really has an imagination. When we go to the zoo, he acts like a flamingo, by lifting one leg and pretending to sleep, just like the flamigoes do. Sometimes he just does it at random in other places. It's pretty funny!

I spoke w/ Matt today, and he's going to drive David up to Missouri on Friday the 26th, though he's going to get David on the 24th. I'm worried that that will be a bit difficult for him, since he doesn't see Matt that much, if ever. Maybe twice in the last 9 months? I know he'll be okay, but that familiarity factor will be tough. David will be back at late as October 8th, I believe.

September 22 is the autumnal equinox, where day and night are supposed to be equal everwhere in the world. But due to various factors, this doesn't really happen, unless you look at the earth from space. It's been a year since I filed for divorce, and a bit more than 9 months since Amanda left for Missouri. This change has been difficult, but overall seems to have been for the better. David has adjusted pretty well, and hopefully, so have I. I say this because so much depends on your perspective, and hopefully we can all get some perspective on changes that are happening every day in the world around us.