Friday, April 24, 2009

David Weekly, #58

This has been a very fast moving week. Doesn't seem like a whole lot happened.

Last Saturday we went to Mimi's (my mom), and played with Avery and Jared for a couple of hours. Sunday we went to Nature's Classroom, an outdoor educational facility for all the 6th grade students in Hillborough County. The thing is, they opened to the public (for the first time ever, I think), probably for Earth Day. So David and I went with Mimi and Jared and Avery. It was a lot of fun. There's a board walk that we went on, saw some deer, walked through a cypress dome, and did a few other activities. Notably, David had an encounter with an alligator. Of course, this reptile was small, about 18 inches long, and was well controlled by a handler, and a small cage. He didn't want to touch it even when he was told he could...but he did eventually touch its tail. We spent the rest of Sunday just playing at home, throwing around a ball.

We went to the green park on Thursday, and he wanted to go on the boardwalk there, which runs along the river. On this boardwalk, many of the planks are engraved with people's names, which celebrate their births, or their lives, or an anniversary, so he's looking for W's in the names he sees on the planks, and sees the name WILL, spelling it out loud. He interprets the second letter as an L until he gets to the next letter, and then updates the interpretation as "I" instead...very good that he did that. He is asking me to spell all kinds of things now.

Another thing that was funny about going the park is this statement: "Daddy, we have a problem," he says to me very seriously. "There aren't any kids here." For him, having kids at the park is important.

David likes to stand still, like statue. He poses, usually in a very unnatural pose, and says, "Look, I'm a statue." The pose is frequently him standing, with one hand over his eye, and the other hand up, palm facing outward. Sometimes he'll stand on one leg. I have no idea where this comes from, but it's pretty funny.

Friday we went to a very different park than he's used to: a nature preserve. We went to the Brooker Creek Preserve, and walked along the boardwalk there. We saw two different armadillos in the brush. Those things are loud, so easy to find when they make noise. David was amazed at how quiet it was out there. I explained that this is not a play park, but a nature park. They also have a learning center that shows the watershed for that area, and lots of different things showing the water cycle and such, most of this is too advanced for him, but he had fun making things light up, and walking/running around the center, sitting the chairs that overlook some of the preserve. And then we had lunch at McDonald's. He did very well, sitting still eating his hamburger, drinking his milk...stealing a couple of my chicken nuggets.

Last thing: David's beginning to read things, and he doesn't even realize he's doing it. Granted, it's by sight that he knows what he's seeing, rather than the traditional knowing what each letter or combination of letters says to make up the word, but it's getting to that point. He will often make up what a certain set of words says. Interestingly, he gets the meaning of it right a good portion of the time. He knows there's meaning behind not just the words, but also in their context.

Hope you have a good week.

Rusty

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

People that are important to David

I have thought about writing this for a while, but it's difficult because it's where my private life intersects with David's, and I'm not really wanting to publish this for the world, but I'm doing it anyway...

So, people that are important are: Jesse, my next door neighbor who watches him every Saturday. My mom, because she's my mom. My sister, Rachel, and her two kids, Avery and Jared. Cinnamon, because she's my girlfriend, and we spend time together. David really likes her. Veronica, who is very good with him, and watches him, and takes him on occasional shopping trips to buy him things for himself, and even makes sure that he "does things for me" like get me a shirt, or buy me a birthday card. Miss Tawanda at Gabrielle's Glen, his preschool, and she's his teacher. Dot, his main baby sitter, who he is not a fan of. He does not like going over there, and every day asks if he is, and I tell him he is, and he tells me he doesn't want to go. I'm sure there are peers of his that are important, but he doesn't say their names very often. I do know that when I bring him to the preschool, all the kids in his class say his name. I think that's very cool.

Friday, April 17, 2009

David Weekly, #57

David had a good Easter, and got lots of candy from the Easter Bunny, including a new outfit and a photo w/ the EB. It's very cute! He went looking for eggs while shouting "Egg Hunt! Egg Hunt!" And unlike last year, didn't complain about the smaller number of eggs he got, compared to Avery and Jared, his two cousins. The eggs were the plastic variety, with chocolates and jelly beans in them. David likes to throw the empty plastic eggs around...they're light, easy to throw, and don't break anything...but he does not like hard boiled eggs. I find this out because I gave him one to eat that night, and he takes a bite and then spits it all out all over everywhere. Coloring the eggs was okay.

Saturday night he colored eggs with his cousins, and that was fun. He got in some quality time w/ Mimi (my mother), and it was constructive. He also has begun to play fight with Jared, and it's working out better and better. Jared is understanding how much of an advantage he has against David when they play, but he's learning how to temper that a little bit, which is a better thing for David. They now play more fairly, and both have more fun.

Tuesday morning he got upset because it got darker outside because of the weather. Normally, the day gets lighter and brighter, so when it started going the other way, he was not happy! He knew it was still morning time, but the darkness of the clouds really threw him off. We had a pretty severe storm, but did not lose power. We lost power a week or two ago, for about an hour during the day. So when the rain and wind really hit, he was worried about us not having power. David's not a fan of not having power. Of course, neither am I, but we played outside on the day w/ no power, and he barely noticed. Otherwise, it rained a good portion of Tuesday, so we stayed inside, or went outside under the carport, and watched the rain. David, being a 3 year old, tempts fate by wanting to go in the rain. I say no, of course. It's lightning! So we had to go in.

The other day, were hanging out, listening to some music, and I'm drumming on him, because we're listening to a song with a good beat. He doesn't like it that much, so he tells me to stop, but I don't. Not right away, at least. He says, "Are you a buddy?" (that's the name he has for his blanket) I say, "No.' And he says, "Then I'm not a drum." That kid cracks me up!

David has some Mardi Gras beads that he was telling me he wants to turn into a snake. So he throws them to the end of the driveway and tells me, "Look, daddy, a snake!"

A tidbit for you: David is now signed up for VPK - Voluntary Pre Kindergarten. He'll be starting in the fall, at Gabrielle's Glen. My sister Rachel is trying to get me to put him in Montessori, but I'm not sure if I should do that. One obstacle for me is the cost. I haven't really discussed it w/ Amanda, either. So we'll see what happens.

Among David's concerns: Word World. He's been asking me for a couple of weeks to get a new Word World DVD, so I finally got one for him. Not sure how many there are, but he's got 4 now. He loves those DVDs! And his watching of them over and over is teaching him the words, and the sounds that go with them. Lately he spells p - l - a - y and tells me it says "play". :-) He's also concerned with where I park my car at his school. It's got to be in certain spot. If it's not, I'm greeted with complaints, and a disappointed tone in his voice: "You're supposed to park it there..." If I park in the right spot, I get, "Yay!" from him...

David today asked me to go to the grocery store. I said, "What are you wanting to get?" He says, "I don't know, we'll find out when we get there!" And then when we're in the store, he says he wants me to get oatmeal. I say, "When's the last time you ate oatmeal?" His reply: "I like oatmeal."

Thursday at the park we were playing with the frisbee. Another little boy who's 5 comes up to play, and David attempts to show this other child how to throw the frisbee. It was quite funny. "Like dis!" he'd say, then fling!

David says, "Pretty please!" When he wants something really bad. He also tells me he has to do his exercises sometimes, but what he does is odd: he takes the rake and holds it over his head, then lets it fall to the ground, and does this over and over again. He does other things that he calls his "exercises", but this particular thing I thought was notable.

Today, on Friday, I took him to an outdoor concert at Lowry Park (this is the same place as the zoo) with a friend of mine, and her daughter. We had fun. He wasn't so interested in the music as he was the bubbles. But we did get a chance to play, and enjoy the atmosphere, and hang out. Earlier in the day we went to another park, where he met a boy about his age, and this child had some cars, from the movie Cars. And David actually shared them very well with this other boy! It was amazing! They would go back and forth rolling the cars down the slide. I was very happy with this.

So that's another week...I hope you share things well, too.

Rusty

Friday, April 10, 2009

David Weekly, #56

took David to his daycare this morning, and he tells a little girl there that he has a skinned knee, after she tells him that she has some kind of sore, or wound on her leg from something that happened over the weekend. Later on, after i go to pick him up, he tells me that a boy in his class hurt himself somehow, and how David "take care of him". He asks me, "are you happy?" That he took care of that other boy. "Yes, very much!" I said.

At the park today, David was telling the kids to "move your butt!" when they were in his way going down the slide. And they were complaining about what he was saying! These kids must have been at least 10 or 11 years old, and they were complaining. I thought it was funny. I was telling them, "Well, you better move your butt, then." The problem is that they were going down the slide, only about a halfway, and he was wanting to go down all the way, like you're supposed to. He was actually being pretty good about them being older kids. They just didn't know how to handle a smaller kid like David telling them what to do. I yelled at one kid for being difficult, because he really was objecting to David, and I said, "He's a really nice kid, and if you're nice, so's he; but you're not being nice." That solved it. These kids are from some kind of camp over Spring Break, so they were all over the place. I think he did well.

David can blow bubbles on his own now. Once he discovered this, he took the bubbles from me and was blowing them all over the place! He especially wanted to blow them under the car, which I thought was pretty funny.

We went to the bumpy slide park, and played with some of the other kids who were off for Spring Break. Whenever we go to this park, David says he doesn't like it when there's no other kids there. He's so good at making friends!

Today, David figured out the concept of "Opportunity Cost" but in a small way: he said we could see the small fish, and the big fish, but not if we played on the play equipment they have at the zoo. I've told him that on various occasions. "We can't do everything." He now seems to get it, because it was part of his planning for the next time we go the zoo. Yeah, he's planning his trips now, out loud.

A language note: he calls the gutter the "side-road", which is where I'm supposed to walk if there's no cars. This is when we go to Dot's. He calls the handle of his big-car a "push"...and he made up another term for something, but I can't remember what, that was a simple compound word, and had a regular word that we normally use. It's good he can invent words when he needs to, but other times if he doesn't have the word, he just skips it. And of course, we still have "gold juice" aka, orange juice.

Friday night we played and played and played, he and I, and the neighbor boy across the street, who is 7. For a while, they threw paper airplanes. Then the other boy, Adan, got a football to throw around with me. David of course, got jealous. I told Adan that we have to include David. David, for his part, didn't want to take turns. He wanted every turn for himself. And would cry every time Adan or I would throw the ball to each other, rather than to David.

Lastly, I think for his allergies, I've settled on the Xyzal, since it does the job, and no side effects. Our next appt w/ the allergist is still 20 days away, but who's counting.

Have a good week!

Rusty
I took David to his daycare this morning, and he tells a little girl there that he has a skinned knee, after she tells him that she has some kind of sore, or wound on her leg from something that happened over the weekend. Later on, after i go to pick him up, he tells me that a boy in his class hurt himself somehow, and how David "take care of him". He asks me, "are you happy?" That he took care of that other boy. "Yes, very much!" I said.

At the park today, David was telling the kids to "move your butt!" when they were in his way going down the slide. And they were complaining about what he was saying! These kids must have been at least 10 or 11 years old, and they were complaining. I thought it was funny. I was telling them, "Well, you better move your butt, then." The problem is that they were going down the slide, only about a halfway, and he was wanting to go down all the way, like you're supposed to. He was actually being pretty good about them being older kids. They just didn't know how to handle a smaller kid like David telling them what to do. I yelled at one kid for being difficult, because he really was objecting to David, and I said, "He's a really nice kid, and if you're nice, so's he; but you're not being nice." That solved it. These kids are from some kind of camp over Spring Break, so they were all over the place. I think he did well.

David can blow bubbles on his own now. Once he discovered this, he took the bubbles from me and was blowing them all over the place! He especially wanted to blow them under the car, which I thought was pretty funny.

We went to the bumpy slide park, and played with some of the other kids who were off for Spring Break. Whenever we go to this park, David says he doesn't like it when there's no other kids there. He's so good at making friends!

Today, David figured out the concept of "Opportunity Cost" but in a small way: he said we could see the small fish, and the big fish, but not if we played on the play equipment they have at the zoo. I've told him that on various occasions. "We can't do everything." He now seems to get it, because it was part of his planning for the next time we go the zoo. Yeah, he's planning his trips now, out loud.

A language note: he calls the gutter the "side-road", which is where I'm supposed to walk if there's no cars. This is when we go to Dot's. He calls the handle of his big-car a "push"...and he made up another term for something, but I can't remember what, that was a simple compound word, and had a regular word that we normally use. It's good he can invent words when he needs to, but other times if he doesn't have the word, he just skips it. And of course, we still have "gold juice" aka, orange juice.

Friday night we played and played and played, he and I, and the neighbor boy across the street, who is 7. For a while, they threw paper airplanes. Then the other boy, Adan, got a football to throw around with me. David of course, got jealous. I told Adan that we have to include David. David, for his part, didn't want to take turns. He wanted every turn for himself. And would cry every time Adan or I would throw the ball to each other, rather than to David.

Lastly, I think for his allergies, I've settled on the Xyzal, since it does the job, and no side effects. Our next appt w/ the allergist is still 20 days away, but who's counting.

Have a good week!

Rusty

Saturday, April 4, 2009

David Weekly, #55

David loves to dance. When we were at my friend's house, there was some music on, and he just danced! He wiggled his whole body, and moved around with joy and abandon. And he asks me to watch him dance at a different points, as well. He also wanted me to come dance with him, but we know how I can't dance, or even move well to the music...

So I'm filling out the questionaire for David's allergy appt, and it asks, "What are your hobbies?" So I put for David: playing with cars, watching TV, going to parks. And "What is your occupation?" Answer: 3 year old kid. "Average number of hours of sleep per day:" 12. "What exercise and how many hours per day:" running around...But going to the doctor was a different experience than I expected. He had a scratch test. Now, the scratches they recommend we do on his back, but David did not want to have his shirt off. He objected to that loudly, and cried. So we put the shirt back on him, and decided that his forearm was the best place. So the nurse comes in and writes 21 different letter/number combinations on his forearm, then puts the 21 dots of allergens in fluid form on him, the proceeds to prick him on each of those dots. This last part, of course, David hated. And he cried, and said how it hurt...poor kid. And we have to wait 15 minutes for the
thing to work. The doctor comes in and says, "He's allergic to the outside world, basically." So that means trees and grass...but I still don't get why it's only in the early spring he has a problem here. He's not allergic to cats, by the way. The doctor gave us three medicines to try. I'm noticing that the second one, Allergra, is loosening his bowels a bit too much, since he has to go potty about 5 times a day for that. So that's not going to work. The first one we tried was Xyzal. I like this one because it's a once-a-day medicine. The last is a chewable tablet for Singulair...which he'll do tomorrow. Each medicine is supposed to be given for two days each...and if it doesn't work, or gives some kind of side effect, just toss it. So we'll see how it goes.

David's becoming very self chatty lately. I put him to bed Sunday night, and he talked to himself loudly for a while. Except that things he was saying sounded more like a parrot imitating a person, which is what I think he was doing. Not sure who he hears talking that way, but it was something else to hear.

David's a planner...going through what's going to happen in the day or days ahead...and this is where I can see that he misses his mom, because he goes through his day, making a list of things he's going to do: Go to school, come home, go the park, go to Missouri, go to Dot's...

David tells me that his favorite color is red. Just so you know.

Another thing I'm noticing is that David is playing very rough lately. He's using all of his strength, moving faster, hitting harder. And he loves doing it! He has so much fun. And he does it longer, too. We wrestle around on the couch, or on the floor of the living room. And it's always with laughter and playfulness that we're doing this.

I just got quizzed on what the three little pigs are, and David knows it's straw, sticks, and bricks. I said the wrong thing at one point, and he corrected me. Funny how that works.

This morning, we woke up and there was no power. At some point he said that we need more/bigger batteries to make the power come back. We played in the semi-dark of morning overcast rain, with him writing his name, figuring out still how to make all the letters, writing his name. Eventually we went outside, and he was playing on this car, like it was a skateboard, and I told him he's going to get hurt, but allowed him to play anyway, to demonstrate to him that I'm right: sure enough, he fell and skinned his knee. Not a lot, but enough that it bled and he got upset. We put bactine on it, which he hates, and then a band-aid...He said he was surprised when I asked him if he's surprised that he got hurt. I explained that if he listens to me, he won't get hurt...not totally sure if that took, though.

So this is enough for a week, right? I hope so. I always wish I could remember more to tell you.

Have a good week...