Saturday, June 27, 2009

David Weekly, #63

David loves to bug his cousins. He pokes them, wants their stuff...but only when they have it, or are trying to use it or play with it. I know this is something most kids his age do, but it's still worth remarking on. Shows (I hope) some growth and development on his part.

David's into measuring things. He'll take the tape measure and open it as much as his arm span, and tell me that a certain item is 54 long, or whatever. He just makes up the number. He can count to 100 w/ some help. What he does is count up to about 39 but then resets somewhere along the line, so I just prompt him for each "tens" spot, 40, 50, 60, etc. I forget where we were walking, but he was going through the numbers, just counting away.

Have I mentioned that he's smart? He wants to wait for the ice cream truck, which is nowhere in sight, or earshot. I told him we'll hear it when it gets close, so he doesn't have to wait in the heat. He asked me what the heat is, and I told him. He then says, "Well, I'll wait in the shade then."

Spending more time at Cinnamon's condo, David has been (mis)informed that Santa Claus lives here, in this group of 6 beach condos. What had happened is that the man that runs the place is certainly big and jolly, and is growing out his very white beard so he can play Santa Claus at Christmas for his grandkids. Every so often, he checks in with me, "Does Santa Claus live here?" I just say yes, it's his summer home.

David's birthday party is Saturday, at Dinosaur world. He says he is so excited! He's also happy that there's going to be lots of dinosaurs, but he was telling me that he wants to make sure they can't get him. I reassured him that he'll be just fine. He asked me for red cake for his party. And speaking of red, I'm beginning to notice that the only shirts he wants to wear anymore are all red! I was going through his laundry the other day, and that's when it hit me: red shirt, red shirt, red shirt w/ a lizard on it (the 'lizard shirt') and so on. This kid is going to take on the world!

Once again, I'm seeing that this weekly update is short. He had his last day at Dot's, and when he comes back he will be somewhere new for daycare/night care. Our routine will have changed. And he begins VPK at the end of August. It's been a good summer so far, with us spending time at the beach, time at my sister's (his cousins') house, time with Mimi, and now, time with his mom. Cinnamon takes very good care of him, to the degree that after they interact, he tells me how much he misses his mommy. I tell him that no one can replace her, that his mommy will always be his mommy. He seemed to be comforted by that. He leaves on Sunday morning, bright and early, at 9 AM is the flight. He wants time to go that much more quickly, wanting his party to be Friday so he can go see his mom Saturday...

Rusty

Friday, June 19, 2009

David Weekly, #62

David has a pen light that he got from the allergy doctor, and he loves it! He wants to see places that are dark. A frequent target of this pen light is my mouth. It's dark in there! Another thing he likes to do is go into a room and then ask to turn off all the lights.

David also is enjoying the mousetrap game. He just likes the contraption part of it, where he makes all the pieces work in their proper sequence.

Cinnamon got a place at the beach, so David and I went to the beach, too. The three of us went for a walk along the shore, with David running ahead the way he does. I ran to catch up with him, and we saw a kid who had a stack of sand dollars. This kid was maybe 11 or 12. He showed us the sand dollars, then threw them back in the water. As we walked on a little further, David went up to a random woman on the beach and asked her for a dollar...after admonishing him ("David! You can't ask people for money like that!"), I realized he meant...sand, dollar. :-) So he'd only gotten part of what those things were.

At Rachel's house he realized that one of her bathrooms has a Sponge Bob theme, so he tells me he's going to go potty in the Sponge Bob bathroom...

And David's favorite color is red. He knows my favorite color, and Cinnamon's. When we were at the beach the other day, he was telling me he had to get the beach toys that were our various favorite colors. "Look, I got the bucket that's your favorite color!"

A bigger thing to note is that I see his independence growing. Mainly, he wants to sleep with his clothes on, instead of jammies. It's a much bigger deal to him than I expected.

Lastly, he's asking how many more weeks until he can go see his mommy again...It's only a week now. It seems less urgent to him this time.

Rusty

Friday, June 12, 2009

David Weekly, #61

David came back to Tampa last week, on Thursday. It's official: he can talk. He is fully articulate, able to express himself fully, with complete expression. Tonight after I put him to bed he asked me if I can leave a light on for him, since his night light burned out. It's amazing how your perception of a person can change in three weeks, or how much that person can change in those same three weeks.

David misses his mom. He is able to fully articulate that, now, as well. He tells me in various ways, and at various times, that he misses her, or that he wants to see her. Amanda tells me that she has internet at home, so I'm hoping that the two of them can interact over the webcam after he comes back again in August.

Another thing this week is that David and I have been spending some time as his cousins' house, going swimming, and just being there to hang out. It's the first week of summer, so I figured it was a good time for them to spend some time together. He's had a lot of fun interacting with Jared and Avery. He especially likes to annoy them. It took a day or two of that until they developed a rhythm of figuring out how to get along, which they did. Avery enjoys showing David the Webkins thing online, and he loves to watch. They also play some simple video games online.

It's been a busy week, yet it seems that not a lot has happened. Dot (David's primary babysitter) has announced that as of July 1 she is closing up shop, and not in the daycare business any longer. This means of course that I'll be seeking out a new babysitter for the boy.

I really think that's it for this week.

Rusty