Saturday, October 31, 2009

David Weekly, #73, Halloween Edition

I think David just likes noise in the morning. On a typical morning, he will have the TV on, and then play the Blue's Clues game, and occasionally turn on some toy that makes noise. All going on at the same time.

On Monday I as I'm picking him up from daycare/preschool, I "catch him in the act." What was he doing? Standing on a bench singing the ABC's for everyone, about 30+ kids. All were quiet while he sang. It was very impressive. I was so proud of him! He had a funny half-smile on his face, and was not looking at anyone as he went. He made it all the way through.

Tuesday night, we're going to the grocery store, and David sees the rain. He says, "It looks like a shower!" I've also discovered that if he wears Crock-type shoes (my mom bought them for him, along with some stuff for Halloween), without any straps for the heels, it slows him way down. He can't run, or run away, and he walks at a much more pedestrian pace. And is less excitable!

He tells me what he did in dancing every Tuesday, though it's sometimes out of context. "If I spin and spin and step I become a hippo!" He does tell me he put on his tap shoes when I pick him, though.

So we're watching "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", and he says he's Charlie Brown, and then says he's a blockhead, because that's how they insult each other on that show. I tell him he's no such thing! Besides, I tell him, he's Linus, because of the blanket thing. So now he's Linus, and in the next one, "You're (not) Elected Charlie Brown" he's Linus, because he wins the election, and that makes David the winner. David likes to win anything and everything, and never lose. He complains bitterly that he didn't win at whatever competition there is at school. I tell him over and over (and over and over) that he doesn't always have to win to have fun, but he's convinced otherwise.

Thursday night I go to pick up David from Rachel's house. Avery has a costume where she fits her legs into the costume, but it looks like she's riding an ostrich. Ollie the Ostrich. When Avery is in this costume, David doesn't see Avery anymore, he sees Ollie. Avery becomes the ostrich, and David no longer reacts to Avery like she's his cousin. She (the ostrich) made a face at him, and David got really scared! She can't really run in that costume, which is a good thing for David, but he was still genuinely afraid! When Avery put the costume away, David asks Avery where Ollie is...when she's got the costume on, Avery is gone, and vice-versa. It was quite a thing to see!

And a typical conversation when in the car: "Are your lights on? Did you lock the door? (to the house) Turn on the blinking fing! (when making a turn) We're going fast! You have to beat that other car, daddy!"

Friday, David got the first of two H1N1 flu vaccine shots. The other will be on November 21. He did not like it, of course. He only cried for a minute, which was good. I got my own H1N1 shot just to show David that it didn't hurt. He said, "You got blood." He said this because a little drop of blood came out after the injection. David said that his shot hurts. He said that his daddy didn't cry to the clerk at the doctor's office, but that he did. He also gave me one of his stickers because I got my own flu shot. We had a discussion about being brave, and I told him that he could cry and still be brave.

At school he went on a field trip to the local high school for a celebration, in his costume. When I picked him up, he said, "I went to a high school..." He got lots of candy...He also got a card in the mail from Cinnamon, telling him "Happy Halloween!" And some stickers, of course.

I saved this Weekly for Halloween night, since it didn't seem to make sense to wait a week to talk about it. David has been watching "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" non-stop, on DVD. Then for Trick-or-Treat, we went out with Jesse and her 6 week old daughter before sunset. He was not very good about getting pictures of himself taken. David complained. "It's supposed to be dark out!" It's hard to have him out in the dark with an all black costume, but there we were in the day light instead. After dark I had him with a couple of glowsticks attached to his outfit, so that worked out. It's hard to determine who's giving out candy when the lights aren't on yet, because it's still light out. David ended up being Batman, by the way. The thing is, though, he has the Batman mask, which was extremely sweaty for him, so we ended up taking it off. He also refused to say "Trick or Treat" or "Thank you" for the candy. After about 10 houses, David had had enough. "I have enough candy, daddy!" and "I want to go HOME!" "I don't need anymore candy." All of this was surprising and disappointing to me, because I had expected him to be more excited about all of this. Eventually, I convinced him to go out again, because it had gotten dark by that point. I also convinced him that I'm the one in need of the candy. It worked out because the boy across the street, Adan, wanted to go with us. He's 9, but had never been Trick or Treating before. So the three of us set out. David decided he didn't want to be scared. And he was telling everyone that I really needed the candy. David was really happy when we got home again with that much more candy. He liked the eyeballs, but told me that they wouldn't fit me. Lastly, we had to have insect repellent on, since we were getting attacked by mosquitos!

I hope your Halloween was fun.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

David Weekly, #72

In a left over detail from a couple of weeks ago, I keep forgetting to put that David took his first ride on a roller coaster! At the zoo, there's a kiddie coaster. David thought it was pretty scary. I sat next to him the whole time, making sure he was ok. Avery and Jared loved it!

"So David, how was your day?" "Bad." Me: "Why?" "Because I hit (so-and-so) on the cheek." "Did you get in trouble?" David: "No." "Why did you hit her?" David: "I don't know!" Of course, I tell him not to hit, that it's not allowed, etc... I talked to Ms Mary (the director) about this, and she says it's really nothing to worry about, because it's when he's with the bigger, after-school kids that he gets into trouble. She says he's at a transition point between being a bigger kid and a not bigger kid, so she'll make sure he stays with the littler kids so he won't have this kind of problem.

Saturday, he played in the park some while I practiced softball. We also saw "Where the Wild Things Are." He was a bit bored of it at points, and got especially scared when Max was throwing a temper tantrum before running off. I was surprised by that. Didn't expect a kid throwing a tantrum would be scary to another kid. David really was involved at that point. Some of the time he was bored he would play with the seat that goes up by itself, which he thought was funny. He spent a good part of the movie in my lap. The monsters were by turns scary and fun.

David went to the Rattle Snake Festival on Sunday, and had a blast! He played a lot with Cayenne, went on all the inflatable "toys" or "obstacle courses", and refused to eat anything, no matter what it was, except for the cotton candy. He finally ate a cheeseburger that evening when we went to dinner w/ Cinnamon and her daughter. At dinner, he was singing a song about vowels, mostly under his breath, not really singing it to be heard, as much as just playing his own music. David sings lots of songs to himself, either outloud or under his breath, where he's the only person really hearing it.

On Wednesday David and I went to a store to find him a costume. Even though he vacillates between Batman, a Wild Fing, and a dinosaur, he will end up being batman. The funny thing is, he saw the dinosaur costumes, but they were for babies and toddlers, neither of which David is anymore. So he says, "Those are for babies..." not with any of the usual derision that most older preschoolers show for littler kids; instead, his attitude was just along the lines of "not appropriate for me." I asked which Wild Thing he wants to be, and he says "Max." But there are no Max costumes anywhere, and there's not enough time for the people I know to make a costume for him, so that's why Batman. Rachel really helped in this respect, putting together something for him, and having the Batman mask available really helps...

Thursday I was at my sister's house to pick up the boy, and I told him I got a flu shot. I even showed him the band-aid over where the shot in my arm was. He was most impressed by this. "Oooooooo" he says. "Did it hurt?" he asked, with much concern. And now his voice quieter: "Did you cry?" I told him that it did hurt (it didn't, not really), and that I didn't cry. Friday morning he asked to see the shot again, and asked me about it. I said, "Well, you can't even tell where they gave the shot." I showed my arm again, and he put two fingers to try to feel it.

On a "cold" morning, David asked me for his jacket while he ate his cereal. I put him off for a minute. Then I notice he's not eating, so I say, "Eat your cereal!" His reply: "You have to get my jacket first..." very monotone, matter of fact. The kid's a bargainer. I'm in trouble.

Friday night we went to the Haunted Trail at Hillsborough River State Park. David was very scared. I held him through the whole trail. He used his little pen light that he got from the allergy doc 6 months ago as a "weapon" to protect himself from the scary bugaboos that presented themselves along the trail, by shining the light on them. So even though he was scared, I'd say he was brave. They also had a more well lit, more kid-friendly area where we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on a big screen TV. There is a part where Sally is expressing her love Linus (with the little hearts everywhere when she swoons), and I told David that one day, he'll have his own Sally...and his reply: "Aww Mannnnn!"

It's been a good week.

Friday, October 16, 2009

David Weekly, #71

David got a package in the mail from his mommy, which included stickers, a Pez candy dispenser (with Pez candies, of course!), some straws with skulls on them, and some pencils with spiders and webs and spooks. A very Halloween-y set of stuff. Perfect for a great holiday. Except that, in spite of the fact that the caledar says "Fall" on it, it's still summer. And gets dark a little bit earlier. We had about 2 days' worth of Fall, which means that the low at night is below 70 degrees...but now we're back to summer again.

A curious new development has taken place: David is now calling his buddy his blanket. At least, to everyone but me. I noticed this the other day when he was asking Cinnamon for his blanket. I wondered why he didn't call it his buddy, because he still says "buddy" to me when asking for it. Not sure of why this change, but there it is...

David would like everyone to know that he is fast. He is constantly demonstrating this to me. "Did you see how fast I went?" "I'm so fast!"

So I was telling my friend James about the "Pismo Beach" thing, and he sent me a link to the Looney Tunes cartoon where Bugs Bunny says his line. I showed it to David, who, of course, wanted to watch all of the different cartoons. He really liked them alot. One, two, three problems, though: they're violent! In spite of the fact that it's cartoon violence, I can see how there might be objections to his sort of thing. So David will not be seeing a lot of the Looney Tunes.

David likes to type. He particularly likes to type into my chat program, and usually in the last window of whomever I was talking to. I went to take a shower one morning, and came back to find this:
DAVID
7:21 AM
CVBNMASDFGHJKLQWERTYUIO
7:24 AM
ROCKETSHIP
7:26 AM
THITVHHVYVVHYGDGCCBGVGCXZACHBFGHFHEEDUIWUWWUUBXBVSXGXVVGVGXGXVXG

I'm most surprised to see the word "rocketship" spelled out. Rocketship is from Word World, but I had no idea he could spell it. He often asks me how to spell words, but never rocketship...

David and I were racing his cars...He kept saying something about "frozen fish." I asked him about it, as in, "Where did you hear this?" And he doesn't know, of course. It's how he would say he won, I think...

As we were reading a book for bed time, the book was showing the different seasons. David knows "fall" or "spring," but summer? What season is it? Point at the picture... "Spring." "Fall." "Hot."

So that's another week with the boy. If there's something you'd like to see, let me know and I'll try to add it. Have a great week!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

David Weekly, #70

David got to spend Saturday night at Rachel's. He really likes going over there. I stayed there, too, since in the morning we went to the zoo, with Avery and Jared, of course. David got to be the "Tour Guide" which to him meant, "run everywhere, and see if they can keep up." Because we've been there so many times, he has on the one hand lost interest in the animals, but on the other hand, wants to see specific ones, like the elephants. As we were leaving the zoo, Mimi (my mom) promised the kids a gift if they were good. David got "stick rocks" which are polished magnetite. He loves those things!

David loves to read. He's getting books off the shelf now, on his own, and looking through them on his own, and reading the words he knows. When we're leaving from school, he tells me that "we're working on our letter P's today" or whatever the letter is, though he still tells me his lunch only consists of peaches.

Thursday night Avery and Jared came over, and David was in some kind of fighting mood, since all he would do most of the night was attack Jared. I don't know what could cause this. Every time I would turn my back, David was trying to do something to Jared. So Thursday night, he spent lots of time in Time Out.

Friday night, David got to spend the evening with Jesse's baby. When she cries, David tries to figure out what she's crying about. "I fink she wants to be held." Or, "I fink she's hungry." He doesn't quite understand what the crying is, but at the same time is concerned, and wants to make it better somehow.

Otherwise, there's not a whole lot going on.

Friday, October 2, 2009

David Weekly, #69

David and I went to his first movie in a movie theater. The movie was "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs." David was able to follow the movie along, got some of the jokes, got bored at one point, and towards the end he got scared to the point that I covered his eyes, but that only lasted a minute or two. Overall, he really liked the movie. At one point he saw a part where everything was a mess. He said, "Everything is ruined!" Smart lad, that. He brought his "buddy" with him, for comfort, and because in my experience, movie theaters get cold. David knows what the "Wild Things Are." We were watching movie previews, which he really liked, and the movie trailer for this movie came on. I was surprised he knows about "The Wild Things", because that's one book we don't have. (Guess I'm going to the book store to get it!) But he was saying that he wants to be one of them, complete with horns. He sure does make me laugh.

I've also decided to enroll him in the dance class offered through Gabrielle's Glen. We went to buy him some tap shoes...and when he tried them on, he did not like how slippery they are! They don't have rubber grips like regular shoes of course, so David didn't want to even walk on them. I put him on the platform they had and had him tap his feet to get a better understanding of how they would feel, and sound. He liked that. When he went in, the lady asked him why he was there, and he said "to get tap shoes," but almost under his breath. He was pretty happy he got them, though.

I forgot to put in last week's note that David had a pretty bad allergy attack, where he was vomiting mucus, and doing a lot of coughing. I had had him at Rachel's house, and I picked him up at about 9. I got him home, gave him his "night time medicine" (which is "sour" as he says, and this is distinguished from his "morning time medicine" - the Xyzal, which has no flavor, apparently), and a nebulizer. He fell asleep about 20 minutes later. Don't have any idea what caused this fit. Nothing unusual about Rachel's house...he's been there for hours and hours before with no ill effects...so maybe it was a one time thing?

And David loves his "Blue's Clues" game on the computer. The object of the game is find all three of Blue's clues, but so far, he's only found one. And he has to click on just about everything in Steve's house to figure out what the clues are. There's puzzles and some other stuff he can do as he goes about Steve's house looking for clues. The music gets stuck in my head, and he often leaves the game running, with the music in the background just playing and playing...

Monday night, after having spent a couple of hours at Avery and Jared's house, David hears some music on the radio that reminds him of "at the Missouri"...and he plaintively says he wishes he could be in two places at the same time, in Florida, and at the Missouri.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. David enjoys playing with Josh at the playground where I'm playing softball. There are plenty of adults around who keep up w/ the kids, so supervision is not an issue. There was an incident though, where a little girl found a softball, that David wanted. Eventually I gave him a different one, and it satisfied him. Then Josh decided he wanted a ball, too, and was trying to take it from David. So David followed my example and got Josh his own ball. It was so cute. This was on Wednesday night. We got McDonald's for dinner, and had a quiet meal together at the big table...

Friday night Jared spent the night so Rachel could participate in the 5K Breast Cancer Walk with Avery on Saturday morning. We played outside for a while, with David's car that he can ride on down the street. The thing is, he wants to "win" all the time. Be the first to reach whatever destination we might have, either at the end of the street, or back at the house. Jared and I would let him in front of us, and David would complain that we were getting too close or whatever, and he would cry, and stop walking. So I told him that he has to keep moving if he thinks he's in a race and wants to win, even if we're catching up. He didn't quite get this, although he did try it out, so maybe he did. I'm not totally sure. For dinner we had "Supreme" pizza, with onions and peppers and mushrooms on it. Not a problem for David. He liked it. Jared? Not so much. We watched some videos on youtube, such as the one with Carl Sagan being made to "sing" electronically. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CldF6osKig. I really think the Carl Sagan video is beautiful, and I encourage you to watch it. Jared was trying learn the lyrics for it, which I loved (David had me play it over and over). And of course, David and Jared would fight over the space in front of the computer, but they were peaceful about it, too. The video reminds me of the Cosmos series from when I was a kid, and I hope David will get that same influence to be fascinated by the world around him. He already shows the capacity for being able to learn, and grow. And he sure knows how to ask "Why?" all the time. I remember being that way when I was a kid. I hope that I have the patience to answer his questions. He wants to know everything.

We also watched a few other kid friendly things, like Sponge Bob. Then we turned out attentions to "Monsters vs. Aliens," which just came out on DVD. What surprised me is that it was a little bit too much for David. It was extremely mild, yet there I was again covering his eyes once or twice. He got through the movie ok. He wants to stand in front of the TV, so I would ask him to come sit back on the couch with us. That child cannot sit still very well. But it was good he was into the movie.

And finally, Jared and David went to bed. Jared wanted to sleep on the couch, but David wanted to make sure Jared had a good place to sleep, so he took him into Colleen's old room and showed him the futon, and said, "But you're my cousin!" The implication being that his cousin deserved better than the couch that Jared wanted to sleep on. Jared ended up on the couch. I love David's sense of hospitality.

Last thing, unrelated to all the rest. When we get somewhere, I say, "Here we are, Pismo beach and all the clams we can eat!" (This is from Bugs Bunny, after he pops out of the ground, before he finds out he's in the desert) David corrects me: "Food. All the food we can eat." And I say, "but the quote is 'clams.'" He insists on "clams" being wrong, and "food" being correct. I told him that clams are food...but he didn't buy it. He doesn't care if they're food. So we have a running "argument" about that now. He's so funny.