David Weekly, #75

David drew a picture of me. He was coloring on some blank paper, and asked if he could draw a picture of me. I said ok, and he looks at me very seriously for a minute, then draws me. Lots of circles...I've scanned and attached this "art" to this email...

David gets a 2.5 ml dropper of Xyzal every day. It's a 24 hour dose. The name for the dropper? A "squisher" or a "squoosher". Maybe that's the part of the bulb that you squeeze? Anyway, he has two, one has a yellow bulb and the other has a blue bulb. David says he wants a red squoosher, too. Everything red for that kid! He also was asking me why he has to take the sour medicine at night, and the other one in the morning. My answer? "The doctor told us to do it that way." It does seem to be working...

And about his hitting: He told me again that he doesn't want to go to school. I ask him why, and he says it's because he can't stop himself from hitting his friends. This is through some difficult, tortured conversation on his part. It sounded like anyone who's ever tried to stop doing anything, but can't somehow. I talked to the people at Gabrielle's Glen about it, to try to come up with some strategies. One thing we came up with was simple: David keeps his hands at his sides. It worked for one day. I'd like input on what other things can be done/said to keep him from hitting. Any time we come up with something new, it works for a while...but then he reverts. I spoke with the director of the daycare, and she is not overly concerned. All the kids do this from time to time, she says. And David plays very rough, as well.

So here are some pictures from Halloween. David was very uncooperative about it, which made taking pictures difficult, so I only took a very few. David's favorite Halloween candy is lollipops. I also took a few other pictures of him, since his grandma Kenney requested that I send her some.

On the way home from daycare, David asked me for 10 fingers. "I want 10 fingers, daddy..." I ask him why he wants 10 fingers. He says so that he can be like everybody else. I ask him why he wants to be like everybody else...and his response is basically, "so he'll fit in." I refrain from trying to sell him platitudes like, "It'll make you a better person." Instead, I just told him that he is the way he is...just how he was built. So ask for advice from anyone that wishes to offer it. Right now he says he has 7 fingers, one for each day of the week. ... What prompted this? He wasn't able to hold two maracas, because his left hand isn't strong enough with only the two fingers.

Remember how last week (or two weeks ago?) how David said he's Charlie Brown, then Linus? Well, now he's just about every character he sees on TV that he likes. So he's Pocoyo, or one of the dinosaurs on Dinosaur Train...

David loves his "tattoos" of dinosaurs, too. He has them on, and they come off slowly, and I have to put more on him.

Thursday night turned out to be a party. I had David, of course, and then Jared and Avery came over. Then Jesse, and her sister Julia (Julie), and her two kids. They had such a blast! David really likes Julie's kids, as they are more David's age, and size. Avery enjoyed being the Leader of Everybody, playing Hide n Seek...when the cousins got together, Avery took on the teacher role and was beginning to teach David how to read, since she figured out that he knows his letters and numbers, but then she found out that he can read a little bit, too.

I "read" him the book "Mice Squeak, We Speak", by intentionally getting the words wrong, and he corrects me. So he reads it. If I try to just get him to read it by himself, he won't, saying it's too hard, or he doesn't know that word, usually with lots of whining. He tells me still what letters he's working on. This week, it's the letter J. He also makes sure to show me the acorn, or pumpkin, or apple, or whatever it is on various boards around the classroom with his name on them. I don't know what they represent, but he sure does love having his name up there.

Last of all, David asks from time to time when he's going to see his mother. I tell him how many weeks. It satisfies him to hear how long. Last week, I told him two weeks. This week, as of Saturday, October 14, it'll be 7 days. Have a good week!