David Weekly, V3 - 11

David and I went to my friend April's house for the weekend, for her birthday. David did not get along with the other little boy that was there, Connor. At one point, he was harrassing him with a flag he'd found, not hitting him hard, but more like, touching him over and over with the thing. Of course, Connor didn't like it. I sometimes think that David needs a bigger bully than him to get what he does to the other kids. David spent lots of time in Time Out. Other times, they got along famously! I've also learned that David now says, "Stupid!" in an effort to hit the kid with words, rather than hands or feet. I hate to say that's an improvement, but it's an improvement. But we'll keep working on getting him to the point that he isn't doing any of the bad behavior...It's just going to be lots of work. But I know we'll get there. I also think him eating his shirt is a result of him controlling himself.

At one point, we went to the big fire pit they had dug outside, with the fire going full force. And we were looking at it. I don't know what brought the topic up, but David was telling me that a particular dinosaur was in North America, and he wanted to know where we were. I said, "North America." And he didn't exactly get that. I looked all around, pointed out the "all around" and said, "This is North America. But the dinosaur you're thinking of is in Utah." I pointed northwest. Then he understood.

Towards the end of the day on Sunday, David was getting restless: "I want to go home. To our home." he says. He fell asleep in the car on the way back, and I stopped at an exit before getting to our exit for McDonald's. David wakes up enough to look around and tell me that I'm at the wrong exit, or that I went the wrong way. I told him I was going to get something to eat, and he just started to cry! Poor kid, just wanted to go home. He was very tired from the night before. As much as he tried, he just couldn't fall asleep. So he finally did get to sleep very late, and woke up at about daybreak the next morning.

And he's counting everything in sight now. And he knows how to do it to the point that he can do it wrong on purpose, which is pretty funny.

David will be flying in to St Louis at 12:40 PM on Friday, April 9, and staying for a week.

Tuesday, David had a terrible day. Monday we had decided, since he'd had a good day, to switch to putting a checkmark on the calendar for a good day. Of course, he still wanted treats. Tuesday he had all kinds of troubles. Ms. Nadine told me that he doesn't eat lunch, at all. And at nap time, he doesn't sleep. Then is cranky. Then won't listen to teachers, or get along with others...so we got home, and put an X on Tuesday. This lead to more crying on his part. We also had a big struggle over him eating his dinner. I set him down to bed very early, and he fell asleep right away.

Wednesday was a MUCH better day. I was told that David was playing 'red-light/green-light' and kept losing. So he got very angry and kicked the fence! And then he realized that the other kids just kept playing, so he went to play again, and he began to win. So I told him that he did so much better, learning how to contain his anger, how to get it out more appropriately (kicking the fence is better than hitting someone), and how to keep doing something, even though it's frustrating, and that he can eventually succeed. Sometimes at home we'll be throwing the ball around, and he wants to punt it, but he's not very good at throwing the ball up and not out so that he can kick it. That's hard for him, too. But he's learning. So we got home, and put a check mark on Wednesday. He was very happy. He got a big smile on his face, and gave me a big hug. And then he got a few mint-chocolate chip cookies.

Thursday, David and Cinnamon spent some time playing, and hanging out. He really had a lot of fun.

Friday we went to the doctor for his followup visit. He's just fine. He's grown another inch! 43 pounds, and inches, I think. They're so close to each other.

I also asked David if there's anything he wants to say to everyone that gets this email. He said he wants to tell you about his friends at school, but that was about all he said. He shuts down when I ask him what else to say. "I don't know..." I'll work with him on trying to get him to intentionally communicate something. Normally when he tells me things, it's "We worked on letter J" or I get some made up explanation of how something works, but I can't remember what it was. It's just a spontaneous conversation, rather than something he thought about, or planned to say.

Lastly, David has decided that he doesn't like "Dinosaur Train." I ask him why, and he said that he doesn't like talking dinosaurs. But I put the show on for him anyway, and he begins to repeat what they say about the dinosaurs, and trying to pronounce their names. He is so funny.