David Weekly, V3 - 17

Saturday morning, David got to play with his cousins. I got some more loquats for the kids. It was interesting to hear David call them "lo - quats", with the big pause between the syllables. He said it as often as he could come up with a reason to say it. And then later that day we went to my friend's birthday party. David had fun. We swam in the pool for a while, then David decided to run around the pool, saying he was running a marathon.

David got his costume for the dance recital this week. It's got a red cowboy hat, a sparkly red vest, black leggings, a black long sleeve undershirt, and shiny red bow-tie (it's got an elastic band to keep it on him). I'll be taking video of the whole thing (and the dance studio will also have video for sale). This is the first week of June, I believe.

Douglas (my "step-son" - long story there - he's 20 now) came over, and it was good to hear David sharing with Douglas his dinosaur books, almost in a mature manner. But then later, when it was time for me to spend my attention on Douglas (to help him with some homework), David would come to me just about every two minutes, with his arms wide open, for a hug! He suddenly became the most affectionate child! But what he didn't do was act out in a negative way. I was quite happy about that, and let him know.

Meanwhile, I made a mistake last week. I bought Cookie Crisp cereal for the boy. The days he had it for breakfast were usually very bad days at school. So I restricted it to the weekends. This does not make David happy at all. However, it has provided me an opportunity to teach several things: a) what you eat can impact your behavior b) there are better choices which can have benefits, such as a check mark for a good day, which can get you a bigger reward at the end of the week, and c) delayed gratification. By coincidence, we saw this same lesson in a cartoon in the Highlights Magazine that David gets each month. I also told him to enjoy the reward when it's time. I don't what him to become a drone who only works, and gets nothing for it. I do let him have the cookie cereal on Saturday and Sunday.

And speaking of rewards, David had check marks on Monday and Tuesday, then X's on Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday a check mark. He blames the bad days on things like, "The teachers wouldn't rub my back to help me fall asleep for my nap!" Sometimes, he has a bad day even though he had a good lunch and took a nap. What makes his bad days worse is that he won't go into time out easily, and sometimes he has to be sent to Jesse (who keeps the smaller children - our next door neighbor who also keeps him sometimes) so that he'll calm down. Ms. Nadine accepted some of the blame for his behavior, too, saying it's the end of the year and such. I also found out that Gabriel's Glen lost its "School Readiness" money, which I was told is a daycare's bread & butter, so that means a lot of new people are coming to David's school, and so David's not getting as much individualized attention, either. I personally don't think it's their fault as much as David's, since he's in charge of himself (even at 4 years old). I've told him that he has to sit in Time Out to allow himself to calm down. It's very difficult to have these conversations with him, because he interprets it as "being in trouble" when he's not. I try to talk about this with him when there's nothing else going on, which helps some, but it doesn't always help. Sometimes I just have to try to talk to him right when he's in the situation (like picking him up from school) - that when he's told to go in Time Out he needs to stay there, to calm down, so he can have a good day. He gets it when he's calm, but it's obviously hard for him when he's in the moment.

Lately, too, we go outside and play in the evenings. It's so nice outside in the evenings here. We throw the ball around, or take a walk. David plays by himself, and he plays fighting between two characters he invents. I'm usually doing something yard related. He's never outside by himself!

David's "graduation" from VPK is this Thursday, the 20th. I'll video that and post it or send it along somehow...

David wants to say: "Avery and Jared had a good answer but I can't answer it, it's wrong. I tell my Daddy it's called America flag, and there's some different. Asia, Europe flag...tomorrow on Saturday we're going to the farmer's market, and the book store." "And there's a Bakugon thing that opens when you put it on a card. Ms Tiffany gave me a paper that I could take home to finish coloring it, and then ... First, I color at school, then I color it at home. And then I could finish it every day, and then I can get done and show my daddy how pretty it is."