David Weekly, V3 - 21

David found his harmonica, and was playing "songs" on it. Normally, most kids that get a harmonica play with it by making some sounds, and then they're done, off to other things. But not David. He really played it for a while. Made me get my bamboo flute out and we played together...you're probably glad you missed the cacophony, but David watched me, and imitated some of my movements, like me licking my lips (which he imitated by licking his own lips), and saying "I taught myself this song", because that's what I had said about playing (I played do-ra-mi). He will pick it up and play it from time to time now, and uses the music as part of the stories he tells me about things at school, or whatever else is on his mind.

Lots of tidbits this week:

When David was sick last week, he was feeling hopeless: "I'll never get better" and he describes his being sick as "seasick."

David doesn't get the idea of "tall" vs "long"...so everything is a certain amount of tall...

Saturday morning, we went to the dojo to watch the karate class. I think we're going to wait for another year maybe for him to go to karate, because David wasn't totally getting it. It wasn't karate the way he was thinking, I think, because it was a class, with lots of practice and drills, and even the instructor was a little leary of having someone so young as the boy there. I did feel that it was a good choice, because it was truly defensive teaching, and based on character, and doing the right thing. There really was a lot of karate going on, it just didn't have the flash that I think he was expecting. He often got bored, and wanted to play, rather than watch. We watched the class in the background, and did a few of the exercises along with the class. David actually liked that part. He just requires more time and attention, and maybe a more age appropriate group. I'm still figuring it out. We may explore some other schools to see if there's something more suitable for him.

Went to the beach on Saturday evening. At one point I told David we have to start walking back toward our stuff, since the waves had carried us down the beach. On our way back, David said in a funny voice: "The waves are saying, 'Rusty and David, go this way...'" I about fell over laughing. What a great sense of humor this boy has!

Tuesday night, saw another kid down the street playing. He's Tyler, age 6. We went down to introduce ourselves, and hopefully these two boys can play some more in the future. David and Tyler didn't really interact as much as appreciate the fact that they were in the same playing area.

For David's behavior: I was told by Ms Tiffany that David's been acting out lately, but she hasn't been able to tell me about his behavior (because I get there after she leaves), so we will get a calendar at school for his behavior, too.

David's concept of a big number is 29. It's comparable to 1,000,000. He says something like, "I can count to 29, it's a big number, like a million!" ...When making other types of comparisons, he talks about "our land"...

David reacts to the TV more, when something is going "wrong", such as Curious George on TV doing the wrong thing, David sees this and will hide, or shout, or groan loudly, or go into the other room until the conflict has passed, which is usually a few seconds.

David has decided he like Jesse's baby after all, and entertains her in various ways, to make her laugh. He gets a kick out of it. Anna and Jesse came to our house and spent some time having dinner with us, and watching a movie. David really liked having them over.

David can climb and jump over the 3 foot fence in our yard, and stay upright!

David has a game we play: "I love you, daddy," he says. My job is to say, "I love you, too!" If I don't say it right, David repeats his line.

In discussing David's difficulty in falling asleep at bed time, he told me that the voices tell him to stay awake. Then he tells me that it's the animals in his body: the charlie horse, and the butterflies. He gets the animals from the Operation game. He says that the animals sleep all day and play at night, and that's what keeps him awake. I had a conversation with butterflies in his stomach, and the charlie horse in his leg, that they need to let him sleep, but then I thought of an even better one: tell the animals (or other voices that keep him awake) that he can see them in his dreams, and that it will be more fun there.

Friday night, David had his dance recital dress rehearsal, and was all dressed up in his cute little outfit! I'll sent pictures up there with him, along with some video that I took. Saturday June 12 is his recital. David did absolutely great! And he was very good because he sat and watched all the other dancers before it was his turn.

So that's a week...