David is lonely, I think. I can't exactly ask him if he's lonely, but I can tell that he needs playmates. He doesn't see Avery and Jared as much anymore, but does ask to play with them, and does want to play with other kids. I'm actively trying to expand my network of people who have kids so he can have friends that he can see on a regular basis. This is new territory for me, so we'll see how it goes. I've also asked him what other kinds of activiities he'd like to be involved it. Karate is one, which is my suggestion, and gymnastics is another. He likes dancing, so I'll keep him in that.
David has decided to watch Word World again, and is loving it all over again. I think he got bored with Diego, so switched back to that for a little while. It's interesting to see him interact with it now that he's a bit older, and has better reading skills than he did before. And speaking of reading skills...
Saturday (May 22), we went to buy more DVD's for David's reward, since he had all check marks for the week. I take him to the kids section, and he sees the Leap Frog DVD, and says, "I want the Math Circus!" It didn't even occur to me that he read it...I almost took it for granted. I was more impressed, and focused on, the fact that he wanted math rather than reading. It's elementary math, adding and subtracting. But he watched it over and over. The next big prize we'll shoot for is some good dinosaur (or other) books. I asked him when we went to the park, what the dinosaurs were that some kid had, just to see if he knew, and he said, "Karate-saurus" which I heard as "Chirosaurus" because he said it so fast. I was amazed. But then I asked how he knew, and he said, "I just made it up!"
I bought for myself an old TV Show on DVD called "UltraMan", which is a Japanese import that I watched when I was a kid. David really liked it, almost more than the DVD's he got for himself. It's basically a serial version of Japanese monster movies, where the hero turns into UltraMan and then fights the monsters who are trying to destroy Japan. David got really wrapped up in some of these shows, and would come and sit in my lap when the action got to be intense (according to his 4 year old mind). Overall he really liked it. I knew this because he would say "Ultra-Man!" over and over.
Sunday, we went to the beach for a little while to watch the sun set. We ended up in the water, and were skipping broken up pieces of sand-dollars that we'd find, since they're flat. David was calling them "flats," too. "Oh look daddy! A flat!" And he'd pick it up and throw it. Then he'd ask, "how many times did it skip?" He fell asleep in the car on the way over there, and we had about 45 minutes to play. I realized it seemed too short for him (of course, when a kid is playing, no matter when it ends it seems too short), so I promised him we'd go back for a longer time after school if he was good. He was good on Monday (check mark), and good on Tuesday (check mark), so we ate dinner, and had about 90 minutes to play. We met another little boy out at the beach. By the way, it was Indian Rocks Beach for Tuesday, and it was deserted! I didn't expect that. I wonder if the oil spill had anything to do with it. There were a few people here and there, but not a large number of people like I'm used to seeing. David loved playing with this child, and wanted to play "chase." The other boy is a couple of months younger, and wasn't so much into playing chase. So David would taunt him, mildly, just to get him to chase David. "na-na-boo-boo..." I think. It's a kids' taunt, but I'm not sure if that's the one. They would run between the water and the chair with our stuff on it. David was very happy!
On our way back from the beach, David sees Burger King, and wants me to stop so he can get something. I tell him we'll wait for the weekend. It was amazing how matter-of-fact he was about it. Very adult-like.
Wednesday, David went with Jesse to Jesse's Bible Study, and played very well with the kids that were there with their mom's. I asked Jesse to see if they would be willing to have their kids do a play date w/ David. I'm hopeful that they will, because David gets along very well with those kids, according to Jesse. I asked her about what she thinks is the difference between the kids at Bible Study and the kids at David's daycare, and she says it's because the kids at Learning Space aren't very nice to David. I have to wonder if David's not the "not nice" one, but then again, it may be a "boy" thing. It's very good that he can get along w/ the Bible Study kids, though. That gives me hope.
Thursday night we went to Avery and Jared's year end ceremony, and David was great until the (to a 4 year old mind) "boring" part, when they announce the awards. David was happy to be there for his cousins.
So I ask David what he wants to tell everyone:
"I had a good day today on Friday, 3 Fridays, and I had a good day here, here, here...Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and on 3 Friday checkmarks. I Love my daddy and my mommy and I have a sister, her name is Colleen. And she is very helpful and she's very delicate when I don't play with her, and she's not delicate and she's very happy when I do play with her and I love my sissy, and I like my cats up at the Missouri. And I want you to say I made a beautiful boat with a ladybug (he points to the picture he colored.) And I had a picture like that (he points to the one with his graduation cap and gown.) David likes some dinosaurs. And not T-Rexes."
He was watching me type as he was speaking, and made sure I typed the words he was saying. He was pointing at the calendar when he was telling me the first part. He's proud of his checkmarks. This week, he had 4. Wednesday was his bad day. It's amazing to me that he will go and put the check mark or the X, all on his own. I don't have to do a thing to get him to do it.
I asked Learning Space what David will be doing now that VPK is over, and they will be basically continuing w/ VPK work, because according to Ms. Nadine, "They'll lose everything they've learned..." if they don't keep doing it.
Reward for this week: Burger King! He'd been asking me to go at very inconvenient times, so I told him if he gets enough checkmarks, he can go there for dinner on Friday. I also told him that on the weekend he can go to McDonald's PlayPlace...He got enough checkmarks, so we had dinner at BK. David was very happy about this...
Lastly, I scheduled David for a Shriner's Appointment: October 5, 2010, at 2:15 PM. It's good for a checkup, and I need to ask for some help on addressing his desire to have 10 fingers like I do...for now, I just say it's the way it is...
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
David Weekly, V3 - 18
This has been a great week for David.
Saturday, we went to the flea market, primarily to get some vegetables, and they do have a farmers' market there, but we didn't really seem to be able to find it, though they do have vendors of all sorts there...So I had David choose: and he picked corn, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I was very impressed. We went to Mimi's and he at the cucumber/tomato salad with some Italian dressing. We also set up the pool and went swimming! David made a lot of noise, and really thoroughly enjoyed himself.
We also went to the USF bookstore, as I was buying a book from there. We walked through the new Marshall Center (aka, the student union), and David decided he wanted to climb the stairs to see his way all the way up. It's quite big inside, and is at least 4 stories tall. How did we go up? By climbing the stairs. David just loved it. He's very much an explorer, and I try to let him do that when we can, when I have time...
The week for David was great! 5 checkmarks for the week. He will be collecting his prize over the weekend: new videos!d He did have an instance of "a little hitting" but not a big fight, or anything else. He really kept a good handle on his emotions. One of the things I told him is that Time Out is his opportunity to keep having a good day, rather than go all the way to a bad day, and get an X on the calendar. This seemed to make sense to him, since I did question him about his day: "Did you get a Time Out?" He would say, "Yes, and I stayed in it, too! Did I have a good day?" He is insistent that I ask the teacher if he had a good day or not, rather than me just taking his word for it. I like that he seeks out that independent opinion.
He really was wanting his cousins to stay with us on Tuesday night, after school, since he stayed at their house on Monday after school. He later found out that they couldn't, and was very sorely disappointed. So we had Jared to stay with us on Friday instead. David had spent all week looking forward to them coming over, but Avery ended up not being able to come over. David hardly noticed, and was quite happy to have Jared around to play, and have fun with.
Thursday was David's VPK graduation. He was great! He was the "reader" of the group. He read a book, after describing the front of the book, the back of the book and the spine of the book. It was short and had easy words for him, but he was very able to read it. I was so proud of him! I'll be posting the video at some point in the near future, of the whole ceremony. I'm not sure if you want to sit through the whole thing, but it'll be there, and you can probably speed through a lot of it.
Friday, David had a party at school, but I didn't realize it had a theme, and David didn't feel dressed appropriately, so I had to get him the proper attire: loud orange shorts, and equally loud shirt to go with the shorts. It looked like he was going the beach, because it was a luau!
It's been both an uneventful week, and a momentous occasion kind of week.
Hope you've had a good week, too.
Saturday, we went to the flea market, primarily to get some vegetables, and they do have a farmers' market there, but we didn't really seem to be able to find it, though they do have vendors of all sorts there...So I had David choose: and he picked corn, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I was very impressed. We went to Mimi's and he at the cucumber/tomato salad with some Italian dressing. We also set up the pool and went swimming! David made a lot of noise, and really thoroughly enjoyed himself.
We also went to the USF bookstore, as I was buying a book from there. We walked through the new Marshall Center (aka, the student union), and David decided he wanted to climb the stairs to see his way all the way up. It's quite big inside, and is at least 4 stories tall. How did we go up? By climbing the stairs. David just loved it. He's very much an explorer, and I try to let him do that when we can, when I have time...
The week for David was great! 5 checkmarks for the week. He will be collecting his prize over the weekend: new videos!d He did have an instance of "a little hitting" but not a big fight, or anything else. He really kept a good handle on his emotions. One of the things I told him is that Time Out is his opportunity to keep having a good day, rather than go all the way to a bad day, and get an X on the calendar. This seemed to make sense to him, since I did question him about his day: "Did you get a Time Out?" He would say, "Yes, and I stayed in it, too! Did I have a good day?" He is insistent that I ask the teacher if he had a good day or not, rather than me just taking his word for it. I like that he seeks out that independent opinion.
He really was wanting his cousins to stay with us on Tuesday night, after school, since he stayed at their house on Monday after school. He later found out that they couldn't, and was very sorely disappointed. So we had Jared to stay with us on Friday instead. David had spent all week looking forward to them coming over, but Avery ended up not being able to come over. David hardly noticed, and was quite happy to have Jared around to play, and have fun with.
Thursday was David's VPK graduation. He was great! He was the "reader" of the group. He read a book, after describing the front of the book, the back of the book and the spine of the book. It was short and had easy words for him, but he was very able to read it. I was so proud of him! I'll be posting the video at some point in the near future, of the whole ceremony. I'm not sure if you want to sit through the whole thing, but it'll be there, and you can probably speed through a lot of it.
Friday, David had a party at school, but I didn't realize it had a theme, and David didn't feel dressed appropriately, so I had to get him the proper attire: loud orange shorts, and equally loud shirt to go with the shorts. It looked like he was going the beach, because it was a luau!
It's been both an uneventful week, and a momentous occasion kind of week.
Hope you've had a good week, too.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
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."
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."
Friday, May 7, 2010
David Weekly, V3 - 16
Friday night (April 30), David and I went to the beach with Cinnamon, to see the sunset, and meet some of her friends. David had a blast! Enjoyed running around....got cold in the wind, though. This was the beach at Siesta Key where we spent some time last summer. David fell asleep in the car on the way down there. When we did finally get there, he woke up, and I carried him to the water. At that point the sun was just hitting the water, and the wind picked up, which made for a very cold boy. So I put him in a pit, and gave him my shirt to keep warm. The pit was about a foot down that someone had dug earlier in the day, and then also built up a bit, too. It made for a great wind break. After it got dark, we all hung out in the parking lot, and then went to a restaurant to eat. David was a very well behaved boy. I was very proud of him.
Saturday we went to the zoo. It took more of my day than I planned. The reason is that normally we go there and almost literally run around the zoo, and that takes about an hour, but not this time. He got the idea that we should go to the zoo because he has a zoo book which is just pictures with labels and he thought it would be good to compare the book to the zoo so we took it with us. So at the zoo, every time we'd come up to a new animal, we'd look it up in the book. And he would sit down on the ground or whatever was available, and figure out where it was, and what it was, and I would ask him to compare/contrast the animals in the book with the real life ones. So he would point out the differences, and similarities.
I've never had such a good time with him at the zoo. He was delightful, not demanding or whiney or clingy, and the book gave him something to do. He also displayed his smarts. By the rhinos and zebras there is a giraffe skull in a glass case. David pointed it out and said it was a giraffe skull. I asked him how he knew it was a giraffe skull and he says, "Because it says it." I ask him where, and points out the words that are on the case, plain as day.
The zoo was a very successful trip. He used various skills in the book, and with the book: searching for something, reading, comparing/contrasting.
Sunday, we went to church in the morning, and I heard David later singing one of the songs from the church: "Holy Holy Holy" because that's all they say in the song, over and over. He was very good when he went with the other children. We went home, then a bit later in the afternoon we went to an art festival, and of course, they had the bounce houses and a giant slide. So I let him go on those things, since he'd been so good all weekend. After that, we went to visit with my friend Tracy, her husband, and son. We went swimming. I put water wings on David and we splashed and swam around the pool. He got in the water with me, but was very afraid to let go! Of course, I never did, but I was able show him that he can support himself in the water, and spent some time teaching him how to kick his legs. I'm sure we'll be doing more of that this summer.
His record for school this week: check marks on Monday and Tuesday, X on Wednesday, check Thursday, X for Friday. Wednesday when he got the X, he cried for quite some time after getting home. He said, "I'm not going to eat those cookies until tomorrow when I've had a good day." I've told him that he is in charge of himself, and that he can control his own behavior. I think his main problem is simply lack of structured time. Or rather, during free time, he can't just sit still, or interact very well with others. He needs something to do. But he gets along with Jared and Avery when he's with them, and the time is unstructured. This kid is a tough nut to crack.
Meanwhile:
David tells me things like, "2 + 1 = 3". Unfortunately, he also says, "1 + 2 = 12" because putting the one and two together makes the twelve...
David says "Hydroxizine" and "Xyzal". He sings to himself in the car, and never forgets to brush his teeth. He can do it all by himself now! In fact, he's taking charge of more things of his own. He won't let me feed him anymore, and he's dressing himself. It still takes him forever to eat breakfast in the morning, though.
Silly Bandz: This is the first fad that I am reporting that David is involved in. Have you seen these? They're rubber bands in different shapes, like dinosaurs (David's favorite), and other animals or shapes. Jared had a bunch on his arm, and he and Avery were trading them back and forth, and David wanted in on this game. He then tells me that the dinosaur shape is Brachyasaurus!
Me: "David, did you have any nightmares last night?" His reply: "No, it was all about good dreams last night." I ask him this because at 5 AM he asks if he can sleep in my bed. It would seem for no good reason...Later on (the next day or two) he tells me with great sincerity about the nighmare he had with the zombies and such...very much like the week before.
I gave David a loquat (Japanese Plum), and he loved it! He's really intrigued by the large seeds of the fruit, too.
We're having another "argument." First, there are Dimetrodons, and there are Spinosauruses. Both of these two have giant "fans" on their backs, like a big crest with long bones that emanate from their backs, sharp teeth, claws, and are carnivors. Dimetrodons seem to have 4 legs, and the 4 legs are all the same size, and the creature walks on all 4 of them. Spinosauruses, on the other hand, are therapods (bipedal, and David pronounces it "ferapod"), and have shorter front legs that are almost hands. When confronted with these two different but very same looking creatures, he said they were both spinosauruses. I had to point out what makes them different. And thus began the "argument", with him trying to prove to me that they're the same, or trying at least to figure out how they aren't, because they look so similar. The way I'm writing about this is as if they're lizards out on the front porch, but these are dinosaurs, and lived a very long time ago. The dimetrodon is a toy figure, and the spinosaurus is in a book.
I ask David if he wants to tell anyone anything, since I'm writitng about him, and he says to tell his grandma and grandpa (the ones with the stairs - where you go down in the room where you play and where you sleep - that would be the the Kenneys) that he had good days at school, with check-marks. And he also says that he has a "radio with a little singing button" that plays songs. It's a Disney toy, which looks like a radio, and has little cartridges that play music from the various Disney movies, one cartridge per movie.
About David's sexual development: he noticed, as he was having a bath, that his two testicles, "look like boobs," he says. I said, no, those are testicles, and they're not what he said at all. And that they don't look like that anyway. They're part of how babies are made. He seemed to accept this, and went on playing with the toys in the bath, and telling me something else unrelated. The next day he said he didn't want babies to grow inside of him. I said that they won't, because he's a small child himself, and that boys don't ever have babies growing inside of them. I said that girls do, and he chimed in that only grownups do. I told him that's right.
Finally, he got to spend Friday night (May 7) at Rachel's house, with his cousins.
So this is quite a week!
Saturday we went to the zoo. It took more of my day than I planned. The reason is that normally we go there and almost literally run around the zoo, and that takes about an hour, but not this time. He got the idea that we should go to the zoo because he has a zoo book which is just pictures with labels and he thought it would be good to compare the book to the zoo so we took it with us. So at the zoo, every time we'd come up to a new animal, we'd look it up in the book. And he would sit down on the ground or whatever was available, and figure out where it was, and what it was, and I would ask him to compare/contrast the animals in the book with the real life ones. So he would point out the differences, and similarities.
I've never had such a good time with him at the zoo. He was delightful, not demanding or whiney or clingy, and the book gave him something to do. He also displayed his smarts. By the rhinos and zebras there is a giraffe skull in a glass case. David pointed it out and said it was a giraffe skull. I asked him how he knew it was a giraffe skull and he says, "Because it says it." I ask him where, and points out the words that are on the case, plain as day.
The zoo was a very successful trip. He used various skills in the book, and with the book: searching for something, reading, comparing/contrasting.
Sunday, we went to church in the morning, and I heard David later singing one of the songs from the church: "Holy Holy Holy" because that's all they say in the song, over and over. He was very good when he went with the other children. We went home, then a bit later in the afternoon we went to an art festival, and of course, they had the bounce houses and a giant slide. So I let him go on those things, since he'd been so good all weekend. After that, we went to visit with my friend Tracy, her husband, and son. We went swimming. I put water wings on David and we splashed and swam around the pool. He got in the water with me, but was very afraid to let go! Of course, I never did, but I was able show him that he can support himself in the water, and spent some time teaching him how to kick his legs. I'm sure we'll be doing more of that this summer.
His record for school this week: check marks on Monday and Tuesday, X on Wednesday, check Thursday, X for Friday. Wednesday when he got the X, he cried for quite some time after getting home. He said, "I'm not going to eat those cookies until tomorrow when I've had a good day." I've told him that he is in charge of himself, and that he can control his own behavior. I think his main problem is simply lack of structured time. Or rather, during free time, he can't just sit still, or interact very well with others. He needs something to do. But he gets along with Jared and Avery when he's with them, and the time is unstructured. This kid is a tough nut to crack.
Meanwhile:
David tells me things like, "2 + 1 = 3". Unfortunately, he also says, "1 + 2 = 12" because putting the one and two together makes the twelve...
David says "Hydroxizine" and "Xyzal". He sings to himself in the car, and never forgets to brush his teeth. He can do it all by himself now! In fact, he's taking charge of more things of his own. He won't let me feed him anymore, and he's dressing himself. It still takes him forever to eat breakfast in the morning, though.
Silly Bandz: This is the first fad that I am reporting that David is involved in. Have you seen these? They're rubber bands in different shapes, like dinosaurs (David's favorite), and other animals or shapes. Jared had a bunch on his arm, and he and Avery were trading them back and forth, and David wanted in on this game. He then tells me that the dinosaur shape is Brachyasaurus!
Me: "David, did you have any nightmares last night?" His reply: "No, it was all about good dreams last night." I ask him this because at 5 AM he asks if he can sleep in my bed. It would seem for no good reason...Later on (the next day or two) he tells me with great sincerity about the nighmare he had with the zombies and such...very much like the week before.
I gave David a loquat (Japanese Plum), and he loved it! He's really intrigued by the large seeds of the fruit, too.
We're having another "argument." First, there are Dimetrodons, and there are Spinosauruses. Both of these two have giant "fans" on their backs, like a big crest with long bones that emanate from their backs, sharp teeth, claws, and are carnivors. Dimetrodons seem to have 4 legs, and the 4 legs are all the same size, and the creature walks on all 4 of them. Spinosauruses, on the other hand, are therapods (bipedal, and David pronounces it "ferapod"), and have shorter front legs that are almost hands. When confronted with these two different but very same looking creatures, he said they were both spinosauruses. I had to point out what makes them different. And thus began the "argument", with him trying to prove to me that they're the same, or trying at least to figure out how they aren't, because they look so similar. The way I'm writing about this is as if they're lizards out on the front porch, but these are dinosaurs, and lived a very long time ago. The dimetrodon is a toy figure, and the spinosaurus is in a book.
I ask David if he wants to tell anyone anything, since I'm writitng about him, and he says to tell his grandma and grandpa (the ones with the stairs - where you go down in the room where you play and where you sleep - that would be the the Kenneys) that he had good days at school, with check-marks. And he also says that he has a "radio with a little singing button" that plays songs. It's a Disney toy, which looks like a radio, and has little cartridges that play music from the various Disney movies, one cartridge per movie.
About David's sexual development: he noticed, as he was having a bath, that his two testicles, "look like boobs," he says. I said, no, those are testicles, and they're not what he said at all. And that they don't look like that anyway. They're part of how babies are made. He seemed to accept this, and went on playing with the toys in the bath, and telling me something else unrelated. The next day he said he didn't want babies to grow inside of him. I said that they won't, because he's a small child himself, and that boys don't ever have babies growing inside of them. I said that girls do, and he chimed in that only grownups do. I told him that's right.
Finally, he got to spend Friday night (May 7) at Rachel's house, with his cousins.
So this is quite a week!
Monday, May 3, 2010
David Weekly, V3 - 15
This week was another rough one for David. He actually had more trouble readjusting this week than last week. He got lots of X's on the calendar for his behavior at school. Lots of hitting, lots of kicking, not listening to the teacher.
Saturday we went to the Story Telling Festival. David didn't appreciate it, and wanted to go home the whole time. At the beginning we went to the book fair that they have, and bought a few books. In particular, we bought some small board books of dinosaurs, and one or two other books. David really likes the dinosaur books. He noticed that one of the dinosaurs (the Spinosaurus (he corrected me on the pronunciation - it's spine - o - saurus, not spin - o - saurus)) looks like another dinosaur (can't remember that one). I had to point out that they are not the same dinosaur, even though they look similar. One has smaller front arms/legs than the other one. David liked the professional story tellers. They really did keep his attention for the most part. The stories they told were mostly out of Asia, the Phillipines, and Japan. After the professionals, we went to walk around, and ran into a mime. David didn't quite know what to make of the mime. Someone who doesn't talk, and only gestures was a difficult concept for him. Later in the week he made a reference to the mime. It wasn't so bad after all. I told him that the reason I brought him to the storytelling festival was to introduce him to new things. He wasn't really having it, though. It does seem to take him a while to integrate new things into his experience. We also listened to a story from Louisiana about frogs (liberally sprinkled with Cajun French), and heard, and participated with, drummers from Africa.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home, had lunch, read his new books, and just generally played.
Sunday we went a beautiful park with Rachel, her kids, and my friend Tracy. This was a big church picnic. We got there later than everyone else. He'd fallen asleep in the car on the way there, since it's a bit of distance from our house. When we got there, he turned into Mr. Shy. I had to carry him from the car. When it was time to play games, he wanted every turn to be his. So he wouldn't share, and he cried a lot. We eventually went for a walk to the "mountains"...actually, Jared and Avery dragged David and I along with them. These "mountains" were pretty cool. About 20 feet high, and had oak trees growing at the top of them. I explained the root systems of the trees, because the hills had eroded away so much over the years since the trees got established you could see the roots. I don't know the source of these hills, since they are certainly not a naturally occurring formation. Generally, though, David was difficult, and didn't have the best time. Yet, he cried when it was time to go. He fell asleep in the car again on the way back home.
I forgot that I took David to two different doctors: Dr. Sams on Friday (April 23), then Dr. Siegel, the allergist. Dr. Siegel knocks David on the forehead, to check for pain in his sinuses. David doesn't like this. So this time I have him tell the doctor not to do it anymore. I was proud of him for standing up for himself, because he was able to say "Don't do that anymore" to a grownup. David is 43 pounds/inches...the reason for Dr Sams was that on Monday last week I took David to after hours care because he had bad ear pain, and sure enough, it was an ear infection. David woke me up Sunday night screaming in pain...he hadn't been acting like anything was wrong (in spite of Amanda telling me about his ear infection).
How David eats cereal: a bowl of milk, and cereal on the side. He puts small amounts of cereal in the bowl, then eats it out of the bowl with the milk and a spoon. We do this since he would get Frosted Mini-Wheats, which would turn soggy in the bowl after a few minutes, then he would claim to be full. So I came up with this solution to enable him to keep the cereal crunchy, but be able to eat it with milk.
Tuesday night, I got a very sincere discussion from David about nightmares. He told me about his fears: dinosaurs, monsters, zombies...all things he's seen on Scooby Doo, and Power Rangers. Even though at the end they always conquer the monsters, he's afraid.
This week's Deep Thought from David: "Why do we color Easter Eggs?" This question just came out of nowhere. That kid surprises me all the time with questions like this...
Lastly, David got the idea, after reading a book about the zoo, that we should take the book with us to the zoo. So...I'll tell you all about our trip to the zoo next week.
Saturday we went to the Story Telling Festival. David didn't appreciate it, and wanted to go home the whole time. At the beginning we went to the book fair that they have, and bought a few books. In particular, we bought some small board books of dinosaurs, and one or two other books. David really likes the dinosaur books. He noticed that one of the dinosaurs (the Spinosaurus (he corrected me on the pronunciation - it's spine - o - saurus, not spin - o - saurus)) looks like another dinosaur (can't remember that one). I had to point out that they are not the same dinosaur, even though they look similar. One has smaller front arms/legs than the other one. David liked the professional story tellers. They really did keep his attention for the most part. The stories they told were mostly out of Asia, the Phillipines, and Japan. After the professionals, we went to walk around, and ran into a mime. David didn't quite know what to make of the mime. Someone who doesn't talk, and only gestures was a difficult concept for him. Later in the week he made a reference to the mime. It wasn't so bad after all. I told him that the reason I brought him to the storytelling festival was to introduce him to new things. He wasn't really having it, though. It does seem to take him a while to integrate new things into his experience. We also listened to a story from Louisiana about frogs (liberally sprinkled with Cajun French), and heard, and participated with, drummers from Africa.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home, had lunch, read his new books, and just generally played.
Sunday we went a beautiful park with Rachel, her kids, and my friend Tracy. This was a big church picnic. We got there later than everyone else. He'd fallen asleep in the car on the way there, since it's a bit of distance from our house. When we got there, he turned into Mr. Shy. I had to carry him from the car. When it was time to play games, he wanted every turn to be his. So he wouldn't share, and he cried a lot. We eventually went for a walk to the "mountains"...actually, Jared and Avery dragged David and I along with them. These "mountains" were pretty cool. About 20 feet high, and had oak trees growing at the top of them. I explained the root systems of the trees, because the hills had eroded away so much over the years since the trees got established you could see the roots. I don't know the source of these hills, since they are certainly not a naturally occurring formation. Generally, though, David was difficult, and didn't have the best time. Yet, he cried when it was time to go. He fell asleep in the car again on the way back home.
I forgot that I took David to two different doctors: Dr. Sams on Friday (April 23), then Dr. Siegel, the allergist. Dr. Siegel knocks David on the forehead, to check for pain in his sinuses. David doesn't like this. So this time I have him tell the doctor not to do it anymore. I was proud of him for standing up for himself, because he was able to say "Don't do that anymore" to a grownup. David is 43 pounds/inches...the reason for Dr Sams was that on Monday last week I took David to after hours care because he had bad ear pain, and sure enough, it was an ear infection. David woke me up Sunday night screaming in pain...he hadn't been acting like anything was wrong (in spite of Amanda telling me about his ear infection).
How David eats cereal: a bowl of milk, and cereal on the side. He puts small amounts of cereal in the bowl, then eats it out of the bowl with the milk and a spoon. We do this since he would get Frosted Mini-Wheats, which would turn soggy in the bowl after a few minutes, then he would claim to be full. So I came up with this solution to enable him to keep the cereal crunchy, but be able to eat it with milk.
Tuesday night, I got a very sincere discussion from David about nightmares. He told me about his fears: dinosaurs, monsters, zombies...all things he's seen on Scooby Doo, and Power Rangers. Even though at the end they always conquer the monsters, he's afraid.
This week's Deep Thought from David: "Why do we color Easter Eggs?" This question just came out of nowhere. That kid surprises me all the time with questions like this...
Lastly, David got the idea, after reading a book about the zoo, that we should take the book with us to the zoo. So...I'll tell you all about our trip to the zoo next week.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
David Weekly, V3 - 14
David got back on Saturday afternoon...Amanda and I had a great talk about David at the Missouri for a week. (I have to admit that sometimes it's difficult for me to write the David Weekly. This is one of those times. That's why I'm late.)
She gave some great information. She discovered that part of David's issues at school/daycare is that he whines a lot! This whining causes him problems not with teachers, or adults, but the kids he interacts with. Amanda said that he alienated the kids at the daycare up there, partly also because of his reaction to their questions about his hand. His reaction was less than friendly. He generally has a slight lack of social skills. At more than one point, it seems that he will walk away from a conversation he's having with another kid mid-sentence. Another issue was his allergies up there. They were quite well handled though, with the prescription medicines that David has. Amanda told me a lot more, but my brain is limited...
When it was time to go, David really cried a lot. But he eventually fell asleeep in the back of the car on the way home...Later in the day Saturday after he got back, little things would set him off, in a much bigger way than normal. He would have very minor things make him cry for a lot, and not just that, but longer, and a lot harder than normal.
Also on Saturday, when we were playing with our light sabers, he immediately trumped me with the following: "If you have a crab hand, you're the good guy." He fell asleep on his own around 6 PM, and slept all the way through the night.
Since David decided he didn't want to go to the movie Saturday, I took him Sunday instead. We saw "How to Train your Dragon," which was a pretty good movie. David didn't wish to stay seated for the whole thing, and I had to keep reminding him not to leave my side. At a couple of points, he would hide his face, or declare that he was done with the movie, since it was too long. He was able to get through the slow parts, and could handle the action pretty well. Overall, he enjoyed it. Even better was that the Happy Meals at McDonald's have the different dragons from the movie. So he now has 2 dragons, and will likely be getting more.
At Amanda's prompting, David's got new blue shoes, which he loves. He shows them to everyone: "Look at my new shoes!" he says.
Back at school, David had a good Monday, but after that, things started going down hill: Ms Nadine says that he has good mornings, but the afternoons aren't so good. He's back to hitting and such, which we had conquered, but it may be the stress of the transition. I had tried to divide up the day into a check mark and an X, but that doesn't have the impact on him, because he only points out the check mark and ignores the X. So I told him that he has to have a completely good day in order to earn a check mark, and that we're not going to split the day up anymore.
On Thursday night, David got to meet a new babysitter, who is the daughter of a coworker. She's got certification in CPR, and works with kids. Her name is Taylor, and she's going to keep him at various points, since Jesse seems to be less and less available.
Lastly, David is able to read Green Eggs and Ham by himself, except for a few words. He still wants me to read to him, which I'm happy to do, but this is where I teach him about "hard work." I want him to get used to the feeling of struggling and accomplishing something. I also have to balance that with making reading fun by me reading to him...any suggestions on getting him to read but it being fun and and me helping him would be appreciated, and likely implemented.
She gave some great information. She discovered that part of David's issues at school/daycare is that he whines a lot! This whining causes him problems not with teachers, or adults, but the kids he interacts with. Amanda said that he alienated the kids at the daycare up there, partly also because of his reaction to their questions about his hand. His reaction was less than friendly. He generally has a slight lack of social skills. At more than one point, it seems that he will walk away from a conversation he's having with another kid mid-sentence. Another issue was his allergies up there. They were quite well handled though, with the prescription medicines that David has. Amanda told me a lot more, but my brain is limited...
When it was time to go, David really cried a lot. But he eventually fell asleeep in the back of the car on the way home...Later in the day Saturday after he got back, little things would set him off, in a much bigger way than normal. He would have very minor things make him cry for a lot, and not just that, but longer, and a lot harder than normal.
Also on Saturday, when we were playing with our light sabers, he immediately trumped me with the following: "If you have a crab hand, you're the good guy." He fell asleep on his own around 6 PM, and slept all the way through the night.
Since David decided he didn't want to go to the movie Saturday, I took him Sunday instead. We saw "How to Train your Dragon," which was a pretty good movie. David didn't wish to stay seated for the whole thing, and I had to keep reminding him not to leave my side. At a couple of points, he would hide his face, or declare that he was done with the movie, since it was too long. He was able to get through the slow parts, and could handle the action pretty well. Overall, he enjoyed it. Even better was that the Happy Meals at McDonald's have the different dragons from the movie. So he now has 2 dragons, and will likely be getting more.
At Amanda's prompting, David's got new blue shoes, which he loves. He shows them to everyone: "Look at my new shoes!" he says.
Back at school, David had a good Monday, but after that, things started going down hill: Ms Nadine says that he has good mornings, but the afternoons aren't so good. He's back to hitting and such, which we had conquered, but it may be the stress of the transition. I had tried to divide up the day into a check mark and an X, but that doesn't have the impact on him, because he only points out the check mark and ignores the X. So I told him that he has to have a completely good day in order to earn a check mark, and that we're not going to split the day up anymore.
On Thursday night, David got to meet a new babysitter, who is the daughter of a coworker. She's got certification in CPR, and works with kids. Her name is Taylor, and she's going to keep him at various points, since Jesse seems to be less and less available.
Lastly, David is able to read Green Eggs and Ham by himself, except for a few words. He still wants me to read to him, which I'm happy to do, but this is where I teach him about "hard work." I want him to get used to the feeling of struggling and accomplishing something. I also have to balance that with making reading fun by me reading to him...any suggestions on getting him to read but it being fun and and me helping him would be appreciated, and likely implemented.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
David Weekly, V3 - 13
As reported to me by Ms. Ky: David was laying down to nap, but not sleeping, and she threatened to take away the buddy. David said, "I don't respond well when people take things from me."
Saturday, there was an Easter Egg Hunt at the Green park, by the Hillsborough River. There were various crafts, which he normally would do, but didn’t because wasn’t feeling so good that day. He did do the egg hunting, though, and got his face painted. We also spent some time with Mimi at our house. She helped us go through his things, to figure out what to keep, and what to give away.
David had a great Easter Sunday. Got lots of candy. We went to Avery and Jared’s, and did the Easter Egg Hunt there. Monday night he sat next to me and opened up his plastic eggs and separated out the different kinds of candy, into neat little piles by color or type.
David has started to need the nebulizer again, since his cough got so bad, but it only helped a little. Part of his issue is post-nasal drip. He lays back and coughs a lot. I have him lay on his side, and prop him up with extra pillows. I came across an article about how bad the pollen is this year. http://tampabaytimes.fl.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=0a9aa8de2 The article made me realize that his nose being stuffy is also pollen related.
One night, he had trouble falling asleep when my other "kid", Douglas, came over for some help with his homework. It was too exciting! He really likes Douglas a lot.
Cinnamon was asking David what he did in school today. He says, "We learned about shapes." Cinnamon says, "What kind of shapes?" And David replies, "All kinds!" Cinnamon: "Diamonds?" David: "They're called rhombuses!"
He fell off the slide at the Green park, and got a bit dirty so was trying to make a deal with me: we don't go to the park, if I don't have to have a bath...but he gets baths anyway. And we still go to the park. I'm also trying to get him to shower instead, but that's a trial right now. He is opting for them more as we go, though. This is a good step to getting him to wash himself. He still hates getting clean, but it’s getting better. He also says he likes to be dirty. That kid is all boy.
Current books we're reading: Green eggs and ham, How to catch a heffalump, Are you my mother?, Opposites, a pull and look book, Shapes, another pull and look book, Chomper the Greedy Dinosaur, Goodnight Moon, The Little Prince, Good Night Sweet Butterflies, Little Monster's Alphabet book, Stomper The Enormous Dinosaur, The Kissing Hand, All to build a snowman, 10 apples up on top, Sarge in Charge, (a group of books in one volume) I am not going to get up today, Wacky Wednesday, Would you rather be a bullfrog?, Maybe I should fly a jet, I wish that I had duck feet, Great Day for Up.
Thursday morning at 5 AM, David walks into my bedroom and asks if he can play. I tell him, no, it’s too early, for him to go back to sleep. I know he’s very excited to go The Missouri to see his mommy and sissy. I let him sleep in my bed for the next two hours. Later in the day, twice he gets hurt for no really good reason. He busted his lip falling flat on the floor tripping over the table at school. And then he literally walks into a wall, and gets a mark on his forehead. I think he’s just distracted by being excited to go see his mom. He never gets hurt like what happened to him on Thursday. And certainly not twice!
I saw that he’s going to have pictures taken at the pre-school up in Missouri, so I hope that the lip and forehead will heal before then. They weren’t that bad, but are noticeable if you look. I also just got his school pictures, which I sent half of them up with him to Missouri. I also have a website that I can send a link to where you can get as many copies made as you wish. Just let me know.
Sometimes, when we ride in the car, he says, “Are we there yet?” I say, “We get there when we get there!” This little exchange is from The Incredibles, which David really likes. On Friday, on our way to the airport, he asks this question, and I give my reply, but then say, “Are we feeling Incredible today?” And he says, “No, daddy, we’re just people,” as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
On the plane, David watched Diego Animal Rescue for the most part. Grandma Kenney and Aunt Marissa picked up the boy, and he played shy...it was really quite cute. I told him that these two (among others) are the ones we pray about every night when he goes to sleep. I reminded him about The Rules, and said be good, gave him a kiss, and said good-bye.
He’s going to have a great week! I hope you do, too.
Saturday, there was an Easter Egg Hunt at the Green park, by the Hillsborough River. There were various crafts, which he normally would do, but didn’t because wasn’t feeling so good that day. He did do the egg hunting, though, and got his face painted. We also spent some time with Mimi at our house. She helped us go through his things, to figure out what to keep, and what to give away.
David had a great Easter Sunday. Got lots of candy. We went to Avery and Jared’s, and did the Easter Egg Hunt there. Monday night he sat next to me and opened up his plastic eggs and separated out the different kinds of candy, into neat little piles by color or type.
David has started to need the nebulizer again, since his cough got so bad, but it only helped a little. Part of his issue is post-nasal drip. He lays back and coughs a lot. I have him lay on his side, and prop him up with extra pillows. I came across an article about how bad the pollen is this year. http://tampabaytimes.fl.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=0a9aa8de2 The article made me realize that his nose being stuffy is also pollen related.
One night, he had trouble falling asleep when my other "kid", Douglas, came over for some help with his homework. It was too exciting! He really likes Douglas a lot.
Cinnamon was asking David what he did in school today. He says, "We learned about shapes." Cinnamon says, "What kind of shapes?" And David replies, "All kinds!" Cinnamon: "Diamonds?" David: "They're called rhombuses!"
He fell off the slide at the Green park, and got a bit dirty so was trying to make a deal with me: we don't go to the park, if I don't have to have a bath...but he gets baths anyway. And we still go to the park. I'm also trying to get him to shower instead, but that's a trial right now. He is opting for them more as we go, though. This is a good step to getting him to wash himself. He still hates getting clean, but it’s getting better. He also says he likes to be dirty. That kid is all boy.
Current books we're reading: Green eggs and ham, How to catch a heffalump, Are you my mother?, Opposites, a pull and look book, Shapes, another pull and look book, Chomper the Greedy Dinosaur, Goodnight Moon, The Little Prince, Good Night Sweet Butterflies, Little Monster's Alphabet book, Stomper The Enormous Dinosaur, The Kissing Hand, All to build a snowman, 10 apples up on top, Sarge in Charge, (a group of books in one volume) I am not going to get up today, Wacky Wednesday, Would you rather be a bullfrog?, Maybe I should fly a jet, I wish that I had duck feet, Great Day for Up.
Thursday morning at 5 AM, David walks into my bedroom and asks if he can play. I tell him, no, it’s too early, for him to go back to sleep. I know he’s very excited to go The Missouri to see his mommy and sissy. I let him sleep in my bed for the next two hours. Later in the day, twice he gets hurt for no really good reason. He busted his lip falling flat on the floor tripping over the table at school. And then he literally walks into a wall, and gets a mark on his forehead. I think he’s just distracted by being excited to go see his mom. He never gets hurt like what happened to him on Thursday. And certainly not twice!
I saw that he’s going to have pictures taken at the pre-school up in Missouri, so I hope that the lip and forehead will heal before then. They weren’t that bad, but are noticeable if you look. I also just got his school pictures, which I sent half of them up with him to Missouri. I also have a website that I can send a link to where you can get as many copies made as you wish. Just let me know.
Sometimes, when we ride in the car, he says, “Are we there yet?” I say, “We get there when we get there!” This little exchange is from The Incredibles, which David really likes. On Friday, on our way to the airport, he asks this question, and I give my reply, but then say, “Are we feeling Incredible today?” And he says, “No, daddy, we’re just people,” as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
On the plane, David watched Diego Animal Rescue for the most part. Grandma Kenney and Aunt Marissa picked up the boy, and he played shy...it was really quite cute. I told him that these two (among others) are the ones we pray about every night when he goes to sleep. I reminded him about The Rules, and said be good, gave him a kiss, and said good-bye.
He’s going to have a great week! I hope you do, too.
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