Insomnia! and Spiders!

So last night was fun. I go to pick up David like normal, and he's wide awake! I get him home, like normal, put him in bed like normal...and he does not go to sleep like normal. Instead, he keeps getting out of bed, wanting to hang out with me, and this goes on for over an hour...but then, as part of him going to bed he wants to clean up his room. Talk about a delay tactic! So we're in there, cleaning up, putting things away, and a spider pops out of nowhere! And runs across the wall, really fast! I think it was a wolf spider, and it was big! So I get the bug spray, and a flashlight, because it ran behind a shelf...David was really great about the whole thing. He helped me look for the spider, but was unhappy when I wouldn't give him the flashlight, since he didn't understand how serious it was to kill the spider. I told him that I don't want to kill the spider, but in this case I had no choice. It moves too quickly for me to catch it for one thing...so I spray it, it runs, and I can't find it, but David saw it, and pointed it out, and I sprayed it again. The cool part is he didn't freak out, and he was not afraid. Of course, I acted pretty calm and cool myself, so hopefully it was him being cool all by himself, and taking some example from me.

He would not sleep in his bed, and would not sleep in my bed, and he just wanted to play! After the spider episode, he went to sleep in my room, that at some point he went back in his bed...he likes to switch back and forth once in a while. He's not overly fond of my bed, but it's nice for him to be there sometimes...though it's easier for me when he doesn't sleep in my bed.

I asked him to kiss me, you know, put your lips on my cheek, and *smack*...and he did it! Yay!!! But then he decided to kiss me on my lips. Ick. So I tell him only the cheek. I kiss him on his head, or his forehead, and he says, "NO! You're not supposed to..." He's so funny. He really makes me laugh. I can't imagine missing all of this. I'm so glad I have him here with me.

And he's reaching that point of "Why?" for everything. I ask him why and he says because...but if he asks me why, no explanation is good enough...though one time I told him, "It's academic." And that was acceptable. I was using all the $5 words I could come up with to answer his Why questions. Philosophical, tyranical...anything I could come up with...feed him vocabulary...lots of new words. He'll hear them, but so what if he has no idea of their meaning. The other thing he does is if he wants something, and I say why, he says "Because I want it"...sigh. What a great kid.

Reminiscence

About 4 years ago, or so, David was conceived in the basement of his grand-parents' house. Too bad the sex wasn't that good, and too bad we didn't have a lot of pregnant sex, either. Amanda was spotting, and we freaked that she wouldn't be able to keep this baby...9 months later, or so, David was born to the world. I guess it's the time of year. The world series is soon...the reason I'm thinking about this I suppose. Middle October, baseball's "high season" as it were. The playoffs, divisional series...all that. St Louis won the year I was in St Louis, making a baby, in the basement. And not having any fun doing it. And the weather changing...It was a beautiful time we had up there. Just not the sex part. Every year around this time, I'll look at David, a few months after his birthday, and remember a trip to St Louis, to see Amanda's parents...and all the details that go with it.

Dr. Appt

Dr. Sams says it's okay that David hasn't potty trained yet. He'll do it when he's ready. Amanda says it's "my fault" that I insisted on him potty training, but she means that I chose the hard course, not the fun course, because I'm the custodial parent.

sollust1: so the doc thinks it's eczema, not ringworm

sollust1: and he had a flu shot today

ceilteach79: then why is the ringworm medicine making it better when regular lotion did not?

sollust1: sigh...she said try the hydrocortisone first

ceilteach79: ok

sollust1: she said it's "tubular" eczema

sollust1: eczema in circular form

sollust1: maybe not that word

sollust1: I'll have to look it up

ceilteach79: ok

ceilteach79: well, as long as it can get cleared up

ceilteach79: it definitely itches him

sollust1: exactly. His ear is a lot better

ceilteach79: good

ceilteach79: brb again

sollust1: and his urine is good they said

sollust1: ok

ceilteach79: ok, so you got some?

sollust1: yeah...at almost the last minute, too!

ceilteach79: from him wearing the thing or sitting on the potty?

sollust1: wearing the thing

ceilteach79: cool

sollust1: Dr. Sams says her son didn't potty train until 3 years and 5 months

sollust1: almost where David is right now

ceilteach79: yeah, no there's no rush

ceilteach79: but he has to get comfy with it first, and he's not. and with everyone doing something different, it's not going to get better

ceilteach79: the things i'm talking about are so he can potty train in the next 6mos to year

sollust1: it feels more urgent than that...no pun intended

sollust1: sigh...this is hard

ceilteach79: yeah, that's what you insisted on

sollust1: did I?

ceilteach79: yeah by insisting on being the custodial parent

ceilteach79: that's the part. the non-custodial gets to be the fun one

sollust1: Oh I don't care about that

sollust1: you have all the fun you want

ceilteach79: i know, but you want to have fun and not do the hard things

sollust1: what's important is that he's loved and well raised.

sollust1: You're right. But it's what I chose.

sollust1: I'm willing to do the hard stuff. And I'm getting better at it

sollust1: David told the nurse who gave him a shot, "You hurt me"

sollust1: it was cute. She said she was sorry.

ceilteach79: what did he say after she said she was sorry?

sollust1: he was done...he didn't really say anything. She told him to get a sticker, so he went and demanded one

ceilteach79: did you make him ask nicely?

sollust1: yes!

sollust1: they thought it was great that he could change his tone like that

Hike

So I'm at the park w/ David yesterday after work...He can make friends with other kids now, sortof...really he can just interact with them...when he's going up the ladder for the slide he asks if the other kids are coming with him...at some point we decide to go on the boardwalk, and it just so happens that a small group of people (it turns out to be 7 kids, and two adults...who seem to be part of a larger group)...so we're walking along the boardwalk, and David, being a little kid, squeezes himself through the two adults walking, and the two adults and I start talking a little bit about the boy, and when we ourselves were small. We get to the end of the boardwalk and the dad says that there's a trail...and I've never heard of this trail, so I'm wanting to go along with them on the trail...and I've ingratiated myself to them enough that I ask if I can go w/ them, and they say sure...so we go on this trail...and it turns into a 45 minute walk! It was really interesting, though! The trail was nice. The people were nice. And they didn't think I was a weirdo! Of course, I had David. That helped. Actually, without David, I wouldn't have been anywhere close to that park...The kids pretty much accepted me, and David and I brought up the rear of the group. A couple of the younger kids said they were scared, lost, etc...and we three adults helped calm them down, as we say, "We're not lost..." and I talked about being Boy Scout and such. That helped. I tried to say things that would be seen as helpful, useful, and make me seem "safe". It would be strange if I was part of a group and some strange guy just showed up the way I did. I felt extremely accepted by them, though. We had a blast on this little hike. And after we got back to the park, some of the other members of the group began talking to me, too...I never did ask how they all knew each other, or try to get to know them more. Hmmm...gotta work on that. This was a chance to make real friends. The last thing is that I find out the dad's name is David, and that his father's name is Russell. Wow. They were all impressed by that. I had no idea...I just introduced myself to David's wife, and she says, "Oh, that's my father in law's name." Wow. It was a great day out at the park. I don't have to keep so close a watch on David anymore...he's much more self sufficient.

And still I dream...

I don't know why I'm dreaming about Cinnamon and her husband, and children, but I am...in my dream I live in some kind of condo w/ a stone wall like at a pool, and on the other side of this wall is a pool that starts very shallow and gets very deep, but in the pool is some kind of marine life that people can interact with in some way, though most people just walk through the water and splash around a bit, on their way somewhere else. So I see Cinnamon and company going through from my house, but I don't say hi. Not sure what that would accomplish in doing that. Another thing is that this turns into some kind of loop, where I see them more than once. But they're on vacation, having fun...I think at some point Marty recognizes me, asks Cinnamon about me, but she isn't really hearing his questions. I lose track of them at some point, and I follow them I think into a restaurant lobby/hotel lobby dining room ish area, lots of chairs and tables and space but not a lot of people at that moment...again, not sure why I need to be there, except that maybe I'm chasing David...

David Weekly, #33

So this week has been a half week for David, from my perspective. He got home from Amanda's on Monday night, at about 11:30 or so. Tuesday I had to work from 9 - 5, so it was hard taking him to Dot's so early in the morning on his first day back...he really cried and cried...but he was better when I got back at 5:15 or so from work. We took our usual long way home walk when I pick him up on afternoons when I work during the day. These are rare, so it's a special treat for us to walk back home the long way...and along the way we saw a ring-neck snake...but it was tiny! It was in the road, and I began by chasing it off the road, so it wouldn't get run over. David thought this was cool, and did some chasing of his own. Eventually the snake disappeared into the grass, but David wasn't done: he wanted to be the snake, so he got on the ground and wriggled like a snake. That kid can be entertaining!

While he was in Missouri he got some mini-pumpkins with some faces drawn on them (I think Tait did the drawing) and so he's assigned different voices to them. One says "Boo!" Another says, "howhowhowhow," and the last one says, "hahahahah." I just love that he's assigned the different voices to them.

On Wednesday, we went to some kind of resort with my sister and my mother, and played in the water there for a while. David made a sand castle at the park that's in the same general area as the lagoon...David played with his cousins, Avery and Jared...and had a grand old time. He tells me about TV shows now...We stayed until Friday night...

Not a whole lot to report. David is turning into a normal kid...who likes to dance. Today we were at the pool, and they play music...and he was so happy to dance! I've really got to do something for this child as it relates to dance. He was so happy to dance.

He has a Shriners appointment on Friday, and a regular doctor appt on Monday. We'll let you know how it goes.

Rusty


PS I was really tired when I wrote this. I'm sure more happened than I said...

David's Home

A recurring theme here...Matt and Virginia brought him all the way here for Missouri, two days early. I'm not really complaining. ;-)

Today I had to take him to Dot's early (at about 8:30 AM), since I had to work from 9 - 5 today for training. He did not take that well at all. Poor kid. When I picked him up, it was all better. He was telling me he's Sponge Bob again. Amanda made a knitted little elephant trunk for him, and I guess I'm supposed to do the rest for his Halloween costume...mask, make up (??), grey clothes...he wants to be an elephant. He has 3 mini-pumpkins that have little faces painted on them that say different things: boo, or ohohohooooohohooooo or I'm not sure what else. But each is distinct.

Today when I picked him up we went for our normal around the block walk (when I pick him up during the day, we usually do this)...along the way we saw a tiny ring-neck snake. I chased it out of the road so it wouldn't get run over or stepped on...and of course, David wanted to act like the snake, so he gets on the ground and wriggles like the snake. And he's a chatterbox, too...he did not stop talking the whole time! It's always strange for me to see him after a brief period of him being away, because I see how much he's changed in just this little bit. He's not the boy that left two weeks ago...he did something else cute, and it was only a little while ago, yet I can't remember!