David Weekly, #37, Election Edition

This has been a busy week. Saturday night/Sunday morning David wakes up coughing... He tells me he can't sleep, that he has to go pee, and can't. So I ask if he wants to go in the potty...and he does! Amazing! So we go sit on the potty. He was so proud of himself! And happy to get his 5 pieces of candy, which I told him he'd get in the morning. I got some cough medicine, too, which he did take like a champ. He also said he wanted to do a "web(w)eewizer"...so we turn on Charlie Brown to watch while he does this. What a good boy! He's doing all the right things to take care of himself, and letting me take care of him, too.

We did the nebulizer the next few nights after getting home from Dot's, but I gave him the full regimen of cough remedy: cough medicine, nebulizer, and vapo-rub. By Wednesday, we were done with everything. No more coughing. This was replaced by his rather sudden desire to come into my bed at 4 and 5 AM each morning. This has been okay in the past, but lately he's wanting to put his feet on me, or climb on me, or toss and turn, or make noise...no restful, peaceful sleep. And none for me, either. So we've been having some weird fights early in the morning about him either not being in my bed at all, or to lay still and sleep! Either of these rather irritated exhortations from me at way too early in the morning generate louder crying. Poor kid. I wish I knew what was causing this behavior. Ultimately, I've decided to send him back to his bed when he tries to get in mine. I need my sleep! But then he tries to stall and tells me he needs his nebulizer, or he's cold...

Monday and Tuesday I was able to get him to pee in the potty! He would volunteer that he had to go, or was about to, and we would go. And get his 5 pieces of candy. Wednesday this all stopped, and I have no idea why. Sigh. One step forward, and two steps back. We did call Amanda to tell her about how good David did the first time he did it. She was very happy, too.

Tuesday was Election Day, and I voted. I asked Dot to keep him for the almost hour it took to go, vote, and come back. Interestingly, David took the news that he'd be going to Dot's well. He's getting a lot more flexible with changes in his routine. After I picked him up from Dot's that night, he woke up, or didn't fall back asleep, since I was watching election results. By the time Obama was giving his victory speech, David had come into the living room and watched TV with me. When Obama showed up on the TV screen, David immediately knew who it was: "Barak Obama," he says. He didn't quite understand what he was witnessing, but he did sit still for a few minutes watching Obama's speech.

He surprises me from time to time. He says all kinds of things that bowl me over, and that's something I'm not good at doing: keeping track of those cute little things he says.

Wednesday afternoon we were in the back yard, and I heard him playing with language and sounds. I forget exactly what he was saying, but it was two words that began with "B" and he was saying them together just for the sound, because they didn't otherwise go together. He also likes saying "Barak O-bama." I think it's just the sound of it, and the rhythm of it, too. And he knows that Obama is the President (or will be).

Thursday was a "normal" day, school, home, Dot's...home again. He is getting used to the routine in that he's repeating it to me, over and over, actually. Just cementing it in his head.

Friday we went to the zoo after getting our hair cut. Me first, then him. He's getting better at sitting still for his hair cutting. He understands it more.

Some other details...David likes to wake me up after the sun rises, which works out to 7 AM, only because he doesn't wake up earlier. This is different than the problem I talked about above. This morning he woke me up by rubbing noses with me...I'm dead asleep and I feel this kid rubbing his nose on mine. He woke me up yesterday with "Chicka Chicka Boom BOOM!" It seems there's a book out there that A, I don't know about, B, that David seems to know quite well, and C, that he really likes. The funny thing is that you have to insert cheerleader-like motion of his arms pumping left-right for each boom he says. He got this book, and a bunch of others, from a lovely woman out in CA who sent two boxes! One had a few brand new clothing items for him, and the other had new clothes and books in it. But this one book in particular he found in the stack of books I left by his door the night that I opened the boxes (after he was asleep), and used it to wake me up. I asked him how he knew about this book before and he said that Tait read him this book. I have to wonder about the hand/arm motions, though, as this doesn't seem to be the kind of thing I see Tait doing. At random, he was telling me how his name is "TaiT" (emphasis on the final T), and not "Taip". It's also been a few months since he's been there. Maybe it was the phone call to his mom that triggered this memory, and the book, too.

So once again this nation has expressed its will in a peaceful and relatively trouble free way. Obama said that "This is our moment." And it really is. This is our moment to celebrate our nation, and our democracy, which works to some extent, in spite of its flaws. It also renews us in our hopes for the future. I watch David every day, and I think of all the things he could do or be when he grows up, as he does all the little things that a kid does. Each little thing becomes an entire career in my mind: he plays with words, or says "It's a beautiful day." This becomes writer, or weather forecaster. Separately, he figured out how to put the stool by the door to unlock it.

Fall is a time of transition, and as we watch our nation's leadership transition, I know that the challenges we all face can be met with enthusiasm, determination, and hope.

Rusty

Happiness

So David wakes me up this morning by rubbing noses with me. So incredibly cute. He woke me up yesterday with "Chicka Chicka Boom BOOM!" It seems there's a book out there that A, I don't know about, B, that David seems to know quite well, and C, that he really likes. The funny thing is that you have to insert cheerleader-like motion of his arms pumping left-right for each boom he says. He got this book, and a bunch of others, from a lovely woman out in CA who sent two boxes! One had a few brand new clothing items for him, and the other had new clothes and books in it. It also had a perfumed letter in it, just saying hello, and that she likes taking care of us. And I do feel cared about. What a wonderful thing. More importantly, it feels like the first time David's had brand new clothes since he was an infant. Amanda has always bought clothes at the thrift store, or gotten them from Freecycle...so never really anything new. And I've gotten a few hand-me-downs from my sister, too, and then Kelly sent me some stuff from her son, who is now too big for a lot of that stuff. It's nice to have NEW things for David for once. Thank you Michelle.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, David has been waking me up in the middle of the night, though really toward morning, since it's typically 4 or 5 AM when he comes into my bed, but then he makes noises, tosses and turns...and then as soon as it's dawn, not even really light out, he wants me to wake up! And of course, I'm wiped out. We've been having some fights about him staying in his own bed, but he's inventive about why not: I'm cold, he says, or he asks me to cover him up, or whatever he can think of. So I've had to yell at him to stop touching me in the bed...he puts his feet or hands on me in random spots, enough that I'm aware of his presence and so can't sleep...then he cries, waking me up more. It's been a rough week for sleep.

i don't know if i'll ever be rid of the hate
ceilteach79 9:30 AM i just know i don't let it consume me. i can't
sollust1 9:31 AM hate?
ceilteach79 9:31 AM you will always and forever be before anything else the person who took my son from me
ceilteach79 9:31 AM the marriage and divorce are so unimportant next to that
sollust1 9:32 AM yeah, we're going to have to disagree there...
sollust1 9:32 AM you left him here...completely willingly...
ceilteach79 9:33 AM because the state of florida said i must and the lawyer said I would end up throwing $40,000 at it only to lose
ceilteach79 9:34 AM if he had said $40,000 and a chance of winning, even 50/50 I would have thrown $40,000
sollust1 9:34 AM florida did not tell you to leave
sollust1 9:34 AM you went all by yourself
ceilteach79 9:35 AM We're never going to see this the same way
ceilteach79 9:35 AM I've been wanting to leave Florida for years and you know it
ceilteach79 9:35 AM and you played it, saying that you never intended to move, but just talk about it off and on to keep me mollified
sollust1 9:35 AM I know
sollust1 9:35 AM except that i do intend to move
sollust1 9:36 AM I really liked St Louis a lot
ceilteach79 9:36 AM well, there's no sense fighting over any of this
ceilteach79 9:36 AM this is the real pain in the whole thing anyway
sollust1 9:36 AM yeah
ceilteach79 9:37 AM you feel abandoned by me, and that i abandoned david, and i feel like a giant piece of me has been ripped away
sollust1 9:37 AM yeah

Something else I've noticed: David was looking at one of the books we read, and he was saying, "There's the baby, and there's the daddy..." He used to say "the mommy..."

Doing what he ought

So it's 1 AM, and I get awakened by a coughing little boy. He tells me he can't sleep, that he has to go pee, and can't. So I ask if he wants to go in the potty...and he does! Amazing! So we go sit on the potty. I'm honestly not sure if he peed, or if I did and didn't flush the toilet earlier, but I gave him credit for doing it. He was so proud of himself! And happy to get his 5 pieces of candy, which I told him he'd get in the morning. The reason I'm not sure if he peed is because I went to get a dose of cough medicine for him...which he did take like a champ. He also said he wanted to do a "web(w)eewizer"...so we turn on Charlie Brown to watch while he does this. What a good boy! He's doing all the right things to take care of himself, and letting me take care of him, too.

David Weekly, #36, Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween! For Halloween this year, David was an elephant. And his costume was a hit! Amanda made the trunk and a friend of mine did the ears. And his shirt and pants were gray. Everywhere we went to get treats, David would say, "Trick or Treat, I want candy"...No matter how many times I told him it's just "Trick or Treat," he would say his thing. So I let him, it really wasn't a big deal. People got such a kick out of the trunk and ears, and then he would always surprise them with his "elephant noise", consisting of his lips put together, and then forcefully blowing air out from between his lips. People laughed, and just thought he was great! He's a very polite child, too, saying "Thank You" each time he got candy. We had gone to maybe 10 houses and decided he was done, and wanted to go home. I convinced him to go a little longer, which we did. He didn't like being scared, though! We went to one house where the people had put on the music from the original "Halloween" movie, and this by itself was too much for David, as he was whimpering how hed didn't want to go to that house! But I told him was safe as long as he had on his costume, which he frequently did not want to put on. It was still a struggle, but he was brave. :-) At another house I told him that if HE's scary, then the things he's afraid of will be afraid of him instead. So he chased one man around his yard (who played along quite nicely), until he "got" him. And then it wasn't so bad. After we got home, we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." There's a scene where Lucy is bobbing for apples, and gets one...on the other end of this apple is Snoopy, and she says, "Blakch, ach, poison! Dog Germs! Blach, Ach" and then David says, matter of factly, "It's just Snoopy." I remember last year we watched this special and he got too involved in the Snoopy fights the Red Baron part to where he was crying! This year, he just watches, and says, "Snoopy -- TouchDOWN!" Basically, this is Snoopy landing his "plane."

After the show, he went down to bed pretty easily. He was yawning when we were out and about. Strange thing this year: not as many houses with lights, and not as many people out trick or treating. This is the second year that the time change is AFTER Halloween, but it doesn't seem like it. I don't remember last year's Halloween being with more light, but I suppose I wasn't so focused on that.

I realized that last week I forgot to mention that David went to a wedding, to watch Jesse, the lady who watches him on Saturdays, get married. It was not a concept he understood very well. But he enjoyed all of the activity. We had a pretty good night. He wanted to be in as many wedding pictures as he could. Or as many as they would let him in, and every time they would snap a picture, he was so excited! He would shout, "I took a picture, daddy!"

More recently, this most recent Saturday we went to a Halloween festival in Zephyrhills with my mother, sister, and her kids. David was calling it Halloween, as in, "We're going to Halloween, daddy!" And my reply was, "No, Halloween is a holiday." And he says, "It's a Halloween, not a holiday!" Okay, so it's a Halloween. He's a funny kid, even if he doesn't mean to be. Sunday I was more diligent in potty training David, by going to the potty every so often, and having him without his diaper/pullup on...but this child is very resistant to this process! I joined a Meetup.com single parents group, and went to the Aquarium as there was an event there...and met up with other single parents and their kids. It was very crowded, so it was hard to get to know anyone, but a few of us went to dinner afterwards, and that was nice. It was good for David and for me, because he got to play with the other kids a bit, and I got to be a bit of a grownup. We will attend more of these events, and I've been assured that they are fun, and safe.

A few tidbits: I asked David the other day if he was cold, on our way to Dot's, and he said "No, I'm windy." Very funny child. He now says, "Oh my god!" But I don't know where he got it from. Today he said, "You're funny, daddy," with a big smile on his face. He counted his fingers on both hands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 fingers on one hand, and 1, 2, on the other. He's also able to really express emotion: "I'm so happy!" or "I'm sad." In the second case, it's because I wasn't driving faster. He's able to express what he thinks makes me happy or sad, too. And he's able to explain why when I ask him why: because I want to, or because there's a cat out there, or a noise I heard...David has lately been coming into my bed in the middle of the night, and rolling on me, laying on top of me...and this has not been a good thing. So I'm telling him either to go back to his bed and sleep, or at least lay on the other side of the bed and be still. I don't know what's going on with him lately, to cause this...It's definitely having a bad impact on my sleep...we played a live version of Blues Clues, because in the back yard he finds a maple leaf (several now, actually), and from there we start trying to find the tree that it goes with, and not much success. But the process of finding a matching leaf has been fun. And he calls it a clue leaf. :-)

So here's hoping that you find whatever it is you're looking for.

Rusty

Kidism

"David, are you cold?" "No, I'm windy."