Blog Stuff, David Stuff

Dear Readers,

You guys are awesome – a thousand visits since things really took off (i.e. since I started keeping track) – but please, show yourselves! Let me know who you are, and become a member or follower, leave a comment, or e-mail me  – lots of folks are reading, but beyond some really basic info (a variety of places, operating systems, and browsers) I know nothing.  I'm interested in hearing from other parents, especially those who have kids with special needs (What's helpful? What does not match your experience?). But I'm also really curious about everyone else who's reading, especially those who do not have kids (What are you liking here? What is boring you to death that I should take out?) 

Team SyandDaveysMom! Team SyandDaveysMom! Team SyandDaveysMom!

Oh, and, keep reading: 

1. David and I have been playing with these Bristle Blocks (that’s what they called them when I was a kid, not sure if these have a different name) a lot lately; I love them and while a couple of months ago he was really frustrated by not being able to work them, he’s coordinated enough now, and has enough strength in his little fingers, to be able to turn them and squish them down, so they’re in firmly. He still seems to get frustrated at times, and his reaction to this is to kick his legs as fast as he can to knock over the whole “city” (Simon’s term), but then he’s grinning and giggling about crashing them, so who knows? I build the platform and then he and I take turns attaching the blocks. I think he’s getting the idea of “David’s turn,” and he sometimes shakes his head at the block I offer and chooses one on his own.

 (No, he is not playing with the Bristle Blocks in this particular shot. and there's a huge patch of sunshine that is making everything fuzzy, but it was so nice in real life I didn't want to draw the blinds)

(Yes, in the upper left corner is a slide. It's Simon's Little Tykes thing that used to be in our backyard. We moved it in at the recommendation of David's PT, so he can climb on it any old time he feels like it. So far, he's hardly using it at all, and even Simon seems to be over it. I hope the other parents we know don't hate us ("Simon and David have a slide in their living room!").

 2. I am reconstructing (from facebook and Caring Bridge posts) a timeline of David’s early development – his long stay in the NICU, weight gains, heart surgery, learning to roll over and sit up, etc. It’s been fun, especially reading the Caring Bridge entries I haven’t looked at for a long time – I’ve been reminded of a lot of little jokes between Matt and me about nurses and doctors, little routines we developed in Asheville and Atlanta. This is for David’s baby book, which is collecting dust on a shelf somewhere.

3. Another improvement: David is making more distinct signs for “help” and “finished/all done.” His versions of the signs are difficult to describe, but here are the way they are “supposed to” be done:

("Help!)

4. This is nothing new, he’s been doing it for a long time, but it’s really cute. The lowest shelf on our living room bookshelf is all little kid books for David. When he decides it’s story time, he chooses a book (he has about 5 favorites, I think), walks or scoots it over to me, throws it in my lap, and then sits in my lap (sometimes so fast I can’t get the book out first). Direct. I admire that in a person.