David’s Web Page – Jan 2007 thru
July 15, 2007
Hello, everyone. Welcome to my diary entry.
It has been such a quick year that we can hardly believe it is over
half-way over!
2007 has been a year full of attending various
birthday parties for friends and family, arranging play dates and
visited parks, museums & zoos such as SciWorks, Natural Science
Center, Summerfield Community Park, Bog Garden, Children’s Museums
in Greensboro and Winston-Salem and the NC. One day at the Zoo, the
polar bear came up to the glass and swam around us the entire time;
the gorilla sat right next to the glass where we stood and a
chimpanzee entertained us while we all sat – he even did hand/arm
movements toward us that looked like sign language! One day at
SciWorks, we were able to feed the deer sweet potatoes with one of
the museum’s employees.
Since we live in a neighborhood with a nature
common area behind us, we see common as well unusual animals such
lots of deer, a hawk, a groundhog, a turtle (standing beside Daddy’s
car one morning before he left for work), hummingbirds, frogs,
butterflies, unusual bugs and moths, and dragonflies. We keep
checking the hydrangea bushes where we saw baby praying mantises
last year, but we have not seen them yet. We enjoy letting the
ladybugs crawl on us and watching them fly away.
In January, we used my gift certificate from
Uncle Mike and Aunt Liz to purchase a teddy bear. I named him Tiger
Wainscott. He is my favorite friend who is not a person and I sleep
with him every night! I also make sure he has no poop in his
underwear, so I check it every now and then. One morning Mommy
heard me reading the book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You
See?”
I got the potty training down pat in a few
weeks, so I use the bathroom now all the time. I even stand up like
Daddy!! I have also learned to dress myself and put on my socks and
shoes by myself. I am a very independent young man.
I made my first negative comment – I told
Daddy that, “I don’t like you” when we were in a restaurant. I
really did not mean it and later told him that I was sorry. I know
say it pretty regularly to Elizabeth!
One day, I was playing with Elizabeth’s pony
and called the tail of the horse a “ponytail.” I have started to
develop full conversations and storylines with pretend characters.
I also do this right before going to bed at naptime and nighttime.
I used to call Elizabeth, “Is-a-bef,” but just
recently started calling her “E-li-za-bef.” This is a great
milestone. I crack up Mommy because I will say some words with
different beginning sounds that are not correct – she will repeat
them (incorrectly) just as I did, and I say “No, that’s not right.”
So, I can completely hear the right way to say something just my
tongue does not 100% match my ears and brain!
If a room is dark, I immediately call it
“spooky” and ask Mommy or Daddy to turn on the lights.
I enjoy writing, drawing and coloring. I can
draw the letter M and L pretty well. I have learned the sounds of
all the alphabet letters for uppercase letters and have learned
about 75% of the lowercase alphabet. At school, my teacher (Kumiko
who is Japanese) taught me how to sing “Kida, Kida” (Twinkle,
Twinkle in Japanese). Now, Elizabeth and I both sing it together in
the car. Music is very fun too; I enjoy singing and playing musical
instruments. Once I turn three, Mommy said I could start playing
the violin. I already enjoy “playing” on the small violin while
Elizabeth plays hers.
One day I played doctor with Mommy. She was
lying on the couch and I listened to her heartbeat, looked into her
eyes and ears, and took her blood pressure. Then she wanted me to
hear her stomach grumble, so I listened and said, “Mommy, there are
crabs in your tummy!”
I am also learning Spanish through Elizabeth
speaking it. I say “Thank you – de nada (your welcome).” Another
song we sing together is the Continents song and we like finding
them on maps.
Also at school, I enjoy feeding the animals
(gerbil, fish and rabbit), lining up items before matching them to
pictures, and reading. We also have photos of our families in an
album in the classroom – I enjoy walking around showing my friends
the photos of my family in there.
Measuring things is another pastime of mine; I
measure something with a measuring tape and say, “20 inches!”
Everything is 20 inches although I can count up to 29 by myself. I
also enjoy seeing more than one thing and point that out.
When I see the Presidents’ faces on a
placemat, I say “Money!”
We went to the Ringling Brothers Circus in
February – Bello the Clown came right up to our seats during the
show. My favorite parts were the elephants (like Elizabeth),
popcorn and cotton candy!
During February, we went to Gatlinburg, TN; we
stayed a long weekend and visited an aquarium, science museum, ice
skating rink (first time both Elizabeth and I have ever ice skated),
and enjoyed the fresh air and snow of the mountains. It was
exciting to see the snow and play in it.
When Mommy frowns I say, “Mad” or “Are you
mad, Mommy?” She asks me why I say/ask that and I point to her
frown line between her eyes! Also, one night in the bathtub, Mommy
put in bubble bath; once we let out the water, she asked me where
the bubbles went; I told her they went “to town” (like Santa Claus
is coming to town).
We saw an amazing church performance of Noah’s
Ark. They perform it every 4-5 years and have used the same animal
head costumes for 40+ years. It was very exciting and I paid
attention the entire 2 hours of the play.
Also in March, we traveled to Asheville to
visit Eric – a friend of Mommy’s since she was in the 2nd
grade. We had fun with and playing later with him at the Science
Museum in Asheville.
I love to take nature trail walks and ask
Mommy to do so almost daily. We have a nature trail around our
neighborhood and enjoy walking on it and over the bridges. Our
favorite items to spot are mushrooms and frogs. We also see ducks,
birds and sometimes deer.
I have just learned to pedal bikes now. It
just happened one day instead of me pushing off with my feet, I
actually became coordinated enough to pedal!
For Easter this year, we attended the annual
Easter Bunny egg hunt at the Greensboro Children’s Museum – I do not
like people dressed in costumes and it took me about 30 minutes to
warm up to the Easter bunny enough to merely sit beside Elizabeth
(who sat beside the bunny). Later that day we went to the Zoo. The
next day, we did a playgroup Easter egg hunt at a mom’s house; we
got all sorts of candy and her house was the best at hiding eggs
very well (we also made cookies at her house). We decorated Easter
eggs at Gran’s house as well as attended the 1st Annual
Easter Celebration in our neighborhood. At that latter event, we
decorated our ride-on toys and held a parade. Then there were fun
games in which all of the children participated. Another great part
of the day was eating the delicious donuts and orange juice.
One day in the front yard, we saw a 4-5
ladybugs on weeds. So we were able to place them on our hands and
arms. My ladybug crawled all the way up my arm to my shoulder and
continued around the back of the collar of my shirt…it was fun to
have a ladybug friend!
One day, we started plants from seeds in a
large plastic container of pre-prepared soil. We added water and
the small dirt containers popped right up – we opened the soil,
added seeds and watered them. After a few weeks we were able to
plant them in our backyard next to our education room in the
basement. We planted squash, pumpkin, onions, carrots, tomatoes,
corn, morning glory, petunias, lavender and peppermint. Because we
can see them through the windows in our room, we can monitor their
growth and take care of them via watering, etc. each day. The
plants have really grown large – so we may need to not plant as many
items next year!
One of our bedtime routines involves Mommy
singing the “ABC Song” then “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” I even
sing it to my animals when I pretend they are sleeping (as well as
“Rock-A-Bye Baby.” Daddy then sings the “Airplane Song” which he
made up for me and we sing it together as well!
At stop lights, I like to tell Mommy to “stop”
and to “go” once the light changes to green. Sometimes I shout so
loudly that it startles Mommy!
We all went to Bur-Mil Park’s Earth
Celebration with Grandma Jessie, Grandpa Don, Mommy, and Daddy. We
made tie-dyed fabric and planted sunflower seeds; inside the
Education Center, we were able to feel real animal fur and see the
animals on display. We also had our faces painted – I was a blue
ladybug.
This spring, we found 2 caterpillars at the
Summerfield Community Park and brought them home. We placed them
into a fish aquarium and placed cheesecloth on top of the aquarium.
We misted them almost each day and made sure they were alright; they
immediately (within 2-3 days of us bringing them home) created
cocoons. After a few weeks, they turned into brown moths. We were
so excited to see them go through this process up close!
Mommy and Daddy went to Chicago for 4 days.
LaToya kept us for 2 days and we had a lot of fun. Then, Grandma
Jessie and Grandpa Don kept us over the weekend. It was nice to
have a break from Daddy and Mommy. When Mommy called us from
Chicago she could hardly tell the difference between Elizabeth’s
voice and my voice!
In May, we attended the Greensboro Youth
Council’s Annual Carnival. We rode all of the children’s rides
including the real ponies. My pony was named Buster while
Elizabeth’s was named Midnight.
We also attended Aunt Lauren’s graduation
(from UNC-CH) ceremony. She is an Elementary Education major and
will be teaching this fall. We were so glad to see her achieve her
goal. Her Carolina Blue cap and gown really suited her.
We went to the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville in
May. That was a really cool place and it partners with the NC Zoo
on projects. We were able to ride a horse-drawn wagon to view and
feed the animals (zebra, giraffes, emus, long-horned steer,
ostriches, and many others). Afterwards, we walked around the
grounds and saw unique animals up close. There were a lot of birds,
a prairie dog, tortoises, camels, rabbits, and horses for us to
observe.
We love observing animals. On various
occasions at the Greensboro Bog Garden we saw a baby snake, baby
ducks, adult snakes, a turtle, a muskrat, birds, and chipmunks. I
always have the urge to walk in a fast manner (or run) to the ducks
and birds when I see them. I am not trying to hurt them, I just
want to pet and hug them – I am a really sweet guy!
We rode our bikes on the Virginia with many of
our friends from the Greensboro area. Instead of riding a bike, I
sat in the bike trailer behind Mommy. It was nice and so relaxing
that my friend, Sarah, and I were able to take a long nap! When I
was not sleeping, I enjoyed the beautiful trees, mountains and
river.
At my first dental appointment ever, Elizabeth
and I went together and the dental hygienists were able to work on
both of us at the same; we sat beside each other in the large room.
After we got great dental reports (no cavities!) and we even got
goody bags of dental floss, toothpaste and a toothbrush (and oh
yeah, stickers, too!).
When Mommy started taking us to the pool in
May, I was really apprehensive about swimming by myself – even with
my life jacket. So Mommy would hold both of my hands. By the end
of that day, I was letting go of one of Mommy’s hands. The next day,
I did not even hold her hands at all. By the end of that same week,
I was jumping into the pool and holding my breath to allow my head
to go under the water! Mommy was amazed at how quickly I overcame
my fears. I can put my head straight under the water now and “swim”
forwards (always wearing my life jacket). Who new swimming could be
such fun?!? I like to tell people that, “I can swim by myself!”
This summer, we have enjoyed attending the
various public library events for the Summer Reading Program. We
log all of the books we read during June, July and August – and turn
those sheets in each month to receive cool library awards. We have
seen library events such as Dave the Birdman (who had a macaw and
owl), CSI event, and a magician.
During the week of July 4th in
Wilmington, we went to Figure Eight Island with Gran, Jill,
Stephanie, James and Emma. We had a blast! We swam in the ocean,
played in the sand and even got buried by Mommy and Daddy all the
way up to our heads in the sand one day on the beach! For the first
few days, the ocean waves scared me so I would not let them touch my
toes or feet; as soon as I saw the waves coming toward me, I turned
around and screamed running toward the houses. After a couple of
days, I actually enjoyed getting into the water (up to my waist) and
letting the waves crash over me.
However, about this time, Elizabeth fell on
the stairs in the house and split open her chin. She received a lot
of stitches and was unable to play at or in the ocean. Therefore,
we went to the Children’s Museum in Wilmington, enjoyed the
riverfront in Wilmington and went to the NC Aquarium at Fort
Fisher. The most exciting event was the 4th of July
celebration at the riverfront in Wilmington. The fireworks were
fired near the USS NC Battleship and were fabulous! We stayed up
until 9:30 to watch them that night although we were very tired
afterwards.
My friends, Daddy, Elizabeth and I attended a
performance of Mommy’s woodwind quintet group. It was held at the
Friends Home-Guilford retirement center one afternoon. They played
a 45-minute concert. We sometimes hear her (alone) while she
practices so it was nice to hear her play with the entire group!
I like to imitate people (future comedian?).
One day I placed a pencil above my ear so my ear could hold it.
Mommy asked why I did this. I said, “Jerry.” Jerry was the
superintendent of our house & basement project and he actually did
place his pencil on his ear from time to time!
I learned to whistle – a small little whisper
of a whistle comes out now. Hopefully, soon I will be able to
whistle as loudly and well as Elizabeth.
One day while we were at school waiting on
Elizabeth, Mommy and I saw a tiny turtle inside a plastic cup that
was sideways on the ground. It was a little larger than a coin
dollar. We showed him to the teachers who released him back in the
garden where we found him. It was so tiny and cute!
At The Greensboro Montessori School’s Moving
Up Ceremony, they called out my name and I stood up to show I was
moving from the Toddler class to the Primary class. I was proud of
myself.
For summer camps, I have attended my school’s
Transition to Primary Camps (2 weeks). Since I am moving from the
Toddler Division to the Primary Division,
this is a good way to introduce the
classrooms and work items to us. My Toddler teacher, Kumiko, is
teaching us with a Primary teacher, Carmen. I am learning math
(with small clear stones and matching the proper number of stones to
the numbers on the board), learning how to take care and clean a
baby (doll), doing some reading work and lot of new things to keep
me learning throughout the day. As will be the case during the
school year, the camp is from 8:30am until 11:30am each day.
Instead of just 2 days a week at school (like this past year), I
will go every day just like Elizabeth. We are 19 months apart in
true age, but only 1 year behind each other in school.
In late June, Mommy was putting items in the
car so we could leave the house. She was startled to find a baby
bluebird standing right behind our truck in the garage just looking
back at her! It was a newborn who just left the nest (we had been
watching them from afar when they were feeding in the nest, since
there is poison ivy underneath the birdhouse). He led us from the
garage to the side of the front yard and his brother was in the
grass with his mouth wide open waiting to be fed by us! Of course,
we did not touch either of them but took photos and watched them.
Before we left the house they had flown away – it was amazing to see
those tiny birds.
Sometimes when I wake up the morning, Mommy
asks me what I dreamt about last night. Most of the time, I respond
with, “Dinosaurs!” I also remember right away when awakened either
something we talked about right before I went to sleep the night
before or about something we’re going to do that day (such as a
party, etc.). I do not even have time to open my eyes before I am
talking about something exciting!
In mid-July, we celebrated Daddy’s birthday –
he turned 37. We had an ice cream cake for him called Peanut Butter
Playground. Doesn’t that sound yummy?
Please keep in touch with us – we always love
hearing from you! Talk to you soon.
