Understanding

David's language has come a long way, but I still look forward to the day when he is able explain things to me. I do not understand why he seems to be annoyed at my niece, Katie, his first and only babysitter, a second mother (or maybe third or fourth behind Granny and Annie) who has been away at college. You would think he would be glad to see her, but instead it is as if he is upset at being abandoned by her and spent most of her Spring Break visits to our house announcing that it was time for her to go in four minutes, which in David- speak is the generic term for a short time. And then, when Katie had not yet left at David's appointed hour of departure, he would start counting down, "Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…."

I would like to understand why change is so difficult. When Katie and her brother, Thomas, showed up at our house with a darling new pair of Crocs for David—allegedly found on the clearance rack—David would have nothing to do with them and threw them down the basement stairs. He would only begin wearing them when the rest of the shoes had been hidden and the choice was stay home and be barefoot, or wear the Crocs and go to Granny's house. After a short stand-off, David made his choice, but also got his revenge by kicking a shoe under the car on his way into his booster seat.

I would like to know why seemingly routine activities can make David agitated. We trade off having dinner with some neighbors and they have gone out of their way to make David feel comfortable in their house—even sending their dog away while we are there. David has always loved to go to their house, but for some reason last night he did not want to go. He did not want to go; he did not want to stay when we got there and when his first attempt to escape was thwarted, he made a second attempt just as we were getting ready to sit down for dinner. Like them or not, he made tracks with the new Crocs because he had crossed the street, run the half block to our house and was punching the code in the outside garage remote to open the door by the time Michael caught him and at that point, there was no going back.

As always, with David it takes a village and even if David doesn't always show it, we are thankful for friends and family including a niece who babysits, a sister who springs for new Crocs (real Crocs, not the Target knock-offs that David is accustomed to) and good friends who understand and even offer carry-out service.