never forget this IS a small town

i forgot to mention, mommy saw my friend the babtist minister at her job. he walked right up to her and sid "hey! it's donovan's momma!" and they talked for a little while. he reminded us again of the room they have for us in their church. i don't kow why mother is so resistent to this. i must try to convince her because i miss my friend. he is a fun guy and i want to see him again. i think i will plot something devious and mischevious to convince her that we must become baptists. besides, what if they run out of room at their church!!!????

can you make a country song out of barf and broken cars?

i am typing this while mommy feeds me breakfast. cheerios and eggs. i'm back into eggs again having rejected them for a while. i am pretty hungry since i completely refused to eat dinner last night. i threw a hissy just when ma tried to get me in my chair.

thanksgiving came and went. my uncles were here and they brought me a very cool firetruck that i played with a lot. mommy had me taste everything on her plate when it was time for the big dinner. it ended abruptly once i puked all over everything. and that was that.

on sunday, work called mommy and said she could take the day off. she thinks i don't know, but when the baysitter got here, mom went shopping. i know her work clothes and she wasn't wearing work clothes. but we still spent most of the day together. tiffani got sick (similar to me on thanksgiving) when i was taking a nap and mommy got sick (again, it's a barf fest here folks) after i went to bed. mommy isn't sure if it was food related or a virus. then mommy and me were on the phone with daddy yesterday and...you guessed it....same thing.

breakfast long since over, i think i will continue...

me and mommy broke down on market street yesterday, in the rain during rush hour. market street is the Main Drag here in wilmington and not a street you want to break down in. we were maybe 200 feet from the car dealership. and they couldn't come get us. they said we had to call the 1-800 roadside people. fortunately, 2 jehova's witnesses came up in their bikes and offered to push us off the road. miraculously (hmmmmmmm) mom was able to start the car and drive it long enough to get it to the hyundai place. the witnesses were able to...oh crap, i can't make any jokes here at all because mommy has a friend who belongs to that bunch o' friendly folk. big sigh....moving right along..... we were on our way there because mommy thought the defroster wasn't working and maybe they could take a quick look at it. well, it turns out the entire radiator, thermostat and thermostat casing or something needs to be replaced. the radiator lining melted. don't know how or why this happened. however....it IS all covered under the warranty. so..mom is pretty sure it won't cost anything. we'll see. never a dull moment, huh?

mommy put up something called a chritmas tree. it is fascinating!!!!!! i can just about reach it knock it over so i can get a close up look at it. mommy put it up on a table. yeah, we'll see how long THAT lasts. that tree'll be mine before long---you just wait and see. a table didn't stop me fron getting mommy's cup of coffee, did it?

well, even tho it involves barfing and broken down cars....i think this is a rather boring, unimaginative post. therefore, out of consideration to you, gentle reader, i shall end here. besides, i need to practice me latest stunt....throwing and dropping things--on PURPOSE--and saying "uh-oh!" i am pretty sure ma buys that i am just a clumsy toddler, because of the way i say "uh-oh" as tho, you know, dropping my cup across the room was really just an accident. i can drop cups, banana, cheerios, phones, photos, and even entire book shelves at once. yes, it is grand to be 14 months old!

praise jesus and pass the biscuits!

first of all, i will say, that if you click on the posted pictures, it will take you to a place where the picture is shown a little bigger and you can see better detail. wouldn'tcha just look at my cute little mitochondria if you could get close enough to see that detail? you know you would.

anyways, i wrote about this yesterday and being one years old and not completely computer savvy yet, i lost the whole thing when i tried to preview it. i never preview my posts, i just post them. anyways.........

mommy is not sure if what she witnessed out of me yesterday was The New Me, possibly thanks to going to day care regularly and being exposed, thereby increasing my comfort of, new people (i am so articulate for 1 aren't i?), OR if it was a weird freaky fluke with a creepy guy.

except he wasn't creepy. he was really nice. me and mom are hanging out at port city java: she is talking to her new friend marsha and i am busily waving hello and goodbye to customers (at the doorway, for maximum impact), pacing around the shop, making sure everything is okay, smelling all the flowers on all the tables, and trying to taste things i find on the floor. being pretty friendly and outgoing. well, there are these 3 guys--an old guy, a younger guy (30's maybe) and a younger younger guy (perhaps 11), together in the shop. they, especially the old guy, are playing with me and talking to me and seem to be enjoying my charms. well, after a while, i feel pretty comfortable and i start hanging out with them full time---on the old guys lap! for an hour or 2 my time went like this: hang out with the old guy, run around the shop a bit, go to mommy, so she doesn't get jealous (her jaw was on the floor the whole time, which was weird, because she wouldn't let me eat anything off the floor) and go back to the old guy and hold up my arms for him to pick me up. and start again.

in case you don't know, i never ever ever ever ever let anyone hold me or even give me too much attention if my ma is anywhere around. it just doesn't happen. i let marsha hold me for a minute or 2 which freaked my mom out and made marsha's day. but when i started hanging with the old guy for a long time, mom was amazed, but i think marsha was a little bummed that she was not the only one for the day.

then, the old guy gave me his card and told me to give it to my mom, because i can't read (which makes the existence of this blog all the more amazing) and lo and behold, he is a baptist minister!!!! and guess what! they said if we havn'et found a home church yet, there is room for us in THEIR church. i say "their" because both the younger guy and the younger young guy were both the old guys's kids. the real young one was a surprise according to the pastor, but i don't know how that can be---i let MY mom know i was in there a long time before i came out. isn't that great?!!!!!!!! room for us at their church!!!!!

so after a while, the family is leaving and the young kid comes us to mom, with an odd look and a frightening somewhat robotic grin-like expression and says, as if someone pushed a button on his back, "i am glad to be homeschooled." and they left.

marsha homeschooled her kids when they lived on the mountain and she has recently moved here to help start a church with the husband of my other new friend , dawn. golly, i wonder if they will have room in THEIR new church too, when they open it! well, i want to see the old guy again, so i am going to beg mom to let us become baptists. mom says we are in the bible belt now. i think baptists must be the coolest funnest people ever.

you know what else? i bet i am going to get lots of comments to this post. hahahahaha. just remember, ANYONE can read your comments.....

first in a long line i am sure.....

please! take my sippy! i WANT you to have it!!!!! i love you!



what did i do wrong? why doesn't she want my sippy??? i will make her mine. oh yes. i will make her mine.

auntie ren can post a picture...can i?????

i think this might work. a second ago i accidently put in this picture very large and it hid everything. well, i am a cutie, to be sure. this is my first apple. gramma shea was kind enough to be eating one when i decided it was time for me to try it so, i took hers.

this is a picture of me!

My Auntie Ren took this picture before I moved away from California.

david, are you stinky?

this morning there was a big big big rain outside. i know i have seen rain before, but now that i am older, i kind of feel like i am noticing it for the first time. i really wanted to go outside in it. so, my mom, being the bad mom we all know she is--i mean, why is she listening to a one year old??--said "okay, go out in the rain!" i just think that maybe as a grown up, she should maybe think that i might not know what is best for me. but, she put my big boy shoes on and her shoes on and we went outside in the rain. she let me run around. there were puddles and i RAN thru them (i RAN! i don't know how to run!) i stomped in the puddles and i put my hand in one of them. i tried to eat a wet leaf several times, but apparently even mom has her limits. i laughed and clapped my hands, and yes, i kid you not, i spun in a circle with my arms outstretched. i loved being out in the rain.

it was all a big tease because just when i was getting good and wet, mom said that was enough and we had to go inside. she had to chase me, pick me up and carry me in tho because i didn't want to go in. i didn't cry about it, but still, i didn't want to go in!!!!!!!

then i watched mommy take a shower and we spent a little time together and then she brought me (didn't i tell you she would do this?) to school again. i don't think the teachers at school will let me play outside in the rain because let's face it--they work with kids all the time and probably know that you shouldn't let babies run around in the rain (especially when they have runny noses) just because they point and grunt at a door.

mommy is excited because my school pictures are coming in today. we are going to make pictures of turkeys by putting paint on our hands today. that should be very fun. my school has books by my favorite author. i have this new book called "david smells"---you should really read it and they have some other "david" books in my class. but there is this part in "david smells"---maybe i shouldn't tell you because i don't want to ruin the book for you, but on this one page the baby is in his bouncy seat and it says "david, are you stinky" oh my god, i just laugh and laugh at that part EVERY TIME! even though i KNOW what the mom is going to say at that part, damn it gets me EVERY TIME! david, are you stinky. HA! i love it. but the whole book is just brilliant. the writing, the artwork, i might ask santa for The Complete Works of David Shannon.

please don't call CPS on my mom. i am sure she won't do it again. you have to understand, she doesn't know what to do with big boys because she never had one before. so don't tell, okay? i really liked the rain, anyways.....

ah'm fixin' ta swear ah am.

i really must have mother (or should i geet an editor or agent?) proofread these posts before i publish them.. heavens to betsy.....the typos!!!!!

heavens to betsy???? good god, you must be kidding me.

we mustn't tell mother

well...i have barely seen my own mother in DAYS. she went to work, leaving me in the hands of strangers (again) friday. i was asleep when she got home. i saw her briefly sat and sun morning but again, asleep when she got home. something tells me she is going to bring me to that school tomorrow even tho she will hug me and kiss me and prefess how much she missed me. yeah, well, if she missed me so much WHY will she take me to that school??

today i went to red lobster. with, you guessed it....STRANGERS. tiffani, my babysitter (who i guess is starting to be not so much a stranger, but still, she isn't my mom!) took me an hour away to have dinner with her whole family today. i was good in the car AND in the restaurant. AND, i let tiffani pass me around to everyone in her family and let them hold me and go ga ga over my cute-ness. mom is going to love it when she finds out about that. when i am with my mom, i don't let ANYONE else hold me. EVER. i love watching her stumble around "well, you know, it's not that he doesn't like you...it's the age" and all that crap. HA! that's not it at all. ihow does SHE know who i like and don't like. and it isn't my age. i have my reasons why i want to be with mom when she is around and i don't feel the need to post them here. i had no trouble going to tiff's dad, her brother, even her 10 year old sister. i had a grand old time. however, we mustn't tell mother for she will be, well, i don't know what she will be. she is pretty hard to predict sometimes. she won't be maaaaaaad....but i think she will be all like "hey, why don't you let anyone hold you when i'm around" yeah, my mom is pretty freaking witty with those outbursts of hers, so it will probably be along those lines.

tiffani knew to let me eat mac and cheese as finger food. she knew to give me a different toy for the car than the resturant. she knew to get me out of the car for a while. and she even knew i like to drink water threw a straw. i don't know how she knows how to do all this stuff right. she won't nurse me tho. that i can't figure out. and then her husband is going to be a nurse, which i REALLY can't figure out.

well, okay then. i have nothing else to say to any of you. i am going now. i think even tho i am currently sleeping (and writing this....boy am i talented) mom's might be projecting her pissy mood onto me and it might be affecting my normally charming wit on this little blog o mine. i heard i have a couple of uncles coming up for thanksgiving. that's terrific. maybe once someone explains to me what an uncle is and what thanksgiving is, maybe i will muster a bitmore enthusiasm. i am thankful for the milk jugs. god bless the milk jugs.

can i post a picture? test test test test

http://static.flickr.com/32/63754473_badbe557b2.jpg

velcro feels goooood on my gums

so, ever since i could walk, ma had made me wear these shoes called "bobux" because they are the only things that fit on my big ol' piggies. they are basically ballet slippers dressed up to look like real shoes. i like them fine and they stay on me feet good. well, ma decided that since i am in wet grass more now and in places where there is rocks and sharp things she decided it was time for me to have big boy shoes. so we went to stride rite where i got measured. turns out, my feet are so huge and so thick, i had a choice in the whole store between 2 shoes. well, really one shoe, but i had a choice between laces or velcro. i chose velcro because it tastes better. feels good on my gums. can't buy cheap shoes at target. don't think mom didn't try, either. can't wear ANY shoes from any normal store. nope. i'm a 5 EXTRA wide. so, i got some real sneaks and i walked pretty good in them and they are fine. mom said when she was little whenever she got new shoes, she thought they made her run faster. well, i can't run yet, and let's face it, she's a little strange, so y'know, let;s just wear the shoes and move on....

i had the best dinner. mom is finally perfecting her cheese sauce. the key is a LOT of pepper, mustard and only slightly cooked onions. then, she threw in a brick of tofu in with the cheese sauce and put it in the loud babyfood maker thing and mmmmm mmmmm mmmm. i wish she left that fattening broccoli out of my mac and cheese and tofu tho, man. i got a drop a few pounds in my feet! we both ate the same thiing for dinner. well, mom had a lot of cookies as well, but that broccoli was enough for me. but i digress. i mean, i perseverate. eh-hem.

dad wanted to know if i was doing anything new. i guess i am just perfecting some of the stuff i have been doing. i am trying to say more words. i like to try to say "hummus" and "lasagna" (yaYAya) and sometimes i try to imitate what mom says. and i sing. and i can almost climb on the couch by myself. of course, i am still really into sweeping and swiffering. mom hid the vacuum when she cought me kissing it. i bet if auntie laura asked one of her psychics we'd find out i was married to it in a past life. oh auntie---i tease.

well, i am pretty sure i have crap in my pants because i feel warm and squishy, so i think i will practice my running in my new shoes, while mom chases me.

on the upswing?

well, here i am at day care again after my mother abaondoned me all weekend. does she think that just because i got to stay home while she left me that it makes it okay for her to just drop me off like dry cleaning today? "okay! see ya! i will pick you up around 3!" like i was a suit that needed to be cleaned. i wonder what a suit is....

just because my teachers told mom that i had a rough day friday and that they think it would be better for me if i came--even for a couple hours--every monday wednesday and friday. of course i thought mom would say "no thanks, i am away from him for so long all weekend, i don't think i can bear to be away from him on my days off" that is what she SHOULD have said. if she LOVED me. if she was a GOOD MOM, that is what she would have said. but no. oh no--you know what she said? "i think that is a good idea. i will bring him in just for a few hours on monday and wednesdays." and a few other things about me being around other kids and getting things done around the house and she might have thrown something in there about missing me and it is hard to leave me, but i think that was probably my imagination.

well, things have been busy here since me and mom got over our bird flus. my gramma and pa pop shea came over last weekend and stayed with me while mom worked. i really like them and we had a pretty good time. they did things a lot like mom does. except the boob thing. then, mommy had to fire nicole. she was so nervous, but she did it. i liked that nicole. fortunately, mom told her she would like her to babysit for me sometimes, like in the evening every so often (jeez--making plans to leave me some MORE?), but that she didn't think it was fair to her to put so much pressure on her to be here every single weekend when she has fun things she wants to do. nicole's mother returned my car seat and key. mom thought nicole's mom was going to beat her up or something for firing her, but it turns out she was very sweet and said nicole understood.

then we had other visitors. my mommy's dad--the other pa-pop (we call them that because i can say it) and his wife. they were here for 3 days.

then mommy went back to work again. now i have a new babysitter named tiffiani. her husband is going to be a nurse like my mommy. i don't know how he can nurse because i don't think he has boobies, but what do i know, i am only one. she picked me up from school friday. me with my cough and my copious boogers and my teething pain and fussiness. did i mention that even thhough i have slept thru the night, almost every night since i was 5 months old, that this past week i haven't slept thru the night even once! no one is very happy about that. anyways...nicole was here saturday all day, and i wasn't happy about itl my teeth hurts, i hate my cough, i don't know who this chick is, my nose is running, i want my mom. i even kept going to the door calling her..."mama mama mama" but she didn't come back till after my story at night. well, she came back again sunday that tiffani. all i could do is throw up my hands and accept it, so i made the best of it and me and her had a grand old time. we went to her friends house and they had a big dog and i was very gentle when i pet him, so i didn't get bit. he was a very big dog and i liked him. i think this tiffani lady is going to be fun....but i have to get to know her a little bit better first. mommy seems to like her very much. well, golly, i have so much more on my mind, but i think i see my lunch......so thanks for reading and well, that's it. i don'tknow how to end these things.

even old people like to go out on friday nights sometimes

these are all the things mommy and daddy have tried to do to find me a new babysitter:
post cute flyers up at the college.
call the department of aging and talk with their senior employment department (where mommy was told "even old people like to go out on friday nights sometimes).
both the college and the old people were offended when she told them how much she was going to pay. who else...

a mass e mail sent to the "new arrivals" group.

the church we went to a few times.

a lady mommy knows from "new arrivals" who has a friend who just moved here who used to be a nanny.

granny and grandpappy shea are coming up for the weekend to watch me so mommy can go to the job she loves so much.

mommy did get one response from the flyer today, so keep your fingers crossed.

i have been very very fussy the last couple days. i am not sick any more, so mommy doesn't know what crawled up by butt. it's nothing really, i just want mommy to hold me all the time. i have decided that walking is overrated and she can carry me everywhere. all the time. my great grandmother says i am a prince, and auntie karen says i am a princess and mommy says i am a drama queen, so i think, as royalty, i should be carried all the time. that's all.

i think halloweenwas stupid by the way. i don't see what the fuss was all about. although i have to admit, the chicken costume was mightly comfy......

i can say "up" "done" "teeth" and i can communicate "no" by viorously shaking my head, which i do many many many times a day. you wouldn't know i was saying up, done and teeth but mommy does. clear as day to her. she's a smart one.