Updates.... progress in Joy (sort of)

It has certainly been quite awhile since I updated this space. I check in everyday, to go through the blogs I follow, but does not seem to feel the need to write. Rather, I am not feeling very chatty. Anyway, as usual, there always seem to be something that prompt me to write something. So here I am....

         As for progress in my daughter, I can see much improvement in her daily living skills. Improvements are good, though they do pose more problems at times. She is quite independent nowadays when it comes to changing her own clothes. She changes into her pajamas when it's almost bedtime (sometimes on her own, sometimes with a reminder from me), and when she wakes up in the morning, she would change into her day clothes - all by herself. She automatically will pick up her clothes and put them in the dirty pile. BUT - with this, she also started to exercise her preference of clothes. At times she would wear the same blouse and shorts for days, until I step in and throw them into the washing machine, at which she would reluctantly find other clothes to wear. She even knows to put the clothes she wanted to re-wear, after changing into pajamas at a place or hide them in a bag so that she can wear them again the next day. I caught her observing me, when I purposely try to get the clothes she laid nicely on the chair for the next day. The moment I touch the clothes, she ran and took them away.... hmmm.... somehow I don't mind. As she shows a character where she would protect what she wants. As long she doesn't make a fuss when I insisted on throwing them into the washing machine, I am ok. Previously she didn't or rather not know how to choose pajamas that matches in colours, now she would go and search for the matching sets first. But she knows if she can't find the matching ones, she can always wear whatever she found. So there's flexibility.

          As she is taller now, she started to cast her sights on higher places - upper parts of cabinets, top of closets and cupboards, upper part drawers... anywhere she was not able to explore before. (did I mentioned that she loves 'exploring?). She learnt to make use of chairs and stools, and even canes to climb and open doors which we kept closed with special hinge - not too sure what it's called. With her new problem solving skills, we have to be more diligent in keeping an eye on her - believe me, she can cause a real havoc. An example of an incident was at her grandmother's place. I was late from work, and she was to explore on her own while her grandmother rested. In less than 20 minutes (I was told), the grandmother began to get curious since the girl has been quiet and out of sight - that she began searching for her. Alas! This naughty girl got her hands on her uncle's new can of hair wax (put on top of the cupboard) and brought it upstairs and started to 'wax' the newly laminated living room floor, grandmother's bedroom floor, chest of drawers and her bed! When I arrive, the grandmother was exhausted from cleaning and mopping the place over and over again. - Her poor knees really hurt for the next few days. Though this incident did not surprise me at all, (she did this all the time in our own house - but we manage to minimize them by not letting her out of our sight at all) - it really shows how things will get more and more complicated as this girl grow older and older.

         As for her feeding herself, it depends on her mood or rather the type of food served. When she is back from school, she will usually feed herself 'coz she's really hungry and keep out of her sight. For dinner at our own home, she would sometimes want me to feed her or she would not eat at all - especially if the food is not her favourite. I had to insist on her feeding herself at least half of her plate before I feed her - or if I'm feeling lazy, I'll let her off for not finishing her food. Scolding her will not solve anything - and I do have to pick my battles with her.

        She has learnt to bathe herself too, with someone (grandmother or me) sitting outside the bathroom giving instructions - clean here, clean there...etc... hopefully she will progress to cleaning herself without instructions soon. She knows to take her bath towel and head to the bathroom with minimum prompt. Perhaps this is partly because she does feel hot and stuffy in school uniform for the whole morning.

       We usually have to pack at least 5 sets of the children' daily clothes to bring to my mil since they bathe there during school days. At first I tasked my son to find and pack the clothes every Sunday/Monday. However, since my girl now has preference of what clothes she would like to wear, she sometimes would take out her clothes (packed by brother) and change with her favourite ones. That's good, right? At times when she did not like the choice of clothes at grandmother's place, she would comply by wearing whatever she has and change them when she got home. I don't mind this, as it's better than her previous behaviour of insisting not to wear anything she didn't like that we had to let her re wear her school uniform (after bath) and change her when we got back home.

         Another skill/ compliance that makes my life easier is that she will respond when ever we asked if she needs to go to the toilet when we are not at home. As a habit, she would go to the toilet before we go out. But if we are out and about, which we often are, I'll just have to remember to ask her if she needs to go... she will quickly pull us/ or run to the direction of the toilet. At times when we forgot to ask, she would simply pull us to the toilet direction. Now I'll just have to figure out how to get her in the toilet and close the door for her business. Plus we are still working on her learning to wipe herself after toilet.

        Though I could not say that she has improved in her speech, we will sometimes get short forms of certain words that she wanted to say. We are still working on her in this area - as she is really stubborn in imitating sounds or producing sounds that we wanted her to learn. We had to be be creative to get her to pronounce/ say certain words all throughout the day so as not to make her feel that we are 'working' on her speech. But one thing I am happy with is that she willingly respond with some sounds/any sounds, if I am searching for her. If I was resting on the sofa, and I can't see her anywhere from my position, I'll just call out, and she would respond.

       Most of the time she is very compliant to my requests. If I need a rest after work, and her brother is not around to help me keep an eye on her, I'll ask her to sit on the swing with her favourite toy or book (the swing positioned strategically where I can see her from my resting position). AS I drifted in and out of my naps, she will be sitting on the swing until she sees that I am awake.

        Her interest in music seem to increase, though not in a way that I know how to handle. I haven't manage to figure out how to expand on this. Whenever she listens to songs a few times, she would be able to hum along the exact tune. She may not sound the same lyrics, but she would hum them with her own lyrics.... wah, wah, wah,.... lalala, papapa... etc.... Any idea how to expand on this?

    What else.... for her academics, she has shown some interests in maths and colouring. She is still not writing independently, but as I gently hold her hands when doing her maths exercises, she has the strength in the movement of the numbers she is writing. She is still working on addition of 0 - 5 with visual help. As for colouring, she knows not to colour out of the line, but still not able to control the strength. At times when I am not free, and she is feeling hardworking, she would put her colouring book or her maths book on the dining table. I usually do work with her on my own work table, but her brother does work on the dining table. I like to keep the dining table free from books when it's not 'school' time. - So I guess she knows that by putting the books on the dining table, she will get my attention. (just a wishful thought). Whenever I am coaching her brother with school work or spelling, she seemed to pay attention and would sometimes came near to peek at her brother's work. Plus she loves to flip through her brother's kindergarten books. We just have to be careful not to let her tear them apart. We have not manage to get her to mend this habit. Her own school books are in such state. sigh

      Since we are getting to the end of the school year, it is time for me to gear up with some preparation to teach her more consistently - I'll have around 6 weeks to work with her during the school holiday before she enters Primary 3.