I am still wondering....

       This is a post to be remembered, though I have yet to find out what was she thinking...
Anyway, as I was trying to get my girl to say 'good bye' to the grandparents, she went to dig into her basket of clothes at grandma's. I thought she wanted to change her shirt, but she pushed away all the shirts I offered her. She was looking for her school uniform. When she found it, she crammed it into my handbag - and ZIPPED it close! Hmmm.... looks like this girl misses school.
       When I reached home, I asked the brother to help me with the breakfast I bought for tomorrow, while I close the gate. I was very surprised when I see my girl coming out of the car with my hand bag! I have never successfully asked her to help me bring things from the car (except to get her own bag and water bottles). And she brought my hand bag into the house! hmmmm..... It's either because her school uniform is in the bag, or she felt that she wanted to help, since I asked the brother to help. I sure hope, it's the second. :)

She cut her own cake.....

         Another sign of improvement in her self-help skills. (I've never thought of teaching her to do this). Hubby received a small Matcha cake for Teacher's Day. We cut a slice of it and placed it in a plate. Both of us actually disliked the taste and we left it on the table. 

And we placed the cake in the fridge.  But to my surprise, when I went into the kitchen later, I saw my daughter putting the plastic cake cutter on another plate (where I originally left it) My first thought was that she wanted to play with it. But one look at the other plate which supposedly contain only half a slice of cake, it has now a full slice. Hubby said that he did not cut another slice. My son was not at home. So, our conclusion was that my daughter actually opened the fridge, used the plastic cake cutter to cut the cake (not sure if she took it out of the fridge or she did it with the cake still in the fridge), and managed to place the new slice of cake on the plate. Wow... the very thought of her having to think in all these sequences, which were never taught to her... and doing them properly is just amazing to me. And to think that I have been told again and again by the 'professionals' that she needs to be taught everything and that she would have problems thinking in sequence.... way to go, girl! Prove them all wrong!

The cake after she sliced it. Not too perfect slice, but at least she did it.

* I am just raving about my daughter's latest achievements. I know that these angels grow and develop in their own pace, so it might not be anything significant to anyone else, except for me. But I am still proud of her. As I said before, any small improvement is an achievement in itself. Bravo, girl! 

* Now I have to find some other edible food products that used this Matcha thingy. It tastes terrible to me, but my daughter seems to love it. Suggestions anyone?

Fever experience with EO and The little things that counts....

        It has been two weeks after my last post. Nothing much, except that we were all pretty busy with revisions, school exams etc, etc. And on top of it, my daughter had a bout of fever. We succeeded not giving her antibiotics, though it's clear that she's having inflammation in the throat, and not eating or drinking much. Sigh, every time she gets sick, it shows. I think she lost at least 1 kg this time. Anyway, though we managed without the antibiotics, we still gave her medicine for her fever. I monitored her temperature diligently, and on the first day, I wasn't going to take the chance of only depending on the essential oils. But I managed to prolonged the time she had to take the medicine, instead of every 4 hours, she only took the medicine after 8 hours or longer. From this experience, I learnt that (with my nervous personality), the essential oils certainly helps if you detect the fever coming very early on. On the first day, as her fever reached 38 degree, I did not dare to wait for the essential oils to do it's work. By the end of the second day, her fever is rather mild, at 37.6 and below. I used Peppermint and Frankincense (diluted with Coconut Oil) on her as often as I possibly can and monitored her temperature. I can see her temperature going up a little after 2-3 hours, but after applying the essential oils, it goes down again in less than 1 hour. She was well again by the 4th day.
          Though I am relieved to have found some alternative to antibiotics, it wasn't at all easy. With only a dose or two a day of antibiotics, we can be sure that it can help curb the inflammation and help with the fever. With essential oils, I had to be diligent in applying them, in order for it to be effective. But I have to remember that essential oils are not medicines and should not be treated as such when using it to deal with sicknesses.
 *But as a reminder, though essential oils are not medicine, too much of a good thing can be detrimental too, thus, in the case of having children in the house, please store it away safely like any other medicines you have.*

          Other than that, I am happy to see more improvements in my daughter. She added another phrase into her spoken vocabulary (an Zhang/ dirty). The situation was that she played with something and her hands were dirty. At the same time, my mother asked her to shake hands with a neighbour. My daughter looked at her hands and replied " An Zhang/dirty" she said this so clearly, that the 2 neighbours who assumed that my daughter could not speak were very surprised.

          At home, I have been guiding her with her Maths homework. I am very happy to note some difference in her. But first, I had to admit that I have not been doing one to one with her for at least 1 month - there should be no acceptable reasons for this, so I would spare you the details. Anyway, as I held her hands and guided her to count the pictures one by one, I asked her to count by herself, as I kept quiet. When we finished marking (cancelling) all the pictures, I asked her to write the correct number beside it - she could actually do this. I can feel her hands moving to the shape of the numbers (I relaxed my grip on her hands and let her guide my hand). When I praised her, she looked at me and smiled happily.

         Since it's school holiday, we did this almost everyday, and I am happy to see her coming to the table after just a gentle call, waiting to do her work, and patiently trying to finish her work as I tried to prolong her sitting time at the table. I have yet to note how long is the time she could actually sit there and do her work, but for now, I am content. We'll do this slowly, step by step....

       I am reminding myself again and again, that she has come a long way and I believe she still has a long way to go.....

Holidaying....

* I am grateful for:

- Joy being able to adapt so well to changes of routine and places. We stayed at my brother's place, and with no potty, she went to toilet everytime. She was very responsive whenever we asked if she needs to go to the toilet, while we were out. (so we did not have to worry much about her wetting herself, as long as we remember to ask her, and she also give strong signs if we forgot to ask) She said more words and showed much understanding in everything. At times, I almost forgot that I need to pay more attention to her needs) She is almost as independent at my brother's place as her younger brother.

- Jay is having a time of his life. He enjoyed the flights and all the outings, especially the rabbit chasing... hehehe

-All in all, I am glad we did have this trip. It was a spur of the moment decision, but very worth it.

Year end updates on my daughter...

          Those reading my post yesterday and today will notice the difference. Well, in trying to be optimistic.... there ARE some improvements in my dearest daughter.

          Thanks to his younger brother, she has learnt to buckle up her seat belt whenever she is in the car! Yeah.... the credit is all his. Everyday my son would help his sister to buckle up, (sometimes while nagging and 'teaching' her) for more than 6 months. Then one day he relaxed and did not buckle her up. He simply told me that sister can do it herself. And she did! She managed to buckle her seat belt from either side of the car - which shows improvements in her left and right coordination.

          She has also learnt to go to the toilet for her biggie. We still let her use potty at home, but she would go upstairs to the seated toilet when she need to. Mom-in-law discovered her in the toilet waiting to be wiped one day - and she has been going since.... Now, if we could find a way for her to TELL us before she goes, it might be more helpful - instead of searching for her when she disappeared from her usual spots. As for the potty, I think it will remain until she learn to go to the toilet before her bladder gets too full - to avoid accidents.

         We did get a few insights with her eating habit - which I am going to make a routine this coming holiday. She usually eats a lot for lunch and refused to eat for dinner. MIL has to run after her and force her to eat at least half of what is in her plate. Well, one of the reason I kept telling her is that it's still too early for her dinner. She had lunch at 12.30 and dinner at 5 pm. I guess she is still not too hungry. Yup... the emphasize is in TOO hungry. We didn't eat at mil's place during the weekends and we purposely had dinner at 7 pm.... by which both my kids were SOOO hungry that they finished the meal in record time. Yup - even the daughter - AND she FED herself!

          She is showing interests in everything her brother is doing. Whenever the brother comes home with new books or colouring pages, she would definitely come and have a look. And she loves her plush bears. She hugged them and brings them everywhere, even to bed.

          She found a way for herself to practice her body balance. It took her a few days, and with a little help from us, but now she can climb the side of the staircase (about 10-20 inches after the railings) all by herself. She would climb up, touch the ceiling and back down, step by step.... For precautions, I had a long couch placed beside the staircase. She has also managed to go up and down the stairs without holding on to the railings or the wall. (her teacher has been bugging me about this - since children should be able to do this at 4 years old)

          As for her quirkiness.... (is there such word? I just thought it sounds nicer to describe her. didn't bother to look up the dictionary) She lost interests in stickers but loves plush toys and soft plastic figurine key chains especially turtles. Whenever we pass by stores that display plush toys, she had to go and chose one. We develop quick instinct in looking around ahead at the stores and made quick exits or U-turns. It definitely won't be a good idea to buy her plush toys every time she asks. And they are rather expensive too.

          She stopped going to her piano classes too. She has not been paying attention or listens to her teacher. Instead she spends her time lying on the floor and doing nothing - for the whole hour. At different times, the piano students after hers came and laughed at her when she did make some noise - in return to our efforts to make her say 'good bye' to her teacher. I decided it was not an environment I wanted her to be in. 'nuff said.

          She definitely has been 'different' in school. Just the other day, an inconsiderate mother commented loudly to a group of mothers - when she saw me from far, sending my daughter to her class - "Here she comes again." And her daughter standing next to her repeated. " (name) you came again?"  Gosh, If they could only see the daggers flying straight into my heart. The other mothers were ignorant as they have always been. In fact, none of the mothers bothered to talk to me - but chose to stare and glance at my daughter every time. One grandmother even confronted me and asked why didn't I send her to AGAPE (a training centre for disabilities) instead of to school. God is certainly testing me on my patience. This was only one of many incidents I faced throughout the years my daughter is in kindergarten. I dread for her next year. I mean, if it hurts me as her mother - wouldn't it hurt her more - as the individual being targeted for the comments? She does understand what people are saying - so.... people - PLEASE be considerate in whatever you say in front of children.
     
          To make things worse, as I was still healing my wounds from the 'mothers' comments earlier - I was quite furious to have to search for her after school. We went to her class and she was not there. The teacher thought she went to another teacher's class - but she was not there too. While the teachers were still 'discussing' her whereabouts - I went to the back of the school and found her on top of the slide in the playground. Alone. I can't imagine if she just walked out the main gate, or if the gate in the playground was not locked. The school is beside a busy T-junction. Anything might happen.

I could go on and on about her... Loving her taught me how intense a mother's love can be for her child. And the intense hurt comes along in the package.
       

Yay! She did it!

Yup. I guess I'll never stop being amazed with the discovery how daily activities which seemed so simple and natural to us would present such difficulty to my dear daughter - but the moment she managed to master the skills - IT'S A CELEBRATION!

A quick update...

I have been lacking the motivation to write any post recently. But I still take photos of our lives around here. As I go through them and sort them into files, I thought, well, why not just make a quick pictorial post of of our month of July. It's gonna be August next week. 

Left to himself, Jay would draw and colour anything under the sun. His drawings are getting more complicated and with more details. His creations are always so colourful. Once, I bought 4 drawing books (I got tired of collecting his pieces of A4 papers and paper plates) - and he finished them up in 1 week. :0 Well, at least he's kept busy...

He's been asking for cute snacks to bring to school.

All credit to the daddy : )

Joy is certainly improving a lot. She has started to observe and try new food. Before, she wouldn't come near this nutritious dish (which my son called the 'black' soup). She actually finished her lunch and it's her first time with the beef too.

She had her first ice cream too. Before, she disliked anything cold. When we gave her an ice cream, she looked at me licking mine. She tried to smell and licked it.... and didn't want to give it back until it's all finished. She even used a spoon and dug into the ice cream cone...  :)

(yeah, I know ice cream has casein - she did get out of control a few days after - but at least she got to try)

Once, she even 'stole' a whole plate of fried prawns. MIL fried the prawns and left them on the table to cool. While she was busy with other dishes, Joy took off the dish cover and took the whole plate into the living room to enjoy. hmmmm.... Our first reaction was to laugh at this, though I know we should not encourage it.

We know that this girl will never let herself go starving. Whenever she is hungry, she would look everywhere in the kitchen for things to eat. She will even open the fridge at home or at MIL's house to find food. There are a few occasions where she was quiet and when we searched for her, she was sitting in a corner, enjoying crackers she got from the fridge.... 

We celebrated Joy's 6th birthday this month too! 

She chose the cake herself. - and can't wait to play with the butterfly.

Jay has been very busy too. He's practicing for singing competition. Actually, he begged his way into this competition. He told me that he wasn't given the chance to sing in school coz the teacher always let other classmates sing. When I met the teacher, I was told that the few classmates were preparing for singing competition and my son answered confidently 'Yes!' when the teacher asked if he wants to join the competition. He has to present 3 songs in 3 months for collective points. There's 2 more songs to practice for next month. 

We went to an old play area in town. I think both the children will outgrow this soon.

 

Another first for Joy. She has always been afraid to even climb and sit on one of these musical rides. This time, she attempted a few times and finally managed to sit on one. She did scream a little when the ride began moving and singing... but I held her tightly until it stopped. She is beaming happily when it's finally done. I think she knows it's another achievement for herself.

Another happy news is that Joy is going to Kindergarten 2 class now. She was in kindergarten 1 class until June - where the children are 1 or 2 years younger than her. They are often too 'helpful' and loved to help her to do everything.

 Now she is among her same age, most of them are not as willing to 'help' her (the teacher told them not to - though the innocent angels did ask, why - since the teacher always tell them to help each other... hmmm... I'm glad I don't have to answer to those questions)

Well, the point is, since there's no one to help her, she began doing things for herself. She is starting to write (though poorly), but it's a good start. Her teachers commented that she is imitating, observing others and trying things on her own... plus, she is speaking more in school. (though her golden voice can only be heard only when prompted). Praise The Lord!

Vanity

We noticed more improvements in our daughter in the past few weeks. One of it is that she has shown definite preference in her clothes. - She prefers sleeveless! Actually she has lots of shirts and dresses. (I still haven't got over my guilt for wanting to save money and not buying her girly clothes when she was still a baby. I only bought unisex clothes - until I have another baby boy - my reason being that babies outgrew the clothes so quickly) Now that she is older, I clothe her like a princess (err... most of the time. as far as my bank permits)

Anyway, the thing is, from quietly observing her, her behaviour tells me that she is conscious of her appearance. Every morning (weekend) she would dig her own clothes from her basket. (we haven't got her a proper chest of drawers yet). Her choice of dress or shirt is always a sleeveless. Sometimes she would continue to dig to find the matching leggings or pants. - but usually she is content with just the sleeveless. At one time, I tried to get her to change into a long sleeve (a pretty blouse she sometimes wears to bed) before she goes for her piano lesson. She lets me change, but later she took it off. When I tried to persuade her to wear other shirts with sleeve, she took every shirt from my hand and threw them back in her basket. When I showed her another sleeveless shirt, she quickly nods her head. Phew!!! I almost overturned the whole basket! 

And this morning, she changed her pajamas for a pair of shorts and asked me to help her wear her favourite dress. (sleeveless of course). And I find her admiring herself (swinging like a little lady) in front of our glass door in the living room. (erm.. she did this for almost every few minutes, until I took my phone and snapped her photo...) I guess she is conscious of me noticing her. I wonder when she will know that taking photos of herself is another way of admiring herself.... hi hi hi... I hope I am not promoting vanity to her. 

Ohh.... I am glad to notice that she definitely knows the difference between day clothes and night clothes. The long sleeves are for bed.... hi hi hi. 

More improvements

Recently I noticed more improvements in Joy's skills, social and self-help. Here is a list (in random order).

1. Noticed right away, when my car arrives at MIL. / noticed right away when I start the car, to go out. She would be at the door, waiting to follow. If by chance I was just trying to park my car outside the gate, to enable another car in front of mine to go out, she would tip toe and watch at the window with worried face and sound, until I drove back in. Then she would do her 'happy dance'  : )

2. She would wait at the door for me to come in. When I called out to her and waved, she would sometimes waved back, or just nod her head in recognition - with eye contact.

3. She noticed when daddy goes out or comes back. Mostly because she wants to go too, or because she's hoping that daddy will buy some tit bits for her.

4. She's getting pretty good in wearing her long pants or shorts. (I'm closing one eye to the fact that she often wears her pants with the back to the front. - will work on that AFTER she is real good in wearing them) She gets frustrated when she took too long to wear her pants, but when she finally did it, she sure looked proud. (by the way, she still has to work on pulling the pants up nicely, with the waist at the waist line). She is also improving in taking off her shirt and wearing them, though her way of taking off her shirts will definitely ruin the collars sooner.- she pushed the shirt down to her legs through the collar, after getting her arms free, just like when she is taking off her skirt.

5. She will get her exercise book from her school bag, when requested to do so. After finishing her homework, she would put the book back into her school bag. (but she still needs prompts)

6. When changing into her pajamas, she would go potty first, before wearing pampers (in case of accidents at night), and put her dirty clothes at the corner where we gather all our dirty clothes before wash.

7. She actually helped me to throw some of the paper cuttings (while I was preparing her materials) into the rubbish bin, far off in the kitchen. We were at MIL's house, and the house is very big. She has to run from the living room to the kitchen to throw the papers - 2 times. (with minimal instructions. I did not even have to get up from my seat to show her) (this was when little brother is having his bath. usually he will rush to help me, pushing his sister aside. Perhaps this is one reason that Joy chose not to do anything (regarding housework) if little brother is around)

8. She is showing that she can be cheeky too. Recently she has taken to touching my tummy, and laugh. When I showed some reaction, she would laughingly, pretend to touch (but not touching) my tummy, and quickly take it away. I am still wondering what makes her laugh so. I don't think my tummy looks funny. (no, I am not preggy. In fact, I lost quite a bit of weight and my tummy is 'quite' flat now (when I sit up straight. Still haven't got rid of the bulging, extra skin result from 2 pregnancies).

9. She is showing more interest in the Ipad recently. With the little brother discovering the kids YouTube that I downloaded, they are enjoying short cartoon clips and children songs. She is showing interest in the games little brother is playing too. 

10. Her interests are more varied. She is interested in ocean creatures, bugs and insects, and princesses. From the blogs I read, most young children loved these themes too. Can I consider her interests typical?

11. She is getting rather good in drinking from the cup too. Though she hasn't yet mastered to position her mouth properly into forms as if reading 'm', at least she could manage drinking from a cup independently.

12. As in typical children, she is showing that she doesn't want to be left alone upstairs in the bedroom, at night. Previously, if she is feeling sleepy, I could just give her a bottle of milk and ask her to go upstairs herself. She shows no reaction to darkness, that I somewhat thinks she is 'brave'. Nowadays, she wants me to accompany her. Just like her little brother. (he is afraid of the dark) He too would not sleep unless I am beside him to accompany him. I am choosing to think positively here. It could be that she has a problem with her sense of security, but I'm loving it that she needs me to put her to bed. We say our prayers and I hold her hands until she feels sleepy. 

I am praying for more improvements in future. I believe God will always be watching over her and this family.