Learning progress 4/10/2015 - 11/10/2015

I've mentioned and attempted several times over these years to teach my daughter to learn academically.  A few times I'd managed to stick to a schedule for a few weeks, sometimes a few months- but in the end, life happens and I'd stop. Having high expectations causes deep frustrations in me. For almost 2 years, after she entered primary school,  I've stopped focusing on her academic skills and decided to lower my expectations to only having her not causing troubles in school and learning independent life skills.
          Once in a while,  I'd get her to do some written work, but never expecting much from her. I'd hold her hands and guided her to write - with the intention of introducing the knowledge,  while I explained in as simple way as possible the work being done. I think I've sort of given up getting her to write independently but still hoping that she'd learn something.
          Anyway, God's gentle nudge prompted me to start teaching her to write again. I almost gave up - the 2nd day. She had me crying and boiling inside throughout the day. Being pregnant, I tried hard to control my emotions but failed. I was so disappointed with myself.
          But somehow God decided that I should not give up now. Deep inside,  I felt something kept reminding me to see the readiness in my child. Yes! She does show signs of readiness in learning academically. Several times we 'caught' her peeking at her brother when he is doing his homework.  She'd come over to have a look when the brother complained about some difficult work. Whenever I asked her to come to the table for some work,  she'd willingly come. And whenever I 'helped' her with her maths addition - I'd sometimes feel her hands moving against mine as she attempted to write numbers - at times, the movement is correct.  Plus, she is showing reaction when I praised her for doing her 'homework'. After every exercise,  she'd look at me expectantly. If these aren't readiness - tell me what should I look for....
          On the 3rd day, I decided to try a different approach. I prepared a glass of milk for myself and acted as if I don't expect much from the lesson.  With a neutral tone, I had her trace her numbers 1 and 2 - sometimes just touching her little pinky to get her going. I praised her for good writing but quietly held her hands to correct the wrong ones.
          By the 4th day, she did it! She independently wrote her number 1, with enough strength and pencil control (written within the boxes).  Then we proceeded to number 2. She seemed to have gained more confidence and followed instructions to hold her pencil correctly with the other hand holding on to the sheet of paper, AND have her eyes on the paper while writing. After a few tracings,  she'd look at me for confirmation - we praised her profusely!  I try to build her confidence by having her trace the number 2 (I wrote with light coloured pencil colour) and purposely leaving a few boxes blank here and there.
         By the 6th day, she could write the number 2 without tracing. Isn't that something!!!
         What I have learned from this week is that every child is different.  I believe that she will reach her milestones in her own time. But - I will have to be attentive and alert to her signs of readiness to each milestone and work on them when the time comes. The Montessori concept emphasizes on respecting the child and to teach each child when they are ready.
         I pray that this time I will be more consistent to slowly get her to love learning academically and to continue to improve.


          I shouldn't neglect my son's progress too. For the past months,  he has discovered the fruits of hard work. In his eagerness to receive presents in kindergarten for being in the 1st to 4th position, he told me he wanted me to help him with his revisions prior to his mid year test. The beginning of the year, he got the 5th position and could only look on as his peers receive presents. 2 weeks before his tests, I did intensive revision with him ( while discovering his weaknesses in certain subjects :(, which I didn't really notice before) I created and printed worksheets after worksheets and drilled him with his spelling and surprisingly - he did not complain! He did shed a few tears, when he made mistakes in the worksheets and spelling - but he persevered. The end result - he got the 4th position. He was elated! We celebrated and bought him his favourite comics and made a big fuss of him (while reminding him how his hard work paid off)
          He couldn't stop talking about it that I took this opportunity to get him on track for a good study routine - preparing him for a more gruelling primary 1 life.
          Together with his sister - on the same day - I took the risk of tiring myself - I prepared daily schedule for him. He has the freedom to do whichever of the 4 to 5 items of reading/exercises I prepared for the day - in return for a sticker. He has to promise me not to ask or 'beg' for ipad or tv time during school days nor to complain about his workload. (More for my sanity) I do however, reduce his work when he looks tired.
          So, my son has been on daily schedule for a week too. He learned to quickly finish his work and he is free to read his comics and play. On Friday, he'll have 6 stickers (we start from Sunday) to enable his access to ipad games we downloaded (no wifi for videos). He can have the ipad until Saturday but he still has a few light items to do in his schedule like colouring and flash cards revision. (My time to relax :)  I am hoping that we can continue with this pace through the next 6 weeks of school. Then we'll have around 5 weeks of school holiday where I need to work on his weaker subjects. Hopefully by next year, I won't have difficulty getting him into the primary 1 rhythm without having to send him to tuition classes. Praying hard. :)

Updates... on Jay (sort of)

I have to keep reminding myself that I need to be fair to both my children. As I spend more time teaching my daughter, I still have a son who needs my attention just as much. He is such a blessing to us... but at times I have to remind myself that he is still young and I know I am rather tough on him as I expected alot from him.

      This year is his last year in kindergarten. Next year he will be in Primary 1. He insisted on going to the same school as sister, which after long discussions and thought, we registered him there. Hopefully by not separating them in different schools, he will grow up learning to protect his sister in the community.

       He learnt to love reading chinese books and comics during free time, and has been requesting for books and more books as presents when he get good marks in his school tests. We don't mind getting him books, as he really does put in alot of effort in his study when we promised him the books... And he learnt alot of the idioms and proverbs in Chinese... he loves to test me all the time - knowing well that I am not that proficient in Chinese. I am still working on his phonics and English though. And his suku kata and BM certainly needs some pushing. I'll work on that intensively during the school holiday.

      As for his piano, his piano teacher is getting him ready for Grade 1 next year - so I'll have to start worrying where to get him a real piano for practice at home.

      I'm giving him until the end of the year to decide if he will continue with his arts class outside. He doesn't seem to progress much in his colouring skills from his 3 hours per week lessons. It has been almost 8 months but I do not see any progress from the arts that he brought home every week. We'll see....

       He has been a huge help in helping to keep an eye on his sister whenever we are not free, or when they are at MIL. He knows how to handle his sister, and loves to insist sister to interact with him. The sister will comply when she is in the mood but there will be 'squabbles' too... which I think is normal between children - especially when they are after the same toys. He forces sister to learn to share her things and taught her her 'school work' in his own cute ways. I am glad that the sister is quite compliant with her brother.

      He has also been helping alot with housework. He learnt to wash the dishes (which I need to redo when he is not watching), helped to sort out the mountain of clean clothes, sometimes folding his and sister's clothes, helped to put dirty clothes into the washing machine, pick up the living room (after scolding), vacumm the floor, etc etc.... for a 6 year old, he is doing quite alot, in my opinion.

      Anyway, I am aware that he is still a little boy. I still have a lot of things that I need to teach him as he grows up - hopefully into an all rounded personality that is able to care and love his sister and this family well.

Getting back into a routine

      After my last post, I really beat myself up for even considering to choose between myself and my children. Trust me. It's not a pleasant feeling. I mean, the world has been harping about how a mother would sacrifice everything for her children and here I am being out of the box. But I have been quickly reminded by well meaning friends - of how important to first take care of myself if I wanted to take good care of my children.

          So I did. I continued with my exercise routines and added some herbal supplements to better care for myself mentally and physically. And I expanded my latest craze of gardening. Well, not exactly gardening since I only have a few pots of flowers in my car porch. But I find that caring (spraying them with water when I have time) is therapeutic. One of the reasons I chose resilient plants - succulents, and indoor plants which will not die so easily.

These are my first few pots. Aren't they pretty?

And I managed to save this from dying. A few weeks back, this does not have a single part that shows it's green and bright yellow leaves. 

I have re-established  a study routine for my children and we are finding our groove. 

So far, so good. 

I try to take a relaxed approach. My present plan is to help my daughter to go through all those kindergarten workbooks (selected worksheets). My goal is to help her to revise the concepts and to introduce more knowledge whenever possible. She is not writing independently yet. So for now I'll just hold her hands and let her feel the flow in writing. (I still think /feel that she knows how to write some numbers and alphabets and she needs time to gain her confidence to write independently)

As for my son, I am trying to teach him to learn to have the self control to study amid temptation (television). Whenever I will be late in the afternoon, I'll prepare a list of spelling test and some worksheets for him to finish while waiting for me at his grandmother's place. This way, I do not worry that he has too much screen time. So far he has been compliant and willingly follow my instructions - cox he loves his screen time that much. (shrug)

          I also reintroduce most of the supplements I gave my daughter in the past years. Last year I stopped giving her supplements (except for vitamin C) - my  main reasoning was that we did not actually know what are these supplements doing for her. I guess we will never know for sure. Since I reintroduced the supplements, we do start to hear good comments from mil about her (we did not tell her when we started her on these supplements). But one thing for sure - as I chose only natural and mostly gluten free supplements, they will help with her general well being and definitely wont harm her. 

With a healthier, happier mother, a routine, health supplements and the essential oils for the children and the parents, I hope this year will be a better year for all. It might be too late to say this - but still - 

Wishing everyone a wonderful year 2015. 

Updates.... and some thoughts on homeschooling.

          I fully have the intention to let this blog rest for sometime coz I have other plans that needed my attention. But somehow, a friend's simple question asking me about my opinion of homeschooling got me thinking. Well, it's more of a push of that 'guilt' button that's always there but ignored. (it's not her fault - I'd like to think of it as God's gentle reminder of my responsibilities.

          As some of you might realize, I have been focusing more on myself for the past months. 2014 wasn't a good year for my family - especially me. With my daughter just entering primary school, I've had to deal with her many different issues that cropped up every few weeks, and the stress at work almost suffocated me. To make things worse, I have this bad habit of stress eating. - which is why 2014 sees me at my heaviest and most uncomfortable phase of health. I'd get easily tired, mentally exhausted and very bad tempered. - which is NOT good for my family.

          Anyway, I've started pushing myself to exercise, and eat a healthy diet AND managed to lose weight. I am very happy to report that as of now, I've lost about 10kg. I have more confidence in myself. I don't look or feel easily tired. And the most important is that I feel renewed.

          But when I look back, I feel a tinge of guilt. 'Coz in my 'quest' for health, I have in a way neglected my children. Previously, I am totally focussed on them. I don't have to cook (we go to my mil's), and I have a cleaning maid coming every week to clean the house. - which means that I have all the time (after work) to concentrate on my children especially on my daughter.

          For the past months, I leave them be. I started cooking our own meals, learning to bake, doing household chores myself (no more maid) and exercising. - which translates to less time with the children. I confronted my husband with my 'guilt' and he was very supportive - saying that he's happy that I've finally decided to 'love' myself and take care of myself and my personal development.

         But the guilt is still there. This year, my daughter is in Primary 2. This first month did not go too well. In just the first 2 weeks she managed to tear almost all her text books. She cried and refused to wear her school uniform for the first week. And refused to wear her PE uniform on the 2 days they have PE in school. She did not drink her water at all in school - and rushed for water right after she arrived at grandmother's after school. Just last Friday, she came home with a classmate's book which she tore. Her teacher asked her to bring back the book to be repaired and returned on Monday.

          I've only done the minimum for her school work too. When I am able, I'll get her to do some writing exercise and finish a few pages of her school workbooks. (Her teachers never gave her any homework - mainly because she can't write on her own yet) I think her teachers just tolerated her 'existence' because we insist on sending her to the mainstream. The only things that kept us with this decision was that though she did not improve in her academics, both the teachers and I agree that she improved in her social skills. - Our main purpose for the mainstream. Other parents may think socializing is not that important compared to academics, but to us, it's the start to her survival skills.

          Since December, I sent her to piano class. Again. I requested on personal one to one instruction. Initially I accompanied her to give the teacher some idea on how to get her to follow instruction and concentrate on the lesson. So far, she is doing okay. She does seem to remember the notes taught and are more often cooperative than not. But we did not insist on the theory and written part of the lesson. She is also starting to show her musical instincts. Both her father and I love listening to music and we would often hum or sing anywhere and everywhere. My son got his father's talent in modifying lyrics into his own songs. As for my daughter, she has started humming the songs we have been singing AND fitting in her own 'words' in the music. hahaha.... try to imagine how her daddy smiles when she sang 'da di da di' to a popular song.

          As for my son, he thrived in his own way. He begged to go to arts classes and loves it. He still has his piano lessons, and is now planning for extra English classes outside too. He has more self control and very obedient. His kindergarten has water play every 2 weeks, and he never asked to play but instead reads or does his homework in class just because I told him he's not allowed to play with water in school. ( I do let him play with our water pool at home). I managed to get him to read books, magazines as pastime since we don't have television at home. He gets his dose of the TV at his grandmother after school. He is also his sister's little teacher. He'd sometimes think of some skills he wanted his sister to learn, and start teaching her. It is so endearing to see his persistence and the sister's willingness to follow his instructions. He is so ready to be a big brother that he has been praying aloud to God for a baby brother or sister. I am still not sure how to handle this request since both hubby and I have finally decided that we are really done with just 2.

          Anyway, after much thought last night, I am again gearing up for more lessons at home now that I feel more energetic and healthier. I hope I will have the persistence to be more consistent. I may not be posting as much, coz I think it'll be more of reading together and discussions, and working on my selection of 'school' books with a bit of arts and crafts thrown in. The montessori materials, flash cards and educational games and programmes will still be used - but they're all the same things that I've posted before. When I bought whole sets of 'curriculum', I fully intend to finish them. The different sets of whole programs could actually last until they are around 8-10 years old. I'm still adding quality reading materials to our collection in my effort to create a print-rich environment for them. (my main problem is that my daughter loves to tear the books apart). Since last November, I've added Legos to our list of creative work and the kids have been hanging around when I bake. (I told them mummy's learning and they are very curious to see what I'm baking. I hope this will ignite some interest in the kitchen too - home economics, right? hihi)

          Why trouble myself?
Sometimes, my colleagues would comment why do I need to spend so much energy on my children. They suggested me to just send them off to tuition centres and that's it. I don't have to buy or make the 'learning' materials and spend so much money, time and energy - and tire myself. But I think this is all worth it. My only regret is that I am not able to this full time. But I am grateful that my full time work does allow me to have more time to do all these. I am willing to search, research, spend money on materials, source out specific classes that I myself is not able to teach, and even learn some of the skills myself to be more able to guide my own children. But is this homeschooling? I guess in a way, it is - for my daughter. Since she's very young, though she does go to preschool and what nots, my purpose has always been the social and independence skills. I taught her her ABC's and 1,2,3's..... and all other things - at home. - and she gets to learn to generalise them in school. As for my boy, he is still young. I will still continue to teach him myself, focusing on his strength, and at the same time allowing him to learn the social aspect in the community (in kindy and in school) - and hopes that he'll grow into a well rounded person. I talked to him alot about the happenings in school and we discussed about almost everything we can think of. In a way, he is a mature little person.

          So, will I continue this when they are older?
Yes. It is my indefinite responsibility. I will continue to 'homeschool' my daughter based on her interests and strength. And there is a term 'afterschooling' for my son. - which means teaching him things other than the things he learns in school. This will mostly be about honing his interests and strength. As for now, I can see his interests and strength is in maths, arts and music. Besides, isn't this almost a norm for students who went to private schools here? They study international syllabus and at the same time they study for Malaysian Public examination too.

          Won't this be too much for him?
Well, I think with my knowledge of the public school system, I'll be able to adjust things accordingly. That is why he needs to learn to be disciplined and use his time wisely since young, so that he'll have the ability to organize his time wisely for both school work and his interests.

          He is still young. Give him a break.
 I have my responsibility to raise up children who are well-rounded and this starts right from the beginning of their life. Pampering and shielding them from the ugly side of the society won't help them. I hope for my children to grow up able to recognize the good and the bad - and to be able to handle them properly (which is why I discussed about life and issues with them even though they are still very young). Adult life doesn't start just like that. It is continuous, and one day when they suddenly find themselves faced with adulthood and it's responsibilities, I hope they will use all the skills they've learnt since young.
       

There is no right or wrong in parenting. The same goes for homeschooling, afterschooling  or flexischooling. Every household is unique and no one approach fits into every situation. This is what fits into my family for now. Who knows, it might change as my children grow?

Updates on Joy....

I have been itching to write something about my daughter, but somehow whenever I wanted to start.... there's no words. I have no idea where to start or even what to write. I wanted to write something different, something that can lift my spirits, that makes me realize that - oh! she seemed a changed person!

     But, that's not the case. On the other hand, I am a changed person. In a short period of time I turned from a career driven wife and mother, into a worker - who is only satisfied with the small increment in salary each year, while watching the others climbing up the ladder to 'success'. Yes, 'success' as defined by different individuals. I used to be one of them, where success was defined by how big is your salary and how great is your position at work. I still remember myself during those years. The years before the diagnosis...

     I wrote about my first few years after the diagnosis here, here,here,here,here,here,here and here. 

     As I went through the posts I wrote over the years, I wondered to myself - 4 years? It seemed so long...

     Don't get me wrong. Though it's been hard on me and hubs, we still managed to find beauty and joy in the little things. God has blessed us abundantly. Our life has not been the 'hell' that we initially thought it would be. On better days, we chose to look on the bright side, and saw miracles happening - everyday. Yes, with the bleak 'future' deemed on these children with autism, I see miracles whenever I see her learning something new. 

     Back to the present time, we are still struggling. Struggling with the everyday life - at work and at home. Struggling to learn to cope as both my children are growing older each year, each forming their own personality. Struggling as I try to understand and struggling to guide my daughter to learn what she needs to know - in life skills and knowledge. Struggling as the son is slowly beginning to realize and sometimes resent the sister's condition. Struggling with the biological clock inside me, still yearning for another baby, yet too afraid to have. Struggling to cope, keeping my mouth shut - from sharing stories at home with colleagues - as they never seemed to understand - thinking that I overreacted to everything. Struggling to live a normal life - as only could be defined by us.
Don't get me wrong. I know every other family will have their own struggles. My family is not THAT unique. But then, we all learn to cope. And when the struggle become a norm, it will be less of a burden and more of a blessing. 

     My daughter has improved greatly. I have been told that by the few who have the chance to meet her 4 years ago. Yes, I nodded. Yes. She improved. But she has not improved to the phase where she is accepted without discrimination in mainstream schools, be seen as different and well - just difficult, don't bother me with her kinda attitude as shown by others towards her. They can say all the right things, but I have learnt not to even heed them - as I could see the change of expressions and tone when I asked for any little favour concerning her. - Yeah - when she doesn't bother them, all is well. 

     If I could shield her from these people, I would. But I have to face reality, that I could not shield her forever. My heart ache for her when I see her in situations like this. But she has to learn to adapt to the community - however difficult it is for me, I am sure, it's harder for her. 

     Arrgghh.... this post must be the most disorganized post I have written. (I doubt others were organized). I just type whatever that comes to my mind. I might return and do some editing, but what the heck - I am going to post this and share this out. - I might not read this post again in another few months. Besides, I am not writing for the money. So, my apologies to those who find this a bore and a waste of their time. 

It's a Saturday!

Made this as example.

By the 5 year old

by the 7 year old

Art Class at home

          I found this wonderful site where young children can learn to draw and paint. It is called Art for Kids Hub. I've tried some of the easiest paintings with both my kids and they loved it. In the past week, my boy was itching for drawing lessons. So I introduced him to the site and he has been so excited for 'drawing lessons' everyday. 

All in one day!

He started off with this foam stickers. (left me in peace at least 30-50 minutes with my girl)

I didn't want to waste the frame stickers.

Noticed the flaw with some petals? I took off the stickers a bit too quickly.

But he did the remedial work with crayons.

Practicing with lines. He needs help drawing the curvy lines.

I helped with most of this - just to expose to him the idea of a scenery. He loved it when I guided his hand to do the clouds and birds. See a dash of black in the sky? He wanted a far away aeroplane. 

Holiday fun!

Home made Hexi cards

Bingo game

Origami

Paper models.

Fork Printed Flower pictures

          Someone shared this on my FB and I thought it might be an interesting and easy project to do for my little boy. It's a great motivation for him too. Hihihi.... I handed him a stack of 'homework' to do. He sped through them without complaint, waited patiently for me to go through with him some of the difficult exercises, and happily comply with everything I asked of him.
         I got the idea from here.
       

But my boy decided to paint the background green.

Printing flowers.

I had him do 2 pictures, since we overestimated the amount of paint we needed.

Left to dry, while he had his nap.

The first question he asked when he woke up was 'Is the paint dry enough?' 

Time to paint the stems.

Wah lah.... what do you think?

A glimpse into our 'school'... (Jay)

          I try not to create competitive environment in my household. I realized long ago that comparison between my kids would end up with one being proud, and the other feeling helpless. In academics, I tried my best to provide exercises that did not undermine any of them. For instance, if my daughter is still working on the same kindergarten workbooks as her younger brother, I would photocopy them. This way, both would have black and white version of the workbooks, instead of one having the original, colouful version, and the other using a photocopied version. (I discovered this, when my daughter would take her brother's colourful book and almost tear apart the cover. Yet she never tried to destroy any of his photocopied books.)
          Anyway, this post is about my son. He is using the same 'books' I made for both of them. So, the following photos will be more or less the same as his sister's post yesterday.
But I can confidently say that, he did them all himself - after some explanation from me.

Chinese handwriting and word recognition.

Sight words.

Sight words and colours.

I'm still having him working on the simpler maths. But he is speeding through them.

more sight words exercise.

His reward for doing 'school'. 

He made this into a welcoming home card for daddy.

He is recently interested in organs. I bought the book long time ago. 

He initially told me it's gross and scary when I tried to introduce him to the book. 

Anyway, I have placed some more Scholastic book orders for more titles for him. 

We're happily surviving.... :)

          Three weeks passed by after a rather 'speechless' experience.. I am happy to note that it hasn't resulted in what was 'expected' to happen. Well, I mean, what those people expected to happen anyway.
          Life goes on for us. It's almost exam season, with my son having a pre-test for 2 weeks. The real 1st exam for him will be in another 2 weeks. Both hubby and I were trying to do revisions with him. Since we've restricted his TV time to only Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (after lessons), he is quite compliant to finish his revisions first before having his entertainment. As for the weekdays, he already have 2 nights of Chinese enrichment classes which are helping him with his Chinese. (His momma is illiterate in Chinese). We will send him to a Suku Kata BM class on Friday starting in March, which after a trial test last night, he happily agreed to go. We did not force him to attend any classes that he have no interest in. So far, the enrichment center he goes to operates on the basis of Learning through Play - and he loves playing.
          In the afternoons whenever I am free, I'll help both to do their homework or revision. At nights, we would all be asleep by 8pm. (usually).
          Another purpose of this post was to happily report my new adventure in using essential oils.

A colleague introduced me to the benefits of essential oils. As usual, my thoughts went right to my children. My boy, who often has flu and fever and my daughter, who needs help in her speech, anxiety, sensory and others. After a few weeks of research on the internet, I placed orders on several bottles of essential oils, which I think might help with my children. They are not cheap, and the bottles are small. As advised, I bought their unscented body lotion to mix blends of essential oils I'll be using everyday. 

For the money I spent on these little bottles, I wanted to make sure that it's kept properly. I can only fit 2 bottles of essential oils into these cute glass containers. I've read somewhere that the best way to store essential oils is to keep them in glass containers and away from the sun. I simply stacked these containers in a small paper bag which I can carry around the house when needed. 

          As for their efficiency, I just LOVE Peppermint. I'd bring it around in my handbag and dabbed it behind the ears for the instant 'good feel' whenever I felt sluggish. The aroma of Peppermint in the car gives me instant energy to focus in my driving too. 

          I mixed Frankincense, Balance, OnGuard and Breathe in the lotion I use on my children. Every morning, before I go to work, I'll wipe them clean with warm cloth, gently massage the lotion along the spine, behind the ears, on the chest area and a dab of Breath on the throat (for the boy). Then I'll massage it on their foot before wearing their socks. I used InTune (in a roll on bottle) behind the ears and along the spine for both of them too. I'll do this again in the afternoon, after their bath and at night before they go to bed. I started this routine on 17th of February.

          I asked hubby last night, if he notice any difference in the children after I started using the essential oils. We both agree that the boy (who already has the flu when I started using the oils on him) is no longer having blocked nose. No, we did not give him any medicine. It was a mild flu, and I did not think it was necessary.

          As for the girl, she surprised us even more. (I am not sure if it's due to the oils, as she surprises us all the time, especially when we are not expecting it). We kept a children's bicycle in a spare living room at my MIL's. The children play in there everyday, but only my son will use the bicycle and cycle around the house. MIL reported that for the past week, my dear daughter would take the initiative to cycle around the room all by herself. Usually, she had to be forced to climb onto the bicycle. And MIL also told me that the kids are playing hide and seek recently, with the boy hiding, and the girl (had to be prompted by grandma) searched for him. When she found him, she'd tap on his head. - I can only say WOW!

        Whenever I came home early from work, just in time to accompany them for lunch, I find that she is feeding herself more. She no longer waits for grandmother to feed her. (unless she is not feeling hungry)

          Yesterday, my father in law reported yet another surprise. My daughter willingly shared her snacks with her classmates!! (both hubby and I were overjoyed!) This is one of the target we had for her in school. The classmate was actually standing there, watching my daughter eat her biscuits. Without being prompted, my daughter handed her 2 biscuits - all by herself! :) It might not sound great for other children, but my daughter, whom the teachers said is locked in her own world - is noticing her classmate watching her eating her snacks, and perhaps she understands that the classmate wanted some of the snacks too. I just can't wait for more miracles to happen!!!!

          And I can't wait for the rest of the essential oils to arrive. Perhaps I'll get a diffuser in future, if the oils proved their worth. I'll give them time. Time and Prayer.