From a few months back, I've been trying to teach Joshton to keep his toys and books after playing. But on most occasions, they turned into dramatic episodes of tantrums and tears as he stubbornly refused to cooperate, even thou he knew what was expected of him. I would handle it calmly and tell him in a firm tone repeatedly or just walk away if he starts his tantrums.
I haven't had much success till recently when I changed the way of asking. The magic words? - "Say bye bye"... Here's what happened last weekend:
After playing with his building blocks, I told him "Say bye bye" and started to put one block into the bag. He followed suit immediately and kept all his blocks.
Next I tried the same way on his animal flash cards. Usually he would throw them all around his room. So I started with "Say bye bye to your animals", picked up one of the cards, said "Bye bye rabbit" and put the card into the box. And voila...he picked up the cards one by one, said "bye bye (animal name)" and slotted them into the box. Yay!:D
Josh's bath time usually stretches to 30 mins, as he would play with the foam alphabets and bath toys n refuses to come out of the tub. So I decided to test the magic words again. And it worked perfectly! He was such an angel, putting back all his bath toys into the bag and came out of the tub when he was done.
My boy is not quite the obedient type and most times he will do the exact opposite of what you asked him. With this method, he didn't feel that I was telling him to do this or that. It also gives him notice that it's time to move on to something else.
Next milestone for me is to teach Josh his P's and Q's....still cracking my head for a good way to work around that!
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Tuesday 11 May 2010
2nd week at school
On Monday, I got an sms from Cherie Hearts that Josh tripped and fell on the way to the playground and bumped his forehead. He had a small scratch on his forehead as well. Was quite relieved that it was a minor accident, cos I am still quite tramatised by the last visit to the hospital when he cut his chin.
He was sound asleep when we came to visit him after work. Grandpa said that when he came back home after school, this was what he told them.... "Baby, Kick, Fall, Forehead, Cry". Pretty descriptive, huh!
Josh @ school in uniform
He was sound asleep when we came to visit him after work. Grandpa said that when he came back home after school, this was what he told them.... "Baby, Kick, Fall, Forehead, Cry". Pretty descriptive, huh!
Josh @ school in uniform
Mother's Day
For this Mother's Day, I got two presents from my darling son. The first gift was a paper flower made up of his hand prints done in school, which I was really surprised and touched to receive. The second gift was a big blue black on my hand :( ...think I got the bruise while playing tumbling with him on the bed. He can be quite rough at times.
On Sunday, we went out to celebrate with daddy's family at Majestic Restaurant in New Majestic Hotel. It's a small boutique hotel located at Bukit Pasoh Road. The restaurant has many good reviews and highly rated, so we decided to try it out. Some signature dishes that we had were Peking Duck, Wasabi Prawns, Shark’s bone soup with fish maw and beijing cabbage and Crispy Durian Ice-cream.
For the Mother's Day promo, a complimentary "Buddha jumps over the wall" was given to my MIL, and the main beneficiary was her dear grandson. After being fed the yummy soup, grandma became Josh's best friend and he kept calling her "Ah Ma". Sigh, this boy is so practical.
The funny faces of Joshton:
Pixar Exhibition @ Science Centre
Last Saturday we went for the Pixar exhibition @ the Science Centre with jiejie Kitlyn n family. The exhibition didn't turn out to be what we expected as it was more for adults who are interested in the history of Pixar and how they create the animations, but Josh had a fun time running around and we not so fun time chasing him. Both kids were quite shy with each other initially and we asked them to go to each other to shake hands. At first it was very sweet, n they shook hands n hug each other. Then I asked Josh to give jiejie a kiss. Kitlyn was shy n ran to her mummy n Josh actually chased after her to try to plant a kiss! In the end, the over zealous passionate boy grabbed her n both kids fell down....to my embarrassment!
We went to tour around the Science Centre too. I used to find the exhibits there fasinating, but now the experience seemed rather boring. At least Josh was entertained by anything with flashing buttons and watching the chick hatching.
Sunday 2 May 2010
18 months
After the 3 days at the childcare observing other kids, I came out with this assessment of Josh's development:
Social / EQ skills: Very poor - Josh is the only child and grandchild in the family, and he does not have much opportunities to mingle n play with other kids. He doesn't understand how to share or wait for his turn. He snatches toys from other children and throws tantrums when others take things that he wants. I definitely need to put more effort n attention to correct this behaviour. This is one of the main reason that I decided to put him at the childcare.
Gross motor skills: Below average - He still walks and runs on tip toes, which I hope he will grow out of it soon. At the indoor playground, he dare not crawl up the steps and obstables, and seems terrified to take the slide. The only thing he likes to play are the balls. Guess he's not a sporty child! He is also not confident to walk up steps. At 18 mths, he should be able to do so with support.
Fine Motor skills: Good - he's super good at picking up the smallest dirt on the floor (to mummy's horror) and likes to scribble and draw. He can stack up 5-6 blocks and fit simple puzzles.
Language skills: Superb - I think he is expert level with his ABCs, can recite without missing any letter, and say correctly any letters you point to him. He's moving on to A for Apple, B for Boy, C for Cat, D for Daddy, E for Elephant....to Z for Zebra. Except for a few letters like N, Y & X (which we thought the corresponding words are too hard, so didn't teach him yet), he can say out what each letter stands for. He can differentiate letters and numbers, eg saying "Letter A" or "Number 1". He can also recite 1-10 in English and Chinese without missing a beat.
Also starting to string words together, like "mummy over there", "mummy long hair", "joshton short hair" and singing a few continuous words in simple songs.
Physical growth:
Height = 83cm (his height development has slowed down, wonder is it cos he's fussy eater)
Weight = 11+kg
Hair = getting thicker, but still very sparse!
Social / EQ skills: Very poor - Josh is the only child and grandchild in the family, and he does not have much opportunities to mingle n play with other kids. He doesn't understand how to share or wait for his turn. He snatches toys from other children and throws tantrums when others take things that he wants. I definitely need to put more effort n attention to correct this behaviour. This is one of the main reason that I decided to put him at the childcare.
Gross motor skills: Below average - He still walks and runs on tip toes, which I hope he will grow out of it soon. At the indoor playground, he dare not crawl up the steps and obstables, and seems terrified to take the slide. The only thing he likes to play are the balls. Guess he's not a sporty child! He is also not confident to walk up steps. At 18 mths, he should be able to do so with support.
Fine Motor skills: Good - he's super good at picking up the smallest dirt on the floor (to mummy's horror) and likes to scribble and draw. He can stack up 5-6 blocks and fit simple puzzles.
Language skills: Superb - I think he is expert level with his ABCs, can recite without missing any letter, and say correctly any letters you point to him. He's moving on to A for Apple, B for Boy, C for Cat, D for Daddy, E for Elephant....to Z for Zebra. Except for a few letters like N, Y & X (which we thought the corresponding words are too hard, so didn't teach him yet), he can say out what each letter stands for. He can differentiate letters and numbers, eg saying "Letter A" or "Number 1". He can also recite 1-10 in English and Chinese without missing a beat.
Also starting to string words together, like "mummy over there", "mummy long hair", "joshton short hair" and singing a few continuous words in simple songs.
Physical growth:
Height = 83cm (his height development has slowed down, wonder is it cos he's fussy eater)
Weight = 11+kg
Hair = getting thicker, but still very sparse!
First days at childcare
Josh went for a 3-day trial at the childcare last week. We had been telling him for a few weeks that he's going to school to mentally prepare him for it. He probably couldn't comprehend, but seemed pretty excited about it. Honestly I had been pretty worried about how it would turn out and how Josh would react, knowing how teary he could be.
In the morning, we went to pick up Josh at 8am and walked over to Cherie Hearts 15 mins away, but as the route is uphill and downhill, we were all hot, sweaty and flustered when we reached. Here's what happened on Day 1:
DAY 1:
Josh having his breakfast (sponge cake) n watching the other children sing.
He seemed to feel out of place, in an unfamiliar place surrounded by strangers.
He didn't want to sit with the other kids and preferred to explore around on his own.
At least he liked lunch!
There are currently only 13 kids at the childcare, taken care by 5 teachers. 2 older kids are in Kindergarden level and most of the other kids are in Playgroup 2. Only 2 toddlers are the same age as Joshton in Playgroup 1. The youngest, little Aiden, is only 17 months, so constantly needs 1-to-1 care. The Playgroup 1 kids are not ready to join in the activities and songs with the older kids, so they just sit and watch or wander around themselves. They just seemed too young to play with the older kids, so I am worried that it will be the same for Joshton.
The teachers commented that Joshton's speech development is ahead for his age, as he could say a lot of words clearly. But I noticed that his motor skills are behind, as 18-month Ian could walk up and down the stairs with help while Aiden could sit on the chair by himself.
We sneaked away for an hour when he was not looking to see how he would cope without us around. When we came back, we could hear him brawling from downstairs, crying for mummy...*heartbreak*. He was all teary and I took quite a while to calm him down.
When we left at noon after lunch, he knocked off immediately the moment we put him in the stroller. A tired and eventful first day for him.
DAY 2:
In the morning, I asked him if he wanted to go school and he smiled. Perhaps he thought we were just going "Gai Gai".
We stayed by his side the whole time, so not much teary drama on Day 2, except for a few childish tantrums.
The boss, Andy, observed that Josh is not the active type but the bookish type. He doesn't go for the toys but likes to read the ABCs and books. When we brought him outside to play with the toy cars, he didn't fancy them and went for the ball instead. And then he saw the drum set....n broke it :(
DAY 3:
We rented a car that morning after 2 days of walking in the scorching sun. My mum came along to check out the place too and hubby thought the boss Andy must have felt super stressed with her nagging. But he was very nice and accommodating towards us for the 3 days.
It's Day 3, but Josh still didn't want to join in with the other kids, even with me around. He refused to sit down even for a minute. Maybe with his character, he's not suitable for structured learning. Would the Montessori learning method be better for him? hmm....
We went to hide again when he was distracted and resisted coming out when he cried. Come Monday, he will be there alone by himeself, without mummy and daddy. It really broke my heart when he kept calling out for mummy, and we came out to comfort him after 30 mins.
I am really worried about tomorrow. He will be going by school bus but I have asked to the bus driver to let my mum go with him for the first 2 days. Hope he will adapt fast to the new place.
In the morning, we went to pick up Josh at 8am and walked over to Cherie Hearts 15 mins away, but as the route is uphill and downhill, we were all hot, sweaty and flustered when we reached. Here's what happened on Day 1:
DAY 1:
Josh having his breakfast (sponge cake) n watching the other children sing.
He seemed to feel out of place, in an unfamiliar place surrounded by strangers.
He didn't want to sit with the other kids and preferred to explore around on his own.
At least he liked lunch!
There are currently only 13 kids at the childcare, taken care by 5 teachers. 2 older kids are in Kindergarden level and most of the other kids are in Playgroup 2. Only 2 toddlers are the same age as Joshton in Playgroup 1. The youngest, little Aiden, is only 17 months, so constantly needs 1-to-1 care. The Playgroup 1 kids are not ready to join in the activities and songs with the older kids, so they just sit and watch or wander around themselves. They just seemed too young to play with the older kids, so I am worried that it will be the same for Joshton.
The teachers commented that Joshton's speech development is ahead for his age, as he could say a lot of words clearly. But I noticed that his motor skills are behind, as 18-month Ian could walk up and down the stairs with help while Aiden could sit on the chair by himself.
We sneaked away for an hour when he was not looking to see how he would cope without us around. When we came back, we could hear him brawling from downstairs, crying for mummy...*heartbreak*. He was all teary and I took quite a while to calm him down.
When we left at noon after lunch, he knocked off immediately the moment we put him in the stroller. A tired and eventful first day for him.
DAY 2:
In the morning, I asked him if he wanted to go school and he smiled. Perhaps he thought we were just going "Gai Gai".
We stayed by his side the whole time, so not much teary drama on Day 2, except for a few childish tantrums.
The boss, Andy, observed that Josh is not the active type but the bookish type. He doesn't go for the toys but likes to read the ABCs and books. When we brought him outside to play with the toy cars, he didn't fancy them and went for the ball instead. And then he saw the drum set....n broke it :(
DAY 3:
We rented a car that morning after 2 days of walking in the scorching sun. My mum came along to check out the place too and hubby thought the boss Andy must have felt super stressed with her nagging. But he was very nice and accommodating towards us for the 3 days.
It's Day 3, but Josh still didn't want to join in with the other kids, even with me around. He refused to sit down even for a minute. Maybe with his character, he's not suitable for structured learning. Would the Montessori learning method be better for him? hmm....
We went to hide again when he was distracted and resisted coming out when he cried. Come Monday, he will be there alone by himeself, without mummy and daddy. It really broke my heart when he kept calling out for mummy, and we came out to comfort him after 30 mins.
I am really worried about tomorrow. He will be going by school bus but I have asked to the bus driver to let my mum go with him for the first 2 days. Hope he will adapt fast to the new place.
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