milestones

Edison at Six

I seldom write about Edison’s milestones these days because it’s not easy to capture the essence of his development now. It’s more mental and emotional rather than physical. As always, updates about a little big boy are not as much fun as those of a little baby boy.

But let’s face it – growing up is FUN. So, I need write a post about him today. At this age, this is how he is:

Edison 2

  1. He loves to talk, and he does the talking for both V and I all the times. Sometimes, we call him the ‘Rediffusion’ because he talks non-stop and there is no button to OFF. He’s funny when I’m in the mood to listen, but he irritates me when I really need some peace.
  2. He’s still gorgeously affectionate and very lavish with his hugs, cuddles and kisses. He likes nothing better than cuddling up to me as soon as he wakes up in the morning.
  3. He used to be a picky eater when he was much younger, but his eating behaviour has improved tremendously as he grows. His favourite food now is fish and chips, and sushi. He dislikes eating at hawker centres.
  4. He loves golf (not the real golf, I mean). He plays with his toy golf set every evening, and he can never get sick of it. If his passion still persists when he goes into his primary school, we will consider sending him for the real golf lessons.
  5. He loves the water, and though he can’t swim yet, he enjoys splashing about in the pool and shooting everyone with his water gun.
  6. He still enjoys mazes a lot. He likes board games and word games too.
  7. He is still a slow reader, but he has made good progress ever since he started his Phonics class. He can read a story book by himself, but he still needs some assistance from me.
  8. He is pretty independent and is happy to do things on his own. Play with his toys, do his water paintings, watch TV, run around the house, ride on his bike etc.
  9. He is quite short for his age, I think. He’s about 108cm in height and 20kg in weight. He looks more boyish now, and the only thing that hasn’t change much is the intensity of the look in his eyes, and the way he furrows his brows when he is concentrating or thinking.

 

He is almost FIVE!

Edison - 4.5 years old

I seldom write about Little Edison’s milestones these days because it’s not easy to capture the essence of his development now. It’s more mental and emotional rather than physical. Since my last update was almost a year ago, I shall try to do it today.

Anyway, this blog is supposed to document his childhood and milestones. I must remind myself not to neglect it. It’s very comforting to read these posts again in the near future, and bring back all these fond memories of him.

At the age of 4.5, he has sufficient maturity to work out how to operate something without getting too frustrated if it doesn’t work at first try. For instance, he learns how to use the TV remote control to switch channels, adjust the volume etc. He builds tower with his Lego bricks, and if it falls, he will try to build it again. His confidence improves every time he finds a solution to his problem.

Edison - 4.5 years old

School-wise, he is doing fine. I would say that he is an average student – not particularly ahead or behind of others. One key thing is that I always encourage him to be confident to speak up and ask questions, even though I observed that he tends to be shy with his teachers.

In general, he is able to use language more creatively and purposefully now. He also tries to apply the rules of grammar himself, though he doesn’t always do this correctly. Every day I have a good chat with him, and I truly enjoy talking to him.

Sometimes, I also find that his humor shows through and he makes me burst out laughing with his jokes. Just last night, he suddenly muttered “Mama, I tell you a secret! I heard ghosts!” and he came running and hid behind my back. Obviously, he doesn’t know what ghosts are, but his actions and gestures are simply too hilarious.

Edison - 4.5 years old

One thing that is unique about him is that he loves looking through photo albums and talk about the pictures, particularly events that he can remember. There is a picture of him taken when he was just born in the delivery ward, and he loves to see this picture.

When I try to explain to him on how he “came out of my tummy”, he will probe further questions like how he got out and what he was doing “in my tummy”. Yes, he is funny as that.

But one thing that rather annoys me is that he enjoys repetitive reading. He wants me to read a book to him over and over again. Most of the time, I’ll read it to him even though it’s dreadfully boring to me, but to him, it’s fascinating. I guess he just loves the familiarity of the story that is comforting to him.

So, apart from reading familiar stories to him, I gradually introduce new ones to him. At this point, he still doesn’t like reading alone because most of the books are still too complex for him to read unaided. Hopefully, he will develop his reading skills soon from his Phonics class at Jan & Elly.

Edison - 4.5 years old

My little boy is almost 5 years old now. Tell me, where has time flown?

 

Parent-Teacher Meeting 2011

I can’t believe how quickly two school terms have come and gone. Little Edison has almost completed half a year in school and the June school holiday is about to begin. No more dragging him out of bed, no more ironing of school uniforms and no more school hour rush in the morning – for one month! I really appreciate that, especially when I can sleep in for additional half an hour in the morning.

I met with his teachers yesterday during our first Parent-Teacher Meeting this year. His teacher, Mrs. Yu, handed to me his progress report and we spent the next 15 minutes reviewing it. I deeply appreciate the efforts from his teachers to compile the progress report that contains arts and worksheets that he did at school, pictures of him participating in various activities as well as development checklist.

Generally, Little Edison is progressing very well in the areas of language, maths and motor skills. His teacher was most impressed when he can recognize all the 26 letters, upper and lowercase, as well as their phonics sounds. He’s also good in word recognition. He can recognize the words “Monday” to “Sunday” and arrange them in order.

One thing that really took me by surprise in his progress report is that he can write his own name. I didn’t even know that! Apparently, the students are taught to write their names on the worksheets as soon as they receive them. Well, I sure need him to demonstrate to me tonight.

The only area that he scored an average is creative expression, which is the use of music, movement, drama, or art to communicate. He doesn’t really like singing, dancing and performances. We need to work together to nurture the creative side of him.

Overall, his level of independence has greatly improved too. I’m delighted to hear that he can do a lot of things by himself, like going to the toilet, wash his hands, eat his breakfast, take off his shoes and put them on, listen to instructions and obey rules.

I must say that I’m very thankful to the patience and care that the teachers have given to my boy. The kindergarten is well run and it has a very positive and friendly learning environment. Last but not least, we’re also appreciative of the school’s efforts to keep us informed on the latest developments in school via circulars.

 

Approaching 3.5

Our Little Edison is almost 3.5 years old. He is attending his Nursery class in a church kindergarten from 8am to 11am, Monday to Friday. I know most children behave differently after they started preschool. As for Little Edison, he becomes more chatty and sociable. He greets the neighbours, security guards and cleaner aunties every time he sees them.

No doubt, his language skills and vocabulary have improved significantly. He’s able to express his needs very clearly and his words flow easily with less efforts. Recently, he likes to talk like Swiper the Fox. He says phrases like “Oh mannn!”, “You’re too late” and “You’ll never find (something) now.” He makes me laugh.

He is still as fussy as before – especially when it comes to food. He doesn’t eat skin at all. We have to remove the skin from meat, fruits and even bread for him. He doesn’t like sands in his sandals, he doesn’t want to wear certain clothes, he wants to be changed immediately when he is wet or dirty and he fusses over trivial issues.

Tantrum becomes a daily affair now; it ranges from a short ‘easy-to-soothe’ to a long ‘full-blown’ version. It takes a lot of patience to reason out with him and to explain to him why he is wrong. When he realizes his mistakes, he will apologize to me. I give him a big hug and assure him that I still love him as always.

He enjoys writing, drawing and coloring now. I leave his pencils, crayons, markers and drawing blocks on his desk. Every night, he will sit at his desk to write and draw all sorts of things. He can write number 1, 4, 7, 9 and 10 but he’s still trying very hard on number 2, 3, 5 and 8.

Motherhood is not easy. Although I’m often exhausted with work and motherhood duties, I still feel privileged to be given the opportunity to see him growing up, to guide and teach him, to take care of him and to share with him the joy of our life.

 

Edison – 3 Years, 3 Months

Little Edison turns three years and three months old today. If you were to ask me how to describe him at this age, I would say that he is extremely active, enjoys talking and loves to ask questions.

On being active

He is on the go all the time – no matter how much he runs around, he never tires. Considering the fact that this fussy eater eats so little everyday, I really wonder where his energy comes from.

He prefers energetic movement play rather than games that require him sitting still. He is also more adventurous with play equipments now. Two weeks ago when he was sliding down a spiral slide in an indoor playground (I think the slide is quite high for his age), he told me, “Mama, no need to hold me. I’m big boy already.” I was amazed.

Enjoys talking

He enjoys talking nowadays, even when we would rather have some peace and quietness at times. He combines words, gestures and facial expressions to make his accounts more vivid and interesting. His words flow more easily with less efforts.

He is now able to use language more efficiently, partly due to his increased vocabulary and partly due to his better listening skills. He learns a great deal about language just by listening to us. His sentences become longer with more gramatical structure and they carry more meaning too.

Recently, he likes to pronounce long words with four or more syllables. He finds them very challenging and fun. He pronounced chrysanthemum as ‘chry-san-mum-mum’. When I laughed, he thought that it was funny.

Asks lots of questions

This is the toughest part to deal with. Why this, why that? His questions are more penetrating now as he seeks more detailed information from us.

Little children are naturally curious. When he asks questions, no matter how trivial the questions are, or how busy I am, I will always answer his questions in an appropriate way. Asking questions encourage thinking. Answering questions encourage further thinking. That’s how he can extend his knowledge and make sense of the world around him.

Last but not least, he is no longer so dependent on me. He strives to manage things by himself. I love to hear him say, “Mama, I’m big boy already.” But in my heart, he will always be my baby.