Monday 8 January 2018

Where did 6 er, 9 months just go??!!

So I went to write this update and I found a draft named "July already?" - uh, yep.

And then it was October.

So last you heard it was March and we had started kinder. We're well used to kinder now.
Since May Jacinta has been attending short-day child care two mornings a week as well. This is in a small room of up to 15 kids of mixed ages. It's perfect for her, because her abilities are of mixed ages. She fits right in!
I drop her off, she waves me off, gets stuck into it and then leaves giggling and laughing.
It's been very good for her speech. We've also started her at speech pathology sessions. The place we go to is fabulous. They build a relationship before they even start, then they go to a gym room and play basically whatever she wants to, building language as they go. Our goal is to have enough language to really interact with the 4yo kinder kids next year. I think we're on track.

Her language is improving so fast, we're now at a point where she and I can have a small conversation, back and forth a few times, and she will put three concepts together - oh, right, ok mum etc. She routinely orders her sisters around, 'come on Yaya, now!' or orders me around, 'Mum, sit down!'. Her language is of course much more varied at home than it is out and about, but she's 4. My children wouldn't say 'boo' to anyone in a foreign environment at 4. They'd come and whisper to me, maybe.

It's interesting to see how she goes in different places. It seems she feels more comfortable at child care than at kinder. I wonder if it's because they also focus on building a relationship with one carer above the others, according to who the child gravitates to naturally. It might also be because she isn't obviously different in terms of ability.

Anyway, what can she do?
Let's see.

She is very helpful around the house. She will empty the dishwasher for me, putting all the crockery and cutlery away in the right places.
She can walk some long distances now, and I can get away without the pram sometimes, if she's not tired.

Recently I had to go to the supermarket with her and I couldn't bear the running around that so often happens with little kids, so when she asked me if we could buy chips, I said that if she stayed with me, right by my side and didn't run off at all, we could buy chips. She totally did it. From go to woah, from the moment we stepped into the shop, she held my hand and didn't run off, was totally grown up, asked every couple of minutes again about chips - and I reiterated that we'd get them at the end if she kept holding on and staying with me, and she did it. That was such a win!!

We've made inroads with toileting too. I had tried to get her trained earlier in the year but we had issues with the actual toilet as opposed to the potty, and they don't have potties at child care or kinder.  Then a couple of months ago she started telling me she wanted to go. I sweetened the deal by letting her watch a toileting video on my phone, but then I got too comfortable and left her with it while I went and did something - and came back to find it IN the toilet. One new phone later and she's not allowed to touch it, so the interest has wained....need a new incentive. But we're getting there!

She knows most of the words to Let It Go - it had to happen, I guess.

She can put on clothes - most of them. She is a prolific painter.
She can turn on the TV and put a DVD on.
She can draw a circle and put eyes and a line in it and it's called 'Daddy'.
She sometimes goes to sleep in a big girls' bed - and has told me she wants a proper bed, not a cot.

The thing I find most exciting right now is that she seems to have taught herself the alphabet.
We were sitting on the couch and she was on Daddy's lap, and casually named every one of the letters on his SOCCEROOS top.
All that time letting her use my phone (not on the toilet) has not been a waste it seems.... (Starfall.com app is brilliant!)
She can now name - by name, by phonetic sound, or both - every letter of the alphabet. She can pair the lower case letter with its upper case equivalent. Not too bad for 4 with a year off sick!
 I recently found the magnetic fridge letters I've been keeping on top of the fridge for the past couple of years and gave them to her. She loves them!! Now we're in alphabet overload because one thing I know is that the more you do the thing you can do, the easier it is to move on to the next thing.

And what next? Swimming is the next thing. We'll see how that goes.
Getting ready for 4yo kinder, which is two full (longer than school)  days a week.
(More free time for Mummy....)
Maybe possible sleep apnoea - still waiting on the appointment for that one.
Then seeing if we think another surgery is the right option. I'm really hating the thought of more surgery for something that's not life or death, especially when she's well old enough to resent us for it and maybe not appreciate the difference it makes. We're now up to really assessing how much something will benefit her - in her estimation as well as ours. She is alert and paying attention. If I say something she is interested in and she doesn't get it, she'll ask me to repeat myself or get a further explanation - and then I'll get an 'oh, right'. She cares. The stakes are higher. We'll see.

But for now, the weather is warmer. Dresses and skirts are the flavour of the month. Swimming is one of her favourite pastimes. She's looking forward to her birthday, and would like a party at the pools, not the hobby farm. (We might have to negotiate on the pools, for 4 year-olds!) And we see whether she'll learn to read fluently or talk fluently first!!

And then it was January!!!

Birthday post coming up!!!