This is the mommy's thoughts that I have been wanting to blog for ,like, one month.
Let's first talk about something that just occur to me.
I was looking down at my keyboard and i saw the URL for safe use for HP keyboard.. the URL ended with the word 'ergo', which reminds me of my ergo carrier. Which I have not used for a long time because even with the ergo, Kathleen is simply a tad too heavy though she is at the lower/lowest percentile of the MOH weight chart for kiddos. Of course I am still carrying her, but the way of carrying is different, not as snuggled as the ergo or cradle carrying which I used to do when she was younger. Miss that kind of carrying. Of course she still likes to be carried that way (cradle style). Sometimes she will ask me to carry her, but will lie on the floor/mattress, and just wait for me to scoop her up into my arms and carry her to wherever she wants, as if she is still a little baby that needs to be cradled. And she will have a 'secret' smile on her lips.
Then now let's talk about other things. I went to the child care one afternoon about a month ago to pick her up, and her teacher feedback to me that 1) she wants to try everything 2) sometimes she will repeat whatever the teacher says.
Re the 'try everything', I have to say its the same at home. Nowadays, she can insist on taking off (ok, wiggling off) her clothes, including her panties, by herself. Sorry mommy, your help is not required. If I ever just helped by tugging it off by 1 inch, she will pull it up again by that 1 inch (to undo my action), and then continue to try to take off her shoes. She also wants to be the one to press the pump of the shower foam onto her hands during hand washing, and during bath, after pumping out the soap, she will be one that create the lather and rub it all over her body. During hand washing, she have to be the one that turn off the tap. If mommy turned off the tap, then she will turn it on again, so that she is (officially) the one turning it off.
Then toilet flushing - she has to be the one pressing the flush button, which, right now, is too hard for her to do. So you have a stinko toilet bowl, a kid insisting on pressing the flush button (unsuccessfully), and a mommy who is waiting for an opportunity to put her much stronger finger on the button without the kid noticing so that the job can be done and over with.
Before bedtime, she will let me on the tap for the water to fill up her mug for brushing her teeth. But she has to be the one unscrewing the cap of her toothpaste and then squeezing out the toothpaste onto her toothbrush. She is learning how to gargle btw, but most of the time she just end up drinking the tap water.
Sometimes when she wanted to add colostrum powder(?) into her milk, she must be the one opening the fridge, taking the colostrum out of the fridge, and close the fridge (which she forget to do sometimes). She will then climb up the stool which is placed next to the kitchen top, and then insist on unscrewing the cap of the bottle, and then she will try to scoop up the colostrum, pour it into the milk bottle, and stir. Then she will screw the cap back on, open the fridge dor, put the colostrum back into the fridge, before closing the fridge again. If papa ever walk in and close the fridge door for her, she will make alot of noise and insist on reopening and re-closing the fridge door again.
Determined/stubborn little kid.
On a good mood day, I will be amused by this little gal and her want-to-be-an-adult actions. But on tired days and when running out of time, I will be very frustrated that a simple act can take x times as long because she insisted on doing it on her own and her way.
Now on the 2nd comment given by the teacher. In the past 2 months, there are 2 other people giving me feedback that she repeats what they say. Alot of people know that, to a certain extent, her speech is not as fast as her peers. But what people will notice, if they ever try to have a conversation with her, is that she repeats after them sometimes. She 'echos'. There is a term given for it - its called echolalia.
Just a brief intro here, echolalia has 2 types - immediate (see Polliwogs example below) and delayed (echoing a few hours/days/weeks later). Alot of webpages associate echolalia with autism, but some typical children (using the word 'normal' here will not be fair to the other group of children) also exhibits echolalia as they learn the human language(s).
A few months ago, after the muscle-abusive (for me, at least. It was super fun for the kids) time at Polliwogs, one of the mummies has asked Kate 'did you enjoy yourself?' and she just look at her blankly and echo 'enjoy', and I have to explain that she does not understand the word 'enjoy'. Which, of course, makes me sound like a sadistic mommy which never let her have any fun. How did you teach a child the meaning of enjoy? No one ever tell me teaching language to a kid is that tough.
So when does she echo?
- when she does not understand what is being said/asked
- when she is trying to give a affirmative answer (eg, "do you want milk?" "milk")
- repeating favorite phrases (eg, "auntie beth goes home","por por close the door").
- when she is stressed/tired (eg, echo-ing '1-2-3 up' which is the message I gave before I heave her up, instead of 'mommy bao bao')
She has already shown alot of improvements since her pre-playgroup days, and is now able express much more. Just the other day, I told her about a pending dinner appointment, and then it rained. And I told her 'its raining'. And then she surprises me by replying 'cannot go', being able to express her concern that we will not be able to go out for dinner due to the rain. This could be a conversation that happens daily in a household with a 3 year old, but for me, its just starting. And with more coaching and social interaction, she will do just fine.
