Party I

Can't believe that my baby will be 5 in just a matter of days.  Can time stop, please????

Anyway, yesterday we had his first celebration just for family members, especially for my mum who is bed-ridden.  Just a small celebration but this lucky boy got 6 super gifts! 4 legos set, 1 playmobil and 1 huge puzzle!!  He was so excited that he didn't know which to open first and couldn't focus, his mind was everywhere! lol

I remember that last year, we were so excited because for the first time, he was able to blow his own candles!  This year, he clapped his hands, sang along with us, blew the 5 candles, sang on his own for all of us to hear and said, thank you!!!  We were so, so happy!!  

Next, will be his big party this Saturday.  We really, really hope he and his friends will have fun this Saturday :))

Schedule

I think that 'schedule' is a powerful tool that can be used to help our kids.  Initially, we used picture schedule but we find that tough to use because it is difficult to carry around and sometimes, we don't have a picture for a certain activity.  But I know that some parents really source for pictures, taking photos everywhere and do up a comprehensive schedule for their children.  Kudos to these parents!

Now that Rayyan can read (thank you so much, God!), we use a written schedule for him.  We write whatever activities that we want to do with him and the schedule is updated about 3/4 times per day.

The advantages of using this schedule are...

1) He is aware of what's going to happen so it lessens his anxiety.  I mean, even for us, we want to know what we are going to do and where we are going.  Just imagine being clueless and not knowing where you are heading and ending up at a place you dislike, without any prior warning.  We will not be happy too!

2) Like I said, by doing this schedule, he is more prepared to go to school or his afternoon classes.  And since he hates his afternoon classes, we usually write some places that he likes after his classes, like Toys R Us or playground so this actually motivates him to go because he has something to look forward to.  So schedules can be used to motivate.

3) We can rope him in the decision-making and give him choices.  Whenever we write his schedule, Rayyan will come to us and see what we write so when there's a chance, we will give him options.  For example, we will ask him if he wants to go to a shopping centre or a park. 

I remember the other day, we were about to leave my sister's house and I was about to write the next activity when he came over.  I told him, "Let's go home!"  He wasn't happy and refused to let me write 'HOME' on the schedule!  So we negotiated a bit there :)

4) Through the schedule, he learns about days.  We write the day at the corner and at the beginning of each day, we ask him what day is it so now he knows all the days.

5) And through this schedule also, he learns about the places around him, like IKEA, VivoCity, Toys R Us or other places.  This makes him more aware of his surroundings.

So yes, schedule has really helped Rayyan to be more prepared and to understand the world around him better.  It is so much better than just telling him because these kids, they need to SEE.  As I always reiterate to Hubby, "VISUALS! VISUALS! VISUALS!"

Robot

Last Friday, we brought Rayyan to Toys R Us after his afternoon class and bought for him a Hero Factory robot.  I have been wanting to buy this robot for Rayyan since we went to KL and now that there's an irresistible offer ($10.90 from $19.90), I grabbed one for him!  It is pretty easy to fix this one and even though Rayyan doesn't know how to fix the robot yet, I thought that it will be great for him to observe his Daddy and help Daddy fix the robot. 

Anyway, we went for dinner after we left Toys R Us and at the dinner table, Rayyan quickly passed the box to Daddy...

Rayyan : Help me open.

After Daddy removed the pieces from the box...

Rayyan : Help me fix.

I was glad that he was pretty enthusiastic and requested pretty nicely.  After the robot was fixed, I noticed that he was able to move the arms and legs and I taught him how to get the robot to fly and to pretend to shoot.  He seems to be enjoying himself :)  

Checking out the instruction manual :)

 Fixing the robot with Daddy

Ta-da!!!!  Happy with his new robot ;))

Now that I am reflecting on this, I think that I should have more pretend play with him, like get him to talk like a robot and get the robot to fight with another robot.  And oh yes, talking about fighting, I suddenly remember a conversation that I had with Hubby about some mothers who refuse to allow their children to play with any toy guns or toy swords (even small ones) for fear that the children will become violent.

I understand the mother's point of view, that the children might not understand that it's only pretend play and copy this pretend play in real life.  Well, actually, I am unsure about this myself.  I just feel that playing with robots and toy guns and toy swords is great pretend play.  After all, boys have been playing with all these toys since a long, long time ago and they still play with these toys now.  Even if I don't allow Rayyan to play, he will see it on television or see other boys play with all these boy stuffs.

So I am following my instinct here.  I hope all these pretend play will allow him to be more imaginative and I will try my best to curb any signs of violence that arise from these pretend play and make him understand.  But, will he understand?  I hope so....

Self-Help Skill : Dressing

Teaching Rayyan to dress up on his own is pretty tricky and not really easy.  What we do is that we get him to use a stool to help him to wear his briefs and pants.  That, he can pretty much do on his own, although I must add that he needs a lot of encouragement and motivation because he gets frustrated easily.  Also, he tends to lose focus easily, looking everywhere but not at the piece of material in his hand!  

Putting on his t-shirts is harder though.  He still need help with that.  Hopefully he will master that skill soon :)

Imitate

When I told my friends of Rayyan's boot story, everybody commented on how cute he is. They also told me not to worry about him not initiating a conversation.  The thing is, I am still worried because he wasn't initiating a conversation but actually, he was merely imitating.  You see, his world now is full of imitations, for example, he will imitate an episode he saw on TV or books he read if he sees something familiar.  He will also link the things he sees or hears to nursery rhymes or songs.

For example, when he exclaimed, "My Boots!  I want my Boots!" at H&M, he was actually imitating a scene in Dora the Explorer where Boots lost his boots!  The boots were floating down the river and Boots was going after them.  So Rayyan was imitating that scene.

Also recently, Hubby wanted to go to the market to get some food stuffs. 

Me : Say bye to Daddy.  Daddy is going to the market.

Rayyan : To market, to market to buy a fat pig!!

After laughing so hard, I said, "Daddy is not buying a pig.  We can't eat pig." Hehe

Another incident was during his OT session..

Therapist : 1, 2...

Rayyan : Buckle my shoe! 3, 4.. shut the door!

And another one..

Me: Ooohhhh... you like this FEATHER on Mummy's blouse?

Rayyan : Yankee Doodle came to town, riding on a pony.  He stuck a FEATHER in his cap and called it macaroni!!

So YES, his world is full of nursery rhymes and tv shows and books he read.  And YES, I am worried that he can't answer my questions but see connections in that manner.  And YES, I'll definitely try to do something about it.

But most importantly, YES, at the same time, I am going to enjoy this moment because he really is cute and funny!!!!!  No point pulling all my hair out over this, right??