Little Surprises

Over the past week, there have been little things that he did which took me by surprise, They were pleasant surprises.

(1) Number 40
I was occupied with preparing materials for him, so I brought out an old toy for him to keep himself busy. It was a hexagonal container shape sorter where one end has a clock face with moveable clock hands. The clock face has minutes (5, 10, 15, 20 etc) written on it instead of the common 1, 2, 3 to indicate hours.

He took a look and said "fourty". Thinking I heard wrongly, I just said "yes", in case he did really say "fourty" but I did not echo him back to say "fourty" because I wanted to test what I heard. I approached him & asked him "where is it...can you show me?". He pointed to "40".

I was surprised. I hadnt reinforced his numbers for a very long time, having been busy learning phonics myself, preparing material & teaching him. The last time I taught him numbers, I prepared cardboard cut-outs up to 50. But back then, he showed interested up to 30 only.

I think perhaps he picked it up from TV. He watches quite a lot of TV as that's the only way he'll have his meals, unfortunately. I know it's a bad habit, one which is slow to break out of, but there's a reason how it came to be. That is a very long story not meant to be told now.

He watches educational stuff on Playhouse Disney, TVIQ & now Nick Jr (for Mandarin). TVIQ is sometimes is meant for older kids as it teaches advanced maths stuff like adding, subtracting double digit numbers, division, multiplication.

I'm just glad that he's recognises the numerals "40" to mean "fourty". Whether he knows the quantity which 40 represents & how to count from 20 to 40 is another matter!

(2) Cross hands
This incident was informed to me by my helper. He was trying to adjust his bib to the front of his chest cos it had rotated to his back (it looked like a mini cape). He couldn't. He ended up with both arms crossed over his chest, hands on opposite shoulders. That is a position that he could not do before. I'm happy that he's more flexible in that sense. I think the CST sessions twice a week & the Neurosuit helps a lot.

(3) Bumps to roti canai shop
He really does observe a lot more than I realise. Strangers often ask why he looks so angry, as he often as a frown over his eyebrows. I tell them that he's serious, not angry, serious in oberving on-goings.

In the past I found out that he observed the bumps on the road. For e.g. he knows there are 2 bumps on the road in front of his soon-to-be kindergarten. He knows how many more bumps there are on the road up to our house. He knows there are lots of bumps on the 2 roads leading to his music class.

The examples above are roads often travelled. We dont often go to the roti canai place nearby. When I told him that's where we're going, he said "3 bumps". It surprised me.

I find it strange he's so observant of road bumps. He even knows the road sign for a road bump, which is something we never taught him. When he plays with his toy cars, he makes them go over imaginary road bumps - and it's very accurate in the sense that the front tyres are lifted off the floor first, followed by the back wheels. He doesn't just lift the whole car off. Even when he's playing with his pull along toys or push toys, he insists on going over bumps, whether self imagined, or real ones which he sometimes want us to make for him.

If you have some insight on why he might be so interested in bumps, do drop me a comment or email me! I'm not worried about it but am puzzled.

(4) Counting in Mandarin
My husband has taught him the mandarin equivalent of counting 1-10. I havent been reinforcing it but he is able to recite it, thankfully. The other day, my helper informed me that he counted the drawer knobs (ee, erh, sahn) in his room in Mandarin! He was also counting his steps as he was running across his room (1-4). Reciting is one thing while counting is another. He can count in English, but he has never done it in Mandarin, until that day.

(5) Following actions of action songs on TV
In the past, he wouldn't or couldn't follow the actions of songs on pre-school programmes, whether Barney, Mickey's Playhouse, Hi-5. These days, he would sometimes follow along. His movements are not entirely accurate. For e.g. if hands are lifted straight up, he's would be half way up with his elbows bent. I'm happy that at least he's trying to imitate and his reflexes are a tiny bit faster.

(6) Hospital
I wrote about how he's learnt to "get out" of doing exercises in his NeuroSuit by saying that he's sick. He's taken it a notch higher!

My helper tested him by saying that if he's sick, he has to go to the hospital & so asked if would he like to go to the hospital. He replied "no". But that evening, when said we'll go to the park the next day, he said "I'm sick...go hospital".

I was surprised as he strongly dislikes hospitals. But in the last 2 months that he needed nebuliser, he was behaving very well during the nebuliser treatments. He was even smiling to the nurses there. I'm glad his fear of hospitals is subsiding.