Stayed home this morning

He had a slight fever last night. Restless sleep too. So, decided to keep him home for one more day. Will likely go to kindergarten tomorrow.

So far, these are the things he did today, in no particular order...

1. Decorated the christmas tree
We're doing it in bits and bops. Wherever there's a bit of time and if he feels like it, we decorate it together. He did put up quite a lot of the baubles yesterday and the days before that, but today he wasn't keen. Perhaps the novelty has worn off. Perhaps he's caught on that mama's sneaky and turned it into some kind of fine motor activity. The tree is far from complete. Perhaps I'll have to finish it off myself but I'd rather he help.

2. Made a greeting card
Very much a fine motor activity. This time he wanted to use the glitter glue stick. He used various things for today's session: Crayola marker (finally got the washable ones), a large roller stamper, a small roller stamper, stickers. For yesterday's session, it was chunky crayons, stickers, Crayola's TaDoodles, small roller stamper.

3. Dug out the alphabets from his foam alphabet puzzle
After digging them out of their frame (finger strength needed, so I allow the mess), he decided to throw them over the staircase banister, down to the lower level. At times it got stuck and he had to retrieve it. So, from the location he chose, he had to throw quite hard and far in order for it to fly/drop all the way down without being stuck. That's different from his usual throwing of the balls downstairs. Balls bounce easily downstairs. Foam bits dont. The banister is higher than the safety gate so he had to stretch, but he was also on tip toes to reach higher.

I tried to turn it into a puzzle activity, as part of tidying up, but he wasn't interested. Perhaps I can do puzzles, with a proper puzzle set later today.

4. Watched Ni Hao Kai Lan
Today's episode taught the value of practising/trying again when learning a new skill. It's an important lesson that's also taught in his music class. Mandarin words taught: shang (up) and shia (down). He did repeat shang when asked to.

Tried to get him to suck on the straw (oral motor activity - I'm sneaky) while he watched the show. He only sucked a little, I think because I used a different tumbler where the straw part jutting out was very short. That meant that he had to use his lip muscles a lot more to hold onto the straw, use cheek muscles more to get stronger negative pressure and he cant quite bite down on the straw to assist.

The theme for today's episode was putting on a music show where everyone plays an instrument, except the koala who likes to sing. So, I took the opportunity to bring out some instruments - xylophone, wooden frog with jagged spine, castanets. I was very happy to see that he can now clack the castanet using his right hand. That's progress! He cant do it with left hand, and that's to be expected since he rarely uses his left hand.

5. Read a book together
It was "The Spiffiest Giant in Town" by Julia Donaldson, the same author of famous book "The Gruffalo". We didnt finish the book cos he had a toileting accident (he forgot to say he wanted to go toilet to urinate).

I might buy that book myself cos I like the rhyming and simple but witty writing style. Love the illustrations too. I'll read through the book first before reading it aloud to him so that at times when needed, I can improvise.

6. Fed his fish
He uses his words when it comes to his fish. He says things like
"Fish hungry. I'm hungry too."
"Where's the big fish, mama?"
"Fish hiding. Fish scared. Fish scared of me. Fish scared of me and mama."

Papa has promised to buy him some guppies for his birthday. Papa says it's more meaningful cos he can choose them himself and bring them home from the shop.

7. Shower
Of course, I incorporate other activities when I shower him...but only sometimes when I'm not in a rush. He either learns to soap up himself (self care), or squirting using a spray bottle (finger and hand strengthening), or squirting an empty shampoo bottle (strengthening his grip). Today he was busy filling up his empty shampoo bottle with the slow drip of water from the shower head, and then emptying out and repeating. That requires hand eye co-ordination and faster reflexes. He figured out it's faster when the water is turned on full. So he tried to lift the tap to turn it on, but thankfully he's not figured it out yet (or else I'd get all wet).

8. Lunch
He didnt finish his lunch. Not sure if that's due to a poor appetite caused by being ill or from the lack of exercise. Just before lunch he was saying "I'm not hungry" and "I don't want lunch". He prefers western food like spaghetti, pasta bake, shepherd's pie (today), homemade pizza, baked chicken. Perhaps because it's less dry?

Later today, we'll go for his CST and I'll try to get in more fine motor skill activities. Right now, he's having his nap and I'll try to get some errands done.