Beautiful day!

Had an early start. He woke before 7am! He was all bright and sparkly eyed, moving around the room while mama was hoping for a few more minutes of sleep. I had to get up when he found his bouncy glow-in-the-dark ball and wanted to throw it down the stairs. Ooo, greeted by unpleasant strong smoke, probably some forest fire again.

Anyway, we then ended up reading yesterday's paper downstairs. I find that reading the newspaper is a good way to get in the practice for his sight words.

I thought it'd be one of those hazy smog filled days again. It's turned out to be such a truly beautiful day today! Just take a look at the photo above. These days it's rare to have sunny clear blue skies. Even rarer to have it accompanied by a breezy wind to take the edge off the heat. It's perfect! Reminds me of carefree relaxing Sundays back when I was a student overseas with few worries. If the temperature was lower, it'd be perfect for a picnic under a tree. I'm so blessed to be able to enjoy it (because I've to care for him), whilst other mums are stuck in an office.

He was upset over an incident, so to distract him, we wandered to a bedroom upstairs. The curtains were closed. The wind was getting quite gusty, making a beautiful sound from the rustling of the leaves. Decided to focus on his auditory sense.

Earlier, he heard the sound of noisy construction vehicles in the distance & said "digger" but I didnt understand him with his poor pronounciation. "Bulldozer" he said, trying to make himself understood. Ah! Then, I understood him. From a young age, I played simple games with him so he'd be aware of his surroundings, using his auditory sense. So nowadays he points out noises made by a fire engine, police car, ambulance (based on the sirens), long truck (heavy vehicles passing by), old Proton (cars with modified exhaust pipes, revving it up). He's crazy about cars, so that's what he focuses on!

I digress. This time round, we listened to the wind. I asked him what he thought was making that sound. He said "I dont know". I offered some suggestions - waterfall, water gushing down the drain. He thought for a moment, then said "buush...buush...buush" accompanied by his hand gesturing from left to right. He was referring to the fire hydrant incident the other day, when the water company was washing its pipes (see earlier post).Then I got him to say "fire hydrant". I took the chance to point out the difference. The fire hydrant incident did indeed sound like "buuush, buuush, buuush" but this sound now was more like "buuuuuuuuuusssssshhhhh", with hand gesturing the difference (staccato versus a note on hold).

I opened the curtains & showed him that the sound was the wind making the leaves rustle. Then I shared with him why I thought it was such a beautiful day. While lying in bed, we gazed at the blue sky, the lush foliage & listened to the wind (and the tick tock made by the clock as he pointed out!) I took this chance to introduce new vocabulary - rustling leaves, gusty wind, wind picking up etc. Beautiful day indeed. Shame my husband couldn't get off work to enjoy it with us.