Parents-Teachers Conference

On the 27th of May, we had our first PTC aka Meet the teachers session.

This was our chance to find out more about how Keston was doing in school and how he's progressing. He didn't get a very good report book due to his inability to vocalise. Teacher Stella said none of the boys in the junior class were talking yet, which is a small consolation. Overall, he seems to be adapting ok in class. He tends to run around, not wanting to sit down (as expected). He enjoys the outdoor activities, singing and dancing and he's started feeding himself (we don't really let him try at home cos too mafan :P) and he has a girl looking after him in school. We were told this little girl in the senior class has been making it her responsibility to take care of him ever since he started school. She'll bring him toys, sayang him...and even FEED him!!!! Hahaha...hilarious! We've seen her after school and sometimes she comes over to stroke Keston's arm before leaving with her grandpa.

Teacher mentioned that we should try to stop his signing so he will need to talk to get what he wants/needs.

Hopefully we'll have a less painful transition period when school starts next term. And hopefully Keston will start talking. Soon! Ball, Duck, Bird, Mama, Papa, There, Dada, is not quite enough!

Firsts

It's been a week of firsts.

On Thursday, when we reached school and HW was getting Keston out of the car seat...the little bugger did not start whining/wailing. Instead, he waved at me and gave me a flying kiss. When HW put him down in the class, he did not cling on either and gamely waved and blew kisses at HW. I was ecstatic and updated on my FB..but later on feared that I'd probably jinxed myself. Too late!

Thankfully Friday went the exact same way. Our kid has finally gotten accustomed to school!!!

For a long long time, one of my main worries, aside from his speech delay..is that Keston does not drink from a straw. I tried all sorts of straw (spongy type, regular Macdonalds type, fat bubble tea type, teeny yakult type...) and all he'd do is chew on the straw. Believe me, I tried all the techniques of dripping juice/water into his mouth and blah blah blah. But nothing worked! Once the straw was in his mouth, he'd chew till it went to bits.

Although I was fretting quite abit, I must admit I wasn't very consistent in getting him on the straw. I'd try relentlessly for 2 days and give up for the next month...and then start worrying and make him try for a day and then give up for the next month!

Knowing that he would never start sucking cos he'd rather bite..my obvious solution would be to get him a steel or glass straw. But I never got down to it....also, HW keeps insisting that he's gonna bite the glass and there would be glass bits in his mouth.

Anyway a while ago, I saw this cute Mickey Mouse straw cup from The First Years on Amazon and read that the straw was the hard type. So what the hell right? Another straw cup to add to my collection....I received the package a couple of weeks ago but couldn't be bothered to let him try. On Friday, I was abit free so I gave it to him and voila~ HE DRANK FROM THE STRAW!!!!
So yah, Keston's finally drinking from the straw at almost 22months!

Mean girl

Because HW brings Keston into class everyday, he gets to interact more with the other children. Afterwards, I'd hear about which kids liked to sayang Keston...which girls stroked his face...which boys played with him...

But there is 1 girl in particular that HW dislikes. On Keston's first week, when HW tried to settle him in class by giving him a toy to play with. This girl, J, glared at him and said "NO" then grabbed the toy away. HW was annoyed and kept droning on about how rude this girl was. When we picked up Keston, we happened to see J's grandma bringing her home. HW went "That's the girl! Recognise her face!" I was like...why?? He said "Then you can stare at her whenever you see her!" Haha...so childish right? I told him maybe Keston also snatches things from her in class?

On another occasion when Keston and another girl were crying relentlessly when being dropped off....J came in front of them and scolded them (complete with hands on hips action) "PLEASE KEEP QUIET!" while the rest of the kids would say "Baby don't cry". Again, HW was annoyed.

The 3rd occasion came when he brought K into the classroom...Another boy called out "Keston" and gave Keston a toy to play with. J came forward to stop the boy and shouted "NO!"HW couldn't hold it in anymore and asked her "Why No?" She said "Police catch!"
"Why Police catch?"
"Because they naughty!"

.....

So on our way to school everyday HW will tell Keston "If J scolds/bullies you, you scold her back ok?"

3rd week of Play school

Alamak! Just realised I haven't even blogged about Keston's first week of school and we've already reached week 3!!!

Week 1 was tough. On the first day, he actually didn't cry much cos he didn't realise he was gonna be left alone for 4 hours. On the 2nd day, he started crying as soon as Daddy took him out from the carseat. The 3rd day, he started recognising landmarks and would start crying once he realised we were enroute to school. Also on the 3rd day, he had the most horrendous nightmare/night terrors and woke up wailing at 2am. Nothing in the world could get him to stop crying, nothing in the world could get him to go back to sleep. In the end, I relented and played Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to calm him down. Worked a charm and he stopped crying. But everytime an episode ended, he'd threaten to turn on the waterworks. He refused to let me turn off the tv and sat there watching tv till 4 am, when daddy woke up and scolded him. He finally agreed to go back to the room but sat there tossing and turning till he finally fell asleep at 5am. Needless to say, we were very VERY late for school.

The whole of the first week, I had a hard time adjusting his routine. Although he'd had lunch in school at 11.30, he still seemed hungry at 12.30 after school. So after a quick bath, he would eat his full bowl of porridge. And then the whole world would come tumbling down cos he'd refuse to step into the room to nap. He'd play for abit and then start getting frustrated with everything-- his toys, me, himself. I'd endure the wailing, whining, struggling (when I try to carry him). Nothing works! He'd fly into a major tantrum and nothing could appease him. He'd look terribly sleepy but simply refused to nap. Finally at around 3pm, I'd give him his milk and he'd fall asleep drinking the milk. His afternoon naps were fretful as well and he kept jolting awake... I had to keep watch beside him to make sure he gets at least 3 hours of sleep (or he would wake up pissed off). This happened consecutively for the whole week.

The 2nd week, I decided that he probably doesn't need the additional lunch and is probably overstimulated, hence the crankiness. So, after school, he goes straight into the bath and would get his milk immediately. This seems to be the perfect formula as he'll guai guai and calmly fall asleep by 1.30pm.

Thankfully this worked out cos frankly, I could not handle his afternoon crankiness for the 1st week and was screaming and yelling at him all the time to SHUT UP and GO TO SLEEP! Baby crying + Mummy screaming...I can't imagine what the neighbours must think! :P

School-wise...the 2nd week, he seems to be adjusting better. Not crying so much during class, and starting to participate in class activities. He's still crying everyday when daddy drops him off in class. Daddy tries to settle him in class first before leaving but he will always cry when daddy goes off. Daddy has reported that alot of little girls like to surround Keston, singing around him, giving him toys and sayanging him, telling him not to cry. So sweet right?

But the little boy probably gets freaked out by people stroking his face, so he continues to cry. Sigh. Got girls sayang, still cry? Big already won't have such privilleges liao!

In case you're wondering, Mummy doesn't drop him off for class cos he's so sticky to mummy that he will cry even harder and hold on even tighter. We're still hoping for the day he happily waves bye bye and runs into class himself.