A 2.5yrs old boy

24 February 2014 -  Jonathan turned 2.5 year old or 30 month old. When he turned 18 months or 1.5 year old, he was enrolled into the playgroup and that started his preschool education. We didn't consider or emphasis too much on his academic progress, rather giving more attention to his well-being.

Now that he's promoted to Nursery 1 (N1), a sudden shift of attention to the academic progress highlighted all the inadequacies he had. One major problem was his speech which we sought professional help earlier this year. However, was it a true cause of speech deficiency or was it a case of stressful parents, I couldn't really distinguish the difference anymore now.

To track the Jonathan's development progress, I have started to record down my observation. Just like running an experiment in a lab, observation made at each stage would be a great way to track what's good, what's bad, what's right, what's can be improved. A final conclusion could then be drawn with solid evidence .

Speech

He started with a lot of "ah", "eh" for us to fill in the gaps and ever since we started his speech therapy, he had added onto his vocabulary with a lot more action words. Hence, we are hearing less of the ah and eh and more of single to 2 words used. Recently, he has also been able to answer our questions with definite answers and sometimes, surprised us with a sentence (3-4 words at one go).

Darren felt it was a case of us being too stressed out rather than Jonathan not able to speak.

While the speech therapist provided some helpful tips to get Jonathan into talking mode, I always felt discouraged after each session. Perhaps it was the expectation that wasn't aligned. Nonetheless by tracking his advancement in black and white, we know that Jonathan is definitely progressing.

Motor Skill

his HDB version

This little boy has grown to love music and dance. Dancing to tunes and jumping whenever he is happy. He would say "No" when I hit a wrong note on the piano and does his "karaoke" singing with the music CD. It is a no wonder that he has grown so much taller (standing at 91cm. 12.7kg).

I also discovered he could stack things real high and squeaked in delight at his "tall building". He built his version of HDB flats with the mega blocks and then proceeded to tell me who stayed in it on Sunday morning.

He could also managed his way up with stairs independently without holding onto any railings or our hands. This… surprised me and taught me that I have to learn to let go because he is no longer a baby.


Emotional Development

injury proned Jonathan

He cut his lower lip again when he tripped and fell while drinking from his water bottle. It was pretty nasty with bleeding and abrasion around his mouth area. Yet, this little boy only cried for a minute and thereafter, regained his cheerfulness.

While he is resilience to setback and generally a cheerful boy, we are a little concerned about his social skill. Everyone in his class seems to have a good friend and when we probed him who's his best friend, his answer was no to everyone in the list. Instead, he declared that didi, Matt Matt is his best friend.  I mean it is wonderful that he loves Matt and wants to include him in all activities but it is sad to think he is a loner in school.


In another 6 months' time, Jonathan will turn 3. When he was a tiny baby, I often wished that time would go fast so he would grow up faster. But looking at how fast time flew by, I wish that time would slow down a little so we could catch up what we had missed out.

Another irony of life.