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Monday, December 1, 2008

Changes over the year

This year, I noticed that Samuel has changed alot, especially in terms of his attitude, behavior and academic. Year 2008 is going to end soon and I want to recap what has happened for the past 1 year.

Character
We are very happy that he has changed from the "fear of sound" (cry baby) to a less concerned about loud sounds, little boy. He doesn't ask as much questions on sounds as before. He still doesn't like and is still a little fearful if someone laughs loudly, but at least he doesn't cry now.

Besides the fear of loud sounds, he is not such a clean freak as before. At least now if he sees a small dot of dirt or a small dot that is not even dirt on the chair, he is willing to sit upon our request.

Samuel is still very shy with others. When he see his friends, especially if they are with their parents, he doesn't greet them. No matter how I ask him to say hello, he still close his mouth. I hope that by next year, he can overcome his shyness or start to be more sociable.

He is still as naughty as a monkey at home. No changes since beginning of the year. He can be an angel or a devil to Jesse, depends on his mood. When he is a devil, not only he bullies Jesse, he also teaches her bad things.

Samuel needs to be fed. He has only fed himself once when he was 2. His eating habit has improved. From 1.5 hours to an average of 40 minutes feeding time. If we don't feed him, it either takes him 2 hours to eat by himself (which also require alot of patience from us) or he doesn't eat at all.

Samuel is not an expressive boy. He doesn't know how to express himself well. He talks alot but he is not very good at communicating. Usually we have to ask questions, only then he answers. Infact, sometimes when we ask him simple questions (eg what he does in school), he doesn't know how to answer us.

I'm not sure why but most of the time he repeats after himself what he had just said, in a softer tone. As if he is telling himself what he just said. Probably it is because he speaks before he think. So he needs to repeat after himself, indirectly telling himself what he has just said.

Reading
I am not sure credits go to Phonics or Glenn Doman. Daddy said its both. I am not very sure about his peers but he can read alot of simple story books. But certain words that he says it, it is full of Filippino accent. Hope he can change that.

I have not been spending time in reading him stories. Instead I started to teach him some simple mandarin few months ago. He can now recognised the words better than me.

Writing
I can still remember last year this time, Samuel can hardly write. We can hardly see what he writes. The words that he traces were very faint. Now, not only he can trace, he can write very well. Besides alphabets, he can spell simple words and write some Chinese characters too.

Drawing
Samuel loves art and craft. He started attending art classes in March. From doesn't know how to draw anything to be able to draw with assistance. If we draw simple things, step by step, he will be able to follow it quite well.

Music
Besides art and craft, Samuel loves music as well. According to his music Teacher, he has perfect pitch. During their lessons every week, the teacher will play and teach them different tones. Probably he has a good listening skills, so he will be able to pick up all the tones. He has finished his 44 week course and should he continue with the current music school, he will goes into a different 44 week course next year. We would like to see him play an instrument.

Swimming
I must say that swimming is one of the extra activities that he has improved alot. He loves to play with water but he is afraid of swimming. He started his swimming lessons 2nd quarter of the year. From doesn't know how to swim and only willing to splash the water, now he is be able to swim with high arms (free style) and round arms with his head up and breath. He has not gotten the right techniques in round arms and kicking his feet (he bends his knee when he kicks) but he should be able to survive in water for a few good minutes without us.

Cycling
He only learnt how to cycle (with support) this year. He managed to go 5km in cycling without stopping and resting. He definitely has better stamina now.

5 comments:

Agnes Khoo said...

Bravo Samuel! Keep it up! Thumb up for you!

MeRy said...

A little boy has grown up to be a big & smart boy.

Chinneeq said...

Samuel will be very leng chai in future!

slavemom said...

Well done, Samuel! He's improved a lot in many aspects. Vy impressed that he can read quite well at his age.
Btw, got a tag for u.

LHS said...

don't worry, i think he will swim with right techniques in no time :)

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