Just to keep tab on Ian's developments...
Weight: ~14kg
Height: 94cm
Sadly, he has not been putting on much weight recently because he has been falling sick every month. We have started him on Sambucol as well under his PD's recommendation, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will work better than his previous supplements. He is also taking cordycep soup every Sunday at his Por Por's house.
Motor Skills:
- Alternate feet going up and down the stairs independently. (Since he slipped and cut his lips in February this year, we had not allowed him to climb stairs independently until recently.)
- Hops like a frog, and walks sideways like a crab.
- Playing ball games: kicking, throwing, rolling.
- Drinks water from a normal cup (we are giving him with only 1/4 filled for a start).
- Puts on and removes his shoes.
- Brushes his front teeth and some parts of the inner sides.
- Uses a blunt metal scissors to cut (with supervision).
- Builds block structures that are vertical and horizontal.
- Thread wooden blocks with a shoelace.
- Self-feed, though only at the beginning of meals, because he loses interest in food very quickly. However, his teacher mentioned that he is self-feeding in school.
- Washes and dries hands at the toilet with the help of a stool. Sometimes, he gets too engrossed till Daddy has to 'remind' him to stop playing with the water.
- Takes off jacket, pants and diapers, and loose-fitting or stretchy tees. However, still needs some help with his shirts and normal tees. Sometimes, he is able to put on pants properly without help.
- Opens doors (inwards and outwards) by turning the knobs.
- Wiggles his toes and thumbs.
Cognitive/Language Development:
- Knows his basic shapes: circle, square, rectangle, diamond, star, crescent, oval, dome/semi-circle. However, cannot differentiate between a pentagon, hexagon or octagon. To him, they are all 'hexagons'.
- Counting objects up to 4.
- Recognises numbers up to 11 or 12.
- Recites numbers up to 13, sometimes more.
- Sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".
- Getting more talkative: can join 2-3 words together, and say words with more than 4-5 syllables (eg. helicopter).
- Differentiates helicopter and airplane by hearing and by sight.
- Knows that a cow moos, a pig oinks, and a duck quacks (he imitates this with the action of flapping wings).
- Can name the primary colours (red, blue, yellow) and others (white, black, pink, purple, green, orange, brown).
- Knows his own name (finally!) and refers to his belongings as "Ian's".
- Recognises all his uppercase alphabets, and according to Daddy, all the lowercases too.
- Knows that a cat is "neko" too.
- Writes numbers 1 and 6.
- Draws horizontal and vertical lines, circles (though far from a perfect one) and spirals. He can also draw an apple, pear, or orange at whim, and also attempted to draw his Daddy's face.
Social Development:
When bringing him to school, he still displays his stickiness to us by clinging to us for some time before finally settling down in the class. Perhaps, this is due to his frequent absence from school that he is still not very well-adapted to going to school, like his other classmates who have no issue when their parents say goodbye. His teachers informed us that he has improved a lot since he first joined. At the beginning, he would keep a distance from the rest and was afraid to join the group in their story-telling sessions. Now, he is able to join them freely and sometimes, plays with the others too.
Other notes:
We are still working on his temper management. We have consulted an occupational therapist for his behavioral problems, and in the first session, she has advised us to work on pre-empting him on what to expect next. For example, when we are about to end something that he is playing with, we can countdown the activity with him before ending it. She has also advised us to work on a timetable, and this is something that she will be demonstrating in the next session on how to facilitate it.
His current favorite characters are Elmo and Ernie, and he enjoys staring at the pictures of the Sesame Street books that I have gotten for him.
Some of his fave books at the moment:
- The Blue Balloon (Great recommendation from a friend again!)
- Too Big for Diapers
- Big Enough for a Bed
- Chugga-Chugga Choo Choo
- Tugga-Tugga Tugboat
Miscellaneous Resources:
Height (for boys) Percentile Chart
Weight (for boys) Percentile Chart
Weight-Height Chart for Boys
Milestones (Babycenter)
