Lily does the “Beau Pose”
She now does it at least once a day. It is a common pose Luke takes when he is frustrated, but not enough so to really get mad about it.
Beau Pose
Developmental
Day Two Thirty
Just love what Luke is producing in the Lego room. He has gone full circle from creating his own vehicles, to saying he does not want to create his own vehicles as he became more entranced with “sets” and now he is free flowing almost every day there is a new vehicle to his stash.
Here are some recent additions:
Day Two Twenty Nine
Lily has the ability to convey almost any thought with her storage bank of words. It is amazing that with so few words, some real, some made up, she can tell us everything.
Mail pronounced meal is everything that comes in a box or delivered.
Brush pronounced Bice is everything brush, comb, broom, anything bice-able
Liquid is Unya
Owee needs no explanation
Me, Mine needs no explanation
Any ball or round object is a Baboo
Moon is Nana
Animal alive or in toy form is GeeGee I I
Dogs is a Deek Deek
Bus is Ba
Plane is P
Park is Paa
Cat is Meow Meow
Diaper is Poo Undie
All other lower body clothing is No Poo Undie
The list goes on. She makes sentences out of her words and tells all. She got swiped by a cat a few weeks ago and now refers to that episode as Meow Meow Owee (with a hand swipe gesture).
Day Two Twenty Seven
Recently I have had to grapple with mortality questions. My mother is getting quite old, my Grandmother in-law as well, but the one that has hit me the hardest is the loss of a good friend’s wife. They have two children close in age to Luke and Lily.
What has amazed and helped me is listening to the children’s acceptance and understanding of death. They do not have any fear or remorse about it, it is all matter of fact to them.
I did some research for my friend and found that what is important is NOT to say things like “they passed away” or that they have “left us”. Poetic descriptions like these make no sense to a child and therefore can create stress.
She left us? where did she go? and why can’t I see her anymore?
You have to be clear, concise and truthful about what has happened and what you get in return are thoughtful, interesting questions, like “what happened to her body?”. “I am worried if they burn her body, it will hurt her”.
This is where you help the child, by being clear, present and thoughtful.
Nothing can stop what will eventually be incredible hardship and pain for any child (or adult for that matter) who loses a parent, but I am learning a lot in this process and trying to keep it as positive as I can.
Day Two Twenty Five
Hmmm,
At preschool Luke rarely ate his lunch, often to comical ends, like this.
Now, at the end of several weeks of Kindergarten and he has eaten his entire lunch every day. Something needs to be contemplated here.
Since I was not there for his lunch time at his preschool nor his lunchtime at kindergarten, I can only guess what is going on here. I believe his pre-school has a very informal lunch approach, kids can basically eat when they want, which of course is a good thing for three or four year old, but maybe not so good for a five year old?
My assumption is that lunchtime at his new school is a set time and place, I know it is in fact and it is very formalized, they lay down a cloth napkin. Set there food out on it, then lay another cloth napkin over the top. They then have recess so when they come back in they are all set for chow.
I think that when Luke sits down and is surrounded by kids eating, he figures, OK, nothing else to do, might as well eat my lunch.
Its a really good thing for a guy like Luke, because he would be so hungry after school that he was barely capable of speech. Now he is in better spirits and it does not feel like a mad rush to get him a meal at 2:30 in the afternoon.