All About Your Child

Since my little one has turned 3 on Sunday, we called up the Polyclinic to schedule him for the development assessment sometime next week.

So while we wait for that day to come, we went through the development checklist given. A whole list of stuff, which we had to put a tick on the “Yes” or “No” box, before Binbin goes for the test at the Polyclinic. Do you know of a 2-3 years old kid? Could he or she do these:-

24mths – Your child can completely remove any of his own clothing such as the shirt, shoes or pants.

24.5mths – your child plays imaginatively, like playing with a doll and pretending to comb the doll’s hair.

34mths – your child can put on any of his own clothing like underpants, socks or shoes.

45.5mths – your child uses a friend’s name when referring or speaking to the friend.

23/29/35.5mths – your child can put 4 blocks, 6 blocks or 8 blocks, one on top of the other, without the blocks falling. This applies to small blocks of about one inch square in size.

38.5mths – demonstrate drawing a vertical straight line to your child and tell him to draw one like yours. Answer “yes” if he can make a fairly vertical line of less than 30 degrees inclination. He is not allowed to trace the line and the line should be more than 5 cm long but does not have to be perfectly straight.

46.5mths – draw two lines, 4 and 5 cm long, side by side on a card. Ask the child to point to the longer line.

25.5/28.5mths – show your child 5 black and white drawn picture cards, size of 6 by 8 cm, of a dog, bird, fish, bus, and baby. When asked to point to each picture, one at a time, making sure the pictures are being moved around after each time, he can point 2 pictures and 4 pictures correctly.

27mths – your child uses a combination of at least two words to make a meaningful phrase that indicated an action like “play ball”, “want drink”.

30/37mths – show your child 5 black and white drawn picture cards, size of 6 by 8cm, of a dog, bird, fish, bus, and baby. When asked to name each picture, one at a time, he can name 2 pictures and 4 pictures correctly.

40mths – When asked “How old are you?”, “Are you a boy or a girl?”, “What is your name?”, your child gives the correct answer 2 out of 3 questions.

21.5mths – your child can walk up several steps of the staircase by himself. He may use the wall or rail for support but not hold on to a person.

24.5mths – your child can walk down several steps of the staircase by himself. He may use the wall or rail for support but not hold on to a person.

26mths – without holding on to any support, your child can kick a small ball like a tennis ball in a forward direction.

32.5mths – without holding on to any support, your child can jump up with both feet off the floor at the same time.

33mths – your child can throw a small ball overhand, not sideways or underhand, straight towards you with reasonable aim within your arm’s reach and between your knees and head.

Just like I’ve mentioned in that post, Binbin’s development has always been on the express train. He is able to do (sometimes even better) what a child, who is 9 months older than him, does. So this was chicken-feet to him.

So how did your child fare?

Keatkeat has always been a extra-ordinary kid. A very understanding, matured, well-mannered and kind-hearted child in every way. He makes me so proud to be his Mommy!

However, I know very well that this year will be a challenging year for me to handle Keatkeat. I was prepared for this and so I thought I was.

His 4-year-old Characteristics are blowing my mind away! From a very tame little lamb (he was born in the year of the goat) to a ferocious and unpredictable goat.

He wails at the top of his voice when something go against his will. The daily habit of snatching back his toy from his little brother has become a crying protest. He just sits there and CRY.

When he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, he cries!

When we walk abit faster than him, he cries!

When Binbin gets into the car faster than him, he cries!

When Binbin finishes his food faster than him, what does he do? THAT’S RIGHT, CRY!

As if crying is not enough, he starts JUMPING in public when he wants something out of the blue! We were shopping happily, all of a sudden, he started jumping up and down and almost bursting into tears, “I want to go in and see that toy car!”

Me: “Keatkeat, you can just tell me that nicely. You do not need to jump and cry. You know if you tell me nicely, I would definitely bring you into the shop. This jumping is unnecessary. Stop immediately before we go into the shop.”

Keatkeat: “Sorry Mommy. I will not do that again.”

In the past, he really keeps his promise. But now, NO! In less than 10 mins, he was back to his tantrums again.

Many say I am a very patient person, but hey, there is limit to one’s patience ok?! What’s my excuse? I am a human after-all!

But one thing for sure, I will not scream at my child in public. I guess I am too proud to embarrass myself or my kid. So I squat down and repeated myself. But dear Papa was out of his patience level and shouted at the 4-year-old kid, “Do it one more time and we are going home!”

Just as I am typing this, Keatkeat is emotionally unstable again! (Deep breath….) Here I go again. That’s it for today’s post, wish me luck and lots more patience. Man! I really need that!