Some new things to share:
- Matai has started to bang his head on the floor when he is upset or frustrated. He is hitting it really hard and then becoming even more upset when he realises he has hurt himself. This is new behaviour and I'm hopeful it has a brief phase but I would love to hear if he is doing it at preschool or if it is just with his parents. We are trying to use the word 'gentle, be gentle' to draw attention to stopping it. Would love any advice anyone might have?
- We have had an initial meeting with Jenny re choosing a school for Matai (and with Mia in mind). We are now slowly in the process of visiting schools to gather information and find the 'best fit' for all of us.
- Categorising - we have noticed a little more grouping and lining up of objects shapes, game pieces. He now likes to unload the cutlery from the dishwasher into the right places in the drawer and he makes not a bad effort. He knows which of his clothes go in which drawers and can make an admirable attempt at putting them back after emptying them... (whilst he is supposed to be sleeping!).
- Playacting - Matai has recently pretended to cry, for fun. And it is funny too. may be something to look out for though. :)
Speech
- We have been having a few more 3 word phrases from Matai, and have even felt like we have been having a conversation a couple of times! I am more and more aware of how much Matai is understanding now. He listens in on our adult conversations and sometimes acts accordingly (eg, gets whatever object we were talking about or gets his coat if we have been discussing what we are going to do next).
- Over recent weeks, I have heard Matai initiate more single words than ever before. The key here is initiating because they are all words that we know that he knows but he usually only uses them after we say them first. Examples have been walking out into the rain and him saying 'rain' and 'wet', pulling on my necklace and saying 'pull' and 'push'.
- And we had a very clear question word recently too. 'Daddy, where? (weeya?), directly after Aaron had walked out of the room. :)
- One of the IDP goals was to sign 'play' with the other kids at preschool and we have seen him do this at home now. It wasn't obvious, but it was repeated when we made a point of asking about it. It might take a bit longer to build confidence to use it at preschool, but it is awesome to see it eventuating, and especially because it is a direct result of someone else's teaching! Yay. :)
Anyway that's us. Nothing really big, but it has been a while since I've been on here. Thanks for reading.
