Little Missy

(Not looking at you for a photo, Mom!)

The page for the Preschooler needs an update.

She has not been a Little Tortoise (Skilpadjie) since the very beginning, and we have now seen the Toddler phase pass well.
The baby is a Toddler, and the Toddler turned into a Preschooler at 4 years at the end of last year.
(Just a little bit of tantrum behaviour left, but not that much!)

She's a Little Missy now!

I get sad when I look at how small she was and how quickly she has changed into this bright and opinionated and chatty little girl!

But I love each phase with all the quirks and the cuteness!

She is still very much the centre of our universe!

Her Big Sister, The Student, plays a big part in her life.
She misses her terribly when she's away, and she loves spending time with her when she is at home.

She is forever on the move, and we are still searching for the off switch at the end of the day.
If we do not follow a strict routine, we still have issues with not  sleeping problems...

She is in Grade RR this year, and next year she will be in the ultimate elusive Grade R.
 Grade R is Little Missy's most highest goal for everything.
When she is in Grade R, she will be "big", and the world will spin around twice, or something...

(It is coming sooner than we can anticipate, or wish!)

I wish I can have this for as long as possible!

You are growing and developing much too quickly!
But we love You, and we love this!

Reasons why the Preschooler gets upset

Little Missy still gets her furious tantrums, and after snort laughing at Reasons my son is crying, I decided to put up our own list.

A work in progress, of course...

Most of the times she gets upset about the most illogical stuff (or so we think), but in Her World it is Big AND Logical!
(Or else, it wouldn't have warrant such an explosion, would it?)

1. Waking up in the afternoons. This can sometimes take more than a hour to calm her down. (See photo above)

2. Pitching up "too early" at Pre-Primary in the afternoons. She still wanted to play!  (When it is the normal four o'clock pick-up time)

3. Not bringing a "surprise" when I go to pick her up.

4. Not turning on the children's programmes on television.

5. Wanting to turn off the children's programmes on television. (After we have said she could only watch for a fixed amount of time!)

6. Not dressed in the "right" clothes for the day!

7. She wants a sweet/ice-cream/lollipop at the shops. Protesting in the car, or in the shops!

8. Her friend hurt her feelings ("my hartjie seergemaak"), but only switching on the waterworks when we arrive at school.

9. Getting upset about a small hot chocolate in the coffee shop. It should have been a big cup like ours!

10. Screaming loudly when you try to distract her. She is not stupid! She knows what you are trying to do!

11. Not being kissed by Mom or Dad just before pulling out of the drive-way!

12. Having to leave too early at the Grandparents.

13. Breakfast in the car should not have been porridge/egg/fruit, but the other thing she had eaten the day before.

14. We are not allowed to sing with her! Period!

15. We are not allowed to interrupt her thought stream when she is talking to us!

16. We are not allowed to talk for too long in the car. She wants her turn as well!


What upsets your toddler or preschooler?

Preschooler update

Red mouth after eating sherbet

She is the cutest and the funniest and the most loving little girl ever!

But she is also the most moody and sulky and difficult little girl ever!

We are really having a battle of wills with a five-year old in our house. The tantrum-two's got nothing on this age! (With hindsight: It was a breeze!)

Some of the latest in the life of our preschooler:

- "Lucky!" is a word she uses quite often!

- Other children are "lucky" who share the same name! She is the only one with her name in her school. ("sigh" We thought it was a bonus!)

- Her older sister is "lucky" to go to university where her sister has lots of friends staying with her, when she is all on her own at home!

- She is hungry all the time, but not for the food on her plate. The hunger especially gets to her at 8 pm when it is bed-time and then she can't sleep before she has another bowl of All Bran flakes.

- She is growing very fast now, and all her clothes are falling of her bum, because they have disappeared. She is shooting up like a string. We had to go and buy new shoes (a number 9) last week as well, because none of the old shoes fit any more.

- She was looking forward to Gr R with so much excitement, but it turned into a bummer for the first part. The teacher is not very welcoming, and it seems like a lot of work. She is yearning back to the previous year, and tells us that she does not want to go to school. (We have booked the appointment with the teacher this week!)

- We find her happily playing with other children, and not only just with the one little girl she used to prefer to play with!

- She constantly tells me that I am fat. Not like the other mums... But that she still loves me! (Keeping me grounded! Thank you!)

- Sometimes she kisses us!

- Sometimes she doesn't want kiss us!

-------------------------
Do you have the same experience with 5-year old's?

Gymnastic Championships - a first

Little Miss has been doing gymnastics since she was 18 months.
There has been ups and downs. We had to deal with a reluctant gymnast about two years back, but the next year she went back with enthusiasm, and she has been going weekly "without a hitch".

(Just sometimes, the sun shines too brightly, or there's a bump, or...
Little Miss does get emotionally sidetracked quite easily! A phase? A preschooler characteristic?)

She did not want to practice her routine, at all, but told us that she was ready!

We had to slot her in with the younger group since we had other plans for the afternoon. She could not compete with the group, but she still got a score and a medal.

Luckily they practiced with the children before the final rounds of the championships.
Of course Little Miss did better while practicing, but she did very well overall.

This was the floor routine:


She got 9.3 for this floor routine, and 8.6 for the jump.
Not bad for a first time.

The MC told us that it was the parents' job to deal with questions about why only some gymnasts get more than one medal...
(We also got the questions!)


For now we will continue with the gymnastics for next year. Little Miss is still enjoying it! We saw with the occupational therapy that the gymnastics has given Little Miss an extra edge!

PediaSure for sure?

I was invited to a talk on child nutrition, but was unfortunately not notified that it was cancelled! Not nice when you organise with Hubby to pick up the little one, and drive through afternoon traffic to get to venue! Luckily it was a great venue and Hubby and Little Missy joined me at Panettones in Parkview. Definitely a place to go with little ones.

So I got the goody bag from the marketing people, which includes pamplets on PediaSure, and a Mr Growing Grass Head which are giving us a daily fun factor when we arrive home. To see how much the "hair" has grown!

I am giving extra vitamins to our little one, but I don't think supplements are the final answer to nutritional deficiencies. We need to get the right stuff from the original source. But sometimes it can help, especially when you knows she needs that extra oomph after a few days of bad eating.

We tried the PediaSure milkshake and it is very tasty. I can't get my preschooler to drink milk. Only once in a blue moon, and then only a few sips. I don't know if it has anything to do with my extended breastfeeding (which hasn't stop), but I think she is only getting a little bit at this stage.

I am not worried, as my oldest was also not into drinking milk!

The Pediasure tastes like vanilla milkshake, and she loved it. But she also only drank half of the glass!
I think I will try and put the PediaSure into some of our food to get her to consume more. They have very nice recipes to try out!

There are days when the sweets of the day far outweigh the healthy food consumed! It happens with a manipulating picky eater who LOVES the sweet things in life! This is great to have in your cupboard as a back-up when you want to ensure they get in a little bit extra nutrition!

Disclaimer: I got the goody bag with the PediaSure as pictured in the photo above.

Feed Maxi - an interactive speech-language app for children

Feed Maxi 

This guest post comes from Pamela Mandell, the creator of Feed Maxi.
She is the mom to two rowdy boys and a speech-language pathologist who has been working with toddlers and preschoolers for over 14 years. She created Feed Maxi as a means to improve language skills in little ones in a fun, creative, and meaningful way.

Pamela with her e-learning department staff: Maxi Monkey,
Marty Macaw and Freddy Frog 

"Feed Maxi is an exciting new interactive speech-language game app for iPad that is captivating toddlers, preschoolers and kids with special needs with its high quality graphics and 3D animations. Children "feed" the adorable and very hungry Maxi the Monkey requested food items from a field of one, two or three foods that are child friendly (i.e., "goldfish crackers, yogurt, etc."). Maxi responds by commenting and engaging in endearing animations to show his pleasure. During the game, children love to give "FIVE" to Maxi and they look forward to the end scene where they get to explore a rainforest and pop balloons filled with food. 

Joy when playing with Feed Maxi 

The app is unique in that Maxi the Monkey uses simple sign language combined with verbal requests to get the foods he wants. The graphics are gorgeous and the app is highly interactive and intrinsically motivating for kids. Feed Maxi is completely customizable and keeps score for up to 5 children at a time. It utilizes real-life pictures of food items that toddlers can easily relate to & identify.  Feed Maxi enhances all aspects of communication including receptive, expressive and pragmatic language skills - all in one app! Feed Maxi also helps with vocabulary, problem solving, attention span, picky eaters and emergent literacy skills. 

Speak Eazy Apps is a member of Moms With Apps, a parent friendly group of mom & dad app developers that support children's safety and privacy. In Feed Maxi, there are no in-app purchases, pop-ups or advertisements. The only links to outside sources, such as our website & the App Store, are kept behind a parent gate that only adults can enter."

------

I was given a promotional code and played around with Feed Maxi as well. 

At $2.99 it is a very reasonable app.

What struck me about the app is that it can be used for second language learning as well. 

My preschooler will definitely broaden her vocabulary of the English language, while having loads of fun. I also like the fact that the spelling of the words are shown when the right object has been selected. 

Photos supplied by Pamela Mandell. 

Interview with the Preschooler

Little Missy passed her 56 month mark yesterday. She is four years and eight months.

I was trying to keeping this interview for her birthday, but I can ask it again on her birthday, can't I?

1. Who is your favourite person in the whole world?
     Dad

2. What is your favourite colour?
    Red

3. What's your favourite television show?
     Doc McStuffins

4. What's your favourite outfit?
    Beautiful dresses

5. What sport do you like best?
    Cycling

6. What song do you love?
    (I missed this question. Next time...)

7. What's your favourite cereal?
    Brown cereal (All Bran Flakes)

8. Who is your best friend?
     The boy she just played with at McDs
     What about Jade? Yes, Jade

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
    Grade R

10. What is your favourite book?
       Cinderella

11. What are you really good at?
       Tying a knot

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation?
      Swimming pool

13. What is your best memory?
      McDonalds

14. What would you buy if you had R 1000?
       A doll for my child

15. What vegetable do you hate the most?
       All the vegetables

16. If you could have a wish, what would it be?
      I want a child

17. What is your favourite flavour of ice cream?
      Rainbow

18. Who is your biggest hero?
      Spiderman

19. What do you like to do best with your friends?
      Camping and swimming

20. What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday?
      Get a Barbie doll


This was shared by Rattle and Mum who lent it from In The Corner.

(Photo: Patrick Pretorius)

Wednesday Words - Preschooler vocab #LittleHoots

Before we forget these special words in her vocabulary! 

She still says it like this.

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 - gets a thumbs up by the preschooler

We saw Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 a few weeks back.

Little Missy loved it, and she did not blink through the whole cinematic experience.

We love it that we can go to the movies now and she really enjoys sitting through the whole cinematic experience. She did not take off her 3D glasses once.

The whole family went with Little Missy, and afterwards we all had to confess to each other that we had some bouts of sleeping in-between watching the food running around on screen.

It is a very colourful and wacky movie, but the first movie was much more interesting...

AND for how long can you actually watch food running around?

The question afterwards. What do they eat now, because all their food are running and talking? We did not get the answer to this in the movie. Not that this question bothered Little Missy...

Thumbs up from Little Missy!
Thumbs down from the rest of the family.

Luckily it is a movie for children. It is worth taking your children to see it!

--------


Related to this, but not from the cinema.
Little Missy got this clay toy with a Wimpy Meal and she loved designing her own 3D picture on the same theme from the movie.

iPads for teachers in the primary classroom - Tal Slome

Tal Slome
iPad Facilitator at ThinkAhead Education Solutions

I was invited to attend Tal Slome's workshop about Apps in the primary classroom. It was specifically designed for teachers using iPads in the classroom.

I love attending these sessions, because I always pick up some great ideas for my own iPad, as well as great apps to download for my preschooler.

Tal Slome's Prezi is here: Subject specific apps for the primary classroom

There are great apps that are being covered for each subject. An app guide is freely available on ZA Books, the South African school books that are available for download on the iPad.


The suggestions to find great apps are a good reminder of how to proceed. How many times have I not downloaded an app, to delete it after just one use. It helps to do your homework, or to make use of  subject-specific guides.

How to find good apps:

- App or iTunes store reviews. 
Remember to check whether the review is from the developer or the user. The developer's view would of course be much more positive!

- Internet
Do a search on the Internet

- Word of mouth 
It helps to ask around and to hear what others are using. On social media, from colleagues and from professionals.



There are great resources for teachers on the web. Parents and home-schooling parents can also make use of it.

Materials and app finders:

- Teacher's Pet : the apps can be found here: Teacher's Pet: Apps & Games
These are great resources to keep handy, especially for assignments.

- Apps Gone Free:
This is a great app to use when searching for top apps that are available for free.


I am planning to play with some of the apps, and give some feedback here on the blog.
The apps are here: Tal Slome's Prezi 


iFile:

I love the suggestion of making use of  iFile. It is $3.99 on the app store, but it is worth to file all your documents and file formats in the cloud.
It accommodates Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, Box.net, SkyDrive, SugarSync, AFP (Mac Shares), FTP/FTPS, SFTP, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Rackspace CloudFiles, CloudApp, PogoPlug, WebDav, Amazon S3, Ubuntu One Files, ownCloud, 4Shared, also using Amazon S3: DreamObjects and UltiCloud.



Related posts:

- Connecting to the past, delivering the future - with iPads in the classroom with Joe Moretti

- Choosing iPads for your school - Fraser Speirs

- Book Creator great for learning and fun

- Book Creator adding to the learning experience in South Africa

Doing my bit for World Breastfeeding

World Breastfeeding Week 2013 was from 1 to 7 August this year, but it is never too late not a good time to talk about breastfeeding.

The theme this year was "Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers"- all about the support for the mother from the closer to the wider circles in her community, to enable her to have a good breastfeeding experience and relationship with her baby.

Most often we do not find enough support to help us keep going...

My own experience with my first-born was very traumatic, because I had to take her off the breast at four months when I went back to work. She was one of the few ones who completely refused a bottle! I still think that if I had better support, I could have made a plan!

With Little Missy the second time around I knew I had to try something else, but fortunately she did not have a problem with taking the bottle as well. We could give a bottle with expressed milk to the day care, and later on we sent the tinned milk to day care.
I had a goal of going back to work, while still expressing, and kept that up until 9 months.
My next goal was one year, and we just continued from there...

Nobody was as surprised as me, but at 4 years and 7 months she is still breastfeeding.
I am breastfeeding a preschooler!

Sometimes she will skip days, but sometimes she will ask for more than once a day.
I do not offer it to her, and sometimes distracts her when we are in a public area. Until we get home!
I just don't have it in me to breastfeed in public any more.
I can see that there are raised eyebrows when I mention that we are still continuing with it.... (*Smile*)

I am waiting for her to wean herself!

It is still working for her, and therefore it is still working for me.
There is definitely a huge component of comfort that she gets from it, and I think that is why she never picked up the habit of a thumb, or a blankie. (Which the elder sister did!)
She is also very healthy, and did not have the expected grommets and adenoids that comes with going to day care.

Little Missy does not like drinking cow's milk (and very little milkshake), and that's another reason I think it is still good for her to get some extra immunity...

She has already thrown away her bottles, and all too soon this will also pass!

From the Surprised Lactivist (me); it is possible to continue with this relationship until your child is ready to wean.
They won't be hanging 24/7 on your breasts when they are older, so don't be worried! (*Wink smile!)


Keep calm, and breastfeed on....


Photo: Patrick Pretorius

Gr R speech practise

Speech preps

The preschooler decided on Sunday evening to practise a random topic for speech for the next day at school.
It is in Afrikaans about the earth, dinosaurs, meteorites and humans.
They are allowed to do a speech any time they feel like it! Mom just needs to send an IM to the teacher in the morning.


I would never have done this when I was her age. Even much older!


One more thing that makes me think she is definitely ready for school next year!


Related post:

- Two wheels' milestone and a report card

Tantrums at 4 and a half?

Yes, we are still seeing these!

The blown-ups, the blow-downs, the melt-downs, the floor-throwers, ...

THE TRANTRUM!

What are we doing wrong?


Related post:

Reasons why the Preschooler gets upset

Grade 1 - Here we come!

Grade One learner

There is big excitement in our midst. Tomorrow is the Big Day! Tomorrow is the start of a new chapter in the life of Little Miss.

She is going to Grade 1.

We walked this morning past her new class. She could already check it out because the after-care at school had organised two days of holiday care at school this week. It was a good idea to get her familiar with the new after-care, before everything is a new blur tomorrow.

Hubby seems to be more apprehensive about this huge stepping stone. He loves her going into the new phase, but also mourns the end of her being a toddler and a preschooler. His little girl is not as little ...

I do not have the same apprehension, because I love each new phase of her. Maybe also because I went through these stages previously, I am not that upset any more...

But The Student told me I would pinch a tear tomorrow. She says: "You always do!" (I won't! I won't!)

As expected, Little Miss got the go-ahead from the occupational therapist as well as the vision therapist. Not that we would have kept her behind, but we feel more at ease that she will cope this year! I am glad that we took her for the sessions!

She is also going to school without any front teeth. She lost two more teeth and the count is now up to six! She is a true "haasbek", an Afrikaans word for all the front teeth missing!

She practised the whole day on Sunday to jump rope, and by yesterday she was jumping ten counts in a row. She could not understand her sore legs, and told me we had to go to the doctor... (Another accomplishment ticked off!)

The whole family is going with her tomorrow for the first day! We can't wait to see her in full school attire! (Expect a photo!)

 The bag, the clothes, the stationary... everything is ready!

You go, Little Miss! We are sharing your excitement!


Picture taken by Dad yesterday at the OT

Meeting with the teacher

We finally made the appointment for a meeting with the teacher.

No, we can't just quickly pop in before or after school to talk to the teacher. It must be strictly by appointment. (If we had an opportunity to quickly ask how it was going, this would not have been necessary...)

I can understand that there are 24 children in the class and that it can be a bit hectic to accommodate each parent. In the meantime two months have passed in the new year, and we got some negative feedback from the Preschooler and it looked to us as if  GR R turned out to be a bit of a bummer.

We are very glad we had the meeting.
The teacher was a bit apprehensive about meeting with us. (She asked the Hubby before the time about the reason for the meeting.)
There was also another teacher sitting in in the meeting, taking notes and making some comments. (Apparently it is standard practise at the school.)

We took the stand that we do not get a chance to talk to the teacher, and our Little Missy seems a bit unsettled this year. Little Missy tells us that she wants to go back to the previous year's teacher and class. We wanted to know how she is doing in class? We also used the she-is-very-young-for-her-age-and-should-we-be-worried?-stance to address the issue.

That helped to break the ice.

We should not be worried at all!

Little Missy is doing very well in class:

•     She is actively involved in classes
•     She listens and tries on her own
•     She has different friends in class each time (This was an eye-opener. Great to hear it is not only the one girl any more.)
•     She only throws a tantrum when another child injures her. But it usually does not last long. (Phew!)
•     She asks for help sometimes, but then she goes and complete the task on her own.
•     She has a good report card coming up.
•     No, the teacher does not foresee that she would be told to stay back for another year because of her age. She is not struggling at all!

The classes are a bit more structured than the previous year, and the teachers say that they get used to the structure after a while and won't feel as unsure as they feel in the beginning.

I am glad we made the appointment! 

Photo by Dad this morning at school.

The outfit selected by Little Missy, and not by Mom/Dad.

Disney Junior - It's a Party

Disney Junior Cinema Party 

There's new seasons of Disney Junior (on DSTv 309) Fancy Nancy Clancy, Lion Guard, Vampirina and Puppy Dog Pals. I always remember what Christine Service, the country manager for The Walt Disney Company in South Africa, said a few years ago. Disney always remembers the parents when they write and produce the stories. We as parents have to see episodes and movies hundreds of times, but we can still marvel at the witty comebacks and above the head (of the little ones) jokes. We enjoy the episodes as much as our children do!

Some facts about the new Disney Junior episodes...

Last day of being Three

A final toddler tantrum brewing (?)

Can I also call it the last day of the "Toddler"-phase?

I have been searching the developmental milestone sites, and it seems that the end of the toddler years is finally here.

Wow! Just like that we are passing another milestone!

Nooooo! 

Feeling quite sad about letting "The Toddler" go!
She has been so much fun and so exasperating and so lovable and so cute.
I hope there will be another few years of cuteness ahead!

She has been slotted in for the whole year with the four-year old's, and she was graded with all the four-year old's in her class.
She did not do too bad in her report card.
(Next year I will maybe go and ask about not getting a single top score of 4, but this year I will not worry about it!)

We still see a lot of toddler behaviour, especially those awesome tantrums, and hope that year four will have less of them! (Can I cross my fingers?)

There is much excitement in our house for the upcoming birthday.
She is counting the sleeps and told me to go and buy a chocolate cake with sprinkles, AND balloons!

That we will do!

Happy last day of  three, my little one!


The Preschooler is at hand!