![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ailbheAge 6 years, almost 11 months
Shoe size 13.5G ish
Height
Weight
Self-care at home: Eating: She can get her own breakfast of cereal or toast, or mix porridge and put it in the microwave - she isn't yet confident to take it out again because it's hot. She can make her own lunch of a sandwich or leftovers from the fridge, and throughout the day she fetches her own drinks and sometimes mine too. She will climb things to get treat foods like cakes, biscuits and sweets, and definitely eats them as a response to stress as well as just because they're there. But apart from that she eats a good mix of foods and understands that growing foods and energy foods and treat foods are all part of her diet for good reason. Her likes and dislikes change, but still allow her to eat pretty well.
Dressing: Who needs clothes? She can dress herself except sometimes for zips but she HATES IT. She doesn't have bootlaces (or shoelaces) yet and I'm sure she doesn't know how to do them up. I frequently help her dress, especially if we're doing stuff she has no interest in.
Toileting: She has recently had the usual visit-with-grandparents regression, and a trauma where she spilt her lip and needed local anaesthetic and stitches and there was lots of blood and hospitals in other cities and things, so it seems unfair to record how she is right now. Before the upset, she was basically clean and dry by day and dry some nights but sleeping better with the reassurance of a night-time nappy. Night-wetting runs in my family. She's not as reliable as I'd like about washing her hands after using the loo though.
Washing: She needs help washing her hair but can manage the rest. She gets a grownup finish on her teeth. She strongly resists having her hair brushed - it's very tangly and she has a very sensitive scalp. Detangler spray helps.
Helping at home: She can but mostly doesn't want to. She sometimes, especially if I'm ill, comes up with gorgeous things like doing laundry (she overdid the powder) or bringing me drinks. She has developed her ability to sweep crud off the floor into a dustpan and is now definitely competent at that. Otherwise, I think no change in ability since last time, just in willingness.
Playing at home: Reading and Daydreaming (running with her eyes closed while composing stories or something half-aloud, I can't tell exactly what's going on) are big. Lego is good. Reading is important - she spends most of her time on it. Also role-play and pretending with figurines, which is role-play by any other name. She likes games where people do as they're told as long as she's not "people". She likes to be in charge of events, because when things go wrong it's Very Wrong Indeed.
Playing outside the home: Hard to say. She seems to get on well with other children most of the time, but we haven't been to many groups for a bit. With some children, it takes her a while to get on their wavelength; with others, she doesn't even try. She approaches other children and adults fairly readily and opens interesting and welcoming conversations, which can confuse people.
Listening and talking: Her ability to interrupt what's happening inside her head to interact with her parents when she's not all that bothered is really quite limited. She can do it, with effort. Then she can listen and hear and take in and comprehend and regurgitate or act on what one says. Talking - she can tell a very coherent story when she wants to but again, if she doesn't want to it's impossible to get anywhere.
Reading and writing: She's not all that into writing but will do it for important things, like cards to her friends. READING IS ALL. She's really, really keen on Calvin and Hobbes and The Baby Blues. We are probably going to give her Peanuts next.
Drawing and making: We've had less drawing lately. Only one or two things a day, most days, I think. She makes a good deal with Lego and occasionally with other things - mainly inventions rather than purely artistic things. Her interest in performing - dancing, putting on shows - is increasing. I am incredibly bad at dealing with this; I find poor performances pretty painful.
Counting and manipulating numbers: She formalised her understanding of place value lately but hasn't had much other apparent interest.
Sleep: NO. READING. SLEEP IS FOR THE ILLITERATE.
Social: No real change. She really, really needs to recharge after social time. She did awesomely well, in terms of performing compliantly, at the optician's today when she had her eye exam. She was looking forward to it, which helps. She also did heartbreakingly well in terms of coherent social function when she was at the hospital in Oxford last week having her split lip and bashed teeth looked at - polite and helpful and Socially Appropriate. And she's pretty good in front of her relations but that's at least partially because we allow her space to be asocial.
Swimming lessons: She's in Level Three and loves swimming. She swims like a fish, if a fish swam face-up and sometimes got tired and had to be held up.
Formal manners: She can use them - she particularly likes offering things to guests, and thanking bus-drivers - when she wants to.
Technology: Now that she can read, there are no technical wossnames she can't thingummy. Any difficulties she had before are disappearing. She's not totally sure on measuring the detergent for the dishwasher or washing machines, but knows how to operate them, at a very basic level. She also knows how to make the microwave go but not much about how to decide power level or how long - timing is fairly random, I think.
Other stuff: Death seems to be bothering her less, or she's figured out how to avoid thinking of it. She's pleased to be home educated and was particularly pleased that she didn't have to stop learning when she was sick with the cold that put us all in bed for a few days. I'm often at a loss for how to relate to her but I hope we'll figure it out one day. Her exposure to elements of mainstream culture which she doesn't get in this house are ever-increasing and I keep having to look up what she's talking about. Too much TV or computer time is bad for her but we're learning how to limit it a bit. Her need for social contact, and her confidence with it, surprises me as much as her need for solitude and privacy (of mind, not body, though that too) does.
Shoe size 13.5G ish
Height
Weight
Self-care at home: Eating: She can get her own breakfast of cereal or toast, or mix porridge and put it in the microwave - she isn't yet confident to take it out again because it's hot. She can make her own lunch of a sandwich or leftovers from the fridge, and throughout the day she fetches her own drinks and sometimes mine too. She will climb things to get treat foods like cakes, biscuits and sweets, and definitely eats them as a response to stress as well as just because they're there. But apart from that she eats a good mix of foods and understands that growing foods and energy foods and treat foods are all part of her diet for good reason. Her likes and dislikes change, but still allow her to eat pretty well.
Dressing: Who needs clothes? She can dress herself except sometimes for zips but she HATES IT. She doesn't have bootlaces (or shoelaces) yet and I'm sure she doesn't know how to do them up. I frequently help her dress, especially if we're doing stuff she has no interest in.
Toileting: She has recently had the usual visit-with-grandparents regression, and a trauma where she spilt her lip and needed local anaesthetic and stitches and there was lots of blood and hospitals in other cities and things, so it seems unfair to record how she is right now. Before the upset, she was basically clean and dry by day and dry some nights but sleeping better with the reassurance of a night-time nappy. Night-wetting runs in my family. She's not as reliable as I'd like about washing her hands after using the loo though.
Washing: She needs help washing her hair but can manage the rest. She gets a grownup finish on her teeth. She strongly resists having her hair brushed - it's very tangly and she has a very sensitive scalp. Detangler spray helps.
Helping at home: She can but mostly doesn't want to. She sometimes, especially if I'm ill, comes up with gorgeous things like doing laundry (she overdid the powder) or bringing me drinks. She has developed her ability to sweep crud off the floor into a dustpan and is now definitely competent at that. Otherwise, I think no change in ability since last time, just in willingness.
Playing at home: Reading and Daydreaming (running with her eyes closed while composing stories or something half-aloud, I can't tell exactly what's going on) are big. Lego is good. Reading is important - she spends most of her time on it. Also role-play and pretending with figurines, which is role-play by any other name. She likes games where people do as they're told as long as she's not "people". She likes to be in charge of events, because when things go wrong it's Very Wrong Indeed.
Playing outside the home: Hard to say. She seems to get on well with other children most of the time, but we haven't been to many groups for a bit. With some children, it takes her a while to get on their wavelength; with others, she doesn't even try. She approaches other children and adults fairly readily and opens interesting and welcoming conversations, which can confuse people.
Listening and talking: Her ability to interrupt what's happening inside her head to interact with her parents when she's not all that bothered is really quite limited. She can do it, with effort. Then she can listen and hear and take in and comprehend and regurgitate or act on what one says. Talking - she can tell a very coherent story when she wants to but again, if she doesn't want to it's impossible to get anywhere.
Reading and writing: She's not all that into writing but will do it for important things, like cards to her friends. READING IS ALL. She's really, really keen on Calvin and Hobbes and The Baby Blues. We are probably going to give her Peanuts next.
Drawing and making: We've had less drawing lately. Only one or two things a day, most days, I think. She makes a good deal with Lego and occasionally with other things - mainly inventions rather than purely artistic things. Her interest in performing - dancing, putting on shows - is increasing. I am incredibly bad at dealing with this; I find poor performances pretty painful.
Counting and manipulating numbers: She formalised her understanding of place value lately but hasn't had much other apparent interest.
Sleep: NO. READING. SLEEP IS FOR THE ILLITERATE.
Social: No real change. She really, really needs to recharge after social time. She did awesomely well, in terms of performing compliantly, at the optician's today when she had her eye exam. She was looking forward to it, which helps. She also did heartbreakingly well in terms of coherent social function when she was at the hospital in Oxford last week having her split lip and bashed teeth looked at - polite and helpful and Socially Appropriate. And she's pretty good in front of her relations but that's at least partially because we allow her space to be asocial.
Swimming lessons: She's in Level Three and loves swimming. She swims like a fish, if a fish swam face-up and sometimes got tired and had to be held up.
Formal manners: She can use them - she particularly likes offering things to guests, and thanking bus-drivers - when she wants to.
Technology: Now that she can read, there are no technical wossnames she can't thingummy. Any difficulties she had before are disappearing. She's not totally sure on measuring the detergent for the dishwasher or washing machines, but knows how to operate them, at a very basic level. She also knows how to make the microwave go but not much about how to decide power level or how long - timing is fairly random, I think.
Other stuff: Death seems to be bothering her less, or she's figured out how to avoid thinking of it. She's pleased to be home educated and was particularly pleased that she didn't have to stop learning when she was sick with the cold that put us all in bed for a few days. I'm often at a loss for how to relate to her but I hope we'll figure it out one day. Her exposure to elements of mainstream culture which she doesn't get in this house are ever-increasing and I keep having to look up what she's talking about. Too much TV or computer time is bad for her but we're learning how to limit it a bit. Her need for social contact, and her confidence with it, surprises me as much as her need for solitude and privacy (of mind, not body, though that too) does.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-24 12:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-24 02:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-24 05:10 am (UTC)Ah, the gregarious introvert. I'm one of those too. It can be a pain and a half balancing the two.
It sounds rather like she has a poet's disposition.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-24 09:41 am (UTC)I - uh - that's a thing that grown-ups know?! Everyone isn't doing it randomly?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-27 08:47 am (UTC)Any time I need to nuke a New Thing we're back to being sort of randomish until it comes out right.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-24 01:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-24 07:14 pm (UTC)