Reese is 5 years 4 months old

I was just browsing this blog when I realized that Reese is exactly 5 years 4 months old. I have been a mummy for that long? Wow! I haven't blogged about his milestones for the longest time. So I am going to do so now. :)

Weight: 26+ kg

Height: 112 cm (or was it 116...can't remember but the nurse did say he grew 3 cm in the last 6 months and very tall for his age!)

Food: Eats adult portion and eats almost anything. The only vegetables he takes are broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, carrots and some leafy veges. Loves his fruits. Still prefers Western to Chinese food.

Personality: Cheeky, friendly, talkative and generally easy going. 

Emotionally: lacks empathy and ability to pick up social cues (issues we are working on). 

Favorite activity: Drawing, reading, building things and pretend play

Speech: Advance with huge vocabulary

Creativity: Very creative and has a wonderful imagination

Education: Generally few grades ahead of his age peers. Loves science. Dislike math. Reese is confirmed gifted but has not done any formal testing yet. He will be tested before the end of this year.

Physical: Not exactly on par with his intelligence. Not as flexible. Still afraid to climb up on high bars or swing on monkey bars. Not athletic material. Having said that, he is always moving. Cannot sit still except when he is doing his favorite activities like drawing.

Sensitivity: Still sensitive to loud noises and hates wetness. Even if it's only a tiny drop of water on his clothing and he will make a big fuss and demand to change clothes! (Gifted children tends to have issues such as what Reese is experiencing)

Ambition: He wants to be a teacher. He wants to get married on the second day of adulthood and have children and wants to teach his own children. He wants to build his own apartment block with over 60 floors and his wife to take care of us! Haha... 

Follow Up Visit at Sunway Medical

Yesterday we met up with the developmental pediatrician for a follow up consultation. The first meeting was 6 months ago. We spent an hour and a half with her. She did some developmental test with Reese, we had a chat about his progress over a couple of issues (mainly social). 

Overal there were improvement but there are still a few key issues that we need to continue to work on. His lack of empathy, his inability to 'blend in' with people, taking instructions from others and co-operate in group activities/ learning. Hopefully in the long run with time and maturity he will improve in these areas. 

The doctor also asked about our future plans for Reese. I always knew what I wanted for my son and yet when she asked us I was a little lost for words. I told her that I will continue to homeschool him as long as I can and when he is older we will enroll him for gifted programs from U.S. Deep down in my heart I knew I need guidance. My son is no ordinary kid. Hopefully the pedi can guide us along the way. 

The pedi said that by this year, Reese will have to take a series of IQ test and then we work from there. He should be ready for them. If we want to enroll him for any gifted programs, we will need those test scores.  It's not going to be cheap. 

So does Reese have Aspergers Syndrome? Maybe and maybe not. It's complicated. There are some signs that say yes he has and yet there are some that are contradicting. The pedi does not want to label him and just said that at the end of the day, what is important is that we are able to help him over come some of his social issues and thus able to blend-in in society. We agree. 

The pedi was also impressed with Reese's artwork but she commented that all his drawings lack human presence! She actually shown some of Reese's work to another expert and the first thing the expert commented was "There were no people in his drawings!". It's true. Reese never likes drawing people. It's not normal. Mmmm... 

It was a good meeting and we are looking forward to hearing from her about the testing. All these years, I have been wondering how gifted is Reese. There are a few levels of giftedness and each level of giftedness can be very different from the other. 

Level of Giftedness
Gifted or moderately gifted - IQ 130-145
Highly gifted - IQ 145-160
Exceptionally gifted - IQ 160+
Profoundly gifted - IQ 170+

Educational Board Games

Think Toys (The Curve) is having a moving out sale and everything is 50% off. I went to their educational section and was so happy to see all the Learning Resources educational games. They have games for Language Arts and Math. It's really a bargain! Mostly priced around RM79 per set and after discount RM39.50. I bought 3 games. Came home did some research and all the games I bought have good reviews. :)

I bought Reading Riddle Maze, Cooking Up Sentences and Alpha-Bug-Soup

We also bought this for Reese since he asked for it. It was quite an impressive set. Has secret passage way and even a dungeon and a draw bridge. It comes with a few figurines as well. It was RM99.50 after 50% discount.

Alpha-Bug-Soup

As they play, early readers build letter recognition and vocabulary skills. Players roll the die, pick up disks, and move the little critters. Then they call out words using the selected letters and collect bug disks when correct. Skilled players can make the game more challenging by adding new twists and turns. One variates is to increase the amount of words called out and used more letter disks. Add the timer and the pressure is on! It includes 16 Critters, 84 Letter disks, 4 game cards, 1 sand timer, 2 number cubes (Dice), 72 transparent chips and game board. For 2 to 4 players.

 Cooking Up Sentences

Proper grammar—easy as pie! “Chefs” follow recipes to make complete sentences by gathering and correctly identifying parts of speech. Draw a Free Ingredient Card, and add the funny word of your choice to the mix. Read complete sentences aloud for giggles and spoken grammar practice. Parts of Speech Cards feature color-coded backs for self-checking. Includes 19" square game board, 150 Parts of Speech Cards, 4 double-sided Sentence Recipe Cards, pawns and spinner. For 2-4 players.

 Reading Riddle Maze

Kids improve their reading and listening comprehension skills without even realizing it! Players read a riddle, then move across game board maze to collect the tile with the riddle's answer. Maze pieces, which can be rearranged, allow for multiple ways to reach the answer tiles. The first player to collect three riddle cards wins. Double-sided tiles provides two levels of play. For 2-4 players. Includes game board, 81 tile cards, 80 riddle cards and instructions.

January 2012

Been busy with work and getting into a routine for our homeschooling after all the holidays. We got a little lazy! Our schooling journey thus far was quite good. Reese was reluctant to do his work and was always finding ways to get out of it! It was tough and my temper did not help either. But after a week of scolding, crying and talking, Reese finally realized that he has no choice. I had to explain to him that if he wants a better life in the future, he needs to learn and earn money the easy way! I gave him examples of hard labour equals very little money and one has to toil under the hot sun and vice versa. At the moment, he equates money to better life but he doesn't understand that there are other factors that will make living life meaningful (Will have to tackle this area when he is older) :)

Reese is playing better with other children. In fact, every time  when a playmate has to go home, Reese will complain that he has no one to play with him. He has been asking me to arrange playmates for him. 

As with adults, whether familiar or not, he communicates well with them. :) I think socially he has matured quite a bit.

Next Wednesday we will be having a follow up session with the developmental pediatrician. I am glad to say that we have only good things to tell her about Reese and hopefully she will declare Reese normal and disassociate him from Aspergers Syndrome. :)

Waiting at the concert hall...

Last Sunday we went for a concert at MPO's Family Fun Concert. It was our first as a family. A little bit of drama happened because we were not aware of the dress code (Smart Casual). We were there an hour before the concert and had to dash home to change clothes! We live in Kota Damansara. Anyway, it was quite good and Reese enjoyed the experience. We will go for the next in April!

January is coming to an end and we will be traveling to Penang this Sunday at 4am or 5am (to avoid traffic jam) for CNY and be back in KL on Tuesday! Crazy but no choice. Hubby can't take any more leave else it would be nice to stay longer instead of just 2 nights. Really not looking forward to the hot weather and traffic jam in Penang!

We are all counting down to our trip in February! 31 days to go.... yes!

Fun Activities Just Before The End of 2011

With no classes and lots of free time, lazy me finally did a few activities that were long over due. We baked and made jellies! Did some crafts too. We went to the science centre a few times, did some science experiments at home. Overall it was a good break for all of us.

Reese helping me to mash bananas. Our first experience in baking a cake together!

Banana cake came out moist and yummy!

Silly me bought whipped cream and it melted in no time! So decorating the cake was not possible. Reese ate up all the M&Ms.

We made a batch of jellies together for the first time. Not bad at all.

Daddy taught Reese how to use a screw driver. Boy's thingy!

Both busy at work!

There.... a wooden truck.

Painting time!

I am King Arthur! We made the crown and decorated it together. Reese is very much into role play.