Today I went to Ayden Jane's school and watched her with a new music class. It was a sort of free trial and is run by a woman who has been doing kindermusic ect. for years. I love watching Ayden Jane with the other kids at school. There were just 3 from her class that stayed. Her's is the youngest class in the preschool so it was fun to watch Ayden Jane with older kids (1-2 years older). AJ was so excited to sit by a friend we see at horses. She was a bit slow at first, but by the end was not shy at all. She even spoke right up to the teacher whom she had never met before. She joined in with the marching and tapping... My favorite was when the teacher passed an instrument around and when it was AJ's turn, she was a little shy. She held the mallet but did not hit the instrument. The teacher told her she did great and to pass it to the next person. AJ said, "wait, I gonna hit it first." Sure enough she took her turn, was so proud and then passed it on. Very sweet. I had to chuckle though when the teacher told them all to hold hands and her little friend went to take hers. Ayden Jane jerked her hand back like it panicked her. In the end she looked at her friend and reached her hand back toward her nervously. On the way home she just kept saying Ellie hold my hand. Ellie my friend...
Now on to the not so cute. Ayden Jane definitely has some behavior issues. Mostly, they center around her ability to suddenly freak out when things don't go her way or she want something and the answer is no. The one that drives Gary the craziest is when you attempt to help her and she screams as though injured or at least insulted. No this is not entirely surprising as she is 3. I guess what is odd with AJ is how quickly she reacts this way. For the most part, I try not to appease the panic, but to tell her I cannot understand what she wants when she talks like that. Or to calm down and use big girl words. Or just plain, stop whining and tell Mommy what you need. She is capable of doing it now for the most part. She will still push beyond this (and cause Gary to nearly flip) but I think she is at a point where she can really understand and learn to control herself. Not sure how to make the leap from getting her to calm down and talk to us to catching herself and using words first. I think that battle is one that will have to come down the road just a little bit.
It reminds me of when the older kids were little and they never remembered to say please without prompting. Example: Mom, I want an apple. Me: How do you ask? Kid: Please can I have an apple? Me: yes. I moved to this: Mom, I want a snack. Me: you did not use your manners. Go play and try it again in a little while remembering to ask right the first time. 5 min. later, Kid: (amazingly) Mom, may I please have a snack
It is not the same thing, but I think the same concept will need to be applied. For now, I am in the prompting phase. It is all AJ can handle. Hopefully, she will 'prompt' herself, but if not I will have to figure out how to crank it up a notch to help her learn to do so. (It will greatly improve Gary's sanity)
It's funny you should talk about that. I notice it with Olivia now in some ways. She goes ballistic if she can't have something she wants, which is something Amelia never did. I never know if it is normal behavior and an indication of things to come.
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