Have a ball at the Zoo

Went to the Zoo today with several other playgroup mums (ArizonaGal, The Bibliophile, The Seamstress, The Librarian and HM) and between us our eleven!!! offspring (BallFiend, Thumper, LittleMissL, MasterS, MasterW, LittleMissIz, MasterF, LittleMissF, MasterL, MasterM and MasterT).

The main purpose of the visit was to see Mali, the baby elephant, but also to have a change from 'the usual' (a local playground). The plan was to meet at the Elephant Barn at 10.30 am and see Mali when she was brought out at 11.00 am.

I was aiming to get to the Zoo by 9.30 am and see a few things beforehand. However, despite rushing around the house since about 8.00 am, we only just managed to make the 9.59 am train. On our way to the elephant area, we stopped off to see a few animals - the platypus, the meer cats and the tiger. Then, whilst walking along the Elephant Trail, just as we were passing the tiger enclosure, we met up with The Seamstress and her boys MasterL and MasterM.

We continued on together, past some very inquisitive pelicans, and arrived at the Elephant Barn right on 10.30 am, to find ourselves at the end of a very long queue. In the queue ahead of us were Jovial Jo with MasterW and LittleMissIz and even closer to the front of the queue ArizonaGal with LittleMissL and MasterS.

We waited half an hour in order to (eventually!) see Mali for 5 minutes along with 150 other people, before we were moved on so the next 150 people could come and do the same.

Mali, the 6-week old baby elephant, out for a stroll.

Might as well have watched a video really. But I do understand why the Zoo has such limited viewing times... Mali is only 6 weeks old after all! I did the same with my 6 week old babies - tried to protect them from too much excitement and ensure they got the rest they needed. But it was a long time to wait - especially for a bunch of three year olds. I was very impressed with how patient BallFiend was.

After Mali, we went on to see lots more: Orangutans, Seals and Little Penguins with the other playgroup friends. Then we all stopped at the cafe for lunch. After lunch, most of the others went home but The Seamstress and I (with our kids) continued on to see the Gorillas, Monkeys and other primates, a crocodile (of sorts), Lions, and Giant Tortoises.

BallFiend and MasterL

And then there was one - just me with BallFiend and Thumper (as The Seamstress needed to take MasterM home for a nap). We decided to stay and see some more, starting with the Reptiles and Frogs. After a stop-off for a hard-earned icypole, we went on to see the Bears, Big Cats, Turtles, Lemurs and finally the Giraffe and Zebras. By this point I was exhausted so we headed for the train station.

So, with all these exciting things to see - I'm sure you are wondering what was the highlight of the day for BallFiend? Was it the Lions (he is a Leo), was it the Bears (nearly - they had a ball toy in their enclosure and he couldn't understand why they weren't constantly playing with it), or was it the Giant Tortoises, which were 'this big'.

BallFiend explaining
just how big the Giant Tortoises are.

No, of course not... on our way to the exit, along the Main drive, BallFiend found a ball, surprise, surprise. A small, black one about the size of a walnut. "Can I keep it Mama?" he asked. (He calls me 'mama' whenever he is around MasterL or LittleMissZ who both call their mothers 'mama'. He also calls me 'mama' whenever he wants to suck up to me.) He was ecstatic when I said that he could. (It crossed my mind that we could hand it in to Lost Property, but I didn't think a little plastic made-in-China type trinket would be something any sensible parent was going to bring the child back to the Zoo to find and I was too tired to be bothered anyway).

BallFiend's highlight from his day

at the Zoo - a small, black, plastic ball.

When we got home, BallFiend accidentally dropped the new ball on the floorboards and it was then we discovered this was no ordinary ball - it pops open to reveal a little man inside!

The ball pops open to reveal... a man!
BallFiend's excitement at finding the ball
was nothing compared to this discovery!

So when DeepSpice got home and I encouraged BallFiend to tell him about our day, there was not a mention of the Zoo, just a show-and-tell about the new ball.

Sigh.

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Report card - 3 years old!

BallFiend is three years old today, so I thought I would write him a 'report card'... just like teachers at school used to do to me. (Ha Ha!)

According to Raising Children web site, by three years old, BallFiend...

should be able to:
identify four pictures by naming

Yes. Identifies more pictures than I can count. Can also identify many letters of the alphabet, several numbers and even his own name. He also is frequently asking ‘what does that say’ when pointing to a word. Whilst staying with Gran and GrandPaul, he pointed to the word 'party' on the packet of balloons and asked if it said 'party'. But we are not sure if he recognised the word or it was just a good guess based on prior knowledge and context.

wash and dry hands

Yes. Thanks to carers at crèche teaching BallFiend to do this.

identify a friend by naming

Yes. Names and talks about many of his friends, including when they are not present. Especially playgroup friends LittleMissL, LittleMissP, MasterS, MasterF, MasterW, LittleMissIz, MasterL as well as PetitAmi, and various friends from crèche.

throw a ball overhand

Yes. And kicks a ball along the ground, and kicks a ball drop-punt style, and dribbles a ball with his feet, and pat-bounces a ball, and catches a ball... and, and, and...

speak and be understood half the time

Yes. In fact, sometimes he never shuts up! Can be understood about 95% of the time by his parents and most other people as well.

carry on a conversation of two or three sentences

Yes. In addition to conversations, he also does monologues. Recently (last month or so), BallFiend has become extremely imaginative and makes up short stories. He also likes to make up songs.

use prepositions

Yes. Uses many including: about, above, across, after, around, at, before, behind, between, but, by, down, for, from, in, inside, like, near, of, off, on, out, outside, over, to, under, up, with...

will probably be able to:
use two adjectives

Yes. Uses many adjectives – more than I can count!

put on a T-shirt

Maybe. Probably could do this if he wanted to, but BallFiend has no motivation to dress himself. He does help with putting on tops – if I put it over his head, he will put the arms into the sleeves by himself without prompting.

broad jump

Yes, I think so... if this means jump forwards from a stationary position.

may possibly be able to:
balance on each foot for two seconds

Yes.

describe the use of two objects

Yes. Many more than two.

may even be able to:
copy a circle

Yes.

prepare a bowl of cereal

Maybe. BallFiend probably could do this but has not tried – shows no interest in doing this.
The breakfast routine now consists of DeepSpice or I placing a bowl of dry vitabrits (2 biscuits, crushed up) on his little table and a jug of warm milk.
BallFiend sits down and likes us to push his chair in for him. He will put his own bib on (sometimes, when motivated), and always wipes his own hands on a damp cloth before a meal. He then likes to pour his own milk and does so with full control. Rarely spills any. He then ‘mushes’ the vitabrits with a spoon and gets annoyed if they are not flat and smooth. Then he usually eats them with his bare hands.
Often he will demand a second helping (another 2 vitabrit biscuits). When he finished eating, he wipes his hands on his cloth, and sometimes wipes spills up from the table. Then he runs to me or DeepSpice and asks us to wipe his hands (he is sometimes annoyingly fastidious about getting his hands messy... although after meals his hands usually do need a bit more cleaning up).

dress without help

Maybe. BallFiend shows no interest in selecting clothes to wear, even to the extent that he won’t even make a choice between two t-shirts if offered the opportunity to choose. (Which is the complete opposite of the girls in our playgroup who love to choose their own clothes and even accessorise!)

identify four colours

Yes. Knows red, green, blue, yellow, pink, orange, black, purple, brown, white and ‘clear’ (ie. transparent). Sometimes describes various shade of purple as blue or red.

put on an article of clothing

Yes. Can put on own socks and pants but is very unmotivated to do so... will only do so if heavily encouraged. BallFiend also put on own shoes once or twice, again with much encouragement. I suppose he just has more interesting things to do. Can put on own hat.

Very good at taking off items of clothing – especially shoes and socks, which are usually removed as soon as he comes into the house and are then thrown asunder! (Much to my annoyance.)

To conclude, an obligatory, patronising section...

BallFiend demonstrates great curiosity about the world and continues to apply himself well to task of learning. He does this through unstructured play but also responds well to parental or other carers direction when engaging in more structured activities.

He is extremely interested in balls and all their physical properties, and demonstrates a strong ability to focus at length when investigating the various ways that a single ball can move, be used and sometimes destroyed (the 'face ball' got stabbed in the eye with a screwdriver, the blue and white ball got thrown in a rose bush, the seams of the seahorse beach ball gave up after it was sat on one time too many, and many ping pong balls have been squashed underfoot as BallFiend attempted to backspin them with his heel). His favourite ball at present is the green/blue/pink/clear beach ball; however it also gets sat on frequently and will presumably soon be in ball heaven too.

Whilst it is pleasing to see such a strong ability to focus, BallFiend would benefit from expanding his interests into other areas, for example toy cars or dinosaurs. [I got a school report once that said I spent too much time reading books by a single author and that I should try reading more widely. The school librarian didn't understand that my preference was to read all books by an author before moving on to another author. Something I still do now and don't see any problem with!]

Over the past year, BallFiend has also enjoyed a range of other activities:

• Artistic: drawing in crayon, stamps and ink, playdoh, cutting up paper with scissors. BallFiend's favourite colour is green.
  
• Culinary: baking with me, chopping up vegetables with a proper kitchen knife (mainly zucchini and onion), grocery shopping, and of course squishing and throwing food.
• Music: singing songs, composing his own songs, playing harmonica (especially if jamming with DeepSpice on guitar or playing along to Sugar Blue with GrandPaul also on harmonica), strumming guitar (again with DeepSpice's help). His favourite music is 'rock and roll' (by which he means the Queen Greatest Hits album) and in particular "mama mia" (by which he means Bohemian Rhapsody).
• Literacy: BallFiend shows great interest in learning to recognise and write various letters and numbers. Favourites are "H" and the number 8. He likes to 'do writing' using pens, biros and markers and not just on paper (furniture, walls and balls have all been popular media). BallFiend loves to read books and be read to - especially books that feature balls or anything ball-shaped, like balloons or eggs. At last count he had well over 100 books.
• Science: recognises various planets and other astrological bodies (Earth, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter), naturally of interest because they are ball-shaped; is interested in physics - can describe a synchotron ("It goes round and round and round and round and BANG!"); likes to experiment with gravity particularly using toys such as marble and ball runs; interested in various materials and their properties ("is this rubber? is this plastic? is this wood?" etc). Understands some aspects of human physiology and is particularly fascinated with the digestive system (ie. he giggles when he farts!); interested in observing blood come out (when watching me have blood samples taken for testing) and speculating on what colour it is.
• Consuming media: watching TV (favourite shows include PlaySchool, the Upside Down Show, Curious George the Monkey and Shaun the Sheep), playing Peggle, watching video clips on YouTube (especially the Pinball Song from Sesame St), watching our Tim Minchin DVD (we had to curb that one, as he was learning some very colourful language!).

Overall, BallFiend, you are a delight to be around almost all of the time. It is only when you are grumpy due to being tired and/or hungry that you display some of the more difficult behaviours typical of your stage of development. You show great maturity, empathy and intelligence for someone so little and both DeepSpice and I look forward to watching you grow and develop.

A+

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