Handwriting Via Finger-painting

I recently wrote about introducing sewing to children to indirectly prepare them for handwriting. That then led me to the idea of offering printed alphabet cards with punched out holes for Stella to sew. I also mentioned that I’d better make sure that Stella knows how to write the letters properly before offering the alphabet sewing cards. Since then I have been thinking about a way to ‘assess’ Stella’s letter writing abilities without her knowing that I am testing her. I hate to cause unnecessary stress. Finger-painting could well be a fun way.

If the weather continues to be fairly mild on one of the days that I work with Stella next week, I might suggest we do some finger-painting. It is something she enjoys doing. I will see if she can paint any letters using her fingers before suggesting some letters. This may prompt her into writing out the whole alphabet if she knows how to. It is not important for her to know how to write them all. I just need to take notice of the ones that she is capable of writing properly. Most importantly, it will be the order of each letter’s formation that I will be paying my close attention to. This will let me know if she is ready to sew those letters because she will be required to sew each in the right order. Judging from some of her work at home, I am already pretty sure that she is able to write quite a few of them because her mum had taught her to write some, especially the ones in her name.

Stella is able to identify and sound out almost the entire alphabet. She is better at identifying the upper case letters, which is something quite common among pre-schoolers. With the lower case letters, she is still making typical mistakes like getting confused with letters like ‘b’ & ‘d’ and ‘p’ & ‘q’. That is ok. We should give her a break. She is only 4 and a bit!

I have gotten a little side-tracked again. Now, let’s get back to finger-painting. This form of art allows the child to move about the whole table’s surface freely to write or draw. It is less restrictive than writing on a piece of paper. There is no need for the child to use any writing tools. If desired, a paint brush can be offered to write the letters. Most children are quite happy to just use the index finger of their dominant hand to write or draw and then delete by swiping across the surface with the palm of their hand to start all over again. Since the child is likely to enjoy this tactile activity, it naturally becomes a relaxing way to ‘assess’ if the child is forming her letters properly.

Unfortunately, finger-painting is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some people are just horrified by the amount of mess to clean up afterwards. A friend of mine is even horrified by seeing her child touching the paints with his bare hands. As a substitute, a tray of sand can be used instead for writing with fingers. Purchase a large art tray – the ones made for indoor table top mud play or finger-painting. This type of trays is available at Kindergarten or Art supplies shops. Other types of trays are fine also provided if they have low sides. Add to the tray a layer of fine, washed sand for the child to write or draw. If preferred, cornmeal can be used as a substitute for the sand. One mum I know even mixed glitter into the sand to entice her little princess! (What is it with girls and glittery little things?) I was kind of surprised that she didn’t dye the sand pink. Now, if sweeping up spilled sand is still too messy, one can always encourage the children to write the letters in the air. That really is a clean and thrifty option.

NOTE: I recently wrote about finger-painting and suggested making prints by transferring a child’s design to a piece of paper. This technique is not applicable to writing because the resulting prints will be a mirror image to what the child has written.

Kissy Kissy

This incident is one of those awkward moments I got caught up involving dads of the children that I look after. No! I didn’t go fishing for an illicit affair between a dad and I. Just read on and drop me a comment to tell me what you think.

The first family that I ever worked for as a nanny introduced a couple to me, hoping that I would babysit for them occasionally. The couple were expatriates from England, temporarily living in Melbourne while the husband was working for a big well known company. At the time, they had two boys – Conroy and Benjamin.

I started off babysitting the boys occasionally when the parents went out in the evenings. The couple was friendly but I sensed that their relationship was somewhat strained right from the start. The boys were easy to look after. Baby Benjamin had kidney problems and was on medication. Conroy was very chatty and quite bossy at times. Although he was only 2.5 when I started, he talked more or less like a pre-schooler. I remembered being told that he aced an interview to join a local Kindergarten in the new school year. Apparently the teacher was very impressed by his abilities. Stella reminds me of Conroy very much. After a couple of months, the mother negotiated to hire me on every Wednesday afternoon. She learned from her friend that I was working half days on every Wednesday. She wanted someone to be there for the boys while she played tennis. I was happy to do so because her house was within walking distance of the other family that I worked for. I remember enjoying the walk over there after lunch.

On a sunny afternoon not long after this arrangement was made, I arrived at the house and noticed immediately that it was very quiet. The boys were already napping. It was usually my chore to get them ready for nap time. I sat down in their living room, flipping through their English magazines. The boys’ mum came to say goodbye to me and told me that she would be back at around 5 pm. I noticed that she looked teary. After she left, I moved to sit in the kitchen to get closer to the baby monitors. Within minutes, I heard someone coming down the stairs and I immediately thought that Conroy must be up to something mischievous. I decided to meet him at the stairs but as I neared them I realized that the footsteps were too heavy to be that of a toddler. I looked up to find the boys’ dad. He greeted me with a big smile and then headed straight for the front door. He opened it slightly and told me that he was expecting his secretary. I stood there wondering why he was home at that time of the day and why his wife didn’t inform me that he was home. Because he was rushing around, I just left him and went back to the kitchen.

There was a knock at the front door and I went to see who it was. Standing there was a young woman with a smile that disappeared very quickly when she saw me approaching. (One should never waste any efforts flashing their beautiful smiles at a lowly nanny.) After she identified herself, I invited her to come in and informed her that the boys’ dad was still upstairs. It was only then that I noticed the luggage in the hallway. Before I could offer her a drink, he came down the stairs and had greeted her, whispering to her that the boys were napping. He went over to her and gave her a big kiss! No, it wasn’t just a peck on the cheek. It was a long steamy one on the mouth! I knew my position. I walked away, removing myself from the scene ASAP. I am not sure if he was aware that I was standing nearby when it happened but she knew I was right there.

I sat at the kitchen flipping through the day’s paper, pretending really hard that I hadn’t seen anything that had just occurred. He came in to get himself a drink (she had declined his offer) and didn’t give me immediate eye contact. He seemed to be behaving like a super excited high school boy. Just before he left though, he told me that he was on his way to Sydney and then Hong Kong a couple of days later. He made a comment about how fast asleep the boys were and told me to tell them that daddy would call later that evening. I then waved goodbye to them from the front door.

As soon as I shut the front door, I ran up stairs to check on the boys. I suddenly saw the need to check on them. They were both fine, sleeping soundly in their own bedrooms. Until they got up, I just couldn’t stop thinking about what I had seen. I debated as to whether to tell their mum. It was a difficult afternoon. Conroy looked quite like his dad and every time he approached me, he reminded me of him instantly. I tried to carry on as usual, taking them out for their walk and then playing with them in the family room and back yard until their mum’s arrival home. I didn’t know what happened but when we heard her arrival I decided right then that I would not tell her anything. The boys greeted her lovingly and she came in to see me asking about their afternoon.

I just couldn’t tell her what I saw. With the dad off working interstate and then Hong Kong I just couldn’t bear knowing that she would be stuck at home with the two boys crying her heart out. That day I saw first hand how lonely it can be for expatriates living in a foreign land. Okay, England is quite similar to Australia in the eyes of most people but I don’t think Melbourne was their ‘home’ after just 6 months. I knew also that the boys’ mum was not coping really well. When I was dropped off for a brief interview before I started babysitting for them, she came to the front door in tears. I was ushered to the kitchen while she cried to the phone. She sounded very upset about being left to deal with everything on her own and yearned to go home (referring to England). After she hung up the phone, she excused herself before our conversation. Before I left, she pleaded that I should not tell her friends about what I heard. I didn’t tell anyone until now. The family has since returned to England.

It is hard to start a new life in another country. It is even harder when the family is falling apart because one important member is ‘busy’ somewhere else.

Sewing for Handwriting Preparation

There are a number of things children can do at home to develop their fine motor development as a preparation for beautiful handwriting. Sewing is one such activity. It helps to develop good hand-eye coordination.

I introduced a simple lacing activity to Stella last year when she was just 3. I bought this set of 4 simple plastic animal shapes with holes along the edges for the child to lace using a plastic threading lace. No sharp needles are required. I introduced only one animal shape at a time. The rigid plastic shape made it a manageable activity for a pre-schooler. Stella really enjoyed working on it and she was always making sure that she didn’t skip a hole. This was her first ‘Sewing’ activity.

Seeing that Stella was ready for something more advance, I decided to teach her how to thread using a darning needle and thick yarn in May. She had just turned 4 then. I showed her how to thread the darning needle with yarn and then how to thread through the holes of the animal shapes. I let her experiment these new techniques with the plastic animal shapes at first. They were quite tricky for her to manage at first. She enjoyed choosing the colour of yarn she would like to work with and concentrated very hard to thread it through the needle’s eye. (If you are going to offer this activity, be sure to buy darning needles with large eyes.) When she started to thread the yarn through the first hole on the plastic shape, I noticed that she was struggling because she had a tendency to pull the yarn all the way through. Because she was not able to tie a knot, I showed her how to use a piece of sticky tape to stick the end of the long yarn to the centre back of the animal shape. She didn’t like this step of the activity and would always ask for my assistance before proceeding to threading the yarn through the holes. Before long, she realized that she could thread multiple yarns of different colours through the holes to create a ‘rainbow’ effect.

I thought about what I can do with Stella this week on the weekend. I thought I might offer sewing again. This time, I have decided to abandon the plastic animal shapes. To give Stella the next challenge, I decided to encourage her to apply the same sewing technique she learned earlier on cards. Sewing on cards is more challenging because they are less rigid than plastic. While it is possible to buy ready made sewing cards from good toy stores, I chose to make my own. I print out the picture of a spider on sky blue cardstock and then cover it with a layer of clear book cover on the top to make it more durable. I then cut the cardstock down to 20 cm x 20 cm, making sure that the spider is approximately in the middle of the card. The idea is not for Stella to sew around the spider. I decided to create an ‘invisible’ cobweb for the spider by marking out dots on the card before punching them out using my craft punch set. When the sewing is completed by the child, she will see that the spider is actually sitting on her cobweb (waiting for a fly). I chose to punch larger holes but they weren’t as big as the ones on the plastic animal shapes.

I presented this activity to Stella today and it was a hit. She was at first more interested with the unique knitting yarn that I offered. She also asked about the plastic animals’ whereabouts. After I showed her how to thread through a couple of holes, she requested to finish it on her own. She stopped a few times because she wasn’t sure which way to go. After a while, she noticed the shape and informed me that she had made a cobweb for the spider. You should have seen her eyes when she discovered it. I now intend to make a few more of this type of sewing cards for Stella to work on.

I recently purchased a font set online. This means that I can now write (type) and print the Victorian Cursive Font. This is the type of font that children learn to write with when they go to schools in Melbourne. Since Stella is already quite capable in identifying her alphabets, I think I will print the letters out in bold using this font and then punch smaller holes on them for Stella to sew. I think I will offer her letters from her name at first. Come to think of it, this activity may have to be postponed until later this year because I must first make sure that she knows how to write the letters on offer before sewing them. It is important for the child to know the order of writing each letter before sewing it.

Children can continue to enjoy sewing activities even after entering school. As they develop, basic stitches can be introduced for the child to master. Offer Cloths like Binca and Aida for them to practice stitching. Encourage them to draw a picture on a piece of cloth and then show them how to place it on an embroidery hoop before sewing the picture’s outline. Such creations can then be framed. From the way they grip the needle to the way they move their wrist and arm, hand sewing helps children to indirectly prepare themselves for handwriting.

Stella’s Counting Was Inspired by Noah

Stella has a picture book called Noah’s Ark. It is an abridged version of the biblical story written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins (author of the popular Maisy series). While she nowadays has an attraction to story/picture books that are more complicated, Stella dug this book out from a box on Thursday and asked me to read it to her. She said she used to like it as a baby, which I think is referring to a time before I came into her life. She spent a few extra minutes looking at the pictures in the book afterwards before we left for the park. When we got back, we still had more than an hour before her mum’s arrival. I had nothing to do because I was not expected to cook dinner. I asked her for ideas.

Stella suggested we make a boat just like Noah. Trying to let her make the decisions, I asked her what she would use to make the boat. She went straight to her ‘useful box’ and fished a men’s shoe box declaring, “This is it. This is the boat.” Next, she told me that she would fetch her toy animals from the cupboard. I was just watching all this from the couch. She set up the scene on the big coffee table in front of me. She lined up the animals like they were queuing to enter the ark. As she busied herself, she mumbled the same line from the book, “Then the animals came, two by two into the ark.” I noticed that she was having trouble pairing up some of the animals because she didn’t have two of every animal. For the dogs, she paired a Jack Russel with a Black Labrador. She was also forced to pair two lionesses because she didn’t have a lion. She was aware of the two’s identical gender as well.

Noticing that the two important human characters were missing from the scene, I asked Stella if she was Noah’s wife. She replied, “No.” and carried on pairing things for the ark. By then she had even paired buttons, balls, pencils, paper clips and other little toy vegetables for the ark. I asked her for the whereabouts of the famous couple. At one stage, she stopped and explained that they had gone to the market to get more food for the animals. A few minutes later, she stopped again and gave me one of those looks as though she had just thought of something. “I suppose I can use those Lego people to pretend to be Noah and his wife.” To that, I got up because I would be needed to help carry the crate of Duplo blocks. I was hoping earlier that she would come to use the Duplo figures on her own because there were more animals in the crate. She did and it was a great idea. She looked through her collection and selected animals from there to pair up with lonely plastic animals on the coffee table. I watched as she tried to select the human characters. It was fortunate that she has at least one female figure. This female zookeeper was selected to be Noah’s wife. I told her that was a nice choice because we need her help with the animals. Stella wanted a male figure with a beard of some sort to be Noah but she didn’t have any sporting facial hair. Bob the builder was given the honour to be Noah. (By the way, we don’t think that Stella knows Bob the builder in the same way that other children would. She knows of his name but has not watched his shows.) After selecting the couple, she had no choice but to choose 3 male figures to be their sons. One of the boys had a darker complexion. I thought he was probably adopted.
Stella proudly showed her mum the scene she created. She explained that the animals were all lined up, two by two, just like the story. Her mum asked about the buttons and toy vegetables. Stella explained that Noah’s wife needed the buttons to make clothes and the vegetables were food for everyone. Before I left, Stella’s mum couldn’t resist whispering, “Luckily Noah picked the right pair of lions for the ark.” She obviously didn’t notice the dogs.

New Underpants for Bree

Bree’s mum is so happy with her little girl’s progress; she bought some new underpants for her. These are proper underpants from the very popular French brand Petit Bateau. She used to wear Petit Bateau bodysuits when she was a baby. The underpants are still too big for her to wear right now but I think they will fit nicely by her 2nd birthday in November. She is still wearing trainer pants for now. This is the soft terry towelling type with a thicker centre to soak up any little accidents. Bree started learning to use the toilet in June and has been progressing smoothly since.

Bree is pretty much dry during the day when she is awake. Her mum and I are adventurous and we have decided to take the spare potty (that is normally kept in the car) with us when Bree and I visit the local parks. The potty chairs at her home can’t fit the storage area under Bree’s Mountain Buggy. So, her mum bought another smaller Baby Bjorn potty because she is so keen for her little girl to learn to use the toilet soon. Bree is always encouraged to use the toilet before we leave the house but sometimes nothing happens. We try to keep the duration short for when we are visiting the parks. One of the regular parks that we go to does not have a public toilet and Bree’s mum is just not happy for her child to use the toilet at the other park. This is why we pack the smaller potty under the buggy, and take with us a set of spare pants and trainer pants and some wipes for her and the potty. So far, I thank God that Bree has not done a poo when she has relieved herself in the great outdoors. She has always been very regular in that department. She does her poos in the morning, before my arrival most of the time.

Bree still wears a disposable nappy for when she takes her afternoon nap. Again, she is encouraged to go to the toilet before putting on the nappy. Last week, she woke up in the middle of her nap and wandered into her bathroom on her own and then cried for me because she wanted to use the potty. Because she wasn’t quite awake at the time, she must have become a little disoriented and wasn’t quite sure that she was wearing a nappy. When she is fully awake, she is quite capable of taking her trainer pants off carefully before sitting down on her potty. On the two days I looked after her this week, Bree woke up with a dry nappy. As soon as she started to be chatty, I took her to the potty and there she produced big amount of wees on both days. We adults were very proud of her but I think she is just as proud of herself too!

I Love Melbourne’s City Library

I enjoy my weekly visits to the City Library. It is located on Flinders Lane. It is accessible for people living in the Melbourne CBD, Southbank and Docklands. People from other parts of Melbourne who work or study in the city are signing up for memberships there too.
The list of books available is really quite comprehensive. I am so glad that I didn’t have to buy the prescribed text for the previous unit of studies that I was doing. I think the recommended retail price for the book was around $100. Instead, I borrowed the book from this library and used it throughout the whole duration. Along with the State Library, this library has served my needs over the years but unlike the State Library, I can bring the books home to complete my assignments in peace and quite.

This library is really quite unique. It has the usual facilities like computers for hire and conference/meeting rooms, like most suburban libraries. On top of that, there is a piano on the first floor for those who are not shy to play their favourite pieces. A very good pianist comes in to play too. I am not sure of her schedule but she is very good. This is the same lady that used to play the piano at the Galleria on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke Streets. Again, I am not sure if she is still playing at the Galleria as I have not been back there since their big renovation. Now back to the library, where there is also a gallery upstairs (right where the piano is) for displays of community art. Towards the back of the library and up a short flight of stairs in the mezzanine area is where the audio CDs, DVDs and Magazines are kept. Also sharing the mezzanine area is the young adult (teens) section. I mention this because I think the designer of this area has really catered to teenagers’ needs. There are bean bags for them to chill out and the lights are dimmer, giving it a relaxed atmosphere. I recently noticed that they have installed a Nintendo Wii in this area. Visitors are welcomed to use this for half an hour at a time.

The only thing I don’t quite like about the City Library is that it can get quite crowded at times. As it is part of the CAE, their teenage students use the library at certain times of the day. Many were obviously educated in a different but strictly regimented style previously and are not yet accustomed to indoor protocols (within a more relaxed model of education) in places such as libraries. So, it is not uncommon to see 18-19 year olds behaving like toddlers, running up and down the stairs and book aisles and chatting away loudly like they have just recently bought the facility. To a nanny who has been looking after boisterous charges, the sight of these teenagers can be quite amusing. In times like this I just walk in to pick up the books I need quickly and leave ASAP. There really is no point circling like a frustrated ‘boxing day’ driver looking for an empty car park because most of the comfy tub chairs would have been taken. People even come in for a snooze on those chairs.

On a recent visit to the City Library I noticed that visitors are now allowed to use the seminar/conference room upstairs for quiet reading. This room used to be locked up when not in use. Now that it is open, it has increased the seating area for people who need to check out a book or two before borrowing. I really appreciate this move. The library also has improved the small reading area within the younger children’s section. Removing the foamy stools, they placed a set of child-sized tables and chairs, and a purple polka-dot beanbag for mini visitors to use. They also provided colouring pages and colour pencils for little artists to enjoy. I think I might take Stella with me for a visit before Christmas.

Ooh yes, the librarians are friendly too. Except for a couple of incidents, I have not seen them snapping at people unfairly. A few of them really know their job well. Someone asked one of them about a book and she immediately provided the initial numbers for the section where the book was likely to be. She did it off the top of her head. I sometimes sit under the stairs, an area quite close to where people register for membership. I noticed that most librarians are mindful when dealing with people of a NESB. They weren’t seen raising their voices (in frustration) when talking to people with little English. Have you ever seen those morons who speak loudly to people who speak English as a second/foreign language in the hope that they can increase their understanding? They are not deaf. Do you think this (raising the voice) is done to humiliate the people? Do you think these same people are also applying the same technique of increasing the volume when dealing with wilful children? I can think of many amusing examples. No, the offending adult is not me.

It looks like I got a little side-tracked again. Back to the City Library, I hope the people running this facility will continue to do so. I have enjoyed the services on offer and will continue to visit it weekly. If instead of being bored to death by this post, you somehow become interested to this little gem in our great city, visit it and see for yourself.

My New Study Materials Arrived!

Yippee! I am so happy to have received my latest set of study materials. After taking a break, I can’t wait to get things organized so I can get started. I took a peek at the materials in the package and I have to say whoever put this unit together did a pretty good job. To that, I mean everything is laid out in an organized way, quite unlike the previous unit I completed. After blogging here I might surf the web to see where I can get hold of a copy of the prescribed textbook. With this course, as well as my on going educational/language project on the side, this nanny will be quite a busy bee until the start of Summer.