Letter Of The Week - "F" For Flamingo

I thought of making a few fish and attached them onto the letter "F" and call it a day. However, Sophie already knows "fish" and she is beginning to recognise the animals in Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and there is a flamingo among the animals in the book.

I think Sophie can actually tell colours apart although she still does not appear so. When we used yellow paint, she would somehow paint something that could be found in that colour e.g. bird and (ba)nana. Today, she painted a horse and a fish. She probably remembered the “blue horse” in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., so she saw it in her painting. And the foam fish in her set of new bath toys, well one side colourful and other blue.



Although her motor skills still need some work, Sophie can actually paint or draw a circle. I think she was trying to control her hand and fingers to paint something meaningful. Somehow, she is very communicative and expressive in arts (play pretend, puppetry, art and music) but not so in normal speech with us. Perhaps she has sensed that in normal speech, we tend to be more careful and critical (using the right words to convey the right meaning etc). However, we are more relaxed and lenient with other forms of communication. Thus, she feels at ease when she expresses herself in arts.



It took a while for Sophie to finish her painting because she was so distracted by everything else. She always enjoys talking to herart piece. Fortunately, her work look quite good. She was also quite happy with what she has done.

Knowing that Sophie is sensitive about her performance, we always use lots of positive reinforcements like applauds, hugs and kisses whenever she does something good or right. We also trivialize “correction” in her speech by simply uttering the correct version and move on so that she will not dwell upon her mistake. And if she fails at doing something, I will try to say, “Can Mama help?” or “Let Mama help, ok?” so that it cushions her fall and teaches her that every now and then it is alright to seek help from others.



Soon my fingers became too sticky and "woolly" to even hold the camera. But I was able to quickly finish the craft while Sophie was fiddling around with the cotton wool stuck on her fingers.

I do not know if we are doing the right thing but I can tell that she loses confidence and stops trying whenever someone tries to “correct” her or “teach” her after she makes a mistake. Also, I try not to “test” her to check her understanding. She will volunteer what she knows (eager to please) and if she does not or walk away, it means she does not know. For instance, she points to letters she has learnt whenever she spots them. But she will never name those she has difficulty recognising like “W” and “Z”.

Anyway, I was about to leave the flamingo looking like that... then my conscience bugged me a little. Poor fellow! I should give it some fluff at least. So, I whipped out some white feathers and attached them to its body where the wing is. Not a vast improvement, but it will do.

End Product - "F" For Flamingo