Letter Of The Week - "g" For grapes

I get frustrated with Sophie rather easily and frequently these days. Although she still cannot really express herself via speech, she makes sure we understand her enough to give her what she wants. Her best weapons are her wails and grandparents. Recently, she also seemed to have lost interest in scribbling, painting and our art time. It is increasingly difficult to work with her but we still have about ten letters to go.

Honestly, I often entertain the thought of giving up, maybe it is better to send her to a childcare facility and let them do the teaching. My friends were not entirely encouraging when they heard that I intend to homeschool her until she enters kindergarten.They think it is too tiring and stressful... and I must admit, I agree. However, I guess I am a little masochistic and I cannot imagine doing less for her.



I decided to be a little more lenient with her today, adopting a totally different approach, in hope that she would regain her interest and cooperate with me...somehow. First of all, I chose to make "grapes" because she loves to eat them. And I described and laid the materials out to give her an idea of what exactly she would be making. I also made two bunches of grapes with Jumping Clay and two bunches out of cardboard so that she did not have to paint too many. I figured that if I break the activity into smaller tasks and interact with her more in between, she might be able to stay focused.

Somehow, Sophie really likes it when we draw for her. Most of the time she would say "cow" or "moo" when I asked her what she wanted me to draw. And she became very accomodating after I let her have her way.



Sophie was quite happy to paint the paper “grapes”… so long as she could dig at the purple paint in the bottle. Some battles are not worth fighting for… so I relented. The temptation was to give her a long lecture about why she should not waste paint like that and how she could paint mroe efficiently.



I let her play a bit with the purple paint and cut of the "leaves" for the "grapevine". I wonder sometimes if she would ever be stable and independent enough to complete an activity by herself. Ah Gong suggested letting her do Yoga or meditation to improve her concentration and attention.

I found my fingers crossed and twisted as I watched her fiddle around with the "grapes" (Jumping Clay). I was very worried that she might take them apart or worse, eat them. It took a day to air dry the "grapes"...



Surprisingly, she was very careful when we glued them onto the letter. I think she tried very hard not to "destroy" them.



I was quite happy to see how she carefully "planted" the leaves to the top of each bunch of "grapes". I think she really liked the activity so she was willing to put in more effort.



I guess Sophie does not always like what I have planned for her so she refuses to corporate with me. If I let her do what she wants, she will probably be playing with her kitchen accessories or plush toys ALL the time (other than watching TV). So, I have to keep trying to engage her in alternative activities.

End Product - "g" for grapes