January 2009

Makayla with my sister, her Aunt Christy.

Makayla is growing up so quickly. I just know she is going to be starting school before I know it. Makayla is fascinated with the way people pronounce words. She has corrected me several times on the way I pronounce "garage". I sometimes say it like "garadge" and Makayla will correct me by saying "Mommy, you said garadge, but it's garaaaage." One day when I told Makayla that Grammie was going to keep her for a Saturday, she was so excited because Grammie usually takes her to lunch. Grammie pronounces "lunch" by emphasizing the "ch" at the end. Makayla told me how Grammie pronounces lunch and also proceeded to tell Grammie when she was with her that Saturday. So funny!!

Makayla still hasn't picked which hand she wants to write with. She is equally comfortable using either hand and writes legibly with both. She will switch hands before you even know she has. She loves to write on her white board. She can spell and write out her name as well as some of her friends' names (Amber, Connor, Hayden). She spells CAT and DOG. She recognizes MOM and DAD. When I write them on the board, she knows that MOM is me and DAD is her dad.

She has been practising her math skills too. She can count by 2's all the way to 10. She is able to do some simple addition and subtraction.

She loves to play games. She got the Candyland game for Christmas and we played it all the time after that. I got Chutes and Ladders just to change things up a bit for me. She didn't quite understand how to get around the board the first time we played, but she was a pro by the second time. And just last weekend, we taught her to play the card game "Go Fish". She knows her letters and numbers so it wasn't too much of a stretch for her. We call the aces A's and the queens Q's, etc. She is a bit clumsy trying to hold the cards, but that will improve.

Makayla has a 3 1/2 year old screening that the Public Health department conducts scheduled for the end of February. There is a list of things that the kids are supposed to be able to do by this age so they will test them on those things, plus there are free eye and hearing exams. My neighbour and her son went this week and she wasn't overly impressed with the way they conducted the testing. I'm not too concerned about it and I am certain that Makayla will make it through the testing just fine.