Entry #23, 20 November 2009

Today everybody dressed in Pyjamas, in support of Children In Need. The children got their faces painted to the likeness of Pudsey Bear. The pale tinge of yellow combined with the paint running/smudging caused some of them to look like extras from Michael Jackson's Thriller.

B'a's finger bandage has been removed, revealing a dark red cut on her finger. She refuses to use her finger though, still treating her hand with care. This causes concerns for things like going down stairs, where she will get into an awkward position to use her other hand to hold onto the railing. She also got very upset when she was required to wash the hand with her injured finger.

J'a was a bit cranky today, often getting upset. Normally he can communicate what's upsetting him, for instance he wants a car or toy, but today at times he'd just cry. He also spent a lot of time hoarding all the cars, to the point that when his hands were full, he held one in his mouth! He carried his treasure hoard around the room with him. When C'l told him to come do an activity, he brought them all with him and placed them on a chair beside him.

K'n had some fun at J'a's expense. He seemed to realise that J'a was hoarding cars, and also that I would not allow J'a to take a car that someone else already had. K'n took a car already in his possession, and placed it in front of J'a. When J'a tried to take it, K'n would yell "Mine!" and yank it away, or get into a pulling fight with J'a while calling out "Mark, mine, Mark, mine". Needless to say, both scenarios caused J'a to cry.

K'n got away with it the first time. The second time I told him that he was upsetting J'a on purpose, and I would let J'a keep the car the next time. He didn't repeat it after that.

K'm was very unsettled today, crying a lot. There's a high chance he was unwell, especially because at times he would open his mouth, point his finger in and say "Sore".

Moving Forward

B'a's finger may still be causing her pain, or at least fear of pain. She should gradually begin to start using her injured hand again though, especially with the encouragement being given by the staff.

J'a's hoarding behaviour may have been reinforced due to the "He had it first, let him keep it" principle. As such, he reasons that if he has everything first, all the time, noone can ever take anything from him. Other children are learning to share.

For example, A'n wanted a car, and F'n had 2. I told F'n that A'n would like a car, would he be willing to give one to him? (I didn't do it as a "false question" where he didn't have a choice.) F'n looked at his 2 cars and thought for a moment, and went "The orange one" and passed it to me. I told him to pass it to A'n instead, which he did.

Hopefully J'a's temperament will improve with time, but reinforcing good behaviour will have to be done both at nursery as well as at home.