Waiting for Hari

Sunday, 15 October 2005

I have had trouble keeping up with this journal this week. Julia has done so many more things than I have written, and has been so much more frustrating! We have had a quiet weekend, staying close to home and seeing no one in particular. David and I are tired, there never seems to be enough hours to sleep. Julia is testing us in every way she can, and sometimes we are frustrated with our uphill battle.

Julia and I went to Chinese class on Saturday. Her behavior was not good. She would not sit in the class or do what was asked – singing together, sitting to do an exercise, or repeating words. I tried to keep her sitting in her chair and she slapped me roundly in the face. The room went silent for a moment and other parents gasped. I took her out of the room and she cried and then fussed in another room. We tried going back to the classroom each time Julia calmed down but it took four or five attempts before we made it back in. We only had about 15 minutes of the class left but we stayed for it. I asked the teacher, also named Julia, if she minded Julia’s behavior and told her that I understood if she didn’t want to have her in the class, but she assured me that Julia was welcomed and that this would pass. The other parents have been very welcoming and have not complained about Julia’s behavior. Julia liked the dance lesson, and although she did not follow all of the teacher’s instructions she responded to the music and had a good time.

After the lesson, the teacher tried speaking to Julia in Chinese. She used both Mandarin and Cantonese, and a few dialects. Julia answered her questions and talked to her some. The teacher told me that Julia used words in both Mandarin and Cantonese and had a strong accent. No wonder no one speaking a single language understands her!

This afternoon we went to the JCC to swim – finally, they finished the refurbishment of the indoor pool. We have not been there with Julia in about two weeks, and Julia was overjoyed to be there. She kept saying thank you, thank you, in Chinese. She loved the water and splashed about in water over her head. She went underwater several times, sometimes by mistake when she was squirming about and sometimes on purpose. JCC had swimming lessons starting next weekend. I think we will enroll her. One disturbing thing. When we were in the pool, Julia tried to get the attention of any grownup around including a lifeguard teaching another child. She yelled, called out, and splashed. I wonder if this behavior will rear its head in school.


Julia is using more and more words – "so happy," "oh, dear," baby, car, bus, truck, food, chicken, lots of animal names and what the animals say. She is learning the songs on one of the Chinese DVDs. She tries to sing them throughout the day. She is also learning Jingle Bells because it is one of the songs that her bear plays. She sings, "Jee-angle Bials" which is cute and funny, and she also sings "Babi Shalooma" (Baby Baluga!). We figure that her pronunciation is filtered through Chinese ears. Most words have added syllables – usually adding that schwa sound after a hard consonant. So Tiger becomes ti-ge-ger and friend becomes frien-de.

We painted some today – I doing a mirror frame for her room and Julia painting a bird house. She is reckless and unthinking – not careful or hesitant at all. I tell her to put on the tip of her brush in the paint, and she plunges the entire brush into the can of paint. She puts paint on the house and also on her leg and her nails.

Although Julia will say that she is Julia or Bye-Bye or A-Bye, she does not answer to her name when she is called. I usually have to call her many times to get her attention. I am not sure why this is. I am pretty sure that her hearing is fine. I don’t know if anyone ever called her individually, or if she doesn’t want to give into me direction when I call.

Julia put toys away tonight that go in the kitchen basket without an tantrum. She needed some prodding and coaxing but she gathered up the toys she had spread around the room. She understood what was said to her as well.

posted by Suz @ 10:06 PM