getting better; Kay's development
finally, my sinuses are clearing up along with the cold weather. i don't really know if it's because of a cold or if it's just my allergies acting up again due to the cold temperatures...or maybe it's a mix of both...? no matter, i'm just glad that i can breath again! i'm also happy that i didn't have to resort to meds this time. yay for my immune system! XD
Kay's got two more days before she's officially off from preschool, which also means that she'll be joining me at my daycare next Monday! again like i said, i'm both excited and anxious about this. the next two weeks, before everything closes for the new years on the 29th, will be very important for our family. mostly because it'll help us decide whether or not to pull Kay out of her current preschool.
it's not that we don't like the preschool. the kids, the teachers and even the moms are all really cool and soooo nice! although in the last 2.5 months that Kay's been at the preschool, she's changed in both good and less appealing ways.
some good points are her Japanese has improved drastically, she's made a lot of friends, and she's learned so many songs and other things that pertain to Japanese culture that i would have never been able to fully teach her myself.
her Japanese has really taken off ever since she started in October. it's gotten so good that she even speaks with a Fukuoka-ben (a Fukuoka dialect)! this is good and bad in the sense that she'll be able to understand others here while she lives in Fukuoka, but the bad part is that if she goes anywhere East of Osaka, people won't be able to fully get what she says ^_^;; i can't tell since it's all Japanese to me, but hubbs has said a few times that the dialect here is rather hard for him to understand :P it's kind of like the English spoken by people from Liverpool (ie: the Beatles) vs. the Queen's English with the Queen's English being the Japanese spoken in Tokyo, ya know?
the main reason i don't want to change Kay's school is her friends and their moms. i was so blown away at how nice and accepting everyone was when we first started in October. totally not what i had expected would happen what with us being foreigners and all, ya know? even if Kay will probably have no problem making new friends, it's still the whole starting-from-scratch thing that i don't like. :/
as far as her mental and physical development goes, i'm really pleased to see how much she's learned and grown! her fine motor skills have become so good now that she's able to make little figures and shapes from her playdough that she wasn't able to do before. just a minute ago, she made a smiley face from her playdough, which required her roll three little round balls for the eyes and nose along with rolling out a long thin piece of playdough for the mouth! since we're on the subject of art, the first week she came back from school, she was already drawing definite faces complete with eyelashes and long curly tresses of hair ^_^ a week prior to that she was still drawing her "amoeba" like people with a million arms and legs ^_^;;; so, major kudos for her teachers if you ask me!
mentally, she's smart enough to remember a whole dance routine or a ton of Japanese children's songs. she's also getting to the point where she can almost recognize the Japanese hiragana characters. i'd say give it another 6 months, and she'll be able to start reading! :D
so, why are we even thinking about changing her school then??
well for one thing, the schedule at the preschool is great...if you're a stay at home mom. with the schedule that i work now, it can get complicated when you suddenly have a whole week of early pick ups, or if you're suddenly asked to attend a "mommy cleaning day" where all the moms come and clean up the school before pick-up time. even if i'm a part timer, sudden schedule changes aren't good for anyone, ya know? i mean, i had to take off a day of work just to attend a mommy luncheon! granted i had fun and didn't mind having that extra day off, but having an extra 6000 yen doesn't hurt either. :/
another thing would be that Kay's endurance has really gone down ever since she's started school. by endurance, i mean that she physically isn't able to walk/run as much as she used to. before we came to Japan, she would go out with her daddy every day and literally jog or do some sort of exercise with him. with her going to preschool, her whole routine got adjusted so she really doesn't have any time to exercise during the weekdays anymore. i'm guessing that they don't have a lot of outside playtime when she's at school either. :/
the biggest reason for leaving her preschool is that her English learning has started to slow down. with only a limited amount of time for her to speak English with me (about 6 hours a day), she's started to slip Japanese into her English sentences and forgetting things that she should know in English.
so, we're hoping that this little Winter Break can tell us if she's okay for the daycare or not. if she's okay with everything, we could just pull her out and start continuing at the daycare from January. so, we'll see what happens. :)
Kay's got two more days before she's officially off from preschool, which also means that she'll be joining me at my daycare next Monday! again like i said, i'm both excited and anxious about this. the next two weeks, before everything closes for the new years on the 29th, will be very important for our family. mostly because it'll help us decide whether or not to pull Kay out of her current preschool.
it's not that we don't like the preschool. the kids, the teachers and even the moms are all really cool and soooo nice! although in the last 2.5 months that Kay's been at the preschool, she's changed in both good and less appealing ways.
some good points are her Japanese has improved drastically, she's made a lot of friends, and she's learned so many songs and other things that pertain to Japanese culture that i would have never been able to fully teach her myself.
her Japanese has really taken off ever since she started in October. it's gotten so good that she even speaks with a Fukuoka-ben (a Fukuoka dialect)! this is good and bad in the sense that she'll be able to understand others here while she lives in Fukuoka, but the bad part is that if she goes anywhere East of Osaka, people won't be able to fully get what she says ^_^;; i can't tell since it's all Japanese to me, but hubbs has said a few times that the dialect here is rather hard for him to understand :P it's kind of like the English spoken by people from Liverpool (ie: the Beatles) vs. the Queen's English with the Queen's English being the Japanese spoken in Tokyo, ya know?
the main reason i don't want to change Kay's school is her friends and their moms. i was so blown away at how nice and accepting everyone was when we first started in October. totally not what i had expected would happen what with us being foreigners and all, ya know? even if Kay will probably have no problem making new friends, it's still the whole starting-from-scratch thing that i don't like. :/
as far as her mental and physical development goes, i'm really pleased to see how much she's learned and grown! her fine motor skills have become so good now that she's able to make little figures and shapes from her playdough that she wasn't able to do before. just a minute ago, she made a smiley face from her playdough, which required her roll three little round balls for the eyes and nose along with rolling out a long thin piece of playdough for the mouth! since we're on the subject of art, the first week she came back from school, she was already drawing definite faces complete with eyelashes and long curly tresses of hair ^_^ a week prior to that she was still drawing her "amoeba" like people with a million arms and legs ^_^;;; so, major kudos for her teachers if you ask me!
mentally, she's smart enough to remember a whole dance routine or a ton of Japanese children's songs. she's also getting to the point where she can almost recognize the Japanese hiragana characters. i'd say give it another 6 months, and she'll be able to start reading! :D
so, why are we even thinking about changing her school then??
well for one thing, the schedule at the preschool is great...if you're a stay at home mom. with the schedule that i work now, it can get complicated when you suddenly have a whole week of early pick ups, or if you're suddenly asked to attend a "mommy cleaning day" where all the moms come and clean up the school before pick-up time. even if i'm a part timer, sudden schedule changes aren't good for anyone, ya know? i mean, i had to take off a day of work just to attend a mommy luncheon! granted i had fun and didn't mind having that extra day off, but having an extra 6000 yen doesn't hurt either. :/
another thing would be that Kay's endurance has really gone down ever since she's started school. by endurance, i mean that she physically isn't able to walk/run as much as she used to. before we came to Japan, she would go out with her daddy every day and literally jog or do some sort of exercise with him. with her going to preschool, her whole routine got adjusted so she really doesn't have any time to exercise during the weekdays anymore. i'm guessing that they don't have a lot of outside playtime when she's at school either. :/
the biggest reason for leaving her preschool is that her English learning has started to slow down. with only a limited amount of time for her to speak English with me (about 6 hours a day), she's started to slip Japanese into her English sentences and forgetting things that she should know in English.
so, we're hoping that this little Winter Break can tell us if she's okay for the daycare or not. if she's okay with everything, we could just pull her out and start continuing at the daycare from January. so, we'll see what happens. :)