Morgan Week 8

Morgan was taken to church on Sunday and this was followed by a visit to the Library. This involved enrolling Morgan as a member of the Library. He received several joining gifts - a range of books on parenting and some nice story books. In addition he took out the eight books he was allowed. Huw suggested that in future I used Morgan’s card for my books. We could explain that the four ‘adult’ texts were for reading aloud to Morgan – he could read the children’s texts himself! The books were most attractive and included one story by Beatrice Potter and a range of others. A particularly interesting book was about introducing a rabbit and other animals – Look, Peter Rabbit. The last page is a mirror so that Morgan sees himself. The inevitable Jemima P. was selected and a rather nice one with a song about the little honeys. One that he liked was the pictures in the Peter Rabbit book. It shows the great advantage of having a good library available – such a contrast to Thailand!
The morning dialogue continues to be a very enjoyable feature of the day. Margaret uses this time to show him the various stimulation material prepared, and his attention spans get a little longer. Morgan showed great pleasure this morning (Monday) when Margaret whistled to him. He seemed to really enjoy the sound and laughed and smiled as she whistled her ‘tune’ to his face. Exposing Morgan to a range of sounds is important but he showed a little concern about my grunting at one stage! Reading and soothing words got him off to sleep, but only temporarily. Once he was feeling hungry the bellowing started and his yelling made sure that Auntie rushed to get his food. He really does display a roaring disposition when he wants his food! What emerged more clearly towards the end of the week was an apparent wish to communicate with the person speaking to him. The range of sounds has increased and he shapes his mouth into an O and bubbles a little. What is noticeable is that a series of sounds may lead then to crying. Can the sounds be a preliminary to the crying or is the crying the result of not being able to communicate? Kelvin remarked on this aspect of his development and was impressed at the way he was attempting to make sounds. This is all evidence of a much greater awareness of Morgan to people and his surroundings.
Morgan’s perceptions seem to be extending. Rapt attention is being paid to mobiles and three different sets are being used; Joelle is very adept at designing and producing them. As Margaret circles 4 of them above the cot he follows them around. He switches from one after a few seconds and then does the same with the next. He smiled and gurgled when looking at them at first and they seem a very good stimulant. Similarly, he is paying more sustained attention to the animals in his cot when they are introduced to him. When lying in the morning he is alert and seems to be paying more attention to figures in the murals along his cot. Playing records does not stimulate but it is good for his sense of rhythm. It will be interesting to see when he takes note of a particular sound or tune. His grip and kicking are strong and Morgan is developing into a very wiry child.
Towards the end of the week he was staying awake too much in the day. He was good with the mobiles when in his push chair/pram and showed great response. On Saturday there was an expedition to United Square which featured a huge range of shops and services for children. The learning services were notably diverse and the crowds in attendance were quite overwhelming. It is clear from such a Mall that people in Singapore are very achievement orientated.
Auntie left on the Friday the day Huw finished his work with the firm. A new maid is expected in just over a week and we hope she is up to Auntie’s standard. Auntie’s Chinese cooking was very nice indeed and she proved a good minder of mother and baby.