It is cold here these days. In case, you need proof....
It was 17 degrees at 10am when Ben and I took a hike along the river. There hasn't been snowfall yet, but the river banks are covered with frost that will stay on all the tree branches until March or April.
So, back to the story about Liam. Yesterday we went to an indoor playground on base. There were 3 or so 5 year olds there as well. One little boy was acting as the leader and developed a game he called "banana." As far as I could tell, it was tag but instead of being "it" you were "banana." He mostly used the game as a means of hugging the cute 5 year old little girl who was also playing. I was shocked as how emotionally advanced these kids were, but I am probably not the best judge of "normal."
The little boy wanted to include Liam in their game and attempted several times. He tagged Liam and told him he was "banana" to which Liam started crying uncontrollably and saying "I am not a banana!" I explained the rules of the game to Liam, and he just kept sobbing saying he didn't want to play, so I guided him through the steps of communicating that with the little boy. The little boy tried one or two more times, but Liam would just keep his head down to cry so he eventually gave up. Finally, Liam just came and sat next to me to take a break. During this break, the little girl asked Liam to hide under the table with her and the two of them made their own game of "hide from the little boy."
Liam was occupied so I focused on Ben who kept crying because he couldn't climb through the tube which had an incline to it. I checked on Liam a couple times and noticed the little girl knew his name was Liam but he just kept calling her "girl." I prompted him a couple times to ask her name but it wasn't effective apparently. Finally, it was time to go and Liam told me "I want to keep playing with the girl. It is not time to go." I gave him his transition counting, and he hopped up and walked away and from a distance said "Bye girl!" And then promptly seemed to forget all about her. As we were walking away she yelled out "Bye Liam, I had so much fun playing with you. Can you come back here tomorrow so we can play again?" Liam never answered as he was already asking me if we had juice in the car.
That is an example of how a preschooler can look normal and function at a basic level in a social situation but have an inability to interact appropriately. On the plus side his nonchalance will drive teenage girls wild.
2 comments:
Michelle- until this year, Kate was not good at these types of games. Last year, at 4, we went to a birthday party for our neighbor, who had just turned 6. The entire party was schoolyard games-- duck duck goose, tag, etc. Kate did not get it and refused to participate on an appropriate level (she didn't get she had to "tag" someone but was happy to run around the circle without tagging anyone). This year, she seems to get it. I'm not sure if it's a function of just a little more maturity or if the exposure to this type of stuff in school (they do this in PE in K but did not do it in preschool) has made the difference. Regardless, I feel for you because I know how incredibly hard it is to watch your child not engage in an activity that the other children seem to get just fine. ((hugs)).. What is the time difference between Alaska and the east coast? We seriously need to chat on the phone one of these days!
Delia doesn't like games like tag either and didn't even seem to get it for the longest time. She also isn't picking up on names. She plays with kids at preschool but can't tell me who she was playing with. I discussed with her that she needs to ask her friend's their name but she never does. It is always the girl with the princess shoes like me or something like that. She asks about stuff unrelated to other kids once she leaves the social situation. She is very awkward in some social situations. I know it isn't the same as what you just went through with Ben but Cora just got flagged for her development from the ages and stages form at the pediatrician.
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