SPEAK

Is it possible to speak without moving the lips? Calder has been doing that lately, so much so that I have to ask him to repeat  5 times before I could figure out what he said.

Rewind

If being frozen is PAUSE mode, I should write also about Calder's REWIND mode. Recently he has taken to reversing his actions. He sits and stands up then sits down again. He puts food into his mouth, spits it out then puts it back. Today I asked him to keep the laundry and actually saw him trying to fling his Daddy's dried pants back over the bamboo. He walks 3 steps forward then 2 steps back, so that I constantly have to wait for him to catch up. Eventually I figured it may be easier to walk with my arm locked over his neck. This morning, I asked him, "Calder, are you a trolley that I must pull along?

Frozen

Something strange is happening to Calder who turns 12 this Nov. As he enters adolescence, he loses his need for routine. Unfortunately he swings to the other extreme - he does not take the next step without instruction. I have to tell him to gargle after brushing his teeth, then nod at him to indicate now he can wipe his face etc. Otherwise he gets stuck in the toilet. Once, 9-year-old Ethel timed him to see how long he'd remain in the toilet (yes he even waits for us to tell him to wash hands and to exit from the toilet). After 19 minutes, we couldn't take it anymore and started talking about delicious chicken wings to lure him out! Calder used to be our most reliable janitor making sure unused appliances were turned off, picking up used clothes to put in the laundry basket etc. These disappeared with a puff some two weeks ago and we are left with a robot often frozen mid-task. This calls for patient endurance. May God have mercy on us.

TWIST

Calder has developed a strange gait that I call the Twist. Instead of placing his foot one before the other, he turns one foot inward. Looks almost like a dance, and comical when we are in good mood. I wonder how long he's going to keep up with this.

Talk

Today I saw Calder lightly pushing his toy train on the floor and decided to test his knowledge of the MRT route (complete with sound effects). Sure enough, he could tell me that the MRT goes from Kovan to Hougang to Buangkok to Sengkang. Then I took 2 figurines (including Kevin the minion) and decided to let them get off the train to explore the vicinity. And I asked Calder where we can eat at these places, what we can buy. Amazing details came out like Passion fruit frozen yogurt from KFC,  almond coffee cake from Kovan. He even remembered Soup Restaurant at Hougang which we hardly eat at. Is this speech therapy or what?