Week 8 Progress

I've been away on official duty since last Monday so I had to mainly rely on Pweshes Babah to update me on Raiyan's achievements via SMS this past week, some of them I have to admit, had reduced me to joyful tears upon reading about them (though I had to refrain myself when I was checking my messages whilst waiting for my luggage at the airport!!)

1. Raiyan had a class trip to Bandar on Tuesday and since Pweshes Babah was on leave, he decided to join in and accompany him (well of course to also help control him in any potential meltdowns!). We are happy to report that Raiyan very much enjoyed the trip and was well behaved the whole time despite having to walk long distances around Bandar. Jeff was also delighted to chat with some of his classmates who THEMSELVES volunteered telling him that Raiyan is THEIR friend!! When I think of how difficult it was for Raiyan when he first started school at ISB not only because of his "disabilites" and lack of social skills but also with the added fact that he started school a month later than all the other kids who by then were already familiar with each other, I am so very very proud of what he has achieved and insyaAllah, I have higher hopes now that he will be able to form relationships with others in the future or dare I say it, even a GIRLFRIEND!
2. Prior to going away, I "briefed" Raiyan about me having to go away for a few days similar to how I have been doing so for the past 4-5 years. Earlier on, I would either receive the typical blank looks because naturally he wouldn't understand what I was talking about but towards the time when he started understanding "some" of what we say to him, he would just cry and cry upon hearing the word "airplane." Furthermore, he would always act slightly "detached" from me everytime I return to him. But this time, I explained to him with slightly more confidence that he is understanding what I say by informing him where I'm going and why I'm going and that I will be back on Saturday etc etc to which he just sat and listened to and replied "okay!". At first I still thought that he wasn't comprehending what I was saying to him, but even after seeing my suitcase and saying bye to me (when I kept saying I'm going to the airport this morning) he really DID seem to be completely OKAY with it and did not cry EVEN once the whole time I was away! He even greeted me at the airport upon my return at 11pm whilst he was half asleep, and groggily said "hi mama" with a smile upon seeing me! :D
3. Just to further show how OKAY he was with me being away, when Alisha was calling out "mama" and looking for me whilst I was away, Raiyan quickly reassured her by saying "Mama go on aeroplane to New Zeawand and Chiwe. It's ok Ayisha. Babah's here!"

The following adorable incident happened just this night. We have this gate to stop Alisha from climbing the stairs across it and just now, during the time when we were all supposed to go to bed, I discovered that it was broken. Raiyan who was already upstairs, upon hearing me declaring this then said:

"gate is broken?. we need to look at it. Auntie Ida, get the toolbox. we need to fix the gate"

Me: Let's fix it tomorrow Raiyan. It's time to sleep now (whilst going upstairs with Alisha).

But Raiyan carried on going down the stairs and muttering to me:

"No. I gotta look at this now. I get my toolbox."

After a few seconds, Raiyan comes back upstairs saying:

"Ok, we can sleep now. I fix the gate."

I laughingly went downstairs to check what exactly he has done to "fix it" and was so amused to find him merely placing his "engineering tool box" toy set next to the gate!!!! It was soo hilarious that I have to share this story with everyone!