A few days' back, I was busy trying not to spill the contents of my bag as I desperately look for my coin purse in order to pay for our fare, when Baby Kuya from out of the blue turned to me and said, "Nanay, enjoy talaga ako sa school! I really like going to school!" I almost forgot about the purse altogether. :) I felt my heart expand and felt a gratitude so great I was at a loss as to what to say. By the time I recovered from my shock (hehe), I hugged him tight and said, “Thank you Anak, you don’t know how happy you made me, hearing you say that.”
If there is one thing I noticed about myself, it’s that I have an insatiable appetite for learning. I could never recall ever coming to a point where I said to myself that I have learned all I have about a certain thing. When I was pregnant with Kuya, I devoured every reading material I could about pregnancy and about being a parent. I subscribe to parenthood-themed mailing lists. And I’m practically like that about most – if not all – aspects of my life. Seeing the same thing in Baby is like a balm to my soul. Like me, he also has a fondness for books. He borrows books from the library often, which reminds me a lot about myself when I was his age. Somehow, seeing him like that serves like a reassurance of sorts. As if I’m assured that he’d be somewhat “equipped” in taking his own life’s journey.
Speaking of reading, right now, we’re into helping him learning how to read. At present, at age 4, he could already identify a handful of words. He’s displaying a slight symptom of being dyslexic (heaven forbid), which is not a surprise really given that his Tatay is. He confuses his “b’s” from “d’s” and “p’s” among others. Thus, there are also certain words that confuses him. In order to help him along, Tatay and I read to him a lot. (Lately though, I’m guilty about having less reading time with him due to work. Sigh! Good thing Tatay takes over without my having to tell him to. I’m a bit concerned about how he pronounces some words though hehehe) Last weekend, urgent assessment reports notwithstanding, I took the time off to teach him to read.
I have quite a collection of Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat Series. Among the collection, I have this one particular book, “Hop on Pop” which is really good as an “initiation”-reading-book for children. Even when he was still a baby, I was already able to read it to him so he’s pretty much familiar with the book. Wanting to test how well he could recall and recognize the words from the book, I let him read the words to me. The first part reads, “Pup in Cup” with the second page reversing it to “Cup on Pup.” It’s pretty easy really but given his dyslexic tendencies, I did not know what to expect. And it had been a long time since I was able to read that book to him. Lately, we’re mostly into “Berenstain Bears” and “Smurfs” which are the books he loves to borrow from the pre-school library.
Anyway, I let him read the words to me. When he immediately said, “Cup!” I was delighted like crazy hehehe but then he pointed to the page and said, “Pup inside the Cup!” and without missing a beat, pointed at the adjoining page and exclaimed, “Pup under the Cup!” Hahahaha! Bright kid really. I forgot that ever since Level 1, they’re taught concepts about under and above already. And he’s pretty good at it too. Sigh!
I “half-reprimanded” him for being “smart-#$$ed” with me. Of course I merely used the words, “outsmart.” I chided him for “outsmarting” me. He only laughed out loud in response. He knew all along what he’s doing. His grin was like from ear to ear. I corrected him, pointing at the words and reading it to him. I then asked him to repeat them to me, which he did. Being satisfied, I turned to next page and repeated the process.
We came to the page bearing the words, “ALL,” “TALL,” “SMALL.” I could tell he’s banking from memory as he reads them to me without skipping a bit. I knew he wasn’t really looking at the words but merely looking at the pictures to cue him on what to say. I let it pass though. I didn’t want to be too stern least I could turn him off reading altogether.
Then here’s the funny part. We came to the page bearing, “ALL,” “FALL” and “WALL.” The sentences were a bit lengthy already so I wasn’t really expecting he’d get it. But he managed the “All” and “Fall” perfectly. When we came to the “Wall” part, he had difficulty recognizing the first letter. He confused it with the letter “V” and so I had to cue him. I told him that it’s the letter “W” and reminded him that it is pronounced as a split between “wa” and “wo.” And so I asked him to repeat the sound for me and he did comply saying, “wa-wa-wa,” repeating it over and over. I asked him then to read to me what was written on the page. He pointed on the word, “wall” and then started with “woa-woa-woa.” To help him along, I reminded him how to read “ALL” and asked him to connect that with “woa.” I thought he would do just fine because I could see his brow knitting as if in concentration. Then he said, “Woa-woa-woa…WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!” and curled in a ball beside me laughing. Waaaaah! Such a “smart-a$$d” kid really. :) I wonder to whom he took after in this regard. Tatay, most probably haha!
Thank you Father God for such a delightful, little soul You have entrusted in our care. May you always be with us to guide us in training him up in the way that he should be…
