My 5-year old son has taken off with his reading skills. I sit and watch him and marvel at how this little person has soaked all of this information and skill into his sponge-like brain and absorbed such a big task as reading already. Where does the time go?
But it hasn’t come without incident. Those of you who know me might not be surprised to know that this little guy wants to do everything perfect and right the very first time. If he doesn’t, he tries again and again until it IS perfect. But it’s much less annoying when it’s your quirk than when you have to witness it (Let me apologize now to everyone I’ve irritated with this anal-retentive quality of mine over the years).
His reading goes something like this:
“Baby Daisy is sad. She…" (pause, frown) "AAGH!"
But it hasn’t come without incident. Those of you who know me might not be surprised to know that this little guy wants to do everything perfect and right the very first time. If he doesn’t, he tries again and again until it IS perfect. But it’s much less annoying when it’s your quirk than when you have to witness it (Let me apologize now to everyone I’ve irritated with this anal-retentive quality of mine over the years).
His reading goes something like this:
“Baby Daisy is sad. She…" (pause, frown) "AAGH!"
“Baby Daisy is sad. She…" (pause, frown, change positions) "AAGGHHH!"
“Baby Daisy is sad. She…" (pause, tears start to flow, hands cover eyes) "I can’t do this!”
“Baby Daisy is sad. She…CAN’T go out to play. Cheer up Baby Daisy. You can have fun indoors!” (turn page)
“Look, here comes Baby Pluto. He is so…" (pause, frown, sigh)
Go back to the beginning.
“Baby Daisy is sad.”
At this point, I can’t watch any more. I turn my back, count to 10 silently, then say “You know, kiddo, you don’t have to start over when you miss a word. Just figure out the word and move on.”
“He is so…” (pause, tears again, big deep breath) “Ex-ci-ted.” “Excited!”
At this point, I can’t watch any more. I turn my back, count to 10 silently, then say “You know, kiddo, you don’t have to start over when you miss a word. Just figure out the word and move on.”
“He is so…” (pause, tears again, big deep breath) “Ex-ci-ted.” “Excited!”
“Baby Daisy has a good idea. She likes to paint. She will paint a picture. That will make her happy.”
YES! We can do this. Things progress nicely for several pages…until the last page.
“Baby Daisy is proud. So is Baby Pluto. Together they made a….”
“Together they made a….” (Hands go over his eyes, tears start to fall. Big sigh.)
I cover my eyes to say a little prayer. When I open them, we're back at page 1.
“Baby Daisy is sad.”
She’s not the only one. Who gave this kid this book anyway?
“Baby Daisy is sad.”
She’s not the only one. Who gave this kid this book anyway?
2 comments:
That is SO funny!! So funny because you had to endure it and not me!!
Oh my stars, took me back to Emelie reading! We always worked out the word until the end of the sentence and then read the whole sentence again before turning the page. You can only imagine how much I HATE balls, malls, falls, logs, hogs, pigs, wigs (you get the point I'm sure)! As my great-grandfather used to say "like a peach pit, this too shall pass"!
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