Friday, June 09, 2006
How I Know My Son Is Really Reading, Even If Our Doctor Thinks I'm Nuts
Yeah, so, at Isaac's two year check-up about a month ago, the doctor asked me, "So, what sorts of things is he doing, developmentally?"
"Well, he talks quite a bit, often in full sentences, although he still needs to work on his enuncuation, and he walks and runs just fine, although he's a bit more timid than other kids his age, and, um, he builds really tall block towers, and, let me see, he scribbles pretty well with his crayons, and oh-- Did I tell you this at our last visit? He's reading."
To which the doctor, trying very hard not to roll his eyes, responded, "Oh, you mean he remembers some of the words in some of his favorite books and pretends to read along with you?"
"No, no, I mean, he's reading, as in--"
"You mean he recognizes logos on cereal boxes? Or that he knows the titles of some of his books? That's not the same as . . ."
"No, he reads words."
"You mean, he can actually read the same word in different places? In different type styles?" The doctor looked at me with extreme skepticism.
"He read the word 'milk' at the supermarket a few months back, on a generic box of powdered milk that didn't have any pictures of milk on it. His father and I both saw him. We hardly believed it ourselves, but we've seen him read more words since then."
The doctor shook his head. I imagine he was thinking that only way to deal with this delusional woman was to humor her.
"Oh, well, that's nice," he said, and quickly changed the subject.
Well, Mister Doctor Man can go and eat his textbooks for all I care. Do you know what I caught my son saying this week while watching television?"
1.) During a Home Depot commercial, he said, "Mommy, let's go to the Home Depot again!"
He pronounced the "T."
To my knowledge no one has ever mispronounced the word "depot" in his presence. This means HE READ THE WORD. Not only did he read it, he SOUNDED IT OUT.
Don't believe me?
2.) Tonight when we turned on Comedy Central to watch the repeat of last night's Colbert Report, Isaac said, "Colbert is coming on!"
And he said Col-BerT. He pronounced the "T."
Come on, now. Stephen Colbert doesn't even pronounce the "T" in Report.
Now do you believe me?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Not only am I impressed with his reading, but any kid who gets excited when Stephen Colbert comes on is pure genius in my book.
You've got a bona fide genius on your hands. That's awesome. Reading is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world and I hope he gets as much enjoyment out of it in his life as you (and I) do.
HOLY crap.
I'm so impressed.
And after telling my husband about how brilliant your son is, we are now arguing semantics regarding personality v. environment (crediting you with kick-starting his talent, or giving his natural sensibilities all the kudos. or both. it's a greaaat argument.)
either way, I'm blown away by how smart you *both* are.
also, we both think it's groovy that you are allowing some Colbert Report into his early experiences.
I miss cable. Sigh.
I beleive you and we need to get on top of those play date, and gathering time....
Oh, how I love your little boy! Anyone who wants to watch the Col-berT report is okay by me...
(and BTW, I'm enjoying your blog so much!)
He's a prodigy. (Did you see the Colbert 100th episode with Stone Phillips? Wasn't that hilarious?) I'm sure your son thought so. I believe he's reading.
Hi Jaelithe - I found your blog a couple of months ago and really love your writing. I've read your comments when you've weighed in on the "Mommy Wars" and I was wondering if you'd seen this:
http://www.mothersoughttohaveequalrights.org/
I'm not a mom, but am getting married this year and plan on starting a family right away, so I've been trying to absorb all that I can.
Keep up the thought-provoking work and have a great day.
Jay, did you forget to tell the Doctor that YOU were, in fact, reading at the very same age? Because you were...
That's awesome. Your doctor's reaction sucks, however.
We had one tell us when we pulled out a doll for her to look at at her 1 mo checkup "isn't it a little early for this?" Two seconds later, after the baby smiled and gazed at it, the doctor said, 'oh. Well she seems to like it."
No shit.
You have a reader!! So cool. It will be days before you have to start password protecting your blog.
I totally believe it. He's obviously gifted. I can't belive your doctor wouldn't consider that possibility. Asshat.
But yay for Isaac! When kids can read, a whole new world opens up for them!
That's funny--our pediatrician does the same thing. Whenever I excitedly report semi-advanced developmental milestones, our pedi just looks at me blankly, as if to say: Get over it. I am .
Of course, she's not READING AT 2.
Different kids get different abilities - for your baby boy, letters are making sense in a real way - of course the part of his brain that allows pasta? Not so much.
Post a Comment