It's so Real

Hooty has this huge doggy soft toy that looks a lot like a real dog. She named it Max. Sometimes Max becomes so real to her that she forgets it is make belief. Max talks to her, plays with her and lets us know what he thinks! (Yep, a dog with an attitude, just like my daughter with a BIG attitude!)

These days, usually while having dinner, we would catch the programme ‘Wheel of Fortune’, where contestants guess words or phrases. Hubby and I would sometimes shout out the answers, but most of the time Max would know the answer too! Hooty would say, “Max knew that!” or “Max already said the answer.”

Yesterday, while watching the show, I guessed out loud an answer, and Hooty immediately said, “Max said that too!” After thinking quietly for a while Hooty says in a small voice, “Max is so clever…why am I not so clever,” and she was so upset that she started crying!

So, I had to tell her, “Of course you are clever darling. You can sing and Max can’t do that. And you can draw such pretty pictures and Max can’t do that and you can read books. You read books to Max right? See, so you are clever too.” She looked thoughtful for a while and finally gave me a smile though her tears.

They are Medium, Thank you!

After her bath, Hubby walked into the room and declared, “I will have big kukki (breasts) like Ammi when I grow up!”

Suppressing a smile, Hubby said, “Yes darling, but not for a very long time. You need to grow up a bit for that and till then they will be small.”

Highly offended, Hooty replied, “These are NOT small, they are medium sized Thaaththi!”

Stuck

Hubby and I take turns putting Hooty to bed. After a story and lights out she tells the person who is not on ‘duty’ how long they should stay with her before saying goodnight.

Last week, on a day it was my turn to put her to sleep, she told Hubby he had to stay ten minutes before leaving. Of cause Hooty measures the ten minutes by counting to ten! So she started counting, “One, two, three, four, five, five,five,five…”

When Hubby and I looked at her questioningly, she says, “The CD is stuck Thaaththi!”

Book Worm

Hooty loves to read. It’s amazing how she picks up words. Her school adopts a great way to reading. The kids are shown the words and sort of make them familiar with it, so that the next time they see it they know instantly what the word is rather than use phonetics. It’s great that they are starting so young. I don’t think I was able to read until I was about seven!

Hooty can identify 1 to 4 letter words like: I, me, too, are, one, two, you, look, ball and so on. She loves to read so much that sometimes we have to tell her, ‘No! that’s enough” and sometimes she would cry and beg us to let her read more ;o).

Every time before bedtime stories we would have to tell her, “Hooty, we are going to read this book only so many (3 or 4) times. After that lights out.” Otherwise, she will go on and on reading the same story.

I’ve got her a few great books which have only 1 to 4 letter words and the school too sends similar books for them to read.

She also loves online books (high tech kids!). The National Library here offers lovely e-books which have read aloud features and animations, and Hooty loves going through them. She can fully control the compuer on her own--select the book she wants, turn the pages, follow instructions and even decide whether she need to "Play Again".

Being a bookworm myself, I hope Hooty keeps her enthusiasm to read as she grows.



Note: Just after posting this I visited one of my favourite parenting sites and guess what the topic was!

Hello from ParentCenter!Ready to Read?

Your 4-year-old now: Preschoolers who read independently are the exception. These early readers use picture clues and have learned to match letters to sounds and words. They may have longer attention spans and have memorized a few sight words. (Sight words are common words like "and," "the," "her," and "there" that can't be learned through pictures.) If your child is an early reader, you don't need to do anything more than offer encouragement and provide plenty to read.

If your child isn't on the fast track, don't give it another worry. At 4, many children just aren't ready to sit still and focus on a book for long. Others may learn the mechanics of reading but aren't cognitively ready to comprehend the words. Reading is truly one of those skills that children acquire when they're darn well ready, no matter how much their parents or teachers coax. In fact, too much prodding can turn your child off reading.

Right now, it's most important to get your child excited about books. If he loves stories and language, he'll start putting the basic elements together on his own when it's right for him. That happens at age 5 for some kids, 6 or 7 for others.

Comparing your child's abilities to his peers' is an irresistible impulse that persists long after those infant developmental milestone charts have been left behind. Among parents of 4-year-olds, reading is a topic that can cause a lot of anxiety, especially when those first few kids start reading. Whether you have an early bird or a kid who's more on track with his age-mates, what's important now is to keep the books coming.


Also check out these from the same site:
How to choose books for the beginning reader

When is my child going to learn to read

B'day Wish

Yesterday was my sister’s birthday. So I got Hooty to call and wish her in the night. She took the phone and sang “happy birthday” in Chinese and my sister was thrilled. The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Puncha : Thank you my love. That was sooooooooooooooo lovely. I miss you so much.

H: But tomorrow (anything from the next day to infinity) I am coming to see you for your wedding.

Puncha : Yes, and you’ll be my flower girl and you’ll wear a pretty dress and have flowers on your hair.

H: Yes. Because I am special!

Puncha : Oh yes! You’ll look sooooooooo pretty.

H: When you get married, you’ll have a husband and then you’ll get a baby in your tummy and then the baby will come out.

Now we are quite used to this blabber of Hooty. Most of her stories end up with the princess marrying a prince, having a baby in the tummy and going to the hospital where the doctor will take the baby out. But my poor sister has never heard this before and I can hear her going into a totally shocked silence. Then I hear her stammering and saying, “umm..yes darling..but not for a very long time!”

And when I took back the phone from Hooty, my sister was laughing her head off saying. “Oh my gosh, did you hear that? Did you teach her to say that? Oh you must put this in your blog!”