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Try sounding it out...

We think our kid is marginally brilliant. Ok, who doesn't feel that way about the tiny recipient of their DNA. We've questioned, recently, whether Henry can actually read but is keeping it from us, pretending to be completely unaware of specific words so that we will continue to read book after book to him in the evening. He does love the books, but he loves not going to bed even more.

We've caught him "reading" numerous times. He can tell you the brand of nearly every kind of car on every road and in every parking lot within a 20-mile radius of our house. (Although we acknowledge this is probably more of a memorization and identification of logos than an actual word-recognition accomplishment.)

This morning, while I was still lying in bed, he was puttering around in the living room and decided to play Boggle Jr. This game involves looking at a card with a picture and three- or four-letter corresponding word written on it, then spelling out the word using large dice with a letter on each side.

He jumped up and ran in to my room, hopped on the bed, squirming with glee, saying "Mommy! I'm spelling 'BIRD'! And I already did the first letter and now I'm doing the 'U'!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

So I said, "Honey, what is the picture?"

He rolled his eyes and huffed, "I told you. It's a bird."

"Can you spell the word for me? Tell me how it's spelled on the card."

He stomped back into the living room, indignant and totally put out over my obvious thick-headedness, picked up the card and said, "See, BIRD. D-U-C-K. BIRD."

Do they still sell Hooked on Phonics?

Comments

Chilly Dog said…
I think that Henry is very smart. He always knows who I am, and even remembers my brother Snikk.
For the many readers of your blog who have seen my comments in the past, now they can see my picture too!
Chilly Dog

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