Bolt Upright

Sport & I went for our H1N1 vaccinations this week. We filled out the forms, read some books, practiced his spelling words for the week, and otherwise killed time until it was our turn. The nurse went through the information again with me, and then turned to Sport and asked him his age and how he was feeling today. Then she jokingly added, “Oh, and you’re not pregnant, right???”

Sport stared at her and then (in the most patronizing tone ever) announced, “That’s only for FEMALES.” Then turned to me and stage-whispered, “I don’t think she’s REALLY a doctor.”

We got our shots with the minimum of small talk after that, let me tell you.

One of the observations made the most often about Sport (and his friends who arrived from Ethiopia at a similar age) is how quickly he learned to speak English. It is truly astonishing how rapidly their spoken English develops.  Sometimes though I think that their early fluency can lead us to forget  just how much of a disadvantage they are at in terms of language.  I was (and am)  prepared for there to be problems and weaknesses later on, when reading for understanding and grammar become important. From what I have read, some internationally adopted kids can struggle because they have no “framework” to fit the new language into, having lost their first language entirely. This differentiates them from a typical EAL student, who can still communicate in his or her first language. This usually refers to kids who were completely verbal but not yet literate in their original language (so age 3-6 or thereabouts.)

So far we seem to be dodging this bullet. Sport’s reading skills are strong for his age, and his understanding of what he has read seems to be pretty good too. His early difficulties with hearing vowel sounds and rhymes have been conquered, for the most part. The next couple of years will probably be a good indicator of how things will go in this area.

The one thing that I do notice is his willingness to just substitute a word for another if they sound sort of alike. I think if he doesn’t hear a word clearly, or hears it but it isn’t familiar, then he assumes the person must have said another word he *has* heard. Which led to an EXTREMELY confusing conversation today.

“Mom. Mom, guess what? In one of the other classes, not my class, but grade two I think, they have catapults!”
“Catapults? Really?”
“Yeah! Isn’t that cool?”
“Uh… yeah, sure. How big are they?”
“Just regular catapult size.”
“Oookay. Was it for a project? Did they build them?”
“Mom! They didn’t BUILD them. That’s silly.”
“Ah. So… what do they do with them?”
“They just have them there to watch. To look at.”
“Oookay. And they’re just going to keep them in their class all year?”
“I don’t know. How long does it take before they grow legs?”
“Wait… what? Before they what?”
“Grow legs. You know, when they start turning into frogs.”

So help me, I laughed, but only a little bit I swear. Then I carefully enunciated the word “catapult” versus the word “tadpole”, and felt relieved that part of the grade 2 curriculum does not, in fact, involve medieval weaponry.

“Alexander’s friend Mario takes karate. He was doing the arm chop. So then he chased me, and I ran, and then I ran in front of the ball and got a goal sort of by accident-like. So it worked out. I said “AHH HAHA THANKS MARIO FOR THE GOAL” and he was mad.”

“You should make good choices. That’s important. Sometimes I didn’t make the right choice like when Joey was bugging me and I said STOP IT but that was interrupting so then I was on the yellow light. But then I changed my path and got back on the green light. But once you are on the yellow light your name still stays on the yellow list for that day, it doesn’t get erased. Because you can’t turn back time, I guess.”

“I’m almost finished my chapter book at reading time. Well it says “beginner chapter book” but it still has chapters. It’s called The Team from the Black Lagoon. I think I was wrong before when I said it was big league, it’s more like little league, but the players are on one team and there are hits and errors. So it’s sort of like big league except for the black lagoon part. And the monster.”

And finally, at 8:43 PM:

“Mom, what’s that noise I can hear?”
“It’s just me putting away the groceries, and making your lunch.”
“Could you maybe put them away quieter? I’m trying to get to sleep in here.”

Sure, dude. And maybe when you wake up at 2:20 am you could figure out what time it is a little quieter, since I’m trying to *continue* sleeping up there. For example, try not to yell up the stairs, “Mom, I think the clock says two twenty four, is that right?”. Yes, you have learned to tell time on an analog clock, congratulations. Now please go the hell back to sleep.

I don’t think I mentioned this, but I cancelled our TV service back in June. I decided I was not willing to spend $50 a month so that I could watch one show once a week, and really, Sport did not need to watch all that TV in the mornings before I wake up. I told Sport I was cancelling it, so we wouldn’t have any TV channels, just DVDs. When he asked why, I said that it costs money, and I don’t think it’s worth it, when we don’t use it very much. I haven’t really missed it at all.

Fast forward to last week, when during Sport’s after-school rundown of his day, he shared this:

“So then I told Joey we don’t have TV. Then he asked how come? So I said it’s because my mom didn’t pay the bill.”

As you might imagine, I choked on my drink and yelled out “WHAT? That’s not why!” And proceeded to spend about 10 minutes explaining the difference between “didn’t pay the bill” and “chose to cancel because it’s not worth the money”. Not sure he got it though… and now I am wondering who else he shared this theory with!

… this is what my kid had to eat today:

• peanut butter toast and milk (the highlight of the day, nutrition-wise)
• mini burgers and barbeque potato chips
• 2 cupcakes
• a bunch of candy
• popcorn
• iced tea
• New York Fries
• a happy meal with chocolate milk

Yep. Now don’t go calling the authorities or anything. This is what happens when you have a birthday party and a double-feature movie (from 3:30 to 7:00) on the same day.

(And if you’re wondering if it’s worth shelling out for Toy Story & Toy Story 2 in 3D… it TOTALLY is.)