Reluctant

Although it is commonly said that no child is alike, I have discovered that all three of my children have had some things in common.

One thing is that they are reluctant to let people know how much they know as preschoolers.

With Isaac, we were concerned in preschool that he didn't even know the alphabet verbally - let alone be able to recognize the letters.   However, he let us into his secret knowledge one morning when Ben purposely said the alphabet in a silly manner.   Isaac was obliged to show him the correct way and told us the complete alphabet.    Let's just say we were stunned.

Elizabeth followed suit - in a different manner.   She was an early reader - and basically taught herself to read at 3 years old.   As she entered preschool, we let her teacher know that she could read.   It took a full four months for her to show her teacher this skill - one morning I arrived to pick her up from preschool and Miss Julie said "when you told me that she could read, I thought you meant that she could recognize some basic sight words but this morning she laughed at the poster I had put on the wall.   When I asked her what was funny, she read the entire thing!"    This time, it was the teacher stunned - as she didn't share her knowledge outside of the family.

Now, of course, it's Kai's turn.   With Isaac and Elizabeth as examples I haven't been too worried that Kai was not recognizing numbers and letters.   If I asked him what a letter was he just say "I don't know" in a whiny voice.    However, the advent calendar has proven that he knows his numbers, at least.   With the motivation of being able to open the advent door and get a small chocolate - he has been able to find all the numbers 1-9 without the slightest of hesitation.  We'll find out today if he knows number 10.

Sometimes they really can be little rotters - said in the most lovely way, of course.