Blown Away
I know it is a little early, but we all love Christmas here, so we have been reading Isaac 'Twas the Night Before Christmas for some time now. I loves the story and the rhymes and we have a version with beautiful illustrations (thanks Amanda!). Each night I read him the story, snuggled up in his bean bag chair.
Tonight though I decided to try something different. At the end of each stanza I left off the last word. I would read, for instance:
'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the House
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a ...."
Isaac would finish the stanza with: "mouse".
He did it with the first stanza, and the second, and the third. He kept going completing some of the more esoteric parts of the story. Then he hit words he didn't know, but remember. He kept going. Page after page, stanza after stanza. He got words like "Blitzen" and "thistle" though I am sure he has no idea what they mean. Like a little poetry machine he kept getting the right answers. In all, he got a perfect 100%, 27 out of 27 correct.
It is not a rare thing to be impressed by your kid, but it is a rare thing to witness them take such a big step all at once. AMAZING.
Tonight though I decided to try something different. At the end of each stanza I left off the last word. I would read, for instance:
'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the House
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a ...."
Isaac would finish the stanza with: "mouse".
He did it with the first stanza, and the second, and the third. He kept going completing some of the more esoteric parts of the story. Then he hit words he didn't know, but remember. He kept going. Page after page, stanza after stanza. He got words like "Blitzen" and "thistle" though I am sure he has no idea what they mean. Like a little poetry machine he kept getting the right answers. In all, he got a perfect 100%, 27 out of 27 correct.
It is not a rare thing to be impressed by your kid, but it is a rare thing to witness them take such a big step all at once. AMAZING.