Wednesday, April 19, 2006

X is for Xenops

Bedtime stories are finally fun for both mother and child. From birth up until, oh, about 4, they could not be read but rather interpreted. Meaning that Julia had complete maniacal control of the page turning, READ command, and simultaneous incomprehensible banter-babble that honestly made me (woman who started reading by age 4 and hasn't stopped since) want to burn every book in the house.
About 5 months ago Julia asked me during play alone time, to read a book to her. I told her that it was play alone time and that she should read the book. "I CAN'T READ!", she exclaimed, "I don't know HOW!" Duh, mom. I realized how insulting my comment was to the pre-reader and quickly ammended my previous statement, stating that we would most certainly read the book when alone time was over.



Every night at bedtime, Julia picks out one book and we read it and discuss the letters, sounds, blah, blah, T-is-for-tiger logic of learning to recognize sounds. Recently Julia picked out an ABC book that is most unusual in its approach to linking sounds with letters with written characters. Every letter begins with e.g. A is for apple and airplane, etc. but when they arrive at X, which I realize is not a conducive letter to the afore-mentioned strategy of linking logic, they proclaim, "X is for foX."
WTF?!
X is for many things (well allright, not many things, but at least a few), but in following the logic of the preceding 23 letters mixed with appealing to the hear it once, remember it forever brain synapses of a 4 year old, NEVER is it for foX. F is for fox. X is for Xylophone or Xanadu or Xat.
Even worse, there is a picture of a foX playing an Xylophone and now anytime X presents itself in the written form, Julia shouts out, "X is for foX, J is for Julia and C is for Cat!"

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