Of late, Gavin has taken a keener interest in reading. No matter how tired he is, he’ll always insist on his bedtime reading. I sometimes threaten not to read to him when he misbehaves and tears will start to well up in his eyes.
He loves these new story books on Thomas & Friends I bought him recently to bits. This of course is part of my ploy to move away from reading the non-fictions on cars and ships. They’re still on automotives no doubt, but at least they’re fun reads.
I’m glad that Gavin enjoys the process of reading. He sometimes read after me but he is still not able to articulate all the words clearly. Actually, he is still at the stage where he has problems with his pronunciation due to poor tongue control. For example, he cannot pronounce McDonald’s and calls it “Mac-M-Donalds”. A mountain is a “pountain” and swimming is “slimming”. And instead of saying teacher, he says ”picture.” Even after my attempts to correct him, the best he can manage is ”T-picture.”
It’s not that his speech is entirely unintelligible but with words that he cannot enunciate well, it can become a serious laughing matter. For example, over a feeding session last week, he suddenly blurted something I considered extremely alarming.
“Picture Ugly don’t come today.”
“WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY? WHO IS UGLY?”
Now, Gavin is well aware of the meaning of ugly and having him going to school and calling a teacher ugly is not a good idea at all. But no matter how I quizzed him and racked my brains, I didn’t know who he was referring to.
It was not until the next morning at the school assembly did the mysterious “Picture Ugly” presented herself in the form of ”Teacher Ardy.” Ardy. Ugly? Sheesh. I’m hoping she hasn’t heard how my silly son addresses her.
I think “Picture Ugly” will understand even if she heard him. If you worked in a kindergarten or a pre-school, you should know kids their age don’t pronounce words accurately..
Thomas & Friends, are they good? Never expose Zara to this yet, she didn’t seem to like things ‘boyish’ at this point in time. Still the Barney girl.
Comment by zara's mama — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 11:26 am
haiz…i still remember how Rayner call a fat person fatty bum bum….they tend to blurt out rude remarks when you least expect them to…..then you will see a beeping red faced mum…..And I don’t think Picture Ugly knows it, she would probably think it’s someone else…kekekeke
Rayner also loves the Thomas & friends books but RayAnne on the other hand doesn’t fancy Thomas & friends books at all…suppose that’s the difference between girls and boys hor?
Comment by Jan (My lovely Rays) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 12:02 pm
Yup, me too think ‘picture ugly’ won’t take it to heart if she hears this, maybe she’s been call picture ugly by many kids already..hehe..
Damien also insist to have his bedtime story told no matter how tired he is (or i am) recently, and the same thing, his tears will well up when i threaten not to tell him when he misbehaves…does kids this age behave the same way??
Comment by Eileen — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 2:37 pm
LOL, I have the same problem with Dillon too. His diction is not clear, so sometimes it’s difficult to make out his words. To outsiders, he’s still babbling baby talk. His sisters are the only ones who can perfectly understand him.
Comment by earthember — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 3:10 pm
Just noticed your family portrait sketch. It’s lovely!
Comment by earthember — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 3:11 pm
Noticed the family portrait you’ve added in. Very warm-hearted!
I recalled once we were in the lift and at the intermediate stop, a malay family came in and the mother was carrying a baby… then my girls spilled out ” Babie! Mummy babie…” Luckily I was able to recuperate fast and corrected them by saying ” Yes, my dear is BABY, a baby girl…” -_-
p/s: If Im not wrong, babie in malay means PIG right?!
Comment by wtpgrr — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 6:15 pm
what a great story. i’ll be smiling all day about teacher “ugly.”
Comment by ally bean — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 7:58 pm
Chloe’s diction ain’t that fantastic either, the only ppl who can understand her fully is Papa BoK and I .. and even then.. there are times we donch.
Kids say the “darnest” things.. eh..?? hahha!!
Comment by Mama Bok — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 @ 8:56 pm
hey, drop by to say hello! i really salute u, u can change yr banner like…so often. but i like it. hehe.
Comment by Evan — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 @ 9:19 am
ZM: Apart from the fact that Thomas & Friends are tank engines, the stories are rather interesting for kids and not particularly geared for boys.
Jan: Maybe it’s the character. Boys would pick up books on automotives while most girls would pick others. I find the contents rather gender neutral though.
Eileen: Damien too? Also insist on bedtime reading and is manja about it too? Hehe…can be good friends the two of them.
ee: I also think it could be shyness that our boys speak softly to strangers and make it harder for others to understand them.
Thanks for comment about the sketch. Used Illustrator to achieve that.
wtpg: Ya, “barbie” is pig in Malay. Lucky you’re quick.
ally: I’ve been smiling for days now.
MB: Me too! Sometimes I cannot figure out what he is saying until much later.
Evan: Ha. That’s because I’ve a whole arsenal of them and cos I’m fickle.
I create headers when I’m in the mood and change them with each postings. But I kind of like this one, so will keep it here for a while.
Comment by sesame — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 @ 11:20 am
hey…then do for me leh…i oso wanna change my banner but got no ideas :p
Comment by Evan — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 @ 11:23 am
Evan: You can check out those I did under my Header Illos. I think they’re kind of far from your current template style. I thought yours very nice leh. *me taichi away :wink:*
If you know your header size, you can use Illustrator or Photoshop to create using pictures especially since you have very nice pix in your blog. For example, the one on my family portrait, I used a picture with special effects.
Comment by sesame — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 @ 11:48 am
Maybe I have been around adults for too long. This is something new to me.
Comment by domestic rat — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 @ 9:10 pm
DR: And don’t forget your dog too. Woof woof.
Comment by sesame — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 @ 9:01 am
wah sesame, i saw your headers collections…they’re all so nice!! i mean, i DO hv nice pics, but the thing is i’m bad in designing. im not sure where to place them so they’ll look nice. my current header, its actually an impromptu thing. sometimes when the “idea” strikes, i can just do it within 3-5 mins. but now i hv no ideas at all, so i cant think of anything yet. i think u r so good in designing. r u a designer? i use photoshop elements 3.0 btw. its good. no other photo editors can compare to photoshop.
Comment by Evan — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 @ 5:06 pm
oh by the way, ya my header is done using photoshop from scratch.
Comment by Evan — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 @ 5:07 pm
Evan: No, I am not a designer. Far from it. I just dabble in this because of interest. I’m learning to illustrate using digital software but my skills are rather limited. Very 1 or 2-D. Btw, I use mainly Illustrator CS.
You did your header yourself? You’re better than me lah! It’s very nice and very professional looking. Maybe I’ll steal some ideas from it like using the piling of pictures.
Comment by sesame — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 @ 8:07 pm