Phonic Fun

Although he still laments going to school each morning, there is little doubt that Robby is thriving. Each afternoon when I pick him up he is smiling and busy working with a classmate. I have been told to "sit tight and hang out" on more than one occasion as he finishes an activity or a conversation with a friend.

I love picking him up not only because I miss him during the day but also because I enjoy hearing him recount everything he learned. Unlike last year, he is a chatterbox during the drive home.  I am amazed at the amount of information he absorbs in a few hours!

Ever since his teacher introduced phonics, Robby has taken word dissection to a whole new level. While I love how much he is learning, having him try to spell every single word that is spoken is becoming a tad- well- dare I admit annoying?  Every conversation takes three times as long as he tries to identify the letters in every word.  Sometimes I wish he would just answer a question without having to go through what Scott and I now dub the "phonics dance."

Last night I asked Robby to put the oven mitt on the table. He responded by saying, "Okay Momom. But first, let's spell table. T..t...t... table. The first letter of table is T. The next letter is Tae...tae... tae... the second letter of table is an a. Ta..ble... ta..ble... ta..ble...  I hear a b and an l. Table is spelled tabl. Is that right?" 

After explaining about the silent e, and agreeing that he can be a "pesky little bugger" Robby finally put the oven mitt on the table. Typically I wouldn't have minded the time for the impromptu lesson because I know that he is learning. However, I was holding a 425 degree crock of macaroni and cheese at the time and really just wanted to put it on the oven mitt on the t..a..ble!  I guess I should be glad I didn't tell him to put it on the credenza. We could still be waiting.