Is this Normal?
So, I debated about asking this question because, on one hand, it might seem like this is one of those subtle brags, like "oh is it normal that my kid is this smart??" but let me assure you, this is not a brag. This is a: "hey, our kid already has lots of quirks, some of which he is already in occupational therapy for, so can you just tell me if this is one more thing we may need to mention to the nice therapist lady?" Here's the thing: Hopper memorizes his books.
I know that memorization and repetition in kids this age itself is fairly normal. But what I'm talking about here is that Hopper memorizes entire books that are like 30+ pages long, that take at least 10 minutes to read. And I don't mean that he summarizes the story for you. What I mean is: He knows every word on every page. I don't read the book to him, he recites it to ME--word for word. (he does it with Sam, too). In fact, he gets a little impatient with me if I tried to read it to him--YOU STOP THAT MOMMY. (In his defense, my robot voice does kinda suck).
I know that memorization and repetition in kids this age itself is fairly normal. But what I'm talking about here is that Hopper memorizes entire books that are like 30+ pages long, that take at least 10 minutes to read. And I don't mean that he summarizes the story for you. What I mean is: He knows every word on every page. I don't read the book to him, he recites it to ME--word for word. (he does it with Sam, too). In fact, he gets a little impatient with me if I tried to read it to him--YOU STOP THAT MOMMY. (In his defense, my robot voice does kinda suck).
Sam and I compared notes the other day and we agree that he does this with probably about 90-95% accuracy. There are a few words here and there that he can't pronounce and he'll miss those, but he'll try to say them anyway. Right now, there are two books he does this with: CookieBot (32 pages) and Robot Zot (40 pages). He's memorized shorter books before (Boy + Bot why, does anyone sense a theme???)
2 comments:
I don't know, I think that's pretty unusual! Benjamin could "read" along with "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus", sort of, but that is nowhere close to Hopper. You have a prodigy!
I don't know what's normal. Saul certainly couldn't do that at three, although I believe he memorized a few entire scenes from Star Wars. And he could recite a Robert Frost poem for awhile. I think kids that age learn and memorize very easily...think how fast their vocabularies are increasing. They're wired for it. But that does seem pretty amazing.
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