Thank you God

RK was reading the Early Reader’s Bible. He likes to read so much that he’ll start reading anything. (Mana yan sa Mommy.)

RK: Long ago there was no world, no sun, no moon, no stars. I will make the world, God said. So God made the world. I will make the sun, God said. So God made the sun.

Mom: Did you understand what you read?

RK: God made the sun. Yey!

His bright eyes were wide open. He had that sweet open-mouthed smile on his face – that same smile when he tells me “You’re the best, Mommy.”

RK: Have you thanked God? What does that mean, Mommy?

Mom: Did you say thank you to God?

RK: Thank you, God. Yey!

Then he said that he’d make a present for me. He went to his bedroom so that I would not see it. It was a surprise. But I knew that he was cutting letters as he came back a couple of times. He asked me to cut a letter S and then a letter Z.

RK: What did you say, Mommy?

Mom: Zed

RK: It’s zee.

Mom: Sometimes we call it zed.

It’s so easy to teach RK to read. I remember when RC was just learning to read. He got frustrated easily. If I helped him sound out the words and said the words before he could, he would cry. When I let him figure it out on his own, he would also cry. Sometimes we wouldn’t finish reading a book. He would be crying and it would upset me. Then I’d feel guilty for not being patient enough. Those were difficult times for both of us. I am glad that those days were over. With RK, if I read a word before he did, he would just tell me, (sometimes a little bit upset) “Oh, I was gonna say that.” And he would continue reading. No tears. The next time we encountered that word, I would let him read it first. Or I would give him some time to figure out a word and I’d step right in if it took him longer than the others.