Challenged to read

The reading milestone came as a surprise. You see, Joshua and I have been going through alphabets and their sounds. Everytime I try to push him to read, he would always show disinterest and would rather do numbers. When that happens, I just go with his flow and do subjects or topics he likes. 

So that day we did writing practice, we did some counting, and again when we were about to do letters, he again did not want to continue. He was eyeing to open my portable TABOO game. I told him I can’t let him play with it because it requires reading and he still can’t read.

I did not realize that challenged him. He really wanted to open Taboo game and try to read. So I allowed him to open the game and we went through some of the cards. The first one I showed him was “Mickey Mouse” and as he slowly followed the sound of every letter, he read it on his own! I was so thrilled. But to make sure, I tried another card and the word was “Donald duck”. Yes again he slowly read it! I was happy because he finally got encouraged to read.


There is joy as well for my little boy because he felt accomplished being able to read! We did a lot of high fives too because he read at least 15 words that day! I thank God for such a blessing to see my three year old’s literacy blossoming before my very eyes.

Here is a video of Joshua slowly reading some words. It’s a mother’s joy so bear with my excitement! 

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The incredible twos…

You have heard the line — “terrible twos”. They associate this with children at the age of two. It describes how rowdy and difficult it is to care for a two year old. Their energies are just bursting and they are more independent. At two years old, toddlers are more expressive of their feelings, especially when they protest and whine. This is also the age of understanding the word “NO” and use it alot.

As Joshua turned 2 years old his understanding and ability to communicate amazes me. I love this age! He is able to verbalize what he wants and what he does not want; what he enjoys and what he dislikes. Joshua can tell us what hurts and if he experienced something bad. Unlike when he was younger and where we would try to guess how things were. He is learning to reason and to explain things. At this age, he also realizes when he is wrong and sometimes he has difficulty saying sorry.

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Of course, since he is also more independent, he often wants to try things for himself. He wants to put his own milk in his bottle. He wants to get his own snacks. He wants to set the rules on play. Since he also communicates more, there are also lots of negotiation going on. It can be amusing and sometimes annoying. Hahaha!

There are those days where he gets lazy to talk and decides to cry his way to what he wants. Or throws a fit because we said “no”. Then my patience gets tested and I demand from him a different behavior. I have to remind myself, Joshua is just 2 years old. He is just a baby and I forget that at times.

So far, there are more incredible moments than terrible ones. It’s been such a great opportunity to watch this boy grow. I’m learning to also relax and really exercise patience. All thanks to my incredible 2 year old!

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