Sharks and Tyler Mitchell

Those of you who have raised kids may not be surprised by this, but I find it amazing how quickly kids, even really young ones, can memorize a book. After two or three reads, Morgan can recite every word in most of the books we read to her each night. For example, one book that Susan reads to Morgan almost every night is a book about sharks. The first sentence of the book is, “Sharks are amazing animals.” After a couple of times through the book, Susan would say, “Sharks are …” and Morgan would answer, “… amazing animals.” Then it got to the point where Susan could just say, “Sharks …” and Morgan would respond, “… are amazing animals.” After a dozen times through the book, now all you have to do is open to a page and Morgan can recite what the words are. Show her page one and Morgan will say, “Sharks are amazing animals.” Keep in mind she’s two-years-old, and while I do think she’s bright, I don’t think she’s unique in her talent. I’m sure lots of kids do this.

Each night when Morgan goes to bed, we read her a book. Since Mommy’s been out of town this week, I was in charge of book duty. “What book do you want to read?” I asked. “Sharks!” was the response. While I love reading with the kids, it’s a little frustrating being interrupted during every sentence. Every time I started reading a sentence Morgan would start to say the same thing, only half second later like that weird cell phone echo I sometimes get. I gave up on reading and moved to testing. I flipped randomly through the 24 page book, quizzing her on each page. “The tiger shark has sharp teeth,” she said, after being shown page 16. No matter what page I flipped to, she knew all the words.

Except one page. On the inside of the book there is a line that says, “this book belongs to:” followed by a line where a child can write his or her name. This book came from a garage sale. On the blank line, in a child’s scrawl, it says, “Tyler Mathis.” When I showed Morgan the page, she just stared, blankly. “This book belongs to Tyler Mathis,” I said. I repeated it like 10 times. Then we read more about sharks. Then I flipped back to the front page. “This book belongs to …” I said. “Tyler Mathis,” she replied. After a few more times, I got her trained. Open the front cover and she’ll spout out, “this book belongs to Tyler Mathis.”

I can’t wait until Susan reads Morgan the shark book again. Hee hee! I love messing up my kids!