Excerpt from sticker in Rockstar’s school diary: “…..…. Weekly we will make a display of objects that start with (the letter of the week). If you would like to send one thing in for this display please label item…….”
Me: Rockstar, mummy’s looking for things that begin with the letter A because you’ll be learning that in school this week. What begins with the letter A?
Rockstar: (enthusiastically) A Bee.
Me: No, that begins with a B. <Thinking pleeease don’t let him ask about that one when I have just an hour before school to find something for him to bring>
Rockstar (disappointed and picking up a little plastic animal): A… wolf?
Me: No darling, more like Apple, or Airplane… Which do you want to bring to school? (I have this idea everyone is going to bring apples or airplanes but at least I will have one that Rockstar definitely knows begins with an A)
Rockstar: Don’t like… <brightens> What about ‘Elicopter?
Me: That begins with the letter H… You’ll have to wait till they do H…
Rockstar: I want to bring a bug. <holds up dried cricket my mum gave him in little plastic box>
Me: That’s a Cricket. You can save that for when they do the letter C. You have at least 2 or 3 other bugs you can bring when they do B. (It’s that “help a farmer” thing in Malaysia where they sell real bugs preserved in resin as paperweights or keychains… Rockstar has quite a few, including a scorpion and a few weird beetles)
I put the Ace of diamonds from a card deck, an airplane bath toy (because all his other airplanes and automobiles either have sharp edges or might be considered choking hazards with lotsa small parts) and a plastic math toy he got out of my mum’s handbag – she keeps all kinds of things to amuse her neighborhood kids in there (for “Arithmetic” in case the others are too obvious and lots of other mums also send the same ones in…)
Rockstar says “no” to all the items I put in a Ziploc… So I don’t hold much hope for “A” week…
And “B” is going to be risky… Please dear Lord, don’t let him fixate on BMX…..!
Rockstar comes home after the first day and says reproachfully, “A is also for ‘ambulance’..” Darn. How did I miss that, we’ve been arguing the difference between Hong Kong’s ambulance and police vans for like, forever…
Just out of curiousity – were they learning the letter “A” (long sound) as in “acorn” or the short sound as in “ambulance”?
Actually “A Bee” and “A Bug” start with “A”… 🙂