My husband is home (WHEW!), but he’s working this morning. Therefore, my Sunday looks a lot different than usual. Instead of sleeping-in and working on my book, I found myself preparing breakfast for Isabelle. Here’s a snippet of our breakfast preparation conversation:
Between this conversation and the “from scratch” debacle the other day, I’m wondering what other words are confusing Isabelle that she doesn’t talk about. English is such a hard language to master, isn’t it?
I’m happy to report she was pleased with the papaya and forgot all about the watermelon! (BTW: Click here in case you’re wondering what the “Watermelon Man” song reference was about.) But, when she didn’t want to eat any more pineapple, this happened:
I am a literacy consultant who focuses on writing workshop. I've been working with K-6 teachers and students since 2009. Prior to that, I was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in New York City and Rhode Island.
I'm the author of Craft Moves (Stenhouse Publishers, 2016) and the co-author of Jump Into Writing (Zaner-Bloser, 2021), Welcome to Writing Workshop (Stenhouse Publishers, 2019), and Day By Day (Stenhouse, 2010).
I live in Central Pennsylvania with my husband and children. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, doing Pilates, cooking, baking, making ice cream, and reading novels.
View all posts by Stacey Shubitz
I love reading about you and Isabelle and her growth. You make me think, remember and wonder. Once when my son was near her age, maybe a tad younger, my husband flew to Miami for a conference. Andrew and I took him to the airport. When we returned home I took out an atlas (being the good teacher-mom that I am ) and said, I want to show you a map of Florida so we can see where Daddy has gone. I pointed to Miami and said, “Daddy is going to Miami.” Andrew immediately said, “No he isn’t’.” I replied, “Yes, he got on the airplane and flew to Florida and now he is in Miami.” “No he did not go to Miami,” said Andrew.Well this went on for a while. I stayed patient and curious. (I had recently read Glenda Bissex’s Genius at Work.) Finally Andrew said, “Dad went to his ami! !”. So pronoun’s can be confusing, too, from a child’s viewpoint. They are always listening, sometimes sorting and comparing but learning. I love “watching” Isabelle from a far. We call her strength of will: determination, perseverance, tenacity. The flip side might be considered flaunting of rules, but…..she is a girl of strong ideas! It is a pleasure to be an observer to your parenting and guidance.
Thanks for your kind words and for sharing your story, Janet. Yes, pronouns trip her up too — all of the time. Like everything else, we’re working on it.
I’ve stuffed this conversation
into my back pocket for later,
a collection of seeds to be planted
and nurtured when the ground become more fertile
for stories.
The silent page echoing
with the voice
of questioning.
-Kevin, lifting lines (from your daughter) to make poems as comments
Love it! Four is so fun! real conversations are happening all of the time at our house too. I must say her speech is really good. 🙂 My daughter’s tummy talks in a low, growly sort of voice and says things like “I’m hun-gy!” (She leaves r out of the middle.) or “I not hun-gy anymore!”
Speech therapy (for both kids) has taught me so much about language and how to develops. English really is quite complicated!
I so enjoyed your daughter’s stream-of-consciousness talk! In-season fruits to season passes–it’s amazing we have the capacity to understand it all, isn’t it? And so much fun to watch her learn.
Great job belly! We cheer on our bellies too! The English Language is so confusing at times! My husband is teaching ESL classes, and often ponders how anyone becomes fluent in English. Love this post. Thanks for sharing your daughter’s story.
Raising Literate Humans 
I love reading about you and Isabelle and her growth. You make me think, remember and wonder. Once when my son was near her age, maybe a tad younger, my husband flew to Miami for a conference. Andrew and I took him to the airport. When we returned home I took out an atlas (being the good teacher-mom that I am ) and said, I want to show you a map of Florida so we can see where Daddy has gone. I pointed to Miami and said, “Daddy is going to Miami.” Andrew immediately said, “No he isn’t’.” I replied, “Yes, he got on the airplane and flew to Florida and now he is in Miami.” “No he did not go to Miami,” said Andrew.Well this went on for a while. I stayed patient and curious. (I had recently read Glenda Bissex’s Genius at Work.) Finally Andrew said, “Dad went to his ami! !”. So pronoun’s can be confusing, too, from a child’s viewpoint. They are always listening, sometimes sorting and comparing but learning. I love “watching” Isabelle from a far. We call her strength of will: determination, perseverance, tenacity. The flip side might be considered flaunting of rules, but…..she is a girl of strong ideas! It is a pleasure to be an observer to your parenting and guidance.
Thanks for your kind words and for sharing your story, Janet. Yes, pronouns trip her up too — all of the time. Like everything else, we’re working on it.
Season passes;
tickets to spring.
I’ve stuffed this conversation
into my back pocket for later,
a collection of seeds to be planted
and nurtured when the ground become more fertile
for stories.
The silent page echoing
with the voice
of questioning.
-Kevin, lifting lines (from your daughter) to make poems as comments
Thank you for this lifted line poetry gift!
Love it! Four is so fun! real conversations are happening all of the time at our house too. I must say her speech is really good. 🙂 My daughter’s tummy talks in a low, growly sort of voice and says things like “I’m hun-gy!” (She leaves r out of the middle.) or “I not hun-gy anymore!”
Speech therapy (for both kids) has taught me so much about language and how to develops. English really is quite complicated!
I so enjoyed your daughter’s stream-of-consciousness talk! In-season fruits to season passes–it’s amazing we have the capacity to understand it all, isn’t it? And so much fun to watch her learn.
Great job belly! We cheer on our bellies too! The English Language is so confusing at times! My husband is teaching ESL classes, and often ponders how anyone becomes fluent in English. Love this post. Thanks for sharing your daughter’s story.
The belly knows. Maybe I should listen more to mine and stop feeding more than it wants or needs.:-)
I love Isabelle’s conversation with her belly.