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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Excuses, Excuses ...




Jayden (8), spends a little time each day with Daddy reviewing basic math and spelling problems so that he is prepared for 2nd grade this fall. He has only been in America for about 7 months now, and although he has made incredible progress with language, there are still some concepts that are hard to grasp, and we still have language barriers that are quite entertaining!

There are so many funny statements or questions made throughout the day, that Jay has started writing them down so we don't forget these one-of-a-kind moments.

Here are a few of the exchanges Jay noted today ...
I pointed to the number 23, and asked him "What number is this?" After a long pause and deep thinking, Jayden replied "Triangle??????"

Here are Jayden's excuses for not being able to answer any of his math questions ... "I'm dying" ... "my teeth hurt" ... "I'm tired, me sleep no big" ... "my eyes are hot" ... "I'm cold" ... "my brain no work" ... "my brain no charge".
Jayden is concerned when I write things down in a notebook. He questions, "Why you writing? Jayden no good?" I told him he was good and I was just writing stuff down that I thought was funny. He doesn't want me to write stuff down. I'm going to keep writing stuff down.
Calculator = Calcagator in Jayden Englishiopian

When trying to explain what the word "between" means, I drew stick people of Jayden's friends, Aiden and Quincy, and drew a stick Jayden in between them. He was concerned about why I chose to draw a stick Quincy instead of a stick Spencer. We moved on to the next question and I made a mental note to draw stick Spencers from here on out. Jayden still doesn't know what "between" means.

To Jayden, "hundred-million dollars" can be used in place of the word "very". For example, "This pool hundred-million-dollars deep" or "I swim hundred-million-dollars fast".

In a conversation about tornadoes, Jayden questioned "Tornadoes faster than Jesus?" Commenting on a cartoon villain, he said "This guy no like Jesus."

Reading through Jay's notes from today, I laughed until I cried, and then I hugged Jayden and told him he was very good.

7 comments:

Bliss said...

Keep writing things down and sharing them. I laughed so hard. The "hundred million dollars" thing sent me over the edge.
Blessings,
Bliss

Rob and Candy said...

I love it- my favorite is - I'm dying

Becky Lee Burk said...

As always your posts just brighten up my day!!! I love your little stories/quotes, too precious. PLEASE keep writing in your notebook just for me :)

Juliet said...

Loved the "hundred million dollars." My son used "soaking" as a superlative in much the same way. He got it from "soaking wet." But to him, it could be soaking hot outside, or the music could be soaking loud, etc. I never had the heart to correct him. I figured he'd figure it out soon enough and I wanted to enjoy it while he used it!

Team Dragovich said...

Karen, Thank you SOOOO much for reading our blog and posting such encouraging words. I hope you don't mind that I start stalking your beautiful family, now that we have our kiddos home and I am living through this whole other side of adoption :)!! I am cracking up over your notes! Can't wait to keep up with your family!
Love, Shari

The Raymers. said...

Do your kiddos have trouble with r's? Every night as they get in bed they yell, "Mommy, come play!" They actually mean pray.

ethiHOPEia said...

Hahaha! Those are very funny! I should do that too!