Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Buzz of the Spelling Bee

How do you spell NODDY??!! Yes...Come on. Tell me how? No wait! Listen to what I have to tell first. :)

A close friend T got Kutu a book on Noddy. It was a surprise birthday present for him. The title of the book is "Bumpy Dog's Bad Day". My boy ofcourse loved it! The ardent die hard Fan of Noddy that he is!!! It has now become his favouritest and has to be read to him every night atleast thrice. The book is then kept beside his pillow and only then will the little monster dozes of into the dreamworld. By the way, this is the latest addition to the things that he takes to bed with him. Sorry...no cute cuddly teddy bears or soft pillows for this one. He just has to make sure his bundle of treasure is safe and sound and close to him before he sleeps. Doesn't matter if the bundle comprises of:
1. His building set
2. His green pencil Box(which is anyway in a highly dilapidated state)
3. His Noddy books
4. Some other story books like Pinochio, Gingerbread Man etc.
All hell breaks lose if one of these is missing at bedtime. The whole household will go down on all fours looking for the missing object which would be later found under the TV or the sofa or bed or some such random place.

But then I digress. This is not the point of the post. The fact of the matter is...me being me...tried to convert the repetitive bedtime reading sessions into a learning session. An idea that can occur only to mothers!!

Kutu has started learning a few small words and their spellings in school. Like CAT, MAT, BAT, MAN, VAN etc. The kids are made to match the words with the corresponding pictures. Hence, they learn the spellings as well. SO....I taught him how to spell DOG from the title of the book that T gifted. Given the number of times we read that book( or rather the story is told to him) every night, he learnt the spelling fast enough. I decided to proceed a little further and try a bigger word now. The bigger word being "NODDY". So, at the first attempt we go "Kutu...Noddy spelling endhu? N...O...D....D...Y! NODDY!!" and it is also religiously repeated by him. Day 2 and again I go "N...O...D....D...Y! NODDY!!". Now, his crooked mind starts running wild and he says " illa amma....Noddy spelling enthu ariyaamo? N...Y...NODDY".

EH??? What?? I say "No Kutu....N...O...D....D...Y! NODDY!!". Now he is positively frustrated at his mother's foolishness. "Ee Ammaikku onnum arinjoodaa".(This Amma knows nothing!!). And then he goes on to explain. "O...D...D... ellam Dog Spelling. N, Y maatram Noddy spelling." (The O and Ds appear in "D.O.G" so they cannot belong to the word N.O.D.D.Y). Now, can anyone beat this logic??!!! Will someone tell me if my son stands any chance to be a future Spelling Bee Contest Champion? Anyway...for now, I am just flabbergasted!