Christmas Shopping Got Me Gobsmacked

"My brothers can read a little bit, little words like 'if' and 'it'."
-- Some of the final passages of Dr. Suess's Hop on Pop


Now three-year-old sister can read a little bit, too.

!!!

It's November, so we have "toy catalogs" floating all over the place, and sometimes being squabbled over.  After her brother left for school, DLG took command of the Wal-mart one.  I cooked her egg, while she either told me what she wanted (and why-- "I don't have one!") or asked me what something was.  On the page with the board games, she began telling me she wanted a "Pop the Pig" game.

"What, honey?"  I wasn't sure what I'd heard.

"Yes, mamma, right here,"  she pointed in the middle of the stack.

I hadn't ever heard of it, but it sounded unsavory.  "Pop the Pig?"

"Uh-huh.  Pop the Pig.  Food the pig and watch him get booger until he pops," she read off the tiny box in the middle of the stack of boxes.


The ad-copy was about this size.    


Her young eyes read what her young fingers pointed out.  She came very, very close to the actual text. I had to squint.

"You're right!  'Feed the pig and watch him get bigger until he pops'."

I asked if she'd played this game before or if her teacher or another friend had it.  No..... The kids mainly watch PBS and sports with their dad.  Not likely places for an ad.  Maybe at her grandmother's house?

"Which one is the word 'pig,' the word "pop," the word 'the'."  She pointed them out.

Up until now, we could get her to read certain words for us like, 'go,' 'up,' red,' 'one.'  Stuff she'd seen hundreds of times. This is the first time she'd ever volunteered to read more than one word.

I had my doubts, but they were all shaken when we went to the store after school:

"I know what that word under there is,."

"Under where, dear."

"Under there, that sign.  It's 'food,' f-o-o-d, food.  What's that word beside it?"

Blink. Blink.

So I spelled out & pronounced the funny word 'pharmacy' with her.

Wow, y'all.  Wow.