I not Stupid

I was taking the MRT one afternoon during off-peak hours and was spying on the people around. An auntie who lived in cck was taking care of a 3 year old boy living in tampines whom she did not give birth to and she was talking to a 70 year-old grandma. ( I think I'm really getting good at spying on people.)

She then told the grandma how naughty the boy was and also how smart he is. The boy would run all over the place and climb to shocking heights. At home, he can dictate the whole alphabet and name the fruits. Nothing gives pride to adults more than wonderful children they own.

Sometimes when adults fail in fully realising their own capabilities, the wish is extended to their children, thus placing high hopes on them to succeed in what they could not.

I cannot help but feel jealous and also anxious for my nephew who is not on par with other children his age. He is almost 28 months old and still does not know how to walk but perpetually hang on to walls, furniture, hands and legs. My sisters and I started walking at around one years of age. Declan must really start walking soon for my parents are having a hard time carrying this big bag of rice around.

I think Declan will grow up becoming obsessed with cars like many boys do. One of his first words was 'ka'.. and he identifies it when he sees one. He would point to pictures of and also moving cars, trucks and buses and calls them 'ka'. He would also pat his chest and say 'pa' when he heard loud noises, like my sneezing for example. I don't know if he meant it as being afraid but there was a period when he kept doing that. His other favourite words would be 'ma' and 'mum mum', his two greatest loves presently.

That probably is the extent of his vocabulary list. Sounds like a long way from singing the alphabet and naming fruits. That's why I can't help but worry.

I have to blame myself for not talking to him very often and neglecting him half the time. He would probably learn Cantonese from my parents which is a great thing. Yet I hope he would not have problems with English and Mandarin and be effectively bilingual. Perhaps I could teach him Japanese too since he can start asking questions with 'ka' which is the question word in Japanese.

I think it is good to expose him to many languages at this early age. For the first few years he might use the various languages like they were one and become a whole messy 'rojak' language. But by 5 or 6 years, he would be able to differentiate between the languages. That is how I learnt Cantonese: just by people speaking it to me.

Yet, I think too far. Declan can't even say a, b, c.

Declan has an acute sense of hearing though. He is observant and knows what is going on around him. Something I never learnt even at my age.

I think I should take him for more walks and speak more languages to him. There are so many things that are beyond me and I just hope to see them realised in him.