Telling Grandparents All About It

We were on vacation last weekend so we missed our usual weekly Skype call with Kai’s grandparents in Japan. I thought we would have our next call at our regular time, but Kai did not want to wait until then to talk to them.

I was wondering what the urgency was. I should have known.

When we got Jiji and Baba online, Kai brought his entire collection of Rocks and Minerals Flash Cards that he had earned so far. He wanted to show all of them to his grandparents.

Well, he didn’t just want to show them. He wanted to read all of them.

We told him that he could read five cards. He said he wanted to read all of them.

I could see where this was headed. I could either argue with him for a long time and have all of us get upset, or I could just let him read the cards.

I gave in.

But I told him he had to read fast, and only read the most important parts.

So, for the next 20 minutes, Kai read his grandparents facts about
limestone and granite and quartz and the rest of the 30 or so rocks and minerals he had accumulated so far.

His grandparents don’t understand speak much English, and they did not understand a word he said.

But I think they were happy to see him so obviously enthused about something, and to see him talk non-stop for so long.

After he had finished reading them his flash cards, we got him to talk about our vacation. And once he started, he went non-stop on that topic, too, telling about all the highlights of our trip.

When my wife tried to translate what Kai was saying into Japanese, he told her “Mom, be quiet!”

Kai still has a lot of work to do on two-way communications, but you can see that he is getting quite verbose with his soliloquies. In a way, for a child who loves to talk but often doesn’t listen well, it is perfect for him to talk to his Japanese grandparents as it is hard for them to interrupt him with questions.

One day I hope that he will be better able to pause and listen and interact. But on this day, I thought he did just great. It was another sign of progress for a boy who once did not speak.