A to Z: Six-Fingered Monkey Style

At nearly four-and-a-half years old, my youngest (D-man) is still struggling with his ABCs and 123s. Apparently this is normal for a preschooler, but not familiar ground for The Six-Fingered Monkey.  

They say the second child is always easier.That’s a no-brainer, right? With the first child, you’re essentially learning how to parent for the first time. It would make sense that once you have one, the rest will be a breeze. In many respects, this is true.

From a parenting perspective, all of those little baby speed bumps (feeding, potty training, dealing with tantrums, etc.) seemed less “bumpy” the second time around. There is one aspect of parenting my little ones, however, that seems to have gone in the opposite direction...

Teaching. Specifically, the need to give D-man “extra help” when it comes to learning the basics.

Now, I call it “extra” help in comparison to what I know, which is my experience with his older brother, Lu-dog, who needed little to no help learning the basics. With Lu-dog, things happened overnight. One day I woke up and he was talking, reciting his ABCs and counting to 100. Now, at age seven, he and I have philosophical conversations about life on other planets, engaging discussions about the effects of solar storms on technology and, of course, the importance of Kid’s Choice award nominees and why Victoria Justice is more relevant than Miranda Cosgrove.

Personally, I prefer Miranda Cosgrove because she is SO much hotter than Victoria Justice.

What? Shut up! They’re both legal.

I’m not saying that Lu-dog was “smarter” at this age. In fact, there are times when it seems that D-man displays more common sense. I think D-man is quite “normal,” which is a breath of fresh air.

Where four-year-old Lu-dog was preoccupied with office supplies, D-man is all about Legos and action figures, which is good news for daddy who is essentially a giant child.

Over the years, it has become obvious that Lu-dog is far more advanced, academically speaking, than most of his peers. Where he fell short, however, D-man has excelled. Using the potty came easier for D-man, as did simple hand-eye coordination activities. While the deeply “emotional” Lu-dog will literally cry over a glass of spilled milk, his little brother will make it an alien pond for his action figures to cross.

D-man is your average preschooler, more interested in “playing” than learning, which is why The Girlfriend and I have had to shift our focus to include “learning” in everything we do.

“I want this many more chicken fingers,” D-man declared, holding all ten fingers high above his head.

“How many is that D-man,” The Girlfriend asked.

“A lotta many.”

“Let’s count them,” she suggested.

“One... two... free... um... four... Hey! I’m four,” he declared.

“That’s right,” I interjected. “What’s next?”

“Um... I don’t know.”

“What comes after four,” The Girlfriend continued.

“Oh... Five?”

“”Yes”

“Six... seven.... um... eight... um...”

“Come on, you know...” I insisted.

“I don’t,” he said putting on his pouty face.

“Nye...”

“Nye...”

“N...”

“N!”

“No baby,” I explained. “The number starts with the letter n.”

“I don’t KNOW.”

“Nine.”

“Nine... ten!”

We all clapped and cheered, except for Lu-dog who apparently thinks he is way too cool to teach his brother.

“Now D-man,” The Girlfriend continued, “how many toes do you have?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on man...” I said.

“A lotta many.”

“D-man,” The Girlfriend continued. “If you have ten fingers, how many toes do you have?”

“Um... ten?”

We cheered again.

Slowly but surely we’ll get there. Like everything else, practice makes perfect - that’s what they were drilling into our heads today at my Cub Scout leadership training class and one of the reasons why I decided to sign up for the A to Z challenge.

In a nutshell, beginning April 1, I will be blogging for 26 near-consecutive days, with each post themed for a different letter of the alphabet. The exercise is part of the Liebster Award I just received. It is a pretty heavy challenge and this will be the first time I have ever attempted such a thing.

At first, I was hesitant about it, but then I thought, shit... I SHOULD be blogging more, but I always run into that writer’s block wall or, I spend way too much time trying to perfect a post. This one, for example, has been in the works for two days.

The A to Z Challenge is going to force me to write, which I think is a good thing. Plus, I’m having a lot of fun coming up with dirty words for every letter of the alphabet!

Kidding.

Or am I?

Stay tuned...