A first
First birthday wishes [Photo by Tseen]
When I finally dragged myself out of bed this public holiday morning (to make French toast for my hubs’ birthday breakfast), I found a flimsy sheet of paper sitting on the dining table. She had made a birthday card and put it in her dad’s place.
The front said “To Dad”. The photo above is a close-up of what she’d written inside. She is five and a half years old.
Ever since she started forming letters and writing words, we’ve had to encourage, push, make it into a game, or bribe her to have her write more than her name or one friend’s name. She’s reading at steadily improving levels, and her comprehension is usually fairly astute. Writing, though, has always presented itself as a bit of a chore. And she’d always be the first to say, “It’s not very good…” or “I messed up the ‘k’ again” when showing us something she’d done.
The birthday card for her dad is the first spontaneous piece of writing she’s done that’s longer than two or three words in a row. It’s such a precious piece of initiative.
I don’t know how she’s going to top it next year.
adorable! i had to think a little to figure out what was the message, but made it in the end.
Yes, the spelling’s fairly innovative, and she went phonetically most of the way. Apparently, they haven’t learned ‘spelling’ yet. I thought spelling and reading went hand-in-hand, but I’m obviously an ignoramus.