Bentley

Bentley is a great reader.  He loves to read and has fantastic comprehension.  He read the first 40 Magic Treehouse books before he started first grade.  I asked him yesterday, "When doe the new Reading Challenge begin?"  This is an annual elementary event in which each student sets an individual goal with their teacher's approval.  I am looking forward to another big reading interval when they begin.

Much to my surprise he said tonight," Mrs Schumacher [fantastic 1st grade teacher] says it will start in a couple weeks.  Guess what my goal is?"

"25 books?" I asked, rounding up in my mind.

"Nope; one thousand pages!"  I was stunned briefly; until I remembered his pre-kindergarten goal was 100 books with the same achievement oriented teacher.  

"Mrs. Schumacher asked me if I wanted to reduce my goal to 800 pages.  I said, 'No, that's ok.  My dad can get me through it."

GULP!  I guess we will!!

 One of Bentley's favorite stories is Peter Pan.  One of his favorite activities, therefore, is sword fighting (!)  Thanks to a friend at GSIS, elementary students have an opportunity to learn traditional Japanese sword fighting, called "kum-do."

I forget the actual beginning of the issue, maybe seeing all the clock's in "Hook;" bentley's all time favorite movie.  In any case, he really wanted a clock and so Beth bought an alarm clock for him.  It is similar to the one pictured here, but humbler.  Still, it was a good old mechanical ringer.  The first night Bentley was excited to set the clock, but the cacophony the next morning was shocking, so he asked Beth not to set the alarm anymore.  Dad, however, did not know this.

To be helpful, the next evening when Bentley was asleep, I checked his clock and finding the alarm "off" I fixed the situation and slid the switch to "on."  In the morning (I sleep till 7:00 but Beth is well up by then) I hear the alarm go off and it wakes me - sort of.  Until it is ringing for a couple seconds and I hear Beth ask, from the dressing room, "Did you turn on Bentley's alarm? He said it was scary for him." So I (uncharacteristically) LEAPED from bed, ran in to Bentley's room - switching on the light and hurriedly shutting off his alarm.

This evening we were reading Bentley's reader (from kindergarten).  As it turns out, the first word was "one."  Bentley pronounced the word, "on."  I corrected him gently, telling him that it looks like "on" but is pronounced "one."  

"Oh, No!" Bentley said.  

"What?!" I exclaimed; startled, thinking his comment a surprising reaction to a trivial three letter word at the beginning of a cheesy reader.

Bentley explained:  "Today I was making birthday cards in kindergarten for Mrs. Rains [the librarian] with Abby [one of his friends in kindergarten]. Abby asked me, 'Bentley, how do you spell "one?" '  

So I told her, "Abby, 'one' is spelled wuh, wuh, wuh - double-u; uh, uh, uh - yoo; nn, nn, nn - ehn; W-U-N."

"Papa, I told her how to spell it wrong!"

"But!..." I assured him, "You did an excellent job of spelling according to the sound of the letters; that is exactly the right thing to do!  There is no way to guess how to spell this word from the way it is spelled.  Some words are just like that."

 Image by Beth, 2010)

Bentley is taking Taekwondo now and a couple times we have gone to the gym ro practice kicking with the pads; or punching.  he is a very good learner and is learning to listen and respond to instructions.  He is naturally enthusiastic - a teacher's dream!  On Sunday afternoon we went to the gym for a break for me and fun for Bentley.  We went to the padded walls room where there are mats for Taekwondo.

I showed him a couple times how to do a side kick (the one he likes the best) on a punching bag.  I kicked it as high as I could (realizing how unflexible I am!) then a double kick for fun (could I still?)  Bentley says, "Dad you are amazing!"  and then he runs around and back to try a kick again then stands up and says, "Dad; can you show me how to be like you?"

I'm sure my response was predictable; the tears I shed at each telling are just a signal of the worth of words.

I will treasure these words - and live by them! from till eternity.  And every day strive to live a life worthy of that kind of admiration.

Thanks God for children!  Honestly, it was the best birthday gift I will ever get!  :)

Playing games is a lot of fun.  This past year Bentley has enjoyed playing Uno a lot.  We have pictures of him and grandpa Reg playing Uno in Kho Samui last summer.

Uno gets old fast (for adults!) so last Fall (2009) I played Dominoes with Bentley.  We have a partial set (from a students Rube Goldberg project ...) of double-sixes that have all the "dots" painted white.  I liked that, as color would not be a basis for "knowing" the numbers, Bentley had to count them after ballparking that two dominoes looked the similar.  I saw this as a great learning tool.  However, a partial set was partially fun and the local Korean department store, HomePlus does not carry dominoes and I could not find them as Emart or Costco either.  My Mom in BC, Canada also could not find non-colored dominoes so I started casting about for other games.  

We played checkers, but the concept of staying only on one color square was challenging.  Secondly, diagonal moves that were either into empty spaces or jumping opponents turned out to be a bit abstract and hard to grasp - never mind the strategy on NOT moving into a space in which you would, in turn, be jumped.  Chess was similar but harder (though Bentley loved the castle-looking pieces and the "horses!")

I have recieved several nice gifts in Korea as a teacher:  a tie, silver cuff links, Bulgari cologne, wine, oranges, chocolates.  2 years ago I received a very nice gift from a student's parents at school: a large bottle of Black Polo.  Regardless the motivation (did I smell bad?  were they expressing appreciation? did they want a higher grade?) it is very much appreciated!  Since receiving that kindness, I often spray myself briefly with this strong masculine scent as we leave the apartment on the way to school.  When Bentley is with me he often gets his own shot of Black Polo.  This morning I asked Bentley, "Do you want to smell like a man?"  

"No.  Why do we need it?" he asked.

"Bentley, ladies like it!"

After a minor shot of cologne, we leave the house and as Bentley closes the door behind me I hear him say, "Let's go get some ladies!"

Last year Amy taught Bentley to play Uno and he wins; often.  To adults, Uno is quickly tedious; largely chance.  So I taught Bentley Dominoes.  Then Kila brought Sorry for Christmas and he learned that quickly.  I see games as a way to not only have fun, but learn several other things:  patience, sportsmanship, abstract thinking, strategic thinking, and cooperation.  While looking at the Sorry box, I realized it is "For ages 6 +" and jokingly said to Bentley that he is not old enough to play this game (which he was beating me at).  That made me think he might catch on to Settlers of Catan (for ages 12+).  

The first Settlers game he learned at the rate I anticipated: he did not appreciate the strategy; he recognized many of the cards: sheep, wood, wheat but not all, he put two roads on the same hexagon side; the settlement/city distinction was unclear.  But when we started playing the second game he showed he already memorized the prices of roads and chance cards!  He REALLY wanted to biggest army (Darn all those point cards; gimme a soldier!"  Now, 5 games later he understands the principles and is fun to play with.  Strategy is not clear to him yet, but I am sure it won't be long!

 When you see a child playing or are cognizant of their proximity, they seem so self absorbed.  Partly for that reason, children sometimes shock us by the things that they absorb through some sort of intelligent and unintentional saturation.  Like a recent Sunday in Seoul, during which we went to the large Catholic cathedral on that Sunday, partly because the school provided a free bus.  On this Sunday, Bentley was distracted by two new friends; adopted Columbian twin boys who have a dark complexion like Bentley does (although they are Columbian and Bentley is Ethiopian).  Most of the way into mass, the priest briefly described how Jesus was at the table and broke the bread for his disciples.  Bentley did not seem to being paying attention but was definitely listening.  He pulls my arm and whispers in that non-whisper of little, eager boys, "That story is in my Bible too!" he says.  What an extraordinary memory this beautiful boy has!

           [We go to mass because it is a sort of mental relief and emotional holiday to to visit this beautiful, brick cathedral for English mass.  Catholic services generally do not contain the emotional intensity which evangelicals intentionally saturate their service in.  Catholic mass is pacific in the original sense.  The priest's Irish accent, the predictable ritual, the lack of commotion, the silence of the building.  The space inside the church seems to also put a space inside my mind.  I don't loose my thinking, but my thinking stops taking up all my mental space.  Instead there is space for God and calmness.  It is a mental sabbath to sit & stand in there for 30 minutes.  I think I do more worship and more reflection in 30 minutes of Catholic mass than I do most other places and times.]