We were watching a family show this evening, where a mother was speaking to her toddler, adopted from China, trying to get him to say and repeat words to her. Lucas was winding down for the night and had paused to watch with us.....normally this is not his "type" of show.
He got really excited and said, "Mom, is that how you taught me to talk when I was a baby?" Gulp! It instantly registered with me what he had asked. I wasn't sure how I was going to answer in that instant. You kind of run all these type of questions, subjects and discussions through your head a billion times in the process of adoption....how am I going to answer the tough questions?
Let me just say....you are never 100% prepared and what you thought would be your response is most likely not what is going to come out of your mouth. In this case, Lucas beat me to the punch.
He said, "Oh. Wait. You taught me English. I didn't come home until I was a bigger kid. But I think my first mom taught me when I was a baby to speak Tagalog. It probably worked the same way as when you taught me here...you would say a word and show me what it means, then I learned. She probably did the same thing."
This isn't the first time that he has "forgotten" that we weren't with him as a baby or toddler. Like any kid he wonders about the things and people before he has actual memory. He is slowly coming to terms with not having nor ever having knowledge of those earliest milestones. I'm sure there will be many more of these times to acknowledge that we don't know.
So while we didn't teach him Tagalog, we did teach him English. Some day I hope he is able to comprehend how much he has taught us about life, loss, perseverance, determination and the awesomeness that is Lucas.
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