Yesterday I watched Esteban continuously seeking different mediums of creativity.
The moment I arrived at the airport on Friday he gave me this gift with tears in his eyes, an 'envelope' with a present inside.
Notice how he has written his own name as one would expect to see it, which for a four year old is pretty amazing in itself, but for Luna (who he has referred to as LULU) he has written her name backwards from right to left.
Sabrina feels a sense of concern for his interest in playing with the way in which he writes letters, words and numbers.
Here you can see him learning numbers and doing the same thing with the 2 and 3, turning them around to face the other direction.
I feel no concern whatsoever. Some might call this an early sign of dyslexia and start jumping up and down in panic. Not me. Mostly because I AM dyslexic. Or at least that's the label I was given.
Over the years I have come to understand the true meaning of dyslexia:
This child does not think in the same way as the other children
Which is great!
Children like this are naturally more creative but when measured against others in a school environment it may be that they are not be able to keep up in the more academic subjects. Personally I was made to feel stupid and somehow less than the other children because I struggled with anything which wasn't creative.
This will not be the case with Esteban.
Instead he is being encouraged to express his creativity any way he chooses and told consistently how AMAZING he is.
Inside the envelope he gave me at the airport was this card. Sabrina wrote the words but he did everything else. It says "It's us, Esteban & Luna"
The house is a giant pineapple, alongside a big red heart :)
I asked him about the letters at the bottom of the page and he explained (in french of course) how they stood for Luna, Esteban, Maman & Papa.
A morning of creativity
Before breakfast yesterday he had already made three pictures! The first is the white board image at the top of this post.
Then there was a map of our village.
And a collage landscape showing the top of our local mountain.
After breakfast he wanted to do a painting, so on went the crazy protective cover. It's fair enough I suppose. I'm not the one washing the clothes!
Luna loves to sit with him and do her own creative stuff.
He wanted to tape two pieces of paper together, making his canvas longer. And why not?
At one point all three of them were silently busy & content doing their creative thing.
I love how similar Esteban looks to his mother in this picture.
Sabrina has been so great keeping this creativity going in my absence.
Next up before lunch was beads and necklace making.
He really loves making these.
It helps having a decent collection of stuff to play with ;)
All in all I am so impressed by the creativity going on in this house and no matter how Esteban chooses to write letters & numbers he will never have to live with a debilitating label.
He is now and always will be PERFECT :)
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Look at his focus, how he gets drawn into what he is doing! I find myself doing this when I'm creating and it can be hard not getting frustrated when others want to distract me from it. I love that you're encouraging, rather than diverting him from this path. I'm suddenly reminded of when I was at nursery school and for the first time ever I was able to use the little pegs and board to create pictures. I was so engrossed, I didn't hear the call to pack away for story time and was upset by the others trying to take it from me. Then the teacher's hands reached over my shoulder to take it and I slapped her before realising who it was. I was put in the naughty chair and excluded from storytime, my favourite time of the day. I was quite distraught and rather confused.
I remember both of my daughters would get some numbers and letters back to front. I was told this is quite common early on for most children. I guess how much they reverse varies from child to child. Whole words in reverse is probably less common, but I dont think we should ever make judgements at such an early age, so I'm glad you aren't worried. I sometimes even wonder if we all have levels of dyslexia. After all, there is the fact that we can read so many words with the letters jumbled up as long as the first and last letters are the same.
@minismallholding on behalf of HomeEdders
Yes the focus is there for sure. But it doesn't tend to last too long before there is something else he wants to do. Which is fine! In time I believe he will learn to extend this focus into larger projects.
Sorry to hear your school experience story. I think many of us have them. When I first met Sabrina she told me she wasn't creative and refused to join me in creating things. Upon investigation, it turned out this was because a teacher had told her she was not creative many moons ago. She was barely even conscious of it. Yet it had changed such a big part of her life. Once she was able to identify where the feeling was coming from she immediately learned macramé and made me a beautiful anklet, which i still wear today ;)
And now there is no stopping her creativity!
Thanks for the reassurance on the dyslexia. A few parents have pointed out to me now their children were the same. It was the backwards word which interested me the most, though I think he was probably just playing ;)
Four days I've been back and I am still buzzing like you wouldn't believe. It is like living in this perfect dream. Only fully appreciated after all this time away.
What adults casually say to children has much more impact than they realise. It stays with them. My sister was told not to bother doing her art exam, because the teacher decided she wasn't good enough. She always drew lightly because she want confident enough with her work to do bolder strokes. What she did was beautiful, but he convinced her that she was no good.
Glad Sabrina had found her creative side.
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thank you!
It so good you have this attitude and he doesn't go to a main stream school ! Having struggle with dyslexia I know how shit the main stream schools are even to this day. In the 80's and 90's I just did work fast enough and when I complained was told not to then became cheeky and got put on report. The plus is my parents got my private tuition, the lady Pam taught me so many ways around the problems I have which I use to this day. I still struggle massively with organisation, remembering things (not memory as such but forgetting to take note when I should) and time management the part of dyslexic a people never really know about. I have ways to mange them and ToDo spreadsheets and a 39 have finally realised what I need and have the confidence to ask for it (or demand more than often). Thankfully me current employer are good with a bit of pressure from my end and knowing what I need.
My mind is more creative and had I have the opportunities to explore this now and was able to educate myself in a different way for my second degree (as it was more my decision) I discover passion and ability to learn. I still struggle hence my writing on her is not a s often as In would like as I can't get down what is in my head more than often without taking a lot of time (which I just don't have). This often means I forget to do other things that are more important! This is dyslexia to a key. Anyways that's a hefty rant and I want to write a post about it now. Thank Estaban for his inspiration and I will dedicate the post to him and wish him much less stress than I had to endure as a nipper; but with your attitude I doubt he will have that 💯🐒
Thanks for sharing your story. Even the word dyslexia kinda annoys me now. For people like us to survive in a strict school system is very difficult and rarely beneficial to the way we perceive ourselves.
Seems like you have been able to take that important step back from it all and see the bigger picture. Many of us never achieve this and live our whole lives without ever reaching our full creative potential.
My memory is rubbish too. And like Esteban, I have a low attention span. Things really need to interest me if I am to focus on them!
Please send me a link to your post when it is done. I would like to read it but am terrible at following my feed here.
Sounds like you doing the right thing, wish i'd had that option. I will be sure too 💯🐒
You are a wise parent to see differences as a gift rather than a problem.
Is that a persimmon tree behind Esteban in the final photo? I've been enjoying a few from my brother's trees.
That is exactly what it is. Well spotted.
It is amazing to see how much food there is still dripping from the trees here. Yesterday we picked apples, kiwis & chestnuts.
Back in the UK everything looked dead already.
Yep, I never expected Esteban to be like the other kids & he continues to impress me with the way he thinks. Took him to nursery yesterday which felt intense for me. Still figuring out the feelings around this one. It all seems very innocent but not sure he is 100% happy there and as far as I can see, the only thing they provide which I don't is other children.
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Upvoted 👌
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Thank you my friend!
Have a great week :)
Such awesome creativity ... wonderful to witness!
thanks for sharing - upvoted and resteemed :D
It sure is :)
Thanks for appreciating it with me!
Onward & Upward 🚀
@jimmi5566