Let me tell the long story of the Letter S. It started a few weeks back.

Firstly, just before Darius’ 17th month on the 15th of December09, he started fearing The Snake Making the sound of “Ssss” in the LeapFrog DVD I shown him.

I thought it was just an aversion to the Snake since the image made me uncomfortable too, what with the eyes going opposite direction and tongue spitting. Maybe my fear of snake rubbed off on him and he got fearful too? Might it be Inherited?

He has also been saying “Aaaasss…”, “Hasssss..” a lot, practising it among his other babblings but I thought it was just a sound he makes instead of really knowing it’s S.
One day, out in the shopping centre, we were waiting for Hubby when Darius looked across me and said, “Aaaassss“. I looked at what he was staring at and saw, “SaSa” the cosmetic shop. I had a feeling that he really does know S so I told Hubby when he came back. But he was doubtful and I shrugged it off.

So after we came back, I wanted to put on the Letter S for Darius’ LeapFrog Fridge Magnetic Word Builder and we couldn’t find it anywhere. Another week passed and we found it hiding under the sofa when Hubby moved it that day. I placed it on the fridge for Darius and thought he could learn that it was the symbol for Letter S since he likes to say “Aasssss” so much.

29th December 2009. Morning came and as usual we walked into the kitchen to prepare his breakfast. Darius walked in and immediately froze at the doorway, his eyes staring at something on the fridge. I was puzzled at first, then remembered that the Letter S was on it. Wanting to confirm, I took his hand and pulled him towards the fridge and he actually resisted, hiding behind the pillar! So I plucked it off and put onto the device to press the sound for him. The sound of Soprano singing immediately made him yelled with a worried expression. I took the S off and gave it to him but he did not dare to take it. Finally after I insisted, he took it gingerly by the tips of his fingers and quickly passed it back to me as if it was ‘slimy’ or about to explode and ran off. *chuckled

The whole day, he refused to enter the kitchen. Even when I said the magic word about making milk for him. I skyped Hubby and we had a good laugh, thinking that Darius must have connected the S to the Snakey S based on his reaction. They happened to be green too. Check the pictures above.

Finally near evening, I got tired of him behaving this way and marched him to the kitchen to confront the Letter S. He kept pulling at me, crying and refusing to go near the fridge. I know it’s not right to force but I don’t want him to live in fear of a toy letter!

I took the Letter S off and held it close to him to which he erupted in tears and cries. I was really surprised but I held my ground. No matter how he was pleading and saying, “不要…不要…!!!” with waterfall tears sliding down his cheeks, I tried to make him take hold of it. However, even just putting the letter near his face caused him to keep crying and crying bucketfuls. It was really frustrating. Why was he so afraid of a toy? If it went on, I think people around the estate would have dialed and spoke into the phone, “Hello? Police? There’s a child being abused in that unit….”

I kept reassuring him that there’s nothing to worry about. I kept telling him that it was just the Letter S, singing “QRS” in the ABC song for him. He finally took the letter but flipped it over so that he couldn’t see the greenish S. But when I flipped it back for him, he erupted again.

Screenshots from the video. It was too cringing for me to watch again. Sorry, Dar...

Finally a while later, he stopped crying and decided it was safe to hold. Just then, hubby came back and together, we kept telling him, “Aaassss only, nothing to be afraid of”. He kept repeating after us too, still playing and examining it, his emotions finally calmed. All seemed fine when I stupidly decided to show Hubby how it sang and placed it back into the reader. Darius bolted off immediately yelling and we heaved a sigh, took it back to its eternal resting place, banished out of sight, out of mind with its best friend, the Letter F (see ‘The Fear of F“).

After the ordeal, I felt guilty for making him so upset over his fear. I had even videoed the whole experience to document this fear. I had fears myself that no one else would understand so why not him? Even if it’s just a teeny weeny toy?

The next morning, I took him to the kitchen again and showed him, “See? No more S!” He stared cautiously and from then on, stepped into the kitchen all the time. *roll eyes.

I still didn’t know whether he understood it was S though. Just a few days ago, we stood outside a shop again, and Darius in my arms mumbled “Aassss” again. I looked behind me and saw “PASSION”. This time, I told Hubby and he begun to believe probably he does know.

On Sunday morning, I heard him mumbling again and the thought of testing him was strong enough for me to take a receipt and wrote “S” on the back of it.

I showed it to him immediately where he took a look and pronounced clearly, “S!” He looked back at me happily as if it was the Letter he loves the most.

I was totally shocked. A moment of elation washed over me.  My 17month old recognises the Letter S and is able to say it out?! He is not imitating at all! I’ve been reciting ABC til H for him and he knew S instead?

So far, I had never actively teach him the alphabets. I tell him what the symbols stood for only occasionally when I’m near the LeapFrog toy or reading alphabet books. I thought he was too young to learn by drilling so I let him learn passively through the LeapFrog DVD (even that we only watch occasionally), toy and just reading books on alphabets with him. Even so, I often emphasised more on A to H so it was a shock for me that he caught S. I guess the fear of it was so ingrained in him that he actually remembered and could pronounce. I remember reading that memory is more vivid when one had undergone extreme fear or extreme happiness through an experience.

The post is getting long so I will finish the stories of E, O and H in another post and show a video. *wink.

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