Did you know?

That W really stands for Mr. Wonderful winker?
Mikayla is learning the letter people in school. She hasn't really jumped up and down about any of them (and they are almost done oh no!) I am always afraid that she is going to be the awful reader in class...like I was. I hated reading in front of the class. I was one of those children who was just torture to listen to. I feel sorry for all of my teachers as I struggled along. I was not the cutest child either. I had big crazy hair, which I NEVER let my mother brush, the beautiful big front teeth and a not so pleasing sense of style. Even with the uniforms I stuck out. Ever since Mikayla was born I prayed that she would not end up like me, have all the cuteness I lacked and be so much smarter then I was...well at least when she was older. Much to my doom she is as drifting and unaware as her mother. It's not that she has no interest in school but she would rather be making crafts and making friends. She loves her free time. She picks up on stuff fast but only when she wants to. Anyway, this morning Mikayla wakes up and jumps into my room. With big bright eyes she looks at me and says "do you know that Mr. W is wonderful winker?" She then distorts her face in numerous ways attempting to make it look like she is winking. First both eyes were closing in a rather jerky manner. Next she attempted the open them REALLY wide and try to wink. She proceeded to close one eye real tight and have the other one slanted open. The whole time her mouth is just opening and closing with each try. After a full three minutes of trying she says very matter-of-fact "when you close both eyes that is called blinking NOT winking." I stared and stared trying not to giggle as over and over and over and over she tried. Finally she says "sometimes you've just got to hold it, that is how I wink." The rest of the morning was filled with more winking. She talked about Mr. W and how he starts Whale and wish and wonder and walking and waking and Woomer and whoopee and went and...Okay I think you get the idea. The more I thought about winking today the more I started to laugh. The image of her trying and trying was imprinted in my head. I can't even imagine what it must have looked like in her class room yesterday with 16 six year old's all trying to wink. Do you as a teacher keep a straight face and compliment every child on their attempt? Do you just let out the laugh in risk of hurting their feelings? Or is my child the only one who can't in the slightest make herself wink? In all of this at LEAST she finally likes a letter person.