Rote Memorization

My son is so much like my husband in so many ways.  But one thing he got from me is his penchant for rote memorization.

There are so many practical skills that I lack.  But I can memorize stuff like crazy!  Furthermore, lots of stuff sticks in my head that I couldn't get out if I wanted to.  If you walked up to me tomorrow and asked me, I could quote the excerpts of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death" speech that I had to memorize in 8th grade.  Or the story of the Fox and the Crow, in French, that I had to memorize as a Senior.  The General Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  1 Corinthians 13, and several others.  Songs in German, French, Latin, and Hebrew that I had to learn along the way. 

Is this a particularly helpful skill?  Not so much.  It is great for memorizing Scripture, but honestly, the things that stick in my head best are not usually the things of my choosing.  And shockingly, in my day-to-day life, there is not much call to launch into Rudyard Kipling's "If," or rattle off a French dialogue about bicycles.  Seriously. 

Whatever the merits of this quirky skill, Luke has it.  We have read The Little Engine that Could a zillion times, and I'm always impressed at how well Luke "reads" it to me with the book.  But one day, especially, I realized he had the gene.  He didn't have the book in his hands, but he started reciting The Little Engine that Could to Anna.  I was folding laundry and not paying too close attention, until I realized that he was on page 8 or 9...and not missing a word.  I just stopped and listened.  What got me was that there were parts that I hadn't memorized, times when I didn't know what was next...and he would say them without skipping a beat.  Only when he said them did I remember.  And I knew they were right.  He didn't start stumbling until over half way through.  It was amazing.  Seriously, I had tears in my eyes:).

On the way home from Nashville yesterday, Luke started reading The Crack in the Track, a Thomas book, to Daddy.  It is a simpler book, though we haven't read it nearly as much.  And while his retelling isn't perfect, most of it is ver batim.  Midway through, I used the video function of my camera to start recording.  Greg added subtitles b/c it is hard to understand some of what he is saying.  My favorite part is the dramatic voices he uses:

Needless to say, this kid cracks us up on a regular basis.