true amazement

so this morning rosemary is sitting on the couch with isaiah and i'm sitting at the table feeding alaythia. rosemary says, 'so, i heard that isaiah can say his abc's backward.' i just look at her and shrug. 'yeah, your mom told me that yesterday morning she was playing with isaiah and he said the abc's backward.'

i hear what she saying, but think that i must have heard her wrong. 'are you talking about isaiah?' i ask. she says yes and then says again that my mom heard it the day before. i still wasn't computing what she was saying. i've never heard isaiah ever say them backward, i've never talked about saying them backward...i couldn't see how that could be isaiah since we've never even talked about it before. i'm his mother, i know just about everything he's exposed to and what he's learning. so for someone else to tell me what he can do and for me to not know about it....well, it's never happened to me before.

in one last final effort i say, 'are you talking about my son?' rosemary says yes and about that time isaiah walks up. rose asks him to say the abc's backward, and just about that time alaythia starts to whine. i could not hear what he said. rose looks at me with her mouth dropped. i'm assuming he did it. i calmed alaythia down and asked isaiah if he would say it for me. no chance.

i asked periodically through out the day if he would say it for me. he never did. i talked to my mom and yes, he had said them right and then went backward. she was apparently just as shocked to hear it. matt had to work all day, so i thought, maybe matt was teaching him and i just didn't know. i'd have to wait until later in the day to find out if it was him. in the mean time, all the adults in the house today were trying to say the alphabet backward. none of us could do it.

we're at dinner, all of us...evan & lyndsey (cousins), jake & rose, matt, my mom and me. jake asks, 'hey isaiah, can you say the alphabet backward?' 'yes.'

and off he goes.

we all sit there stunned. not only is he saying them backward, but he's singing the tones of the song backward as well. i'm not kidding.

when he's done. we all sit there silent and shocked. finally mom breaks the silence, 'isaiah you are such a smart boy!' we all agree. the praise dies down and then jake says, 'what does this mean?!' he's some kind of child prodigy! what does this mean?!'

the thing is, i'm shocked and i'm not usually shocked with isaiah. don't get me wrong, he does a lot of incredible things, but i can see them coming, or i have a hint that they're there. but this was different. completely out of the blue. not expected and totally other than me. he did it on his own. i was truly amazed.

as i'm understanding for the first time what other's have experienced with isaiah he says, 'yeah and i can say the greek alphabet backward too!' we all freeze. literally. wondering if he'll bust that out too. then he says, 'no i can't, i'd have to see them first.'