Dearest Jessica and Jasper,
Thank you for joining us at preschool this week! As you know, Opa and I endeavor to present letters of the alphabet in an engaging, educational manner for your nieces and nephew. Truly, some letters are problematic – “I” for instance, has few relate-able examples for our tots (“igloo”, “iguana”) — but not yours. Having your faces on a tea towel was the perfect visual aid, and you will be happy to know that your likenesses were recognized instantly.
Beginning in our usual manner, I held up a picture of an object and asked for its name.
“Letter ‘J’ says /j/. What is this?” I inquired, holding up a coloring page of a jeep.
“Car!” exclaimed Miss Nomi.
“That’s a j-j-jeep,” corrected her mommy. “You’ve probably never seen one before. It’s like a car on the front and a truck on the back. Isn’t that neat?”
Next, a jet.
“Airplane!” Miss Nomi volunteered enthusiastically. This is also true, and a perfect synonym (airliner, jet, aircraft, jumbo jet).
(Did you know, Jessica and Jasper, that English is rife with synonyms? In fact, because of 1066 and William the Conqueror, English does not “borrow” words from other languages as we were taught in school. Nope. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and rifles through their pockets. This is aggressive behavior, but it works unless you desire a particular synonym of “airplane” or “car”. Yet, I digress.)
Thanks to you two, Letter J became so much simpler with your wedding invite as a visual aide.
“What about this auntie’s name that starts with ‘J’?”
“Jessica!” “Jessica!” exclaimed both girlies. Mr. Mo nodded.
“And how about this almost-uncle?”
“Jasper!” hollered Miss Nomi, who then clarified. “I used to call him ‘Jaspeare’, but now I call him ‘Jasper.’” Good to know.
“And what other Auntie has a name beginning with ‘J’?” I queried.
“Aunt Anna!” responded the child with the most aunts, uncles and cousins. We did clear that one up before Auntie Jenny arrived to join in the joy of Letter J Day. (Not sure what the situation was here, but it involved two stuffed mammals, a can of American Girl tennis balls, and measuring spoons.) Oh, and a tent.
You guys and Jenny notwithstanding, “jellyfish” and “jam” rounded out our Letter J day.
Jam, as you both taught us in the UK last spring, goes so well with clotted cream and scones. In fact, shoot! Why didn’t I think of making scones instead of peanut butter/jam thumbprint cookies? Do you eat PB&J, Jasper? It’s a thing here.
We cut it with our new kid-knives, rolled it into balls, made a well with our thumbs, and filled the well with jam. We did this very, very swiftly, else we would have have very little dough left from nibbling.
So, sweetie-pies, thanks again for putting your faces on a tea towel for us to wipe our sticky jam fingers on. We think of you regularly, and talk about your upcoming nuptials. The girlies think we’re going to see the queen drive Peppa Pig across the open Tower Bridge and stomp through Trafalgar Square puddles wearing galoshes, but we’ll straighten them out eventually.
Love,
Oma and the gang.