Lazer-burned Memories

Micah has the memory power as that of a CD with info burned on it. Sometimes, out of the blue, he will remember and mention an obscure incident that you have to probe for more clues before you know what he is talking about. It makes me feel like a detective sometimes, trying to piece a mystery together.

The other day, before his afternoon nap, Micah suddenly said, "I want sweet, mommy." Of course I always try to delay such gratifications, although sometimes I do surprise him with a candy so that he is not completely deprived. So I responded by asking "What sweet do you want? I don't have any."

Micah: I want the one from Aunty Maggie .
Me: Aunty Maggie? Did she give you a sweet? What sweet did she give you? (I was completely clueless at this point. What is he talking about? She is another mom who knows the danger of sugar-charged kids.)
Micah: Remember, she gave the sweet? We went to change the keys. She gave me a sweet.
Me: O? What was sweet did she give you? (She does ask us to hold her house keys for her sometimes... when was this? Did she give any sweets? OK, Brain, go check your memory bank!!)
Micah: Remember the orange and lime? I want the orange and lime one. She gave when we went to exchange the keys.
Me: O! That sweet. (Yes! My brain located that piece of incident... it was maybe 10 months back!!!)

The Incident: We had taken a drive down to Pudu to have our auto-gate's remote control fixed, and to get an extra one. The people who did it for us were recommended by Maggie. Their shop is a few doors away from the shop she works in. So when we went by (Grandpa stayed in the car because there was no space to park, grandma, Micah, Max and I went down. Max was maybe 3 months old then, which means it was about March/April last year), Maggie excused herself from the shop and accompanied us to the auto-gate service shop. At the counter of the shop was a bowl of sweets, orange and lime flavoured. Maggie took some from there and handed one to each of us. Micah wanted one of each so Maggie gave him two. We all ate the sweet in the car on the way home. As usual, Micah fell asleep before we reached home.

Later when Micah was asleep, I went downstairs to relate what he had said to grandma. She could not even remember the kind of sweet we had. We were both just stumped by Micah's amazing memory for details of the obscure.

When Micah was born, we used to sing him "Jesus loves me" as his lullaby everyday until maybe he was four months old. Last Christmas, the speaker at the Children's Christmas party sang the same song as part of his story telling. When we got home, Micah asked me to sing it to him. Just after one time He started singing it too. It's like he found an old recording in him and could just click "play". Astounding!

It is really amazing how powerful his memory is. I guess that's why he can speak so well and sing so well. He can just remember stuff we talked about; stuff that we are intentionally or unintentionally teaching him each day.

EEeekk! He can be really scary...the things that he may repeat back to you, or worse, repeat to you in public!!



Update (27 March 07, 1:55am):

The last few days, before Micah falls asleep, he will roll on his bed trying to find a comfy spot and mumble stuff to himself. What I have heard amazes me. It's words that he remembers from the day's activity. Once there was a mumble of "tour guide, tour guide." That was what we saw in the cartoon Higgly Town Heroes in the late morning. Another time he was holding a lorry, and he suddenly said "Aunty Laurie, Aunty Laurie," a lady we just met a few days before that. Many times I just look at this boy and shake my head in disbelief and wonder what is going on in his marvelous brain. Such a mystery.