Gabe's Memory

Little children never cease to amaze with their abilities in learning. Their intake of information has been compared to the sponge's soaking property. Still, with this preempt, we're taken aback by Gabe's development, especially his memory.

From a very young age, Gabe could remember and address the different members of our extended family. He could remember songs that you taught him, and filled in the blanks for most songs very soon after he turned one.

He remembers promises. If I told him at the beginning of the day, that we should wait for his father to come home in the evening before something can be done, he would keep quiet about it (and I didn't think he'd remember) until his father appears at the gate.

Gradually, with the increase in his vocabulary, he managed to bring up incidents from his memory. If we drove past Punggol Park, he would tell us that "Papa and Mummy brought Gabriel to Punggol Park to ride tricycle and see fish." He could associate various people with the places that they have taken him to.

He has a strong sense of direction, and it was evident from as young as a year and a half. He could lead you from our home to the nearest MRT station on foot. He could point out the direction of our home (and "auntie joanne's house") regardless of the direction of approach. Even if we visited a shopping centre for the first time, he would be able to navigate quite quickly, enough to lead us back where we came from, if the route wasn't too complicated.

But what astounds me most is that he could verbalise the landmarks on the way to a certain destination, in chronological order. If we turned left from our car park, he'll conclude we're heading to my parents', and if we turned right, to derod's parents'. Then he'll proceed to look out for his next landmark, and so on and so forth, until we reach the destination. He even recognises the expressways we take, though he's unable to name them. The CTE has two tunnels. The KPE is the long long tunnel where he gets to see the wheel and the skyscrapers. If we took a different turn, he'd question where we are headed.

Gabe parrots a lot; he repeats a lot of what you say and because of this memory thing, we are quite thankful for our determination in controlling what we say, with the exception of exclamations like "wa lao!". So the next time you speak with the boy, don't be surprised he remembers what you tell him. :)