Learning is a slow process

I mentioned on a previous post our elaborate, beautiful ceramic holy water font I bought in Italy. Yesterday I was looking through the kitchen and spotted Maggie (4) looking up at the painting of Mary and Jesus on the font, dipping her finger in and making a sign of the cross. She did it once, twice, then a third time, always getting the cross backwards (first going right, then left). This is a dramatic improvement from her gorilla beating-on-his-chest sign of the cross that she was doing 6 months ago.

Slowly, slowly it comes and it brings a smile to my face.

Nothing is as easy for children to learn as we think it should be. It is simple for me to know the times tables, I have been doing them for 20+ years. It is a struggle for Will to memorize them for the first time. It is difficult for Mary to learn the Act of Contrition, and for Charlie to learn NOT to touch his brother's model plane. It is even challenging for Timmy to sit up. My goal is not to rush them, but patiently give them the instructions and tools they need to learn.