July 21, 2005

Daniel is reading!

I don't know who's more proud and happy, M-o-m or s-o-n, as Daniel would say. In the last couple of days, he's been spelling like Helen Keller after meeting Annie Sullivan, and tonight, in the middle of lesson 24 of The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise, he started sounding out all of the three-letter words (vet, wet, fox) on the page. He's reading! Or did I say that already?! And just a plug here for Mrs. Wise's OPGTR; the title is unwieldy but the method is anything but, especially compared to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which I used with Laura several years ago.

I've been taking a very relaxed approach with the boy all through Kindergarten -- in part because of his nature, and in part because of mine (preferring to deal mainly with just a second grader) -- while still trying to take advantage of any windows of opportunity I saw; I'm glad I didn't miss any, at least not so far.

But there are a couple of people around here who don't share the general sense of excitement. One, because she can sense that her brother is hot and heavy on her heed still." Though I have a feeling that Davy won't be too long behind his big brother. And then Laura will really have to watch out. I told her tonight as I tucked her in that she can find some more chapter books to read to me, which seemed to cheer her up. A bit. Those pesky boys....

Now I'm off to get the Bob Books off the shelf, and Hop on Pop, too. And tomorrow we'll celebrate some more with milk shakes and new books! Isn't that how every family celebrates all good things?!

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