Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Reading

Last night before bed Elijah and I played a reading game. We had an extra hour to spend together before I needed to feed Zeke, which rarely happens. So I spread a blanket out on the floor and lined the edges with a dozen books. I told him we could read them all and when we were done it would be bedtime. He got to pick which ones he wanted in what order. Then for a whole hour we sat cross-legged on the floor, read, and talked about everything in the world. (He's chatty.)

But when it was time to get up my back ached. So I laid myself flat out on the floor to stretch. I moaned and my bones literally creaked. Elijah rushed to my side, "What's wrong Mommy?" "Oh", I said, "I'm just getting old." And without missing a beat he replied "It's ok. I guess Daddy will have to get a new Mommy or something."

ba-dum-ching
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Speaking of reading. My mom bought the boys Your Baby Can Read (as seen on TV... but she didn't get it on TV. She found it on sale at wal.mart). I normally don't buy in to stuff like that, but a few weeks ago a lady came into our office with her 18 month old daughter. The girl was READING - I mean, really reading whole paragraphs. And it wasn't memorization or sight-reading either. My mom handed her a big kid book she'd never seen before and she really read it. They started her on the program when she was 6 months and it worked! Her mom said she was speaking in full sentences before she was a year old and was reading before a year and a half. Amazing! So we're going to use it with Elijah starting now. And we'll start Zeke with it when he's 6 months. I'll let you know how that works out.

I think Elijah will learn it quickly because he's already moving in that direction. A few days ago we were drawing with sidewalk chalk and he asked me to write something. So I wrote -M-... he identified the letter. Then I wrote -O-... he identified that. Then another -M-. Then he said, "That says M-O-M. Mom." It was the first word he's read beside his own name! So I know he has the concept for reading already (which he should since he's 3 now!).

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It finally rained here in southern Indiana!! Woohoo! Normally I would be cheering for sunny days, but since it's SO dry here -- crunchy grass, cracks in the ground, West-Texas dry -- we needed a little waterin'. Now maybe my trees and flowers won't die.

Also, I'm working on posting some more fall pictures. Is there a way to post a slideshow in stead of each individual photo? More to come later today...

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