It was an unexpected moment. Randomly this evening my not-yet-5-year old daughter came to me while I was preparing dinner in the kitchen. She was enthusiastically waving a little reader book from a box I keep in the school room saying "I know, Mom, let's read this one!" I glanced at it and saw that it was Book 7. We are still on Book 2 and going through phonics lessons very slowly and casually, so I told her we could look at it but that I wasn't sure she knew how to make all the sounds. Well, it felt like the right thing to do to leave the kitchen and go sit with her on the couch. After stumbling over some of those words I asked her to try Book 2. She nailed it! She sounded out and read a book all on her own. It was a surreal moment. She's the only child I actually taught how to read. My older three were in preschools and kindergartens, and I wasn't really paying attention. But now I am.
It felt like when your baby takes his first steps. You drop everything and keep doing it over and over and you're laughing and smiling and clapping. I couldn't believe she just floated into the kitchen like that out of the blue and BAM read a book. She's been putting many words together for a while now, but this was an official 'sit down and read a book'. She hasn't shown any interest in doing that yet. I am so proud and thankful for this little bonus that came to me at the end of today. I'd had a rough day, so this really, REALLY cheered me up.
This successes make me realize that all the little steps I take along the way are worthwhile. All the book reading, letter recognition, finger activities, and other games we play were so worth it. I love how natural and easy it is for her to become familiar with letter, words, and finally with reading.
She was so happy that she said she could read any book from the bookshelf! Well... ok, we're not quite there yet. Had to stick to our little readers.
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