What Does This Say?

Gabriel is an emergent reader; he recognizes all of his sight words (all 41 of them) and he's reading quite a few small books on his own. It's an amazing process to see. I've gotten to watch him going from just spelling the letters out, to sounding the letters out one by one, to sounding out syllables, to saying the beginning sound quietly to himself, and finally by just looking at the word and *knowing* it. It's so much fun to see him reading and really enjoying himself. He's an excellent reader already; he understands how to use context clues, he's got great comprehension skills, and he really ENJOYS reading.

A few years ago, my mom gave him Robinson Crusoe for his birthday, it's been patiently sitting on the shelf waiting for him to be big enough to enjoy the story. A few days ago at breakfast (which is where Gabe and I do the first of our three daily reading together times) we decided to start it. We're three chapters in, Robinson has just been captured by pirates, and he is in LOVE with this book. Today, he and Bits are sick. Bits has a stomach bug and a fever, Gabe has the cough that came with the prize...both are miserable, but making the best of it. I just came downstairs and Gabe ran up to me with the book, so excited. He said "mom, I just read all the chapter numbers and look at these pictures (he flips to pages) I know these words" and he proceeded to read captions on pictures.

*GRINS* I was so thrilled, I mean, honest-to-God thrilled. I am a huge reader (currently on my 26th book of the new year) and to see him gobbling up books makes me so happy...but more importantly, it makes HIM happy, and really, what else can you want for your kids but for them to be happy? *sigh* if you need me, I'll be on the couch with Gabe, finding out if Robinson escapes from the pirates or not...