Little Reader

Dear Em,
When you got out of school for the summer, had a mental list of things I hoped we could work on together. One of them was to work on your attitude, & we're still taking things day by day with that one. Some of the other things I hoped we could practice together is writing, sounding out letters, & reading one, two, & maybe three letter words.

We're still having so much fun making rainbow words. So far we've worked from APPLE to KANGAROO. You've been so excited to pick out a word each day & show us all your finished work. The rainbowed pages have filled every inch of our refrigerator. You and Nonnie have also been working on letter sounds & sounding out words (we're so fortunate to have such an excellent teacher spending the summer with us). You've been so excited to learn, & I've been thrilled to come home & hear all about what you're learning each day.

Then the other day I got a video text message from Nonnie while I was working. I was sitting in a parking lot when I hit play. It was then that I watched you read your very first book. Tears streamed down my face as I listened to you sound out the words. I was overflowing with pride & shock simultaneously. Wasn't it just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital? Is it possible that our little girl is reading?

Of course, it was a very short book. Grandma & Papa had gifted you a set of BOB Books for Christmas. While each book is filled with sight words, you were also sounding out the words you hadn't memorized by sight. The storyline wasn't exactly exciting. I'm pretty sure it mostly consisted of one character sitting, another character sitting, & then both characters sitting. That didn't matter to me. At that moment it was the most precious & amazing book I had ever heard, because my little love was the one reading it.

When I got home, I couldn't wait for you to read the book to me, & you surprised me by reading two of the BOB Books (each equally thrilling in storyline). Since then you've also read a couple others. You get frustrated when you come across a word you don't immediately recognize, but you're working to sound each word out.

At bedtime the other night, I asked you if you would read to me. "No Mommy. You're supposed to read to me. It's my bedtime, not yours," you told me matter of factly. You finally agreed, & it made me realize how much I'd been looking forward to this. I'm so excited about what we'll read together in the future (I have a mental list of books from The Chronicles of Narnia to Nancy Drew to The Baby-sitters Club I hope we'll read together). I hope you'll always hold a love of books & reading.

I can't even begin to express how truly proud of you I am as I watch you take each new step. You simply dazzle me.

I love you so,
Mommy