Alex had news. Good news! GREAT news! He only missed four words out of 22 on his spelling test, and that resulted in a B! (Please don’t ask me if that’s mathematically possible. I don’t know.) A “B” as in you-are-performing-above-the-average-second-grader!
We were so thrilled we decided to go out to dinner and let him pick the place. Monical’s won and Alex surprised the waitress by asking for Blue Cheese dressing for his salad. He then proceeded to willingly converse with the waitress without being prodded. Big night!
Brandon and I secretly suspect Alex may have been flirting with the waitress, because he kept telling us how nice our waitress was and that she had really pretty eyes. He was all too eager to tell her how great the BBQ chicken pizza was. Brandon winked and nodded. I felt nauseous.
I’m not sure if I mentioned it or not, but Meredith has taken up light reading. I knew she knew all of her letters and the sounds they make. I noticed she was starting to sound out and recognize words. She sometimes spends an hour, just writing every word she can figure out how to spell. She then takes her finished works to my father in law’s house because he has a laminator. Her words must be preserved.
I remembered all of the “Hooked on Phonics” books we purchased when Alex was two and a half, just knowing he’d enter Kindergarten reading columns in the “WSJ.” Alex didn’t share our enthusiasm, so I wrote off the $295 we spent on the complete set as a failed investment.
When Meredith started asking me to find books she could read, I pulled down the yellow boxes that are still in mint condition and gave her the beginning readers. There are tapes and letter flashcards, but honestly it was a little late for those. She took out “Cat,” started sounding out the words and just like that her eyes were wild with the excitement that comes with figuring out you actually know how to do something.
Meredith is so enthusiastic about learning to read that she begs to read the next book in the series. There are 14 books at each level and they get progressively more difficult. I wanted to hold her at number 5 in order to prevent frustration.
That didn’t work. Meredith’s frustration with me was clear.
I finally said, “All right, go for it, but don’t get mad if you can’t read this one yet, because you’ve only been reading for a few days. This is a hard book!”
Merdi needed help sounding out some words…we had to discuss “bossy E.” But, by golly once I showed her “E” makes vowels say their name, she immediately sounded out “like,” and tore through the rest of “Pop Fox.”
She gets it! It’s not a fluke!
This morning as I was taking my first sips of coffee, Meredith was honing her skills. She had a book we bought Alex during a trip to Hawaii. It’s called “I went Diving in Hawaii.” It’s a counting book and numbers usually turn Meredith off, but when they are disguised as reading, it works!
Merdi looked at me and said, “Mom, what kind of fish is this?” “Oh wait, is it an “ah-nee” fish?
“What?! Let me see.”
Maybe that bossy E lesson wasn’t as effective as I thought!
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