My Baby Can Read!

My mother has always claimed that I was reading at 2 1/2 years old. I always thought she was exaggerating, but sort of was proud of that regardless. I remember in elementary school, I used to sneak out of my bed at night to read by nightlight. I LOVED reading as a kid. I still enjoy it, but really don't find the time for it anymore. Of course I find time to watch Gossip Girl and 90210 though.

Carter has known his letters and the sounds they make for a while now, but only recently did we start working on putting them together into words. He watches Super Why! a lot, and has learned quite a bit of phonics from that show, so I thought maybe it was time to see what he really could do. Boy was I surprised!

He has flashcards with pictures of items/animals/whatever on them, so we started with that. I'd hide the picture (as best I could) with my hand, and have him sound out the word. Sometimes he'd get it but sometimes he would say something like, "R-A-B-B-I-T"..."Bunny Rabbit" because he knew what the picture under my hand was. So I took out his Magnadoodle and wrote the word "cat" on it. That little munchkin took his pointer finger to each letter, said the sound they make a few times in a row, and then shouted "Cat!" I was shocked. So I tried another word. He did it again with "dog." My heart swelled with pride.

Last night I brought home a new book to read (for 56 cents at the consignment store!). We sat down and I had him read all the three-letter words. He got them all. Sit, pig, cat, dog. All of 'em. He was a pro.

I talked to his teacher today about it and she said she's going to do more work with him on reading and letter and sound recognition. A new group of kids that just turned two just joined his class, so now he's one of the few almost-three-year-olds, so I was a little concerned that he wouldn't be challenged as much, but I trust Ms. Dorothea and I know she's going to help him succeed.

A friend of mine told me over the weekend that parents who read early tend to have children who read early. I don't know if it's true or not, but it sure is in our house. I couldn't be more proud of him!