11.14.08 - 5:50 pm

hes able to read simple words now. more importantly, he does so without encouragement. it wasnt only three or so months ago that he would be lazy about reading. hating it. making me read for him. easily distracted and poor attempts at sounding out letters i knew he remembered. i attribute his extraordinary increase and ability to read to his kindergarten teacher.

longer words are still harder for him to sound out, but hes getting it. hes remembering all of the awful nuances and confusing sounds the letters of the english language are capable of. when im helping him, sounding out words with him, it becomes apparent just how bizarre some words sound in addition to how they look. simple words that are passed over effortlessly when read.

ill put some down here next time i come across them.

however proud i am of his amazing progress, sadness soon follows. soon he will be able to read without my assistance. he wont hand me papers or cards during games for me to read to him. he wont look at the back of video game boxes and be able to make up long elaborate narratives for what the pictures are showing. hell simply read it, and know whats going on.

the precedence to this bittersweet stage of development was in his learning to speak. so wonderful was it to hear him trying to mimic sounds. to attach noises to objects, and then those noises into phrases and sentences and now into longwinded dialogues. i enjoyed his mispronounciations. i swelled with his incorrect word or phrase usages.

but soon he learned the proper methods of verbal communication, and i dont get to hear any of those elementary stumbles of his development.

its tempting to stunt his development just so i can hold on to his childhood just a bit longer, but its equally as fascinating to watch him become fluent in the english language.

the other day, while making a card for me and sarah out of some wendys happy meal cards, he sounded out the letters M O M and D A D and wrote out their respective words. i certainly dont remember learning how to spell and write and speak, so watching it occur first hand is absolutely fascinating. its amazing it even happens at the speed it does. im thoroughly impressed.