We Have a Reader!

I have wondered when this would happen. Even before Eli was born, I would read to him. After he was born, we would sit in the floor, or on the chair, or out on the swing and read books, many books. With his big brown eyes focused on each page, he was intrigued with the pictures and how the words on the page sounded as they rolled out of my mouth (or Stephen's when he wasn't working). There was an alphabet, eye level, in the playroom, and I remember when he first started to say the letters of the alphabet. Stephen and I were quite impressed with our little budding genius. Then he started pointing out letters in the book we read all the time, Brainy Baby ABCs. Wow! We had him do it over and over and had to record it, of course.

Since our sweet Bella has joined our family, I have often felt, at times, like I don't do enough with Eli, as far as reading goes. For the past few months, he hasn't really had an interest in working on phonics or sight words, and when we have a moment to read during the day, he would rather be playing hide-n-seek or acting like Spiderman. I haven't forced it at all. I want him to love reading; I don't want it to be a chore for him. Over the past week though, it's as if a light has gone off in his head. It's all just clicking now. I can give him a string of letters, he will sound each letter, and then put them together. No problem. Oh how I love hearing the excitement in his voice when he figures out the word he has in front of him.

Tonight, he read his very first book ever! I mean he really read the book; it wasn't memorized. He looked at each word, mostly high frequency words, and said each word, needing help with only a few. As Mom, Dad, Bella, and I sat there and listened, we were all so proud of him, and he was proud of himself, too. Way to go, Eli!

(video coming soon)