I am just so ecstatic about Will’s reading. Last night, as I made dinner, he was flipping through some magazine or comic book and came across Superman with a little balloon over his head. “I..am…the…man…of…” and I finally clued in and looked down to see that he was reading that. “Steel,” I supplied. I just think that’s a big step, isn’t it? that he now looks around him and sees words and tries to figure them out. He’s understanding that all words have meaning…and it’s meaning in which he might be interested!

Later, he and Sophie read some books together. Yes, they’re all fairly repetitive readers from school or the library but he breezed through them.

I think the stars have come together at just the right time for Will, having returned from another country where he was learning another alphabet, other sounds and words; hearing and seeing his parents and sister read all the time; and also, just being plain interested in starting to read for himself. I keep praising him and them commending Sophie for being a good role model and helping him.

Just last week, he would shrug and mutter, “I dunno” when confronted with an unfamiliar word. He wouldn’t even try to sound it out. Now, he jumps right in and often the words come out muddled but he’s not afraid to try. Why do I not remember Sophie’s reading like this? No matter. Now, I can see that she, too, is excited and happy about Will’s reading…