Proud Mama on Board

Warning: This is the post in which I shamelessly gush over the amazing abilities of my first born child. I swore I would never be that mom, but here it is and I can't stop it.


Jacob can read!


Yes, I know, millions of people the world over can read, BUT now MY kid can read! Last week my mom's friend came for dinner and, as usual, she came bearing gifts and not just any old gifts but stacks and stacks of books that delighted Jacob (and his book loving mom) to no end. There were so many we couldn't even check them all out that night so we flipped through them the next day and spotted a phonics workbook among them. Now typically the sight of a "worksheet" book would send Jacob running but for whatever reason he was interested that morning so we sat down and looked through it and I cautiously started going over the -at words, -an words, etc. with him. Now, he has known some of the small words from sight for some time and at first I suspected he was reading from memory but as we went through the book and came to longer words and consonant clusters I realized he was actually sounding them out. HE GOT IT! He cracked the code to the reading mystery! I think I was as thrilled as he was. As a former teacher who has worked with struggling readers, I would wait and pray for the moment a student "got it". For some it happened, for others it didn't, at least not with me. To witness my child learn this important skill was truly inspiring to me, how awesome for him that he can now pick up a book and know what to do! Of course, he has been practicing his new skill all week. The smile on his face when he figures out a word, especially a long one, is just priceless. If it didn't take me forty minutes to download a photo with this ancient dial up, I would post a picture of it.


Ok...bragging over