Readers and spellers...

First, the funny: Kes is trying to read. She points to words and says, "I know dat word. Mommy, what's dat word?" Then in books where there are labeled pictures, she'll point to the word, knowing that it says what the picture is, and say... "t' - t' - t' -
tiger!" And she'd have you fooled for a moment. You'd say, "Yes Kes, good job! T says t' for tiger!" But moments later, all illusions would be shattered.

"t' t' t' parrot!!!"
"t' t' t' penguin!!!"
"t' t' t' fox!!!"
"t' t' t' seal!!!"

She is SO proud of herself.

So today in the car, Kes said, "Mommy, I sthitting neck to Eliana!" And Eliana said, "t' t' t' Eliana!" And laughed hysterically. Then Kes said, "t' t' t' Eliana!" and "t' t' t' Kessa!" And they were both giggling and giggling - Elly because she knew it was silly and Kes because she thought she was so cool.

Eliana is really starting to grasp reading and spelling. Her sight words have increased exponentially. Now she can read

zoo
too
moo
in
on
at
he
he's
he'll
no
yes
I
me
snow
not
dog
go
up
Mom
Dad

and she has decoded
cat
hat
stop
Kes

She walked up to me the other day with a magnadoodle with cAT written on it and said, "Look Mommy, I wrote cat!" She has spelled out loud "stop" and "Kes" for me. She also looked at the word "of" and said "oaf" which is pretty good decoding.

I am not pushing at all. When she wants to help me read, I let her help. I ask her "do you want to learn a new word today?" when I know there is a sight word repeated in a book, and if she says yes, great, if not, no worries (this is how she learned most of her sight words). I sometimes get her to tell me things by being silly - saying the wrong word. We've been practicing some of the letters in her name. She can write ELLY all by herself now, but she is interested in writing ELIANA so we are practicing I's, A's, and N's. I think she's got I's and A's down (especially if she wrote cAT - we've never even tried a T, but as we write I's I always say "a line down, then a line across at the top like a T" so apparently she picked it up. After she's good at N's we'll work on spelling it. I'm sure she'll pick it up fast.

She's doing so great. And Kes is picking it up along the way, listening in on us. She can already read "KES" and tell me without looking that Kessa starts with K.

This is fun. The best part of parenting is watching the miracle of these small things changing in small ways, daily, and watching those small changes add up into growing up. I can't believe how big and capable they both are, having started nearly helpless and completely dependent. Truly amazing.