Setting: My bed. 9 p.m. I am reading my copy of "Better" by Atul Gawande, and Zoey is laying next to me, "reading" her copy of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle.
Zoey: Bwown Beah, Bwown Beah, what do you see? I seeeeee....a puwple howse! Aannnndd...Mommy, was dat?"
Me: Um, that's the Red Wolf.
Zoey: Oh. Hmmmm. Scawy. Wed Woof scawy, Mommy?
Me: Well. I suppose wolves can come across a little scary sometimes.
Zoey: Yesh. Scawy. Okay. Wed Woof, Wed Woof, what do you see? I seeeee....a godefish! Mommy, yook! (She pauses in her storytelling to frantically sign the word "fish".)
Me: Good job, Zo-bug. Good signing.
Zoey: Yeah! Mommy, was dat?
Me: That's the teacher.
Zoey: Oh! Yeah! Teachoh, teachoh, what do you see? I seeeee.....childwen! Yooking at me!
At this point I have obviously given up on following my own story, and I'm only pretending to read as I cast sidelong glances at my child, who is so incredibly excited to be reciting her own story. I notice things like the way she replaces the letters "r" and "l" with either a "w" or "y", or simply eliminates them from a word altogether. I notice the way she has memorized how we read the story to her, so that she can re-create it all by herself. But mostly what I notice is how much she loves to read, and how her face lights up at each new page.
Life is, well, chaotic right now. But at least I am still managing to raise a fabulous little reader.
2 comments:
How sweet! You are such a great mom.
you ARE a great mom, dude. and zo is fabulous...she's light years ahead of me...i still can't sign "fish." and hell, SHE taught me the sign for "cereal." :)
Post a Comment