We have a reader

Zoey has decided she's learned to read.

All this because, nearly every night, she grabs her copy of Bears In The Night, and 'reads' it to me before she goes to sleep.  The words are simple, correspond blatantly to the illustrations, and boost the egos of preschoolers everywhere, I'm sure.

I love the look on her face when she points out a word or yells 'WHOOOOOO!' (her favorite pages have the obnoxious loud owl sounds on them) and then looks up at me, completely proud of herself.  This is how it starts, right?  Sure, she's not really reading the words on the page.  She has them memorized.  But she points to each one, pauses, looks at the picture...she's putting it all together in her brain.  You can practically SEE the development, right before your very eyes.

Four is a fascinating age.  She's like a tiny little science experiment with an occasional attitude problem.