Lucky Mom Reads Book

Ashlyn walks into our bedroom this morning carrying two books.

"Where is daddy?"

"At work."

Usually that answer brings an "oh darn it" and sulking. Not today. 

"GOOD!" she exclaimed. 

"Why is that good?"

"Because, guess what you get to do now!! Read me a book!"

She climbs up and over the top of me to situate herself and hands me a book.

First Chill of the Season

Thursday night I was up until 3:45 am working to be ready for the next day and our year end program. The wind blew fiercely all night long and I could hear the trees hitting the house and the waves in the ocean all the way in the closed living room! On Friday morning I woke up to Ben slamming the door downstairs after he had run back and forth to the beach and he exclaimed how COLD it was out there. When we got home that afternoon I decided I wanted to share one of my favorite things with the kids - the warmth of a penetrating sun in brisk, cold weather. I had to explain it to them what I wanted them to feel. It was a tad hilarious that they didn't know already, but where would they have ever learned it through life experience in Singapore? It never got cold in three and a half years. 

I proclaimed that the winter clothes could officially be brought down from the upper shelves and they could actually wear them. The announcement brought loud cheers, particularly from Madison, and the fastest pitter patter of feet I've ever heard as everyone ran upstairs to get something warm on. I got mats and blankets and we took the kids outside on one of the upper balconies and I proclaimed it to be a reading afternoon. Everyone brought books and jackets and I brought some candy corn and M&Ms. We had a glorious time and Brian ended up reading a Magic Tree House book to them amidst interruptions, mostly from

Ashlyn.

Yesterday was even more chilly. We are enjoying it and wearing long pants for the first time in years!

Jacob Interprets His World

April 17, 2014

Jacob was VERY excited to show me that he found a dot to dot game in the Book of Mormon today.

I had to stifle a laugh and then go show Gina what he found. It was the table of contents with the dot dot dot lines across to line up the page number to the book name.

Books vs. Movies

Brian was reading a novel to Jacob at his request. I haven't had the chance to finish a movie, My Fair Lady, so on this lazy Sunday afternoon I asked if it was too distracting to put it on in the same room. We both know that none of the kids really liked the first hour last time we watched it and only Madison didn't drift off quickly from boredom.

About 2 minutes into the show I looked back to see Jacob at the edge of the couch sitting straight up watching the movie. Smiling my apology at Brian I told him "Sorry." Then I asked Jake, "Don't you want dad to keep reading you the book?"

"What book?"

So distractible, ungrateful and hilarious. Funny because he's usually our kid that always remembers to say thank you these days.

More Reading Giggles

Today he read "sit" as "shit". I couldn't even correct him. Just let it go with his cute little chubby fingers. I love morning reading when he's a happy boy. 

Idiot

Jacob was reading to me this morning from his Hooked on Phonics before school. He was laying on the floor in the kitchen while I packed lunches and snacks.

The page was the "id" combination so he was reading "rid, lid, did" when he stopped short and said, "This is the one we need to use to say ID-iot. See...

you just need a few more letters to make the 'iot' part."

Maddie the Reader

Maddie just started reading Junie B Jones and feels like such a big girl. Reads one page a night out loud in bed. I listen through the baby monitor and smile. So cute.

I asked her tonight how it was going and she was proud to report she was on page eight tomorrow. Bad news though, I promised her it was a funny book but it wasn't funny yet. I had compassion on her and even though it was way past bedtime I read her two chapters to help get it going.

The Little Red Hen

We have read the book "The Little Red Hen" at home but it's been a month or so. I also used the story a while back to demonstrate how Brian was probably feeling after asking help several times and not getting it. I made the kids go ask him if he was feeling like the little red hen. But all of that is nearly an eternity ago to a four year old.

This week after school Jacob wanted to watch TV and to keep him busy I said, "We have a bunch of old bananas. Before we watch TV, will you please help me bake banana muffins?"

His reply was delivered with an over abundance of dramatic flair, "No. And you shall eat them all yourself. You know, like the little red hen did." He said it exactly like I read it from the book. I almost fell over laughing.

Reading Upside Down

I can't figure Maddie out. We are doing mommy summer homeschool and she's doing it more and more. She reads her books normally but when she reads the review word lists at the beginning and again at the end of the book she turns it at a minimum sideways and sometimes nearly completely upside down. I suppose as long as she's able to read it then I can let it go and give her a little wiggle room because sitting still long enough to read a book is hard to do still.

Hooked On Phonics Worked for Ben...Sort Of

Miracle of miracles, I suggested reading Hooked on Phonics to Ben today and he didn't cry. He's a decent reader, but isn't making much forward progress because won't practice. He started the school year out strong, but his peers seem to be passing right over him. He'll listen to you read to him all day long, but cries and cries if you make him do it. To be honest, I haven't pushed it because I didn't want to make him hate reading. But here we are nearing the end of his first year at school and I'm not quite sure what to do about inspiring a love of reading. After he finished the Hooked on Phonics story in his workbook and earned his tootsie roll for completing it three times over the course of a few days, he started practicing the word repetition pages. They use a series of rhyming words to help the kids pick up on the similar endings and make reading fast by just exchanging the first letter. He must have been in a pretty good mood, because he started being silly with the rhymes. While reading the "ug" line, he read "bug, dug, so I guess that bug must be the opposite of dug since they are together." "Since a bug is so small, I thought the opposite of a bug would be something much larger, like a person. Would a person be a good opposite of a bug?" "Mom, I guess dug really is the opposite of bug. Cause don't you know dug is huge-r than a bug. You know. Doug Arveseth. He's real huge."