LEIA READS HER FIRST BOOK!!!

Today Leia Rose read her first book!!! It's called Big Egg, by Molly Coxe. Leia Rose has been looking forward to this for months, ever since I took her to the bookstore as a special treat to choose some early readers. The clincher was, Mamma was never allowed to read them to her! (That's because Leia's famous for memorizing the story and then pretending to read.) Some other early reading books she chose are Oh, Cats!, Snug Bug, My Little Pony Hide and Seek, and Strawberry Shortcake's Filly Friends. (I think it'll be a while before she reads the last two.)

Before Leia began the actual book, we did some "Learning is Fun Time" by reviewing lower case letters and some common sounds like "th" and "ch" and "sh." I also put a new sight word ("the") on the chalk board today. What amazed me was that the last time we did this exact "lesson" about two months ago, Leia confused the letters "n" & "r," "p" & "q," "I" & "l," and "b" & "d." She didn't confuse a single one of those today! I was really surprised mostly because school is out and none of us had worked with her on those letters since that time!

Then it was time to read! Leia Rose read the book in two sittings (because whenever I noticed her getting unduly frustrated, we would stop). It was also most important for her not to feel rushed, . . . and it did take her a while, but if only I could have captured her excitement after reading a whole page! She actually did little jumps in the chair while she was laughing, smiling, and clapping her hands! She had been looking forward to reading for so long! We called Oma and Papa to celebrate, and I couldn't help tearing up! : )

Oh, Leia Rose! I'm so proud of you!