Better than fireworks!

Today she sang the entire Star Spangled Banner. It's very close to being correct. We had our first swim of the summer and ate hot dogs with good friends. On the way home we stopped for snow cones and when I asked what flavor she ordered egg nog. It's the 4th of July! We stopped by the toy store because we were too wired to go home. Then we sat in front of the television and quickly fell into a late afternoon nap.

It's not been the usual summer, not our usual days. Our summer was hijacked, as was our spring... some years are like that. But through it all, we have managed to keep our morning and evening rituals. But some plans...just have to set some things aside, practice patience, surrender to the fact that there just isn't the time to do all the things we'd like to do.

After the nap we enjoyed sparklers and morning glories. We praised the moon, shining directly above our porch, for being so beautiful while not being full. I remember moving in three summers ago and finding the moon hanging just as it was tonight and feeling grateful for the location of our new abode. We also admired the stars tonight, and heard the thundering booms coming from the show downtown. She said, "I'm scared, let's go inside." I said, "It's okay, just the fireworks show downtown, remember?" She said,"Yes, but it's scary tonight in the dark." I felt better that we skipped the show.

We got into bed and she pulled out the book entitled, Pete the Cat: Too Cool for School. The highlight of this 4th of July was August reading the entire book all by herself! It was completely unexpected, in fact, I have been feeling guilty and just sad that we haven't had our long days together to fill with art, music, fun and learning like we once did. I was unhappy that we weren't really tackling reading like I had planned. However, this weekend we focused on some words and concentrated on sounds and reviewed a few things. She worked hard tonight. I told her I was so proud of her and we could finish the book tomorrow but she was determined to finish it and she did.

This milestone melts my heart. I watched her sound out the words, reminding me of when she learned to talk. Her eyes when she became amazed with her new ability reminded me of when she learned to walk. It took her a while to get to sleep, she was so excited and charged. I'm overwhelmed with emotions and inspired. She's now able to read.

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