Word Up

Like her buddy Ethan, Molly has been in the midst of a reading explosion. And just like his mama, this mama also loves watching the intense concentration of figuring out new words and the resulting joy from ascertaining their meaning. For awhile, Molly would read and string the words together but didn't always get the joke or a critical plot twist (and you know how kids' books have complex plot twists thrown into the middle of them). Like Emeril, however, BAM! the other week, I realized she was getting the nuances of Backwards for Breakfast or some such thriller. And then last night, she was reading Fat Cat and laughed h-y-s-t-e-r-i-c-a-l-l-y about the witch calling her pet bat "my little brat". Hysterically. For many, many minutes while I sat there in throes of agony wondering what happened next. And then she couldn't even go on because she was laughing too hard and finally had to go to bed. So, once she was asleep, I went back and read the rest of the book myself. Because, seriously, I had to know what happened with the cat and the bat. 

Anyway, this is a really fun milestone for lots of reasons. She reads to her brother (and "teaches" him. Poor guy... although I realized, once again, I don't give him nearly enough credit for what he already knows. Or that she taught him. Either way... he's getting himself some edumacation somewhere, thank goodness), she entertains herself quietly for good chunks of time, she can figure out what I'm talking about if I ask her to look for something in the other room, and I love being read to. The only downside, that I'm sure all parents miss, is that we can't s-p-e-l-l anything in front of her like we used to when we didn't want her virgin ears to hear the bad business of the world. Or where we had stashed her Halloween candy. I'm going to have to pick up pig Latin or something in order to keep that stuff on the DL. Since we all know how stellar I am at learning foreign languages, however, this is likely to never happen. It's a trade-off that I'm willing to make, however, and I'm starting to see the manifestations in not only her receptive language and her reading but how she also narrates her the very, very bountiful artwork that comes home with her from school and is produced in her room. If anyone needs something illustrated, I have your gal -- and she likes getting paid in cookies. 

Her next pupil. This one won't talk back like someone else does...

The sly fox with her slightly drunk looking Daddy (sorry John).

Chairlift signs are kind of scary/creepy, by the way. Not sure they're the best fodder for young minds.