Learning To Fly

I’m pretty sure I couldn’t be more proud than I am right this minute.

During a conversation at dinner tonight, Landon and I were discussing just how far Tyler’s reading skills had come in the last few months.  I said, “Tyler, probably one of my very favorite things that you’ve learned to do so far is learning to read.”  Landon agreed with me.  “Do you know why?”

Tyler said, “Because you both love to read!”  I said, “Yes!  That is why we have so many wonderful books!  We have books on how to become the most successful person in the world, books on how to do magic, books on all of the various breeds of dogs… there are so many adventures in books!  For instance, right now, I’m reading two books.  One is about a man from England who is living in India, and he rescued a beautiful princess from her kingdom… and the other is about a French trapper– you know what a trapper is?  It’s someone who kills animals and then uses their fur to make coats– and this trapper rescued a young lady from an earthquake– and they fall in love!   Those are just two of the books I’m reading right now– and we have thousands of books!”

Tyler asked us if he could pick out a chapter book so he could read it.   We said of course, and showed him the kids’ books.  Together we picked out one called, ‘The Midnight Ghost.’  It’s a second or third grade level book, and Tyler sat down and read half of it out loud.

It was beautiful.  Absolutely beautiful.  The little man not only read well, but he did it for fun.

Fun!

Kora sat, reading over his shoulder, telling him the words when Tyler was too slow to sound them out, and I was too slow to correct him.  She’s a full year younger than him, and at the beginning of first grade this year, she was struggling to identify the letters of the alphabet.

If there’s one thing that I can give to these children, I pray it is my love for words.