Sunday, August 24, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Cracking the Code
The most exciting thing going on in our house these days is that Grace is learning to read. Scratch that...last year she was learning to read. Grace is reading! I cannot even find the words to express how major this is. If I could find them, I'd write them down. And then you could read them. Once she is reading fluidly, worlds will open to her of which she currently is not a part. If she can read, she can learn to cook. If she can read, she'll never be lonely, even if she doesn't have many friends. If she can read, it will bring her endless joy, knowledge, and wisdom. This really is huge. It's huge for any child, but it's extra huge for Grace.
She can't ride a bike, but she can read. She can't tie her shoes, but she can read. She can't write her first and last name, but she can read. She can't button a button, but she can read. She can't catch a ball, but she can read. She's socially awkward and gets on her peers' nerves, but she can read. She's not wired like many of us are and faces great difficulties just making it through each day, but she can read.
Grace is an example of how integrating three techniques of learning how to read really work: memorizing high-frequency sight words, sounding out words based on the sounds that the letters make (phonics) and using context clues to figure out a word that might be baffling apart from a particular sentence.
Grace reads everything she sees these days and the louder I sing praises, the madder Johnny gets. He'll come around, because he'll be reading before you know it. Grace has a long way to go to become fluid and a really good reader (she exhibits signs of Lysdexia fairly often)---but what's she's already learned will never be taken away from her and away she'll go from here.
She can't ride a bike, but she can read. She can't tie her shoes, but she can read. She can't write her first and last name, but she can read. She can't button a button, but she can read. She can't catch a ball, but she can read. She's socially awkward and gets on her peers' nerves, but she can read. She's not wired like many of us are and faces great difficulties just making it through each day, but she can read.
Grace is an example of how integrating three techniques of learning how to read really work: memorizing high-frequency sight words, sounding out words based on the sounds that the letters make (phonics) and using context clues to figure out a word that might be baffling apart from a particular sentence.
Grace reads everything she sees these days and the louder I sing praises, the madder Johnny gets. He'll come around, because he'll be reading before you know it. Grace has a long way to go to become fluid and a really good reader (she exhibits signs of Lysdexia fairly often)---but what's she's already learned will never be taken away from her and away she'll go from here.
Monday, August 11, 2008
A Tip Towards Childhood
I just got back from Target where I bought Johnny and Grace new backpacks. Grace has used her Dora backpack for four years, and it was time to get a new one. It has a hole in the bottom of it, and I had visions of her walking down the hall with important papers trailing behind. I'm sure you know my kids well enough to know there's no way I'd get off without getting Johnny a new backpack also. Especially since it's his big year entering Kindergarten. David gave me a stern talking-to last night when I told him where I was going today. He made me promise I wouldn't come back with gaudy character-splashed backpacks with the likes of Diego, Hannah Montana, Disney Princesses or super heroes of any kind. He wanted the kids to enter this school year a little more grown up, a little more refined, with personal styles a little more sophisticated.
I was all for it until I started thinking about it on the way there. Just after I told them that they could only pick a "plain" backpack, one with no characters on it, I realized how silly that must sound to a five and almost seven year old. That would be like David having to go into one of his favorite stores, like JCrew, and only being able to pick out a shirt that had baby dinosaurs on it. Ridiculous. I then said, "You know what? You can pick a backpack with characters on it. You can pick any backpack you want (as long as it's under twenty dollars)."
They both went pretty wild when they saw the selection: Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Batman, Superman, Hello Kitty, My Little Pony, Dora, Diego, stuff like that. Johnny picked up a black "plain" pack that was pretty cool--even had a separate zipper for the cell phone he doesn't own. It had cool bungee zippers and compartments and I thought for sure David would approve. I asked him if was sure he wanted that one and he was certain. Certainty lasted only until he spied the Spiderman backpack with wheels. A backpack with wheels is what he really wanted, so I let him get it. I couldn't interest Grace in anything except the oversized My Little Pony backpack with a special brush to use to brush the sparkly pink pony hair attached to the back. In my mind it was a little juvenile for her, but she had eyes for nothing else. I did think about the other kids in her first-grade class that might snicker that she carries a My Little Pony backpack, the idea being that Little Ponies are for babies and kids under three. That's just my thinking, I guess, because both Johnny and Grace assured me they weren't just for babies.
I came away just glad my kids are still the ages where things as simple as backpacks with pictures on them make them happy inside.
I was all for it until I started thinking about it on the way there. Just after I told them that they could only pick a "plain" backpack, one with no characters on it, I realized how silly that must sound to a five and almost seven year old. That would be like David having to go into one of his favorite stores, like JCrew, and only being able to pick out a shirt that had baby dinosaurs on it. Ridiculous. I then said, "You know what? You can pick a backpack with characters on it. You can pick any backpack you want (as long as it's under twenty dollars)."
They both went pretty wild when they saw the selection: Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Batman, Superman, Hello Kitty, My Little Pony, Dora, Diego, stuff like that. Johnny picked up a black "plain" pack that was pretty cool--even had a separate zipper for the cell phone he doesn't own. It had cool bungee zippers and compartments and I thought for sure David would approve. I asked him if was sure he wanted that one and he was certain. Certainty lasted only until he spied the Spiderman backpack with wheels. A backpack with wheels is what he really wanted, so I let him get it. I couldn't interest Grace in anything except the oversized My Little Pony backpack with a special brush to use to brush the sparkly pink pony hair attached to the back. In my mind it was a little juvenile for her, but she had eyes for nothing else. I did think about the other kids in her first-grade class that might snicker that she carries a My Little Pony backpack, the idea being that Little Ponies are for babies and kids under three. That's just my thinking, I guess, because both Johnny and Grace assured me they weren't just for babies.
I came away just glad my kids are still the ages where things as simple as backpacks with pictures on them make them happy inside.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Good News and Bad News
Doctor: The good news is that your kidney/adrenal gland ultrasound report came back and no lesions or tumors were detected.
Me: And the bad news?
Doctor: Your adrenal glands weren't detected.
Me: You're telling me that I don't have adrenal gland lesions because they CAN'T FIND MY ADRENAL GLANDS??
Me: And the bad news?
Doctor: Your adrenal glands weren't detected.
Me: You're telling me that I don't have adrenal gland lesions because they CAN'T FIND MY ADRENAL GLANDS??
Friday, August 01, 2008
Weirdos, High-Tops, Secret Obsessions
Johnny: Why did God make Grace into such a weirdo??
Grace: I'm a weirdo!!!
Uncle Daniel is about to become Johnny's favorite as I just got word that Daniel's b-day gift to Johnny is a pair of these.
Remember the game Tetris? Johnny's way behind on the video game curve with many of his friends because we don't have a Wii, we don't have a Nintendo DS, and I won't even splurge on a portable Leapster for the little guy. I did, however, buy him a hand-held Tetris game that he hasn't quite figured out. He's not going to get much of a chance to figure it out either, because I've re-discovered it. My college grades would have been way better if I hadn't played so much Tetris in the early 90's.
Grace: I'm a weirdo!!!
Uncle Daniel is about to become Johnny's favorite as I just got word that Daniel's b-day gift to Johnny is a pair of these.
Remember the game Tetris? Johnny's way behind on the video game curve with many of his friends because we don't have a Wii, we don't have a Nintendo DS, and I won't even splurge on a portable Leapster for the little guy. I did, however, buy him a hand-held Tetris game that he hasn't quite figured out. He's not going to get much of a chance to figure it out either, because I've re-discovered it. My college grades would have been way better if I hadn't played so much Tetris in the early 90's.
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