A Good Problem to Have

Baby A came home shortly after school started with some news.  “Mommy, we won’t get homework until September.”  How do you feel about that?  I asked her.  “Awwwwww,” she moaned, with a dejected face.  “I don’t want to wait!”  HA!

I later realized the girls were unofficially counting down until the end of August.  September 1^st was on a Tuesday, and they just knew they’d get homework that very day.

As it turns out, their teachers waited until this week to finally bestow upon them their long-anticipated homework.  They were SO excited!!!

They had a story to read and some questions to answer by Friday, and then they are supposed to read to a parent for 10-15 minutes a night.

I had to laugh when I saw the girls after school today.  (Daddy had a faculty meeting so I left work a little early to hang out with them…woo hoo!!!) 

“Mommy, can I read in the car?”

“I can read for 10 minutes in the car and then I can do my homework when we get home!”

“Have I read for 10 minutes?” Baby A asked.  When I told her I thought it was close, she read the blurb on the back of the book.  “Now it’s 10, right?!  Now I can do my homework at home!!!”

Baby A ran in and got right to work.  She waaay over-delivered on writing sentences.  She almost wrote a book herself!

Baby B had done her reading in the car, but she didn’t get to her homework right away.  She was too anxious to read  new library book.  Hee hee!

So much “academia”…so little time!  It’s a great problem to have that the girls just wanna read and work and learn!!!

Strides in Reading!

I don't precisely remember learning to read.

I remember not being able to read, and I remember an adult saying, "You can't even read that?"  (I was FIVE!)

I remember learning certain letter combinations in first grade.  And I remember being incredibly proud for sounding out and spelling the word "clown" for one of my classmates.

Everything turned out OK for me in the end.  ;)  I was a big reader throughout my growing up years, and -- as I discovered during the girls' infancy -- I just don't feel like "me" if I don't have at least one book on my nightstand.

My girls are reading.  They have been reading since shortly after school started.  And it's such an awesome thing.

Tonight, though, I saw my Baby A read completely new text with such incredible ease.  She needed a tiny bit of help on a couple of words, but she was otherwise reading so fluently!

It was beautiful to watch...and beautiful to see how PROUD she is of herself, too!

No flash = blurry picture...but look at that JOY!!!

For the first time, she brought home a chapter book for homework.  The teacher sent a note that this book was to replace the weekly book she read TWICE last night.  "She's flying!" the note said.

She instructed A to read one chapter a night.

Baby A read her chapter to Daddy after school.  Before bed, she asked if she could read another chapter to me.  And she was pretty disappointed I wouldn't let her read a third chapter after that...but it was already past her bedtime.

My Dearest Baby A,

May this be the first of many decades to come of you wanting to stay up past your bedtime reading.

With love and hugs, 

Mommy