Read Me a Story

IntelliGent loves to read. His morning routine includes reading books to himself in his room. While he can't read yet, he knows these stories well enough to "read" some of them out loud. Most mornings he goes through at least two dozen books before breakfast.

Dr. Dad and I have read to IntelliGent from the beginning. I will to admit to reading aloud from books before he was born.

Did those moments in womb listening to my voice help cultivate his love for stories?

I have no idea.

I do know, this child has a great interest in books. We often curl up together with a pile of books and just enjoy the cadence of the words. IntelliGent comprehends most of what we read, and these stories often come up again at later times, in unusual ways.

Fox in Socks is one of IntelliGent's favorite books. Dr. Dad and I have read that book to him often enough to have the rhymes memorized. Some months ago IntelliGent was playing with his magnetic letters in the kitchen while I worked on dinner. He showed me the letter B.

"B says b, like Bim and Ben lead bands with brooms."

Though I shouldn't have been, I was a bit surprised. We hadn't read Fox in Socks in weeks, but he was able to make the connection between the B sound and the alliteration in the rhyme.

Yesterday, IntelliGent read his first book in school. It was a simple four picture booklet with the same word printed below each picture. Before giving him the booklet to read, we wrote the word on the chalk board. IntelliGent sounded out the word phonetically and then put the sounds together. We were both pretty excited when the word "Dad" came out of his mouth.

We are still a long way from independent reading, but today was another exciting step in that direction. In the mean time, we will continue spending time together reading stories and learning things from books.

IntelliGent isn't the only one in the family who loves books.