Learning to Read

I have always loved reading to the kids. When we home schooled, we'd go to the library every 2 weeks religiously. The kids would choose no less than half a dozen books each and insist that we read at least half of them as soon as we got home. Every day after lunch, we'd sit down and read for an hour. Becky would sit on one side of me and Josh on the other, while Luke generally sat on my lap.

I tried reading with Micah because truth be told, I missed reading to the kids when they went to school. Micah wasn't really into books though. On the rare occasion that I could get him to sit down with me (to do anything) he'd be far more intent on flipping pages than listening to a story.

I would get creative and ask him to point the dog, or the elephant, or a tree, and he would turn the page. I would point excitedly to the ice cream cone, or show him the kittens, and he'd flip a few pages over. I'd try to read the story, but three words into the first sentence, the page would be turned on me. I took to paraphrasing what the pictures were about as we sped our way through. It went something like this.

Look! A dog!

The dog is running.

He found another dog.

Four dogs.

All done.
That's some quality reading time we spent, let me tell you. I would buy him books about The Roundup Gang, pointing out Woody on every page. It resulted in major page turning. I figured if I couldn't beat him, I'd at least use it as an OT session and bought him thick board books so that he could turn the pages without simply closing the book up on me. We may not have gotten much reading time in, but we had quality OT sessions.

We take wins where we can get them.

I still missed reading with my baby though. And I had gotten to the point where I loathed even sitting down with him to try because when I simply want to read, and he just wants to show off his page turning skills. We are at odds with each other and ended up frustrated more often than not.

So you can imagine, then, that I wasn't as happy as all that when Micah brought me a book the other night and handed it to me. I steeled my nerves, reminded myself that I needed to make it fun for him regardless of my expectations, and proceeded to open to the first page. I waited for him to turn the page, but instead he pointed to the words.

I read.

He listened.

I had to ask him to turn the page.

It was beautiful.

I waited 7 years to read to my baby. And it was just as sweet as I'd imagined it to be.


8 comments:

pghrugbyangel said...

Oh my goodness! That is totally awesome, spectacular and amazing! Go Micah!

I love hearing about the way he changes! I'm so happy for you to have been able to finally read to him!

Micah - and the rest of your kids - really seem like exceptional kids - each in their own way. :-)

Teresa Dawn said...

That's great :) I remember babysitting a young girl who always turned the pages on me. She didn't understand that the words on the page were the story that I was reading, so she didn't realize the need for me to be on that page for so long.

Burgh Baby said...

Page turning can be sooo frustrating. I'm glad he grew out of it so you can enjoy books together!

Unknown said...

That made me so happy to read...now I am off to read to my kids :)

Roger Miller said...

That's awesome and I hope it continues... as with everything else, it seems when Micah is ready, he'll let you know. :)

Way to go Micah!

caramama said...

That. Is. Awesome!

As a baby and toddler, my daughter did the same thing. To get through the stage, I bought a lot of touch-and-feel books and lift-the-flap books with short phrases on each page. As a huge reader, I found it so frustrating. I was so thankful when she was out of that stage.

I can't even imagine how I would have dealt with the stage if it had been as long as Micah's. I'm sure you're happy on so many levels for this leap in development!

HalfAsstic.com said...

Good grief! That boy is growing up in so many ways, lately! How wonderful! And what a wonderful memory to add to your collection of story reading with the kids. ;-)

Michelle said...

Oh that's wonderful! I know how frustrating it is with the children who aren't into reading. Mister Man could sit and listen to a story for hours without moving, but Little Miss was exactly like Micah, and it drove me nuts. I love that he wanted to read with you. And just wait until he's reading his own books - and I firmly believe he will!