Reading

We recently found out that Neti and Meke had never seen a book up close before becoming members of our family. No one had ever read to them. We didn't realize it at the time but this picture taken in the Ethiopia airport lobby is probably one of Meke's first exposures to a book (7-15-07).

Most evenings when I get home from work Neti meets me at the door with book in hand and asks me to read. Tonight I told her I wanted her to read to me.

I asked her if she knew the letter sounds. She did. It was just a matter of putting them together. We got the ABC flashcards out and I started arranging words around the letter "A".


Buh - - aaaa - - duh


Buh - aa - duh


Buh-a-duh


buh a duh


Bad?


I wish I had the camera rolling to capture the moment when she first realized she read a word. (Had I been thinking I probably would've chosen a better first word).


We did as many three letter words as I could arrange...then four...then five. Each success was followed by a squeal and orders to "make another one, Daddy". Meke got in on the act too. She knows just about all of her letter sounds but was mostly unsuccessful in her attempts to meld them into a word.

Suh - - aaaa - - tuh

Suh - aaa - tuh

Suh-aa-tuh

Tea?

Not quite. She was able to get a few of the three-letter words. Her first word was "cat".

Tonight before bed, Neti read a beginning reader book to Meke.

Tomorrow she wants to read the Disney Princess Collection to Mommy.