We literally have people on the roof spreading a tarp right now. Water is coming down in front of the front door, too. Like on the outside of our house. But, like, it's a covered porch so that really shouldn't be happening. So mostly I just want to cry.
This house has been at once perfect for our family and also a complete nightmare.
And I don't really want to talk about it right now.
So instead I will tell you that today I sat Phoebe down for her first formal reading lesson. Don't worry; it's a very gentle program. We start with sounds and word games. She had a lot of fun.
But first she cried.
In an effort to get her excited about reading, Andrew pulled Phoebe onto his lap and explained to her with grave enthusiasm that reading can open a whole new world! She would learn what all the letters mean when they're put together and then—presto!—she could "join" this new world. Exciting, right?
Wrong—terrifying!
She started crying as I carried her upstairs to the reading chair.
"I was just thinking to play in the rain," she said, her little voice wavering. "Instead of reading I want to play in the rain."
"It's going to rain all day," I said. "You can play outside after we read together."
"But I don't want to learn how to read!" she cried.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because I don't want to join a whole new world!" she blubbered. "I want to stay living with you and be your baby!"
"Oh!" I said. "Oh, of course you can stay here and be my baby! We're not going to send you off to live on a new world. That's not what Daddy meant at all!"
So we traipsed back down to Daddy's office to have a discussion about what he meant by "joining a whole new world," which is simply that reading is a tool for exploration, that there are worlds of words contained in books and when you can decode those words you get to explore those worlds, all from the comfort and safety of your own (moderately damp) home.
"Okay," she finally agreed.
And we had our first reading lesson. And it was absolutely painless.
We're doing "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and the first lesson goes over what /m/ and /s/ say (and she already knew those, so that was easy) and then we play "say it fast" and "say it slow," practicing both compound words or syllables or even monosyllabic words.
So, for example, I'd say "chalk" and then pause and say "board" and then I would prompt Phoebe to "say it fast!" and she'd say, "Chalkboard!"
Or I'd say "cock" and "roach" and she would say "cockroach" (we had a delivery of dubia roaches today and I was so worried about them because they need warm weather and it is cold and wet and rainy today and so I thought perhaps they'd all be dead...but they seem to be warming up and scuttling around now...for the most part).
Or I'd say "sci" and "ence" and she would say "science."
Or I'd say "mmmiiissssss" and she'd say "miss."
That kind of thing (none of those words are the words from the lesson, because the material is copyrighted (and they warn parents to never deviate from the script...but I always do...because I'm a rebel)—but you get the gist of it. It's just a way to play with words with kids and Phoebe, like most of my other children, found the play delightful and enticing and not at all scary).
After her reading lesson she went around proudly telling everyone that she had completed her first reading lesson and then went outside to play in the cold rain with Alexander and Zoë (who checked the mail and discovered those poor freezing cockroaches). And now she's snuggled up on the couch with Alexander (and some (corn) heating pads) watching Daniel Tiger. Those two came in soaked to the bone and freezing cold.
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