Photo-A-Day Challenge: Day #22: A Room

Which room? The living room. Specifically the living room floor. It's rest time, aka "reading hour". It is also currently a Little House-a-thon... Abby is reading Little House on the Prairie; Elise is reading Little House in the Big Woods. There are few sounds more enjoyable right now than these two reading aloud. Even the dog enjoys it...

How old is she?

During our last two trips to the library, I have been asked "How old is she?" by another parent (both times a father), who was observing the girls reading aloud. The first time it happened, it was Elise reading. Today it was Abby. On each occasion, said-father overheard one of the girls reading, leaned in closer to see the words on the page, and then mouthed "WOW" as he realized that the words on the page did indeed match the words coming from this little person's mouth. This morning, the dad wanted to know if I had used a special program to teach the girls how to read. To which I replied: "Nope". In all actuality, we did use a special program. 

We implemented a program in our house that was based on our priorities and beliefs as parents, a program that is backed by research, and a program that fosters reading. I typically have 30ish books checked out from the library at a time - and we return/replace this supply almost weekly. Even if it's only every other week, that is 26 weeks in a year. I've been taking the girls to the library religiously since they were about 8 months old. The girls are 4 1/2, so let's say that this has been our routine for at least 3 1/2 of their 4 1/2 years. That's roughly 91 weeks (remember, this is based on every other week, which is a low-estimate since we frequently go weekly). That is roughly 2730 books. If each of those books gets read twice - one reading per child (really? have we ever read a book only twice?) - that is 5460 readings. The girls are only approximately 1640 days old. Are you with me? WE READ A TON OF BOOKS. And what has happened is that Abby and Elise LOVE books. They look forward to books. They are excited by new books. They are curious and interested and desire to know what each page says, how each story will end. They find comfort in books. All. day. long. Yes, we play. A LOT. We dance, we sing, we swing, we cook, we draw, we write, we do puzzles and games. There is so much more to life than books. But books are building blocks of our "special program". 

Wake up early? Read books.
Waiting for breakfast? Read a book.
Momma needs to shower? Snuggle in my bed with a stack of books.
Long car ride? Pack some books.
Rest time instead of naptime? Not a problem with books.
Feeling sick? Tired? Cranky? Everything is okay with a book and a lap.

Notice what else is missing from the equation? Screen time. That's all I'll say about that one. 

What in the world have we been up to???

Correction: What HAVEN'T we been up to??? :) There are two MAJOR milestones happening in our household right now: reading and bike-riding. I'm talking about pick-up-a-book-and-read and hop-on-that-two-wheel-bicycle-and-ride. Milestones are exciting - I remember what a feeling of pride I had when the girls potty-trained at two. It wasn't self-pride; it was watching them "get it", "understand it", and "succeed at it". Seeing their faces as they felt the need to pee, watching them race to the bathroom, and then celebrating the dry undy-dundies. Two and a half years later and that sense of pride has just continued to multiply. 

About a month ago, Elise sat beside me with the book Ten Apples Up On Top, which we had not read together in ages. Abby and I snuggled in and let Elise read to us. She paused at the end of sentences. She scanned each page carefully before reading, taking in the necessary clues to figure out less-familiar words. Elise read. At dinner last weekend, Abby picked up the piano music to The Sound of Music (a new favorite and stories for another post). She read through the songs, pointing not only to each word precisely and accurately but pointing to individual syllables as they were broken up by the notes. Abby read. 

On their third birthday, the girls received balance bikes from Gran, Grandpa, and Uncle Travis. The concept behind the balance bike is - duh - to teach balance. There are no pedals - kids push along with their legs in a long, graceful alternating motion and pick their feet up to ride it out. Do you have small children around three years of age? Buy. A. Balance. Bike. Last weekend, we mosied up to a nearby parking lot because the weather was nice and took along a little two-wheel pedal bike that Uncle T snagged for us (aka "dumpster bike"). It's tiny but the perfect size. And guess what? Off they went! With a push or two, both Abby and Elise were cruising around, turning circles and riding back, coordinating and balancing beautifully. 

Abby and Elise - I am insanely proud of you girls right now. Reading is hard - sometimes you get frustrated and can't figure out a word. But everyday, you pick up dozens of books and keep trying. Bike riding takes work - you both fell off the bike last weekend, but you brushed away the tears and dirt and got back on. And now you're reading the texts on my phone when it buzzes and zooming down the street faster than I can run. I am so proud of both of you. 

A lot of milestones just "happen". But I believe from the deepest depths that the path a child takes to reach those milestones can be altered. Listening to the girls read and watching them ride bikes - it makes so many of the decisions we have made as parents feel so right. A child's body needs to be healthy and strong, their mind needs to be primed, nourished, and stimulated. And while sometimes it's exhausting, being a proud parent makes every bit worthwhile.