The Boy and His Books

Nathan has made some huge leaps in reading ability over the past couple of months. He's gone from reading one. word. at. a. time. to reading complete sentences with intonation and expression. And watching it click for him has been one of the coolest things I've experienced as a parent. Last night, when he was reading at bedtime (a 2-3 grade level book no less), it was so flowing and lovely that I got a little verklempt.

Stephen and I are both big readers... the kind of readers who, while waiting for food to warm up in the microwave at work, will read anything that's posted on the wall or bulletin board: instructions on saving someone who's choking, a systems chart illustrating different responses to IT issues, an article cut from the paper about a former employee, the bus schedule. It really doesn't matter as long as there are words strung together in some coherent fashion.

To encourage that same love of reading in the kids, we've read to both of them since they were tiny things. And they've always loved it, sitting on our laps for as long as we'll keep going, asking for "just one more!" (knowing that it's difficult for us to resist). Both kids, from very early on, have spent their last waking moments looking through a pile of books on their bed; I can't count the number of times we've had to remove a book from a sleeping child's hands... or face.

So I must admit to some surprise and disappointment that Nathan - for a very long time - had absolutely no interest in learning to read on his own. I'd encourage him to follow along with me as I read to him and he'd decline, preferring to just listen and look at the pictures. We brought "Bob" books (very early readers) home from the library and he'd struggle through one and then become frustrated and refuse to try any more. When he started collecting Pokemon cards, I mentioned how much more fun he'd have if he could read them, hoping that would spark the interest... but no. It just wasn't there.

And then, just like that, it was. One of his homework assignments in 1st grade has been to read at least 20 minutes per day, so we've incorporated that into our bedtime routine... he reads to us first, then he and Sophie each get to pick one book for us to read to them. And day by day, week by week, it's been sinking in. He knows it and takes a fierce pride in it; when he got moved into the next level reading group back in January, he almost burst with the news.

I get so excited about the worlds that are opening up to him, of all the great books that lie ahead. I'm looking forward to some night soon, peeking in after he's supposed to be sleeping and finding him still awake, caught up in a story that he just can't put down. "I'm almost done, mom... just one more chapter!" And, of course, I'll let him finish, though I know <yawn> firsthand how hard the morning after a late night reading session can be. But it's so worth it.