A New Skill for a New Year

Happy New Year, friends!!  I had a post planned today to share some of my goals for 2011, but something came up that took precedence.  Brennan started reading.  I mean, he is really reading!!!  I have been telling him for a while that he is a reader.  For the last several months he has been pointing out signs and trying to decipher them, reading single words, asking questions about text, and showing us that he can decode and use context clues.  We've embraced it, enjoyed it, and encouraged it, but we haven't pushed him because he is exceedingly stubborn and likes to do things on his terms.  Plus, he has plenty of time.  He is, after all, only four years old!

Ever since Brennan was a baby, he has waited to do something until he could master it.  He would test the waters a little, and we usually knew what was coming, but we joked that he didn't start to walk until he could run, and he didn't start to talk until he could speak sentences.  The result of this stubbornness is that new skills appear to emerge overnight when, of course, that isn't at all true.

Even though I knew he could read some basic words, I had no idea what Brennan could really do.  On Thursday I took him to a website called Starfall and let him play a little.  He read simple sentences with ease, filled in the blanks, and loved every minute of the freedom that his new skill offered.  I took him to a page that had basic two- and three-person plays, and he and I read a few out loud.  He read his sentences with inflection, self-corrected when a word didn't make sense, and started sentences over when he lost flow or meaning.  I was in awe. 

That night, Brennan and I read a play for Jim.  After Jim nearly exploded with pride (I'm pretty sure there were tears in his eyes), he agreed to read a new play with Brennan.  He didn't even complain that Brennan made him be the girl.  I made a video of their reading, and Brennan didn't care.  (He doesn't usually like demonstrating anything for the camera.)  Cora did her best to distract us with a loud toy and some noisy babbling, but she didn't get her way.  Brennan is a reader, and nothing is going to stop him now!

I'm so proud of my little guy!