Or, there's that

Zoe's teachers have been telling us that she's thisclose to reading, so we've been encouraging spelling and sounding out words and such.  This week at her Scholastic Book Fair I picked up a kindergarten level 1 reader (Splat the Cat Sings Flat, if you must know).  Last night, she carried it in and wanted to read.  by herself.  So we snuggled together on her bed and sounded out words together.  I was reminded again just how tricky the English language is (we have lots of silent letters, and it seems like "i" is pronounced about a bazillion different ways).  She continued reading this morning, doing quite well on her own, and wanted to tackle it again tonight.  She is determined to read, and she seems to be really getting the hang of it.

We were reading in her bed again tonight when the tornado sirens went off.  I sent her downstairs while I gathered the cats, blankets, flashlights, iPhone and laptop and headed down.  (No, I did not grab everything at once, although for a brief second I did consider trying it.)  We hung out under the pool table and continued to read.  She got stuck on a word, then finally figured it out, then sighed a big sigh and said, "Or, you know, you could just look at the illustrations."