Margaret is reading

It is just so much fun, as a parent, to watch this light come on. It has seemed like she has been ready for ages. Even a year ago, as she started kindergarten, I thought she would be reading "any day." But she seemed reluctant. She loved to read the little memorized poems that she brought home from school, but otherwise, wanted to be read to.

Over the summer, I saw her grow bolder. If I read a simple picture book to her a few times, then she would proudly volunteer to read it back to me. After that, she started volunteering to read these books to John. The repetition seemed to build her confidence quickly. Still, she was not willing to venture into "new" material.

Then, this week, she turned 6, and everything changed. I woke up one morning this week and found her already awake. Instead of slipping down and checking out the TV, like she would usually do if first awake, she was lying on her bed amidst a pile of picture books. She proudly announced to me that she had been reading them all.

I was really surprised in church today. I always try to get the kids to follow along with the service in the printed bulletin, and to sing the songs with the printed words (either in the bulletin or the hymnal). Each week, I use my finger to trace along in the hymnal with the words, in the hopes that James or Maggie will decide to pay attention and try to read the words.

I have almost never gotten any response from James, so I was almost about to abandon this endeavor, deciding kids just weren't ready until they could do it all on their own. (Then again, James the "child of many thoughts" doesn't really sing along in school choir programs either. He knows the songs, as evidenced by practices at home, but at the concert he just gazes about the room, in his own world.) 

Still, I often forget that each child is different. So I was stunned today when Maggie joined in - loudly. She entered into a hymn she didn't know, in the middle of a phrase, singing lustily if not remotely in relation with the melody. She was beaming and my heart was soaring. Keeping up with a song while reading unfamiliar words was truly a new reading milestone, and she and I both knew it. We were both aware that this opens up a whole new level of participation for her at church - and I am as excited about that as she is. Now, if she could just teach James to read the hymns.  (wink)

P.S. James has become a bit of a reading maniac himself. His Uncle Jim read out loud to the kids while we were all on vacation - the first Harry Potter book. Since we returned 3 weeks ago, James has plowed through the next Potter books, almost non-stop. He is almost done with number 6. Thank goodness for fencing camp in the afternoons last week or he might have molded himself into the recliner by now.