We learned our kid to read

I never liked the parents who always talked like their kid was the best, or smartest, etc. I always said I would never be like that and not be an annoying parent who thought their kid was the best. Then we got Esther and as she got grew older we realized that she actually was the smartest girl in the world.  Just kidding.  However she has always been very advanced and bright for her age. This is not just our grandiose parent-skewed thoughts but teachers and other have told us this as well.  And the fact that she was meeting milestones one to two years ahead of her age. She knew her numbers, letters, colors, etc by the time she was 2 years old and was writing her name and lots of letters by 3. She has always loved to be read to and since she was a baby she would sit still and quiet for as long as you would read to her. All you needed to keep Esther happy as a baby/toddler were books. A lot of time you would just find her sitting somewhere looking at books. This past year she has shown a lot more interest in knowing how to spell words and wanting us to tell us what words were in books.  She has a great memory and would memorize them a lot of times.
We decided after her 4th birthday in July that she might be ready to learn how to read, she seemed to be meeting all the prerequisites.  A lot of people recommended the book, Teach your kid to read in 100 easy lessons, so we decided to give it a try.  I would love to say that it was so easy and went so smoothly but that is not the case.  I found out really fast that teaching something like reading (especially to a 4 year old) is not easy. And teaching reading the english language makes it even harder, I did not realize how crazy our language is until this. But we stuck with it even though we wanted to give up a few times.  And Esther did well with it and caught on pretty quickly. She is very stubborn though and sometimes she would just refuse to do a lesson.  But we persevered.
 I am happy to report that we finished the lessons last week. Esther is officially now reading.  She is on a beginner level but she can read basic stories.  We got her some of those beginner reader books and she can read them with only needing a little help with some words she does not know. But she does good at sounding out words she doesn't know. We always try to define new words for her to help grow her vocabulary. Being young she struggles a little with comprehending what she is reading while she is reading it so we always try to quiz her about it and try to get her to tell someone else the story that she just read.
Needless to say, we are very proud of her. We think she is pretty bright for a 4.5 year old. We know how vital reading and enjoying to read are to her future and are happy she is able to start so early.

Clara is 3!

Today is Clara's 3rd birthday. I know I say this on every birthday, but I really can't believe she is 3. The time has flown by and I can't believe I don't have a baby anymore. A few highlights about Clara:

• She knows all of her upper and lowercase letters, numbers, colors, shapes. She is getting better at counting out objects and can write about half of the letters. 

Practicing her writing

• She loves to draw, color, and cut paper with scissors. Some of her drawings actually look like things now. 

Clara and the dinosaur she drew

• She has a great imagination and loves playing with her dolls, play kitchen, and building things with blocks. 



Clara all dressed up

• The girl loves to make a mess. If there is dirt, water, or anything messy she will find it. I can't keep liquid soap in the bathroom because she dumps it out to make bubbles in the sink.
• She is really funny and always keeps us laughing with her antics. She is always singing and dancing. She makes up songs and never just walks somewhere. She talks in silly voices and will do anything to get a laugh.
• She is very social and extroverted. If anyone comes to our house, Clara runs out to greet them. 

For months she has been saying that she was going to have a rainbow cake and chocolate milk for her birthday. She also requested hats and blowers. This morning we took the girls for donuts and chocolate milk, a major treat in our house. We also made her a tye-dye/rainbow cake. 

With her birthday donut