Gap Dip

After P's blast of reading skills a couple of months ago, his interest in personally conquering new books went by the wayside. We're still at the library once or twice a week and reading, sometimes for over 3 hours, every day, but he didn't want to be the one doing the reading. But he was asking questions. "What does that say, Mama? What about that?"

Questions prompted more and more words, words went up on his chalkboard for him to "learn," but he was still just a passive participant, asking more and more questions and never relaying his thoughts. Then he pulled out his letter blocks a lot and tried to align them into words. He'd walk around the house saying "Rat. Rrrrrr-at. Rrrrrrrrrrr-aaaaaaat," audibly figuring out how the letters string together. Something big was brewing, something to add onto the mere memory words he'd achieved with the early reader books...

Then he pulled out his chalk a couple of weeks ago and started writing. It was so fun to watch. He had asked me to spell words for him a few times before, but this time he sat there making word sounds and then writing the accompanying letters. Some of the words he chose were relatively easy to get "right." Gap, Dip etc. Some were a little more tricky. Teepee was "TP." Zebra was "zbra" (written, interestingly, in perfect mirror, right to left. And I checked - its not a sign of dyslexia (E's worry) merely a sign that he hasn't completed his brain development in left to right alignment - normal until after 6 and then a "sign.") He was really pleased with himself and spent a large chunk of the afternoon sounding out words and reading them to BB.

While he isn't reading Faulkner's "The Bear" these days (or even the Bernstein Bears:) this new puzzle piece seems to have given him the boost he needed to start drawing! He realized he could create something that reasonably approximated what he wanted ("Look, Mama! There's a "G!" I made a G!") and, coupled with the new craft corner, he's a drawing fool. He draws and paints with intense focus for a while and then has BB come by to buy some of his work (pretending he is an artist, working in Central Park. :) Most of his works feature... Colorado, of course :)