If boasting turns you off, here’s your chance to look away.
Usually, Mr. C brings The Poo to school in the morning and I pick her up. Yesterday, he needed to go sell a kidney to pay for sign for our health insurance for the semester, so I had the task of dropping her off.
She hopped out of the car, pink backpack over one shoulder, ready to go. I got out of the car to give her a hug and a kiss, and the teacher put her hand on my arm.
“The other teachers and I have been talking,” she said.
Uh-oh, I thought. That’s never good. I stood up straight and raised my eyebrows in response. Please, God, don’t let this be about my blog!
“We think The Poo would benefit from going to Kindergarten for reading group,” she said. “She has a few more skills than her peers. Is that OK with you?”
OK? OK? It was more than OK. I was thrilled. Thrilled to the tips of my mommy-toes.
We talked about it a little more, and then I got in the car to drive home, as high as a kite from this bit of news. My baby! In the advanced reading group!
Literacy and language-arts skills are highly valued in this house, as you might imagine. Both Mr. C and I are readers, and have been all our lives. Obviously, the written word is extremely important to me, and more than once I’ve daydreamed that maybe my daughter would follow in my footsteps, albeit more successfully.
The Poo is interested in words and language, possessing a vocabulary well beyond her years. This isn’t just my perception—spend a few minutes with her and you’ll understand what I mean when I say that she has a sophistication with words that would lead you to believe she is well beyond 4 years old.
I called her father from the car, eager to share our daughter’s accomplishment.
When I picked her up later in the day, The Poo was unimpressed with her new status as a Kindergarten reader. “I just want to be with my friends,” she said, kicking her seat. “I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.”
I told her that she should be proud of what she accomplished, because the teachers thought she was a very, very good reader.
“I do like to read,” she acquiesced.
Then we went home and she did her homework, her forehead crinkled in concentration:
I looked at her, gluing her venn diagram, and this is what I saw:
My baby. The reader.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh I am so proud for you!! She is just such a cutie and smart to boot! What does she think of older men? I have 5 year old she can teach to read.
Okay, the end of this post made me tear up.
Yay for The Poo! I, too, hope T Junior keeps his enthusiasm for books and words. He’s one and he has more of a vocabulary than some of the three-year-olds we know. But sometimes I don’t know if it is unusual or if it’s just that the kids we know are quiet (and T Junior’s not). Was The Poo like that when she was little?
Oh, she has the same expression in both shots. Oh. I melt with such cuteness.
P.S. Go Kindy Reader Poo!
Gorgeous photos of a beautiful and SMART girl!
go poo go!!!
Yay Poo! You’ve got a smart one and, while she has some genetics to thank for it, it’s obvious you’ve done plenty of work to get her to this point, too.
A love of reading will get her far in life.
wooohoo,Poo!! You go girl! (and way to go mama, encouraging her!)
That’s fantastic! And those pictures … *sigh*
HUGE mama moment.
soak it up friend
Aww…what a proud parent moment. Go Poo! You rock
I think I always see my kids like that sweet little baby they all once were – even when they are outfitted in full pads, pushing other kids around on the football field…
That is to say that yes, I completely understand.
Julia started reading when she was 3 and I was so proud of her I started to cry. I scared her, LOL, but I couldn’t help it. She was so big and so little in that moment, and it completely did me in.
Awesome. Be proud.
Congratulations indeed. We have the opposite problem with all of our children – which, given their early life story is perhaps understandable. Our victories tend to be watching their development head back towards the place it should be.
So you’re imagining her name under the title of the stories in newspapers and magazines already ?
Of course she’s smart at reading with you for a Mom! That is awesome.
I cried too. Sweet.
Oh I LOVE it. Hooray, Poo!