In the late evenings, we sit in the farmhouse, downstairs by the fire, and read. Quite often, in the early mornings, we do too. It's just become a part of our days. Of our lives. Especially when the cold weather rolls around. There's not much of anything better than a good book that shares a great story.
Through the years, Indiana has become quite a little reader. I think she loves it even more than I do, which is saying a lot, especially because there was a time I wasn't sure if Indy would, or even could, learn how to read. Not that it really mattered. All Joey and I ever wanted for her is to be who she is born to be. To believe that she can do anything sets her mind to and then give her the opportunity to do it.
A couple of days ago, as the snow fell outside the window and we sat in our chairs with books in our hands, she asked if she could read some of her book out loud to me. And so she did...
I took Indy to see the play Little Women a year or two ago, and she's loved the story ever since. So getting to read it herself is especially fun and interesting for her.
Joey was reading to Indy in her tummy before she was even born. And not long after, she was on her mama's lap turning pages as Joey read. Indy started learning sign language before she was one, and picked it up quickly. She was talking in her two's, and by the time she was three or four, learning to sight read a few words. By five and six, she was sounding words out and actually reading from a series of little Bob books that Ms Rebecca at the schoolhouse had given us. Soon after came Dick & Jane, then the Little House books, and on and on.
The last few days as I've been thinking about this post, I took a video walk down memory lane and put together a small glimpse of Indy learning to read through the years...
In the last few years, Indy's reading had come a long way, but last year when we took a year off the Internet, her appetite for reading and her ability to comprehend it really took off. She went from being about a first-grader reader to 4th or 5th grade in about nine months.
The schoolhouse here at our farm is of course a big part of Indiana's learning. Not just learning how to read, but learning that she can do anything she sets her mind to. Ms. Rebecca has always treated all of the children the same, so it's never occurred to Indy that she shouldn't take off reading, just like the other children have.
It's amazing what our children can do, when no one tells them that they can't...
I'm so proud of Indy and the little woman she's becoming and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her. She turns 10 a month from today and she's so excited, she can hardly stand it.
