Olivia

My daughter and I love the Olivia books by Ian Falconer.  My dear, dear friend gifted the first three books to my daughter about three years ago, and we have read them time and again since then.  I think the books are hilarious (as does my daughter), and Olivia's personality reminds me so much of my daughter.  Apparently there is a TV show about Olivia now and I've seen toys in the stores.  There is a good chance that birthday number five will be Olivia themed.

Last summer, we purchased some Level 1 Reader books for our daughter.  One of them is an adaption of an Olivia cartoon episode.  The other day, my daughter sounded out a word on her own, so it was clear to me that is is ready to read.  We sat down today to take a stab at the book.  Much to my amazement, my daughter was able to read many of the words on her own.  When we came upon a word that I had read to her before, she was able to remember it and read it on her own.  Before bedtime tonight, we read the book again.  This time, she was able to read entire pages on her own.

As a mother and English education major, my heart is soaring right now.  I am absolutely thrilled that my daughter is grasping reading concepts at 4.5 years old.  Even better, she is just as excited about her new skill and is hungry to learn more.