Alex's spelling and reading skills are increasing by leaps and bounds lately. It seems like everything finally clicked AND he's actually interested in reading. He used to whine piteously when he had to read something to us. (Occasionally that still comes out when he's tired.) Now he reads signs, passing trucks, the names of songs on the car's digital display - everything he sees.
Being a grown-up first grader means having spelling lists, and spelling tests every week. The first few weeks of school Alex was insulted by the easy words. This past week we finally got to some that he didn't know right off the top of his head. Why is "said" spelled like that? I have no idea. And maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty much incapable of saying "was" the way it is spelled.
I found him two or three times this weekend sitting quietly (!) reading a comic book for beginning readers. He even got to stay up 10 minutes after we read last night so that he could read. He's on Chapter 3 and I think he's getting most of it. Every now and then he spells things out for me, but most of it he figures out on his own.
Which leads me to our dinner out Saturday evening. They brought a children's menu for him and he insisted on reading it to himself with no outside help or interference. The one word that stumped him was "quesadilla." He saw no reason for it to be spelled that way. Why doesn't it have a "k" at the beginning or sound like the "qu" in quack? Again, I have no idea. Alex narrowed down his choice by playing several rounds of eenie-meenie-minie-mo. (It wouldn't have taken so many but the first one chose Pasta Marinara and he wanted no part of red sauce.) When the waitress arrived she asked what he had decided on.
Alex: "I'd like a cheese quesadilla."
Waitress: "That will be good."
Alex: "Quesadilla with a Q, not a K."
Waitress: "O-kay."
I'll give her that, she took it in stride. His quesadilla with a Q was very good, even though I think it's weird to have a side of fries with it. And tomorrow begins a new week of learning possibilities!
