Handley is reading!

I mentioned last week that Handley's love of letters, spelling, and reading has bloomed all of the sudden. I decided to take advantage of her eagerness and introduce her to a few easy-reader phonics type books.  We went to the library yesterday to try to find some, with no luck.  Then when we got home I remembered that I thought I had a few sets in the basement with my old teaching stuff.  I pulled out book #1 yesterday and she was very excited about the idea of reading the book.  After a few times of us reading it together she read it by herself.  She couldn't wait for Robby to get home last night so that she could show him her reading skills.  Today, on her own, she picked up the book a few times and read it.  Tonight I introduced book #2 to her and again she picked up on it very quickly.

I took a video of her reading one this afternoon and another one tonight before bed. To see it, click here.

Obviously, I know that some of this is from memory, but I'm so happy with the way she is sounding out words, using picture cues to help her figure out the story, pointing to the words and getting the general idea of the basic reading skills.  I also love that she feels so proud and so successful after reading it by herself!  I'm not trying to push her, but if she continues to ask to read then of course I'll be happy to continue helping her.

Today was an exciting day for Handley because Robby got to take her to school, she was the helper today, and she wore red (which is her teacher's favorite color) so she felt very special all day long.  When I picked her up this afternoon she told me that she would like for Daddy to take her to school everyday.  I wish he could, but every now and then is a nice special treat.

This afternoon we met our friends Chancey, Charlie and Madelyn Kate at the park.  The kids played and then got to feed the ducks.  They all loved that, but Harper was way more into it than I had expected.  After we ran out of bread she kept going over to the nice woman near us and asking for her bread (which she so graciously gave her over and over and over).

I'm 20 weeks today and I'm finding it hard to believe I'm 1/2 way through this pregnancy.  Besides the heartburn at night (which I never had with the girls) it has been pretty uneventful.  Hudson decided to let his little kicks be known for the first time yesterday, so I finally feel like he is really in there.  :-)  I love feeling babies move in my belly so I can't wait for him to start moving more.  I decided to take a picture so I can remember what I looked like at this point...I obviously did not dress up for the picture, but you get an idea of my growing belly.