Wow, baby

Second child syndrome, or perhaps better put as not first child syndrome, holy bull, kidlet Andrew can read, and can read really really (really) well.

This post has nothing to do with the picture. Kate and Andrew are taking snowboarding lessons at the local ski hill (aka the garbage hill, really, it is a very old pile of garbage). The picture is sweet, and they are loving snowboarding.

A bit biased potentially I will clearly make note, my eldest pair of kidlets are bright (perhaps not brilliant), but definitely bright. I, for the record, am not discounting that the younger pair are also bright, but have less factual proof of their intellect. With Kate, I followed every book she read. Googled the internet to determine its reading level. Simply, a bit obsessed.


Fast forward a few years, and a few things have changed. We don't push the children. I (and maybe we) am of the view that they will get it in time, be a kid, have fun, play, run, scream -- read later, print later, chunk through repetitive math problems later. As a hint, don't get me started on fully day junior kindie, for once happy my Toronto school has no real estate to accommodate more kids. (I will admit, I know the children aren't struggled with their grade level requirements.)

However, this attitude comes at a price. I find out yesterday, and reinforced tonight that Andrew can read (really really well if I didn't make my point clear). I gave up reading those simple 'cuddle' books the kindie teacher sent home. The are boring and too simple. Admitting not a great excuse. We picked up a Bob book last night. I love Bob books. Despite they might be a bit boring and simple, I like the books. They have a humour to them that 'Run Fast' books just don't have. Andrew flew through the later series book last night and I was amazed. When I suggested we would read another book tonight, he picked out a Munsch book, 'Smelly Socks' to read, a book with a fair bit of text and a reading level well beyond kindie. I looked at the book and thought no way could he do it. Well, the kid can read. It was methodical, and it was a bit slow, but he can easily devour a Munsch book. I am in awe, and a bit guilty that I didn't know.

Well done Andrew!