Ready Or Not

I have a reader on my hands.  John has done exceptionally well this year learning how to read.  He is in the top reading group of his class and is often the one picked by his friends to read to the group.  John is not short on enthusiasm and, if he is reading for an audience, he will do his best to make the story come alive.  When he asks to take a book to school, he usually picks ones that we have read over and over and over again, so I'm positive he has them memorized.  When he brings an assigned reading book home from school to practice reading, they are pretty short and he whips through them so fast I assumed he was reading them at school first.  I was wrong.  When he brings an assigned reading book home and reads it to me, it is the first time he is seeing the book.  So while I knew he could read, I never thought he could read as fast as he actually can.  And, while he will do the assigned reading for class he much prefers a longer book with more of a challenge. 

I realized at the store the other day that my life has now changed since there is a new little reader.  As we walked down the game isle, John was quickly reading the names of all of the games and telling me we had to have them.  He went as far as to tell me that a few of these games said they were "educational".  Sure enough the game box said educational.  Waiting in line to pay for our items, John was reading the headlines of all of the magazines and asking what words he didn't know meant....like "scandal."  Yep, this boy is no longer allowed to accompany me to the store.

As if the reading weren't enough of a change for me, John is also fiercely trying to figure out the words we spell out loud.  The other day Hans and I were talking about the boys having cookies, spelling the word cookie each time.  I could see John's lips starting to form, trying to remember the letters in the order they were said.  My only saving grace at this point is that I can spell faster than he can sound out the letters.

While we all rejoice in John's reading abilities, I'm going to hide any book in our house that may have a word or words in it that I don't want to have to explain to my 5 year old.