A new reader in the family

We are the proud parents today of a new reader.

Niranjana brought home her first little phonics book from pre-kindergarten and is able to read it all the way through. It's a milestone to take it home, as she had been working on it last week at school. The plot is thin — a cat named Max uses a pan and fat ham to nab a bad rat. But it's reading! See the video at http://www.youtube.com/andyperdue.

Reading is one of our favorite things, well, for Andy and me. I used to be on the board of the Children's Reading Foundation of the Mid-Columbia, part of a Kennewick-based nonprofit that promotes the concept of reading 20 minutes a day with a child (http://www.readingfoundation.org/).

Niranjana's interest in being read to has ebbed and flowed despite our attempts to set a routine. She likes books, however, and we have hundreds. It doesn't help that I'm a sucker for the Scholastic book orders. We do have a library card and it's been used a few times.

I don't remember learning how to read, so I've been intrigued with Niranjana's process. First there were the letters and the letter sounds. Then this fall she started in on the combined sounds, like "at" and "am."

Ammaji gave us some Bob Books (http://www.bobbooks.com/bob_books_basic_sets.php), which backed up what was going on at school. Plus Niranjana still is in vision therapy for her binocular vision dysfunction. Basically, she was getting doublevision on close-p items, and her eyes weren't working together to focus and track. Vision therapy is going well, although we sometimes get attitude when it's time for the daily exercises. I credit the twice-weekly sessions with some recent jumps in her interests, including playing games, using her Leapster, arts and crafts, and the reading.

Andy notes that reading is fundamental. And it's fun. So we're glad that Niranjana has reached this chapter in her life and we look forward to the adventure that is unfolding.