To read or not to read....

My little bugger is reading. Well this isn't really a new revelation... he's been reading since about the second week of school and he's pretty good at it... when he wants to be. We have a few... shall we say bumps in the road in this journey. Apparently the days of hooked on phonics are gone. It may have been a joke growing up but seriously, a version of the program "worked for me". I understand it doesn't work for EVERYONE. I also know that not every word can be decoded by using phonics but I do tend to miss those days.
Ryan is learning how to sound words out and he's got the hang of it (when he wants to). I've determined he is a lot smarter than he wants us to know. How can he be smart enough to play dumb when he's this young? It baffles me. Anyway I'm getting off track here. The "big" learning tool this year for him seems to be looking at the picture. First we are told to look at the picture, then he's supposed to tell us what he thinks the picture is talking about, then he is to attempt to read it. Here the problem that arises... instead of reading "Susie is sees a cat" he "reads" "that girl is looking out the window at the cat." Sooo (shame shame) Mommy and Daddy have skipped the "what do you think the picture is telling us" part of the lesson and going strait to "read it". Which works out fine until he sees a word he's not confident about then a picture with a the lines "I can make a picture out of sand" becomes: "I can make a picture out of glitter? glue? shiny stuff?" Get the idea? He looks for the picture to give him the answer instead of READING the word. It makes me wonder how many times he's just guessed the word instead of seriously trying to figure it out.
I know he's a smart kid. I'm pretty sure the teachers and staff at his school are completely qualified to teach him how to read and that the methods they are using are appropriate for his age. (After all, the only ones trying to teach me to read in Kindergarten were my parents so I'm sure methods have changed) I'm confident he will learn to read as long as we work with him. I'll hop off my soapbox now. :) Happy reading.

Wait.... What?

The most awesomest thing just happened!!! (yeah, I know "awesomest" not a word) Ryan was having one of his moody pouty days.... Well, part of that could be because we just a.) boxed the wii up to be sent back for repairs and b.) limited his video game time to 20 min per day and computer to "equal to the amount of time spent playing with toys", because the child WON'T play with his toys. All my boy wonder wants to do is sit and play video games. I am not letting his brilliant little mind turn to mush.
Anyway, this kid was moody. The first thing he did when he got off the school bus after getting a drink of Gatorade and refusing a snack was hop on the computer. I calmly reminded him he had laundry to put away and that he cannot play computer till he gets some quality toy time in. Well, the demon that came outta the child just lead me to believe he needed to chillax and wind down so I let him play for a few minutes. Chillaxin soooo did not work. When I finally made him wrap it up the sweet little booger went bonkers!!! I'm talkin "WAAAAHHHH!!!! I can't believe you are soooooo mean!!! You never let me do anything!!!! This is not fair!!!!" followed by laying in the floor fake crying. Really? I have learned that 95% of the time when he's like this, he's hungry so I promptly offered a snack again. Nope. So he trudged his little behind up the stairs to his room to pout. It didn't last long though.
About 2 or 3 minutes passed and I heard him creeping down the stairs. So I simply said "you are more than welcome to come down here and play but leave your attitude in your room". Usually that would prompt another spiral of squealing but to my surprise he hopped around the corner and said (Brace yourselves)
"I am sorry for what I did.... I shouldn't have acted like that". Without prompting!!!!! :) And with a look on his face that showed he was disappointed in himself!
WOWSERS! That just blew me away! Here I thought I was in for a rotten stinkin night!
So I hugged him tight and snuggled him. I offered him a snack and this time he accepted. I'm tell you, it's like two different kids, especially when you feed him. After one little bite of that yogurt he was bouncing off the walls! :) Happy and cheerful! What would have normally been a 3 hour fit and power struggle ended with this:

giggling and standing at the front window eating a frozen yogurt stick watching for his Daddy to come home.
I cannot praise this kid enough right now! He went from one extreme to the next and handled himself so well! :)