One of the things Marcel does while she passes time on the potty is “read.” When she first started pottying, she “read” books about going to potty. That’s because “reading” then wasn’t about the “reading” as much as it was about the pottying. Now that she has the pottying fundamentals down now (at least, in theory), we’re broadening our potty library. So I am also taking this opportunity to broaden the mission.
Specifically, I’m trying to teach Marcel how to read.
I remember learning how to read when I was 3-4 years old. I think I was laying on the kitchen floor when it first clicked. Either the youngest or the oldest of my three sisters was my teacher. I definitely remember that it was “The Daddy Book,” by Stewart. We don’t have it (at least, not yet), so I went with her request, “Green Eggs and Ham.”
I started with the title. It took a bit for Marcel to see that I was referencing the symbols on the cover, instead of just saying the words like she was. I had to touch each word to make the point.
“This is ‘Green’. This is ‘Eggs’. This is ‘and’. This is ‘Ham’!”
Marcel nodded her head solemnly then did her own pointing.
“What’s this?”
“Green,” I answered.
She moved on to the next word.
“What’s this?”
“Eggs,” I answered.
“What’s this?”, she continued.
“And,” I continued.
“What’s this?”, she again asked.
“Ham,” I again answered.
She nodded solemnly again, then patted me on my shoulder and congratulated me.
“Good job.”
