monster, not that I think you should be jumping into anything ( not that you are) but Bob is allergic to cats and he always used to take meds when he'd come visit. Since he has moved in the cat allergies have dissipated a lot. I'm just saying it doesn't need to be a dealbreaker.

Totally! Tom was the same way, and now we have 2 cats.

Askye, I am so glad they found out what was being nasty to you! I hope everything clears up and you have a much happier hoohah!!

I texted my sister this question last night but never got an answer from her. I assume because she was laughing at me too hard to properly spell. So, I am going to ask you all:

When do I get to really freak out that Emeline isn't reading? She will sound out words if pushed to, but she seems to not have any interest in really reading (at least, with Joe and I). And, to be perfectly honest, IT'S FREAKING US OUT. We're trying really really hard not to, and we certainly don't show her that we're freaking out, but HMOG it's super duper hard. We read to her every night and we have her sound out words as we read. In the car, we give her words to spell by sounding them out, but more often than not, she says, "I can't dooooiiiitttttt!! I ddoooooonnnn'tttt WAAAANNNNTTT to!!" and then Joe and I freak out at each other (not angry freak out, funny and loving freak out, mostly with facial expressions). We HEAP praise on her when she does do it, but she is just not that into it with us.

Math, on the other hand, she is all over, which is totally awesome and we encourage that, but we want her to read!! Like, two years ago.

Anywhoodle, is just turned 5 too early for a reading tutor?

Can she sing the alphabet song and draw letters?

I don't know how strict you guys are about screen time, but could she be persuaded to play reading games on the computer to help her practice?

The other thing I'd suggest would be to have her tested for dyslexia. (And maybe nearsightedness, though if she's doing well in math it's probably not that she can't see.)

Of course, I also don't know what the "normal" age is for kids to start reading - 5 seems pretty young to me.

Aims, our teachers can speak to the learning aspects so I will only address this from a parent view. Emeline will learn to read, but she may never be into it. We are all different. My son Brendon was reading at a crazy early age and falls asleep with his face in a book every night. Bobby has never voluntarily read a book. Bobby also replaced a door knob for me last night and replaced the faucets in the kitchen; he cooks and follows recipes. Brendon would look at me like I was from Mars if I suggested he use a screwdriver and his cooking skills involve opening a frozen pizza box.

As readers we encourage our children to share our love for books, but they might not ever get into it. Encourage her, but don't be crushed if she doesn't get the bug. I did find that Bobby will be more willing to read non-fiction if it is a subject of interest. I don't think he will ever understand why we read fiction.

My two cents.

Can she sing the alphabet song and draw letters?

Oh yeah. She's been doing that for a few years now.

don't know how strict you guys are about screen time

Not very at all.

could she be persuaded to play reading games on the computer to help her practice?

When vw bug was in town, she showed us this awesome website that Emeline has been playing a lot. I'll look around for some other computer games for my laptop that she can do.

We're also going to start up with a "homework time" next week for the hour right after school. I'm going to get some home schooling books on math and reading and writing and her and Joe can work on them for an hour after school to help build her skills and get her in the habit of doing homework right after school. Hopefully, that will help, too.

I know we're being totally fruitcakey about this and she is brilliant as she is, but hey - if we can't throw our issues onto our kids, how the hell else are we supposed to burden them?

Emeline will learn to read, but she may never be into it.

I know this in my brain, but man does it make my heart yowl a little bit.

One of my sisters didn't read for pleasure until she was in her twenties. (Of course, she was also the only one of us with any kind of social skills, so it's possible she was just out having friends while the rest of us hid in our rooms and read. We still thought she was weird.)

[eta that she is now a social worker/therapist working with foster kids while the rest of us are in the entertainment industry. So still freakishly un-nerdy, but undeniably doing more good for the world than her geeky sibs! Until our brother finally gets a job and cures cancer, I mean.]

Plus, we are totally suffering from Comparing-her-to-other-kids-itis. Which we need to knock off. Em is Em and not anyone else.

Maybe we need a puppy into whom to channel energy.