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.

I love the idea of a wedding in a library.

I'm just picturing the world's *quietest* reception, because everyone has wandered off to read.

I have a EIGHTEEN day supply of antibiotics (Levaquin or however it's spelled).

askye, be very VERY careful with that antibiotic -- it has a fairly common side effect of fucking up tendons BADLY. Like, to the point of causing tendons to rupture. And even if they don't rupture, you could have serious tendon pain for months or longer.

I'm not trying to be all doom and gloom, because it's excellent that you have a diagnosis and treatment plan. But I had the tendon problem happen, Nicole did, and my stepdad is currently dealing with tendon problems so bad that he can barely walk, after only 6 days of Levaquin.

So, just keep an eye on how you feel, and if you have any tendon pain, STOP the antibiotic immediately and call your doctor. Seriously.

smonster, I get the idea that RDJ would be kinda interesting to hang around. He was sharply funny, even tensely so.

Yes, I agree. He definitely wasn't the most relaxed or natural celebrity I've seen on GN, but he was very gracious and witty.

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

All right, enough of y'all have chimed in that I shall rekindle the wee flame I had burning. It's not so much a torch as a match, but it's still a lovely little glow.

I didn't hear from KBD at all yesterday, which was so lovely. I'm anticipating a call today pouting about how it was his first day at work and I didn't call him. I think I'll let it go to voicemail (I joke but I'm very aware that I am likely on the brink of cutting off communications for some time, and possibly forever).

Aimee, please please do not worry about Emeline's progress, and whatever you do, don't freak out. Not reading at 5 is considered normal progress. What you look for at 5 is reading readiness: recognizing letters and their names, interest in following a book read to her, etc. She's right where she needs to be.

There's a lot of focus in US kindergarten on reading, but in some educational programs reading isn't even taught until kids are 7. Learning to read is like learning to walk, a lot of conceptual and perceptual pieces need to fall into place in order for it to happen, and every kid does it at her own pace.

There's a lot of focus in US kindergarten on reading, but in some educational programs reading isn't even taught until kids are 7

In my kindergarten, there were one or two kids who knew how to read. I wasn't taught reading until first grade.

I mostly read science books - by second grade, I was reading books on astronomy and space exploration from the adult section of the library.

Aims, volunteering in Owen's kindergarden class has given me much perspective on typical reading development. Only two or three of Owen's classmates are reading. We work on letter recognition in their centers. Em's probably very much on track for her age.

Owen's reading level is freakish. I'm proud of it but it is also hard to keep him interested in what the rest of the class is doing. And his social development is way behind.

Stop freaking , Aimee. Don't push. Limit tv. Limit what she can do on computers

I do not know what your library has available -- but my library has tumble books on line-- which reads the story with the words on screen . ( very cool) To get in you need a library card. you can get an online library card with a California address

[link]

some kids don't really figure out reading until 2nd grade. this has nothing to do with intelligence or future school performance. If screen time is limited, they got to find something to do - and if it isn't reading, well it isn't passive.

An hour might be too long for homework time. and right after school might be too soon ( she might need to burn off energy before she can sit) so be flexible until you find what works.

and I had a friend ( children's librairan) youngest -loved books instantly. Oldest learned to read but didn't care for it . Until he was 20 and found a mary higgins clark book. now, he reads.

and one of my sisters -- didn't finish a book until 5th /6th grade -- when she found biographies.

Aims, I just wanted to let you know that I share your freak-outs. Ellie is only four and so she's only learning letters and numbers but her teacher told me a while ago that she needed to "work on learning all her letters." And I know she's only 4 and I know she's fine, but I *love to read* and hearing that she might miss out on that makes me freak out even more. (Although I know Laura is right, of course.)

Anyway, 90% of the issue is me just chilling, which I know and try to do, but for Christmas I got Ellie this leapfrog plane that goes onthe fridge and has a spot for three letters and lets kids spell three letter words. It's actually pretty cool. Since then, Ellie's had a lot of fun spelling three letter words on the fridge and I've had fun helping her. She was super proud of herself for spelling "sit" the other day. It might be a fun way to encourage reading.

eta: And I have to say that while I know every child is different, hearing that Owen reads at the third grade level made me go "Holy shit!" (as in, wow) but then of course I immediately started thinking of Ellie as "so far behind". When does that weird mommy thing go away???

eta2: and I hope this doesn't sound like I'm not happy for Owen because reading is so cool and reading so far above his grade level is awesome.