Learning to read

Reading is rather miraculous. A person may sit in a favorite spot in his/her house and participate in adventure after adventure simply by turning the page. A person may learn about far away places or think new thoughts or make new friends or discover bravery or fall in love or . . . .

Really the list never ends.

I love to read. I remember that my oldest sister loved to read. She read all the Nancy Drew books and the Hardy Boy books and the Black Stallion books, and. . . .

I wanted to be like her. She was cool. I was not.

So I started reading Nancy Drew. I remember it was hard for me. I missed the pictures. Some of the words were difficult. I remember reading the work "marijuana" in one book and being totally mystified about what it was and how you even said it. It was in some mystery book and I knew it was bad, but that was about it. Now I laugh a bit about encountering that word when I was so unprepared to understand it.

I remember struggling to read Pride and Prejudice before high school. I didn't get it at all, but somehow I decided that I was going to read that book. Now it is on my list of all time favorites. (I wonder if Red Badge of Courage would become a favorite if I tried it again. I don't really think so, and I can't even get a spark of interest to find out. So I will never know and I am fine with that!)

I ended up reading all the series that my sister read, and finding some of my own. Some that she decided to read because I had already read them. (That gave me a glow of satisfaction that I find silly to admit to, even today.)

When it was time for Thea to read, I was on the outside looking in. What I thought should be happening in first grade was definitely not happening. I was told to mind my own business. (The whole step-mom dynamic is difficult and awkward many times.) I was not surprised when second grade began that she was very far behind. We all realized that school did not teach her how to read, and Craig picked up the slack and taught her himself, so by the end of second grade she had caught up. We were very proud of her and she was so happy with her success. In High School, English was one of her best subjects -- no lingering ill effects at all.

When it was time for Josh to begin school, I knew that I was not going to count on the school to teach him. I checked out the early readers from the public library and we would read almost every day. I think he liked spending the time with me. I started half way through kindergarten. He was always a top reader in his grade. It wasn't much of a fight to get him to sit down with me.

I patted myself on the back -- a bit too hard, I think.

When it was Boaz's turn, I tried the same tactic. Boaz didn't like sitting down with me like Josh did. He knew he was smart. He knew he was at the top of his class. He told me a few times that he was the smartest boy in his class. While I didn't disagree with him (of course he was the smartest boy in his class!) I didn't have the disciple to force the issue. I don't know if that was smart -- as in not creating a power struggle -- or just lazy. And I knew that Thea had not paid any price for learning to read at a slightly older age.

In first grade, I made sure we read all the books that were sent home to read. We were able to do them all in one day. I didn't insist on reading more books the other days. I know that is bad, but Boaz balked and I let him.

So we moved here to Idaho and Boaz got the shock of his life. Instead of being in the top of his class, he was near the bottom. In almost everything. He caught up in math quickly, but reading was harder. Here in this school, the kids had been working on how many words they could read in one minute. They were assigned a timed reading everyday. They were supposed to read it three times. The idea being that they would improve each time. It took me a few days to get what was expected of me. That gave Boaz the time to get his competitive spirit involved.

Some of the kids were reading 100 words and more in a minute. My smart boy was struggling with reading 45. That was unacceptable to him. So he found motivation to sit down with me and read those passages two and three times every day. He noticed that each time he read the same passage he would improve. That helped too. He saw progress. One time he read 90 words in one minute. We were very excited and Boaz glowed with his success. Some of the kids were reading 115 words by that time, but still he knew he was getting faster.

I remembered something that my lovely friend, Anaise, had once said. Reading was a gift from God. I remembered hearing that people had learned to read by reading the Book of Mormon. I remembered that just a few weeks before, while we were staying at Aunt Sandy and Uncle Allen's house, that Boaz had happily read a verse during Book of Mormon reading time.

So I have begun to have my boys read in the morning from the Book of Mormon. I have done this before, but I would read to them while they were eating or something like that. And I was not as faithful reading with them as I was reading on my own. And I learned a very simple technique from Uncle Allen. I now have a 3 x 5 card as my marker and I write down the verse we are at. Before I tried reading a column, or a whole chapter, or marking a dot by the verse. But all of those were confusing or the boys had a hard time listening to the entire chapter. And if we skipped a day or two it was hard to remember right where we were. With the card, I can cross off the last reference and record the new one. It will last a long time and then I can easily replace it with a new one. Simple.

Boaz has been eager to read his verses. Josh has been happy to help him with hard words. And I am happy including God in Boaz's reading lessons. With Him as a partner, I am confident that Boaz will soon be reading, and comprehending, all sorts of new adventures. I hope he learns to love books as much as Josh and I do. Plus there is the added benefit of introducing Boaz to Nephi, Sam, Jacob and the other Book of Mormon heroes in our own home. I am excited to get to the end of Alma when we meet Captain Moroni, Helaman and his 2000 sons.

I know, take time to enjoy the journey. And we are. :)

Teton National Park

I married a man who loves to look at water. It works out great, because I like to also. I love the movement and the mystery. It is timeless and current at the same time.

This water was surrounded by huge, rugged, wild mountains. I was trying to get a picture of The Teton. But she was shy that day and dressed herself in a cloud.

Craig and I compared sunglasses. His are polarized. So he could see into the water better than I could. (We don't buy expensive sunglasses.) I wondered if fish were hiding under the bridge or playing in the rocks. Craig can look at a stream or river and know the good fishing holes. I look at the water and the plants and the birds and the insects and the sky. I multi-task a bit better than he does. :)

On our trip that day, we saw a huge herd of elk on the elk refuge. They were far away and we spied on them through our binoculars. Even in the binocs, they were small.



We saw some bison (American buffalo) grazing, in a very unconcerned manner, just off the side of the road. We stopped the car and waded through sage brush to get a better look at them. I tried not to think of ticks and just focus on the large mammals. I recounted a story I heard about a foreign couple who approached a bison and put their two year old on it's back and stepped back to get a picture. The bison bolted. This is completely hear say. I have no way to document it. I heard it from someone who thinks they heard in on the news. Still it is disturbing.

We live down the road and across the street from a herd of buffalo. And we were out in the sage brush, with our two boys, trying to get closer. I pointed that out to Craig and we both laughed at ourselves.

However, we did not get close enough to put Boaz on the back of the beast. Thank goodness.

We saw an eagle soaring above us. We saw the white head and the white tail feathers. I was thrilled.

We saw some pelicans, some geese, some ravens and magpies.










And we saw mountains, still dressed for winter in their blankets of snow. We saw Jenny Lake with the winter ice turning to slush. Getting ready for her new spring frock of green.

I am so excited to get to know this lovely spot of God's handiwork.

Craig wonders if I am happy in Idaho. I tell him I can be happy anywhere, as long as I have my peeps. And there are some great advantages to living this close to such wondrous scenery.

Climbing Wall

There was a cute little park in Jackson. Josh noticed it had a climbing wall. Craig was amazed that Josh wanted to play at a city park when we were at this amazing place.

But the climbing wall was very cool.

Boaz was happy climbing the small rock.



Josh tackled the big rock. He felt like king of the mountain. I watched him come down and I had to hold my breath. He did really good though.

A happy morning. I of course ended up with a lovely sunburn. 20 minutes in the sun and everybody knows. :)

Wrist Rockets

This past weekend, we traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My sister told me I have been there, but I was very young. Maybe 5. So I really count this as my first trip.

We did something unusual for us. We stopped along the way. Normally when we go on a trip, we are traveling for upto 12 hours and we stop just to potty and fill the tank and eat.

This time, we stopped to see the sights and play.

Craig bought two wrist rockets and taught the boys how to use them. The fun factor shot up with the aparati. Boys love to throw rocks into water anyway. Now the boys were able to launch rocks to new, never-before seen distances.

The dock made me a bit nervous. The water was deep and fast. Craig said, just as we were approaching the dock, "If you boys fall in, your gone." I worked hard not to let that fear control me. A few times I told the boys to get back from the edge. They were facinated and having a lot of fun. I bit my lips and tried to look at the mountains after a while.
I felt a lot better about it when they boys were on the ramp. I'm not too sure that they minded the new location. It was a bit warmer, fully out in the sun. We stopped a few times to launch rocks at the water. It was fun enough that they didn't mind that the DS's were out of batteries.

Nicknames

Brenda decided a while back to call me Google. She teases me about my ability to remember trivia.

She and Karly were trying to figure out something and Karly said "google it." Brenda said, "I am" and called me on the phone.

This past week, Josh decided to expand on the given nickname.

He decided that he is Google 2.0 and Boaz is Yahoo.

New dining table-

This is my new grown up table.

I have 8 chairs. This table has a butterfly leaf. So it expands easily.

It looked a little greenish in the store. I didn't like the lighting. But in my house, it looks better. A lovely walnut.

Challah

I remember challah from when I was a nanny in New Jersey. It is a Jewish egg bread. So for Easter I decided to make challah. This is not an Easter/Passover bread. Passover is a no yeast feast.

But I was excited to make this bread this year.

With a lovely egg wash, my bread was golden and wonderful.

deodorant

Josh told me that he needs to start wearing deodorant.

Isn't that my job to tell him? :)

I don't think I told him it was okay to get older. I don't know how this happened.

seven years ago . . .

Seven years ago last night Craig and I went into the hospital.

I was swollen and slow. The baby had pressed on my hip for months and I was ready to get him out. We were days from the due date, but he had been turning, and we didn't want him to turn the wrong way again.

I walked and walked and walked. All around the hospital. I don't think I have ever walked so slow as the day I go into labor. Craig was kind and crept along with me.

They induced me the slow way. No potosin. I wanted it to get going, but the nurse told me the doctor wanted me to labor through the night and be ready in the morning. A reasonable time -- for her. So I went to my room and put some tunes on and got hooked up to the monitoring systems. (My tunes were hymns.)

About midnight Craig fell asleep. It gets a bit boring watching the contractions on the monitor. I could feel them. They were slow and lazy.

I listened to Craig sleep.

My CD ran out.

The contractions began to pick up.

I listened to Craig sleep.

I wondered if I should wake him up to get a new CD.

I wondered if I should call the nurse to change the CD. But that would wake him up.

He'd had a long day at work.

I breathed through another contraction.

And another.

They were getting serious.

The nurse bustled in and Craig woke up.

She was surprised at how strong they had gotten. So quickly. Craig was a little sheepish. I just concentrated on breathing.

About 2 am they decided to call the anesthesiologist. He lived in another town and needed to drive about 45 minutes to get there. (Maybe he arrived at about 2 am -- after all it was all seven years ago.)

They called and woke the doctor up in the middle of the night. Somehow that gave me some measure of satisfaction. Laboring all night long so the doctor can rest did not sound very fair.

At 4:36 am he decided to make his entrance. I only pushed for 22 minutes. I know some women only push three times. Sometimes I hate them. 22 minutes was short for me.

After that my memory is fuzzy.

Our family became complete 7 years ago. Happy birthday Boaz.

Officially an Idahoan

My car has Idaho licence plates.

My purse has an Idaho driver's licence.

My bank and Credit Card companies know my official address.

My son is taking the Idaho standardized tests.

I have my insurance cards for Idaho.

Idaho.

I never thought growing up that I would leave Utah for Idaho. But then I never thought I would leave Utah for Oregon. I guess, to be more precise, I left Oregon for Idaho.

Idaho -- not very glamorous. But then neither am I. I am practical.

We live in Idaho because Craig got a job here. I've been telling people for a month that Craig has returned out of exile in Oregon. He is so happy to be back in Idaho that sometimes he can't stand it.

Yesterday we went to watch a nephew play baseball. It was a good game. My nephew's team won. Actually, they shut the other team out. What I remember most from that game was the incessant wind. I came home covered in grit. Every time the ball was hit and the runner would take off, a cloud of dust would attack us. Every time the runner on third base ran home, a cloud of dust would attack us. And at odd moments unrelated to anything else, a cloud of dust would attack us.

I tease Craig about bringing me to this place. But I have to admit it is a nice place. The people are wonderful. We love the ward. I like my kid's teachers. Boaz is having to work hard to catch up on his reading. (How could that be a bad thing?)

And my family is here. I have always said that I could be happy anywhere my family is.

So I am an Idahoan.

Welcome home to Idaho.