Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Speaking of bright...

You know how I mentioned KayTar was very bright in my post yesterday? Well, she is reading. No, seriously. She's reading.

Over the last week or so, we've noticed her indentify a couple words correctly out of the blue. Then yesterday she was sitting and looking through a book and I heard her read a couple words to herself. Intrigued, I got a piece of paper and a pen and sat down with her to write some words, here is the video:



Is that not insane? She now thinks it is the BEST GAME EVER. And keeps asking for "A-say? A-say?" (what's that say?) and bringing me pens. So far, she knows the words on the video plus these:

cookie
sleep
cow
pig
cheese
car
cat
apple
flower

I just can't get over it! Now I wonder what else she knows that we don't know she knows. It isn't every day you discover your two year old can secretly read.

I sent the video to her pediatrician, who was shocked as well, but she said "No doubt she is bright. Maybe one day she will be able to figure out what she has!" Josh and I got a good chuckle out of that, although we hope it all comes together before then!

I don't think it is true phonetic reading, I think it is more sight word reading, but a two year old with 15+ sight words is shocking to me!

Last night, Josh said, "How was your day?" and I said "Fine." like I always do, and he said "So the day your two read old learns to read only gets a 'Fine.'?" and we both had a good laugh.

KayTar is just full of surprises!

On another note, you guys were all amazing yesterday. Thank you so much. I know there is much debate about whether the nature of blogging creates a sister-like bond, and after yesterday, I think I'm leaning more towards the yes side. The comments alternated between the equivalent of "You want me to kick her ass?" and verbally stroking my hair and giving hugs. It was a very sisterly response (and brotherly, for Bennie of course).

And hi there, lurkers! I didn't know you were out there. It was nice seeing you!

19 comments:

Kristin said...

I LOVE your pedi's response. I still can't believe she is reading...sight, phonetic, whatever. We're lucky if Easton correctly identifies letters.

She is brilliant...but we knew that. :)

Christine said...

Wow! Kaytar rocks! I am truly impressed. She is so smart! I'm sure having a wonderful set of parents like you guys also had a lot to do with it, too.

Kristin said...

Oh...and I also wanted to say how crazy it is that she recognizes differnt "fonts", if you will. Your leftie handwriting vs. print in a book. A lot of much much older kids struggle with that, I think. I really want to know if it's photographic memory or actually reading. Still...it's unbelievable.

I think you should see what she does with a book that she hasn't memorized already.

Run ANC said...

Wow! I'm not sure I have anything to add but - wow!

S said...

This was Jack. And at three he could read simple Dr. Seuss books. And at four, he started reading The Magic Tree House books to himself (thank goodness, because I HATE reading those books). And now, at five, he can and does read everything.

There's KayTar's future in front of you in all its glory. Of course, the down side is that it will raise all kinds of troubling questions when it comes time for kindergarten.

I mean this: Jack starts kindergarten in the fall, and he can already read everything, including adult text. So what in hell will he do all day? Will he just learn to hate school?

cinnamon gurl said...

Wow, that is incredible! No matter how she's doing it, it's amazing!

Slouching Mom... why not just give Jack extra books to read in class when he's bored?

ewe are here said...

Wow! Truly amazing little girl you have there!

Christine said...

Delurking to say that KayTar is amazing! Really.

And I missed yesterday's post. I'm so sorry that you had a rough day. But I'm so glad that you guys have each other. You're a great Mom.

Children always pick up on differences, but often they are overcome. When my brother was about 5 or so, we were on a vacation after he had tubes surgically placed in his ears. We were in the pool and he was wearing his rubber cap and some little boy asked, somewhat nastily, "What is wrong with you?" Michael answered something about surgery in his ears and not being able to get them wet. The little boy responded by telling my brother of his upcoming surgery on his webbed feet. We joked that it was the pool of freaks, but it was really just great and heartwarming and despite the ugliness, there really is so much good in this world.

~aj~ said...

You already know that I'm completely blown away by this and I think KayTar is just AMAZING! Don't you just want to crawl inside her little brain and see what else she knows?

Anonymous said...

I think sight reading is actually better than phoenetic reading...I learned to read early by sight reading just by being read to all the time and I never, ever understood when they tried to teach me phonics in school- but my reading level was always way, way ahead of my classmates. So I think it's better that she's learning it this way really- as she learns more advanced words then she'll learn what they mean from their context rather than just sounding them out(does that make any sense?)
Looks as if you have two very bright children on your hands!

Ben and Bennie said...

I'm not surprised at KayTar's abilities. So many people place a label on our special kids as "slow" or " mentally retarded." That is so wrong.

That is not to say some kids will never function like their peers but KayTar seems to be one of those kids like Ben. They are CHALLENGED beyond what most people can comprehend. I myself have witnessed things that others seem to ignore.

KayTar and Ben deserve the effort put into their young lives to make them know they are an important part of society. It goes beyond love and hopefulness. They learn, they communicate, and they contribute.

Keep up the wonderful work, Kyla. You are an incredible parent and have proven that KayTar is an incredibly bright child.

Cristina said...

WOW!! That is awesome. But I am not surprised that she is so bright - she obviously has a very smart mama. :)

OhTheJoys said...

Wow. That is TOTALLY amazing!

NotSoSage said...

Incredible! She is smart as a whip, that kid. Really. She blows my mind.

Karianna said...

Oh, see. I knew she is brilliant! :)

epi said...

slouching mom - as one of those kids, let me say that if he's lucky and has a good kindergarten teacher, he'll get to sit on a bean bag chair and read whatever good books he wants while the other kids learn to read... quite honestly, it was my most entertaining year in school for a while, mainly because my kindergarten teacher was amazing at letting me do what was appropriate for me at the time : ) And good work Kaytar, that video is so sweet and so incredible, I love it!

jo(e) said...

Wow. That's totally amazing.

Amy said...

WOW!!!! I am in awe. That is so wonderful. Katie sure is one amazing little girl. GO KATIE!!!!

Em said...

Wow - she is amazing! (I always knew this but now it is confirmed yet again!)