This afternoon I thought I was deceived...

... but I thought wrong!

I am referring to Victoria's reading progress. This afternoon I gave Vic a very thin and simple book, titled "I Can Cooperate" (from The Best Me I Can Be Scholastic series) and sat down with her on the sofa to read the first three pages, whilst the little cowboy-wanabe watches his Barney cowboy episode for the second time today.

As we were moved into Page 3 (each page has two sentences), there were repetitive words from Page 1 and Vic didn't know how to read them. I helped her in the first two pages but felt a little cheated and very frustrated by Page 3 when she didn't know the same words.

So I told her to split up the word into blends, into alphabet phonic sounds and sound them up, to make the sound of the word. I didn't expect 100% accuracy in pronounciation but if she could show effort and say something remotely close, that is a good start, even an achievement!

Alas, that did not happen, and my patience ran thin. I told her to go to the staircase landing, holding her own book and read to me from there. Bath time and nap time can wait. She gets through the 3 pages or nothing else happens.

In the meantime, I got William ready for his afternoon nap in our room. Vic came upstairs with us after awhile, and in the room, she continued to learn reading on her own. Standing. A little discomfort to hasten the process, I thought.

Honestly at that time, I thought to myself that I have been deceived. That the last time when she read Little Red Riding Hood, I had actually thought she was on the way to FINALLY read!

I didn't know if Vic would persevered. Guess she is a tough cookie, probably more like her father who would never say die or give up. She stood there in our room for more than 30 minutes, initially refusing to read at all, but later relented.

In the end, she read. The sentences went like this,

Page 1
"Working together to get something done,
Sharing the work makes it easy and fun!

Page 2
"It's snack time for the class.
My friend and I are going to get the milk.

Page 3
"It's too heavy for me to carry alone.
But together it is easy and fun."

So there you go. She read page 1 nearly 10 times before getting it right and at one point, asked me why she had to read so many times. I told her, "You read until you get it right!"

When she finished all 3 pages, I felt so happy and proud of her. She even told me that tomorrow she will read another 3 pages, on top of her Little Red Riding Hood. Of course, no need lar (3 simple pages took her more than an hour, can you imagine one whole book?!) I'm just amazed at her attitude after reading. She didn't sulk nor cry this time, unlike the many previous times. She felt proud of herself and victorious, and for me... simply relieved!