BOB Books

Back in February, we ordered a set of Bob books for Elliot. They are what I learned to read with back in the day, and I think they are great. Elliot has always been interested in letters ever since he all but taught them to himself with his alphabet blocks when he was one. He had all the letter sounds down, so we figured we would start him on reading. We made a sticker chart and told him we would go to Baskin Robbins if he finished it. 

It was slow going, and we didn't push him. We would help him, but he didn't earn a sticker until he could read the whole book by himself. He cheated a little by memorizing the pages instead of actually reading the words, but by the end of it he was really getting the hang of sounding out simple words. It took him just over 3 months to work his way through the 12 books in the set. A turning point happened when we let him type into a Microsoft Word Doc one day. We realized he was willing to really sound out the words if he got to push the letters on the keyboard. Something clicked into place, and he went through the rest of the box pretty quickly after that. He still likes typing on the computer, but prefers our phones because they have "memojis" (emojis) 😜

A very proud Elliot posing in front of his completed sticker chart

The much anticipated Baskin Robbins trip. Naturally, he picked the grossest flavor offered. 

 We then ordered the second set of Bob Books. Elliot plowed through the entire box in FIVE DAYS. This kid is on fire! He can read any three letter word that follows the normal letter sound rules. Teaching him how to read has renewed my frustration over the crazy number of exceptions to every single rule in the English language. We are trying to find a segue between the super simple sentences with only 2 or 3 letter words to the more complicated beginner books at the library. 

Anyway, his reward for Bob Books Set 2 was a family pizza movie night. We watched Coco and had a jolly good time. It has been so fun watching Elliot swell with pride every time he reads a book all by himself!

In other literary news, Annie likes to steal toys from other babies at the library story time.