Words!

My favorite things include WORDS. (See side bar-Words I had to look up.) I can remember the exact moment when I decoded word sounds and began to read. I was leaning on my (maternal) Grandma M's knee and she showed me how to make the sounds come together into words! I was probably about 5 and I was reading! I have not stopped since. My grandma was a teacher for a few years in a one room schoolhouse on the Midwest Plains. I still have the book I read to her that first magical day.

Additional note: When I read a word I do not know, I have to look it up. I have an old pocket dictionary on my bed that I use. I mark each word and the page it is on. Daughter L. (also a voracious reader) is starting to do this too. FUN!