Reader

Ryanne has come SO far in her reading. She went from being able to recite books that we read to her a lot to being able to read some of the simpler Bob series to skipping the rest of the Bob series and being able to read early level books that we check out from the library with little to no assistance. All in the last few months. It's crazy how quickly it's progressed. She just hit this spot where she had to read things and she would be really unhappy when I tried to help her out. She's figured out some of the more complicated vowel sounds. She's enjoying things like Super Why on a whole new level. She's really getting into her games and shows like Between the Lions.

She's also starting to sing along to songs and jingles that she hears frequently - radio or the car CD or whatever. Yesterday she told me that she saw Dell (sign on a building) and wanted to go there because they were a "proud supporter of Sesame Street". Too bad Apple doesn't sponsor Sesame Street here. I suppose if we lived in Cupertino...

Last week, she decided she wanted to take her allowance to the pet store. We counted it out before we left the house, as we usually do. While we were there, she told me that she had enough for "that goldfish right there". We looked around and figured out that she had enough for the fish, but not all of the stuff that she would need to take care of it. Daddy has agreed to lend her his tank when she has shown some responsibility (she chose to be responsible by doing chores and keeping her room clean) for herself on a regular basis for an extended period of time. There are no strict limits and it's not that she has to keep her room clean for x weeks to get a fish. She hasn't been terribly regular about it and we've had several discussions about what would happen to the fish if she decided not to take care of it for a couple of days. She's agreed that the fish can wait.

As for allowance, she usually gets $4 a week. She can't spend all of it in one week. She usually sits on it for a very long time. She gets 1% interest on everything she has in her 'savings' the day before she gets her allowance. She likes it. She bought herself a pottery wheel during the after Christmas sales. I wouldn't buy it because it was 8+, but it's her money and she really wanted it so she saved up for it and got it. She's built a couple of 'rocks' with it so far. We'll see what else she does with it.

She is currently counting down until she's 10 (I think) so she can audition for Fetch! I think we would have to spend a summer in Boston. Right now, we're not squelching the idea. We'll see what she still thinks of it as we get closer to the 'deadline'.

My little girl is growing up. Quickly.