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I had a different diary in my head tonight, had mentally worked it in my head all day. Then one of those events you gotta memorialize forever happened and my topic changed. There's probably a metaphor there, but I just want to share the story...
Reading is a big deal in Casa Brillig. Mr. Brillig and I probably have close to a thousand paperbacks between us. Then there's hardcovers, textbooks, and Other Readable Stuff. He's embraced the future and has a Kindle, I'm a paper-lovin' luddite. Did I mention the entire bookshelf K1 has filled, plus everything she borrows to read? She learned to read when she was three. How do I know that's not just Proud Parental amnesia talking? Because she was reading the year my Mom died.
Yeah, reading's a Big Fucking Deal around here.
K2 comes from a people whose language doesn't have a written form. Cue Alanis' Isn't It Ironic. He has been struggling mightily to learn first spoken English, then our alphabet, and since entering kindergarten, to read. To say it's been a struggle is putting it mildly - he has to contend not only with remembering which letter makes what sound, but also with sounds that aren't like what he grew up speaking. He's not seemed to grasp that rhyming words have all the same sounds but one, and vowels seem to get left out of the sound-out process.
I wish I could say I've been nothing but kind and patient, I truly do. His teacher told us he's perfectly normal developmentally, it's just that Casa Brillig has Zero Experience in all this, and after the 437th repetition of "say the sounds individually then put them together to make a word" followed by a blank look and a guess...
Which brings us to tonite. This past weekend, K1 found the magnetic letters kids play with on refrigerators, and brought them up. I told her cynically they'd never get used. She glared at me as only a 12 year old can, and put them on the refrigerator. He's fascinated by them :-) and has been begging to do what his teachers do in class... try to sound out and write short words.
He wanted to spell JACK, his best friends' name. And he got J-A-C, then we helped him with the K he had no way of knowing about. Then we asked him to spell BACK, hoping he'd hear that only one letter needed to be changed. He didn't quite, but he spelled it. Then we tried RACK...
and he GOT IT. Took the B away and added an R. Followed by SACK and TACK. A million-watt light bulb appeared over his head.
Next we asked him to spell RUG, and he looked at us not with panic and stress, but with "I can do this" in his eyes. R-U-G, that's easy Mom and Dad! We then proceeded to spell B-U-G, B-I-G (to see if he could change one letter that wasn't the first), B-A-G... then I asked him to spell HUG. And gave him one of my biggest best ones.
K1 came home from swim team practice to bear hugs and thank you's from everyone, for believing in her brother when I had my doubts he was ready. This is one of those stories destined, with good reason, to become Family Lore.
The Speller at W-O-R-K:
= = = = =
On to Top Comments! I think many of you were engrossed in reading things non-DailyKos, because the mailbox was a bit sparse tonite.
From SpamNunn:
If this one by boran2 weren't so sad, it would be very funny.
From emeraldmaiden:
TomP pines for a bully pulpit to expose the Republicans.
How much blame goes to the IMF? wonders Shanikka.
From Ed Tracey:
In the diary A Couple of Suggestions for Mr. Issa - the US Army veteran RepackRider describes a phone call to Congressman Issa's office, outlining several investigations the congressman could pursue against the GOP. But he has nothing, apparently, on alert reader snapples who writes ..... I call Issa's office all the time - with the most recent one focused on Eric Cantor's seeming violation of the Logan Act of 1799.
From Yours Truly, brillig:
commonmass had a diary today. anastasia p wrote a shorter form that even the diarist liked!
Incoming Congresscritter Andy Harris (do I really need the (R)?) wants his guvmint health care NOW Dammit!! pollbuster decodes the Republican mantra.
A short hop down in the same diary, Into The Woods makes up a word, gets called on it... and made me spit take a lovely pinot noir with the response. I'll see if K2 can spell that...
Can you spell M-O-J-O? Yay!! Tonight's Top MOjo was run by me, using the honored traditional methods of cskendrick and sardonyx:
Top 30 Comments excluding tip jars, first comments and stuff:
1) Your Special Comment tonight was amazing!! by Diogenes2008 — 250
2) Koppel's an old-fashioned conservative by Dallasdoc — 199
3) Koppel has zero credibility in my book. Zero. by divineorder — 137
4) or Jeremy Scahill or Jeff Sharlet by Dallasdoc — 130
5) An outstanding self-defense by Dallasdoc — 118
6) Just want to personally say thanks for by dkmich — 115
7) I must say here and now - Mr. Moore by Angie in WA State — 107
8) Bill Moyers is still the man. by primarydoc — 105
9) The Only "Journalists" Are Over at Fox News by JekyllnHyde — 104
10) if people bemoan the death of news, they've by primarydoc — 100
11) Tax cuts for millionaires are insane by FishOutofWater — 95
12) Okay by Rep Brad Miller — 95
13) Honestly, I think tax cuts for millionaires is by grannyhelen — 92
14) Tonight you are a Th0rn in the Republicans side by Lefty Coaster — 89
15) Good grief. by isabel — 85
16) Compare Worker Productivity with Wage Increase by Into The Woods — 85
17) By the way by Diogenes2008 — 84
18) When this story first broke, by icebergslim — 84
19) Say it again... "Social Security has nothing to by nannyboz — 84
20) This is gonna end ugly by DisNoir36 — 83
21) Ted's part of the Geezer Chorus by Dallasdoc — 80
22) Thx for giving this some attention by jan4insight — 79
23) This is a voyeur's dream.... by 8ackgr0und N015e — 78
24) Why's he so worried about it? by tjb22 — 78
25) The head of the TSA was on yesterday saying by inclusiveheart — 74
26) Not just a conservative GOPer by meralda — 74
27) The Filibuster Threat? by Major Tom — 72
28) Koppel was an IMBEDDED reporter in Iraq. by elwior — 72
29) It is totally irrational by geomoo — 72
30) Well... by Keith Olbermann — 71
Top 30 (plus ties) Comments with no exclusions, aka the Tip Jar & Pooties list :-):
1) Tip Jar by Keith Olbermann — 890
2) Tip Jar by Th0rn — 463
3) Tip Jar by Michael Moore — 376
4) Tip Jar by gjohnsit — 321
5) Tip Jar by dmfox — 304
6) Tip Jar by commonmass — 284
7) Your Special Comment tonight was amazing!! by Diogenes2008 — 250
8) Tip Jar by 8ackgr0und N015e — 221
9) Tips? Flames? by Something the Dog Said — 213
10) Tip Jar by Rep Brad Miller — 202
11) Koppel's an old-fashioned conservative by Dallasdoc — 199
12) Equality for all [TJ] by KVoimakas — 184
13) Tip Jar by Eclectablog — 159
14) I Hope You Liked by JekyllnHyde — 158
15) Koppel has zero credibility in my book. Zero. by divineorder — 137
16) or Jeremy Scahill or Jeff Sharlet by Dallasdoc — 130
17) An outstanding self-defense by Dallasdoc — 118
18) Just want to personally say thanks for by dkmich — 115
19) I must say here and now - Mr. Moore by Angie in WA State — 107
20) Bill Moyers is still the man. by primarydoc — 105
21) The Only "Journalists" Are Over at Fox News by JekyllnHyde — 104
22) if people bemoan the death of news, they've by primarydoc — 100
23) In lieu of a tip jar by teacherken — 96
24) Tax cuts for millionaires are insane by FishOutofWater — 95
25) Okay by Rep Brad Miller — 95
26) Honestly, I think tax cuts for millionaires is by grannyhelen — 92
27) Tonight you are a Th0rn in the Republicans side by Lefty Coaster — 89
28) Compare Worker Productivity with Wage Increase by Into The Woods — 85
29) Good grief. by isabel — 85
30) Say it again... "Social Security has nothing to by nannyboz — 84
31) When this story first broke, by icebergslim — 84
32) By the way by Diogenes2008 — 84