Brotherly and sisterly love and learning

Friday night, Amy had a sleepover at Kiki & Poppy's house, then Saturday morning I picked herup and brought her straight to dance class. Then we came home and had lunch and she took a nap. Reed was at his friend Harrison's birthday party, so he didn't get to see her until the afternoon. While she was sleeping, he asked a couple of times "When's Amy going to wake up? I need to bug her!" He really missed her! A bit later, we were driving to dinner and I turned around and they were holding hands, and they held hands for most of the car ride. This picture's a little blurry, but you can still see the sweetness. They really love each other, despite the near-constant bickering.

Reed has also decided that he'd like to help Amy learn to read. He brought home his set of "Alpha-friends" which are letters with a character of some kind on them (an apple for 'a', for instance). He has quizzed her a few times on what the letters are (she passes with flying colors) and what sounds they make (she does amazingly well - more on that later). The first day, he brought home the cards for the letters of her name, and showed her how you can rearrange the letters to make other words. He kept track of which letter sounds she had trouble with, so that he could bring those Alpha-friend cards home to help her work on them. He was very teacher-ly and patient as could be, it was really neat to see.

I wrote recently about how much the kids love music. Well, I can thank Ralph Covert (of "Ralph's World" fame) for Amy knowing what sound each letter makes - he has a song called "Abby's Alphabet Soup"...

Abby’s alphabet soup
Abby was feeling so hungry
She cut some words into letters, got a bowl and a spoon and made
Abby’s alphabet soup
She put in an A… and a B… put in a C… and a D

And for each letter mentioned, he makes the sounds (or sounds) the letter can make. So when I first heard Amy reciting what sound each letter makes, I was totally amazed. I asked her how she knew and she said "Mommy, it's in Ralph's song!" and I went 'duh'! I guess she's learning in many more places and ways than I realize. But really, this is a skill that Reed didn't learn until he was in kindergarten, it is so great that Amy has picked it up so early. I hope it will help her to learn to spell a little easier.

Couple of pretty great kids.