Read The Labels

Dad here:  I wanted to share another story with all of you.  Usually when a toddler reads to you, it is actually reciting from memory the text from a favorite book.  Clementine is always happy to "read" a big chunk of Where The Wild Things Are or Rosie The Hen.  This was something new.

Last weekend we were at Lyle and Michele's house in Oceanside celebrating summer birthdays (Happy Birthday Lyle, Julie, and Lam).  While Mom and I were sitting outside Clementine pointed to a tag hanging on a lime tree in the front yard.  It was one of those tags that tells you how to care for your new plant and it had yet to be removed.  Clementine pointed at it and announced, as though reading it: "You need to squeeze the lemons."  It took us a few seconds to realize what she had done, then we when it occurred to us that this was her version of reading, we asked her to repeat herself.  She did and we laughed, very impressed.  As you may know, there are few better motivators than the laughter of loved ones, and she beamed with pride at helping us understand this tag.   

We pointed at a nearby water bottle and asked her to tell us what it said as well.  She said with pride "You need to drink this."  This quickly became our favorite game for the afternoon.  We found anything that she might recognize as writing and she would tell us the instructions.  She read nearly everything as "you need to..." as though it were a step by step of what to do with it.  The piano song book said "You need to sing this."  The Coca-Cola sign on the cooler said "You need to buy this." (I thought that one was particularly insightful).  Writing this now, I realized that we should play this game at home more, so the next time you see Clementine ask her to read something to you.