Coolest moment ever!

For each of my three older children, learning to read always had an ah-ha! moment. That was when things started clicking, when the basic skills suddenly translated into fluency. I most distinctly remember Ayelet looking up at me in amazement, saying"Imma, did you know these books have stories inside of them?" (She was in Pre-1A at the time, if I recall correctly, so she can be forgiven for not knowing that all along.) That was that for her; we have not been able to get her to stop reading since. In fact, a harsh punishment for her has always been forbidding her to read. It worked pretty much the same for Shana and Dani, even though Dani has only now started to catch the reading bug.

But for Ariella, it hasn't been easy. We have concentrated on Hebrew reading and language, knowing that learning can be harder for her, so we did not want to dilute her Ivrit education, as that is the lingua franca. She has picked up some English, mostly from PBS (Bless you, Slingbox!), and she is progressing. But until now, her Hebrew reading was limited to a word or sound at a time. Suddenly, after Shabbat started this week, she announced that she wanted to read from the siddur - and she did! The first three lines of L'chu Neranina and various sentences here and there. When she pointed her finger at the bensching, we could tell that for the first time, she realized there was an actual connection between what she was saying and the words in print. It was a revelation, and we are very, very proud.