Learning To Read

(6:39 PM) Mum:	yeah I'll think about it some more.  Dad might have some thoughts as well.
(6:40 PM) Me:	This assignment is discriminatory toward people with bad memories :<
(6:40 PM) Mum:	Maybe you need to find a seven year old and steal their memories
(6:41 PM) Me:	Hmmm.
This has potential.
(6:43 PM) Mum:	Dad said he used to read with you everynight when you went to bed.  He's asking do you remember the cockies circle books,
(6:44 PM) Me:	I remember that you guys read to me, but not from the inside, if you know what I mean?
I know that you did, but I don't remember what it felt like.
I do remember the books, but I remember more about the story tapes than I do the cocky's circle books.
(6:45 PM) Mum:	Dad's just gone to look for some  of the 'favourite' books you used to read together
(6:46 PM) Me:	I remember 'when the moon was blue'
I think of that every time I see one of those portable houses on a truck
because doesn't the house get up and run away?
(6:46 PM) Me:	And I remember the one with the really dark drawings, about a cat on a rug in the library
(6:47 PM) Me:	And I remember the one where the cat climbs the rainbow
aaand the one about Timothy Flynn being clumsy
(6:47 PM) Me:	and the one about the boy with all the random things in his pockets
that he fixes stuff with
(6:47 PM) Dad:	The diggingest dog?  Ten apples up on top?
(6:47 PM) Dad:	spirit of hope?
(6:47 PM) Me:	I don't remember the dog one, but ten apples up on top I think I do
and how could I forget the spirit of hope?
But that's not a cocky's circle book :P
(6:48 PM) Dad:	1 fish 2 fish red fish blue fish?
(6:48 PM) Me:	The picnic at shelly beach one is a big favourite of mine
(6:48 PM) Dad:	Bob Graham
(6:48 PM) Me:	and yeah, can't forget the seuss. Fox in socks, and what was that other one, 'did I ever tell you how lucky you are'?
(6:51 PM) Dad:	mm, the library cat
(6:51 PM) Me:	I seem to remember that one being a little on the creepy side.
(6:51 PM) Dad:	the rainbow cat...
(6:51 PM) Me:	I remember the mood of the art of the library cat one
not the story or anything
(6:52 PM) Dad:	We had a favorite cocky's circle book...
(6:52 PM) Dad:	about a tug boat and a lighthouse
(6:52 PM) Me:	Yeah, I remember there was one with a tug boat in it that was 'the favourite'
don't remember what happened in it though
(6:53 PM) Dad:	he sneezes, "a-toot! a-toot!"
(6:58 PM) Me:	I had to write some kind of narrative about literacy
(6:58 PM) Me:	except 'literacy' in this course means, like, anything that you have to learn to understand
(6:58 PM) Dad:	Sly old lockjaw the croc
(6:58 PM) Me:	so numbers or decoding images is literacy too
(6:58 PM) Dad:	The little tugboat that sneezed
(6:58 PM) Me:	Ohh yeah
(6:58 PM) Dad:	ahhh
(6:58 PM) Dad:	When the moon was blue, that's another one
(6:59 PM) Me:	yeah, I remember that one a lot.
(6:59 PM) Me:	so anyway, I wrote about the time we were in the car listening to ben folds five
and I think I asked why he was saying his girlfriend was a brick
(7:00 PM) Me:	and you guys explained to me that songs could mean stuff without saying them outright
(7:01 PM) Me:	Hopefully that's enough of an 'epiphany moment' as the teacher wanted.
(7:02 PM) Dad:	So you remember the reading at bed time...
(7:02 PM) Me:	Like I said
I remember that you guys did it
but I don't remember what it felt like.
(7:02 PM) Dad:	hmmm,
(7:02 PM) Me:	I'm in no doubt that that was a big formative part of me being good with words
but I can't really write about it in an autobiographical sense.
(7:04 PM) Dad:	in the beginning (before you could read, but after you showed an interest) I woyld read slowly, pointing at the words
(7:04 PM) Dad:	Every so often I'd stop with my finger pointing at an easy word
(7:05 PM) Dad:	We'd sound it out and read it and I go again until we got to the same word
(7:06 PM) Dad:	pretty soon you were reading sentances one word at a time as I pointed to the word...
(7:06 PM) Me:	Lawd, how old would I have been?
(7:07 PM) Dad:	Very small, I reckon this was maybe even before pre-school
or at least at the same time
(7:08 PM) Me:	Hmm. So if you're five in kinder, you're four in pre-school. So I would have been, what, three or four?
(7:08 PM) Dad:	yep,
(7:08 PM) Me:	Goddamn, it shouldn't be surprising that I can't remember that long ago
that was eighteen years ago :P
(7:10 PM) Dad:	we started very small, at the beginning, and it was pretty hard work for you so we'd do it for a while and then revert to un-threatening "just Dad reading" so you could relax...
(7:11 PM) Dad:	but after a while we'd get a favorite (easy) book and you'd struggle through the whole thing
(7:11 PM) Dad:	then I'd read you a few reward stories
(7:11 PM) Me:	This is so strange to hear.
(7:12 PM) Me:	I don't remember doing any of this.
I owe you guys a lot, y'know. Stuff like this. Gave me a huge head start on so many kids.