reading

Just to prove (to myself more than anyone else) that Dulcie really does do things other than watching Peppa Pig, here's some concrete evidence that books still play an important part in her day-to-day life.  These days Dulcie likes to have a book read to her as normal, but then she always asks to read it herself, flicking through the pages with a look of stern concentration on her face.  Sometimes I wonder if she really can read.  She can recognise books from their spine even when they are entirely nondescript and could be anything if it wasn't for the title printed on them.  She couldn't be reading, though... or could she?!  I was always fascinated by the how-we-learn-to-read aspects of teacher training (nobody actually knows!) so it's fun to have a little guinea pig on hand to speculate about.

And here she is re-reading Tabby McTat (Julia Donaldson AGAIN) on her way to bed and performing the song sung by the busker and his cat.  (I don't know why all my videos on YouTube are uploading in really poor quality/low resolution.  I will have to investigate, but you get the idea.)  You can see her looking at the back page of the book in this clip, the page where there are pictures of all the other Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler titles available.  This is always her favourite part of any book.  I seem to remember being the same when I was wee.  I wonder what the appeal is.  I'm sure it's pretty universal.

When Dulcie sees me reading a novel, she takes the book from my hands, points at the words and starts saying, "Humpty Dumpty..."  I feel quite impressed that she associates letters and words on a page with spoken language, but then I would, wouldn't I? :)

I'm doing quite well with my own aim to start reading a bit more again, but I'll tell you more about that some other time.