The Watched Pot Will Someday Boil

It's the task that you hammer away at.

Day after day you water, feed, give light and wait...

wait...

wait...

wait for the little synapses to connect. Wait for that seed you planted to take root and grow fruit.

And most days it feels like waiting for that pot, watching and waiting.

Then one day you wake up and the day feels normal. Climb out of bed and pray for wisdom in the day with a 5 year old wrapped around your legs under a blanket on the couch. Breakfast and books & pages of numbers. A doctor's appointment and stop at the local office store.

Then come home to snuggle up to some reading work. Always start with the littlest student. His work usually takes the least time, and the biggers can work quietly while the little one gets some mama-teach-time. And you open that book and talk about sounds and then it happens.

He reads a word. Mama squeals and bursts into laughter and tickles that sweet 5 year old because he just learned the best tool he'll learn in life. He read a word. His first word was "at." And maybe he was a little more excited about "ax" because that's a word that means something to a boy.

And more importantly, he learned that learning is a delight. It's fun. It's important. And sometimes you get a squeal out of your teacher.

Then the day shifts into one of those days where the water is boiling and I can't imagine any job that's more important, any job that I'd rather be doing today.

And tomorrow, when I'll be watching the pot again.

...post script~ I wrote this post a week ago. From his first time reading on, each time he sounds out a new road, Eli cries, "Tickle me Mama! Tickle me!!"

We have recently taken up "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." It's been very helpful for my younger boys, and includes "games" & short lessons that keep our work fun.