Not A Tempest

Sasha has gotten “into” name-calling.
At first it was kind of cute and funny. I do not take umbrage when my son calls me ‘a ketchup’ or ‘a chair’. I would simply call him a mustard or a sofa in return.
Now, he’s gotten into actual name-calling. Last night he called me an underpants-face.
Then he had to think about it in time out.
**
I’ve been trying to get more difficult reading material for him.
His reading skills by way of phonics are wonderful. However his vocabulary isn’t much more than you would expect from a preschooler or kindergartener. So while he can pronounce the words that are written, he has no clue what a large portion of it means. So, I endeavored to find some books he would:
a) Find interesting
b) Be able to understand (with occasional help)
c) And would be short enough or be able to be broken up into separate readings so he could work through it.
I went to Prospero’s in hopes of finding the Enchanted Isle of Yew, a book I was sure would fit (Baum has a way of writing that is ideal for him). But alas, they didn’t have it. They only had the Oz stories and someone had just left with the Adventures of Santa Claus.
I went to a box store, and of course, they only had The Wizard of Oz. However, they did have something called The Big Book of Adventure. Classics greatly shortened and simplified with full-page color illustrations. Really a good format for him and with wonderful selections. Last night we tried Ivanhoe.
I was the one who got frustrated.
Sasha spent the entire time reading ahead and asking questions about parts I hadn’t gotten to yet. About characters who weren’t even introduced till the next page and whether they were good or bad or whatnot. I asked him if he wanted to finish the story himself.
He said yes.
I was grateful. I need to learn patience.