B has *really* taken off with his reading. His biggest issues were perfectionism, confidence and practice. Wrt practice, reading obviously becomes much easier the more you do it, because you memorize words. He has not received reading instruction, unless you count watching "Between the Lions" and doing a few pages of "Explode the Code" (he lost interest in the latter). I'm not sure how he reads but he just does it and he sounds much more fluent now. Before, we could tell that he was sounding out every word. Now, he just reads words like he already knows them and he reads with tone.

I got a 'Henry and Mudge' book from the library and he read it in one go. I only had to help him with an occasional word. It's supposed be level 2.1 and he hasn't started second grade yet (nor received the reading instruction that school kids get). I feel good about the whole thing. The most important part is that he enjoys it and he's pleased with himself. After the Henry and Mudge book, he read a book about seahorses in the car. And he's been reading the "Mr. Men" books to T. I'd like to find some comic books and some joke books for him, because I think he would really enjoy them and it would help him practice.