So I’m in the car with Max today, and he’s looking at some of the books that he and Maggie keep back there for car trips. And to my surprise, he starts sounding out words. Words with more than 3 letters. He starts asking for my help with a couple of things in the book, and then he sounds out “The Yummy Smells!”. There was more to the sentence, but he didn’t need it. I didn’t need it either – he was so excited about getting those words right!

Now, he’s 5, and of course we read to him and work on reading with him, but these are the biggest words he’s ever worked out for himself, so this was a Big Moment. I said, teasingly, “HEY! What the heck, are you learning to READ?! What’s going on back there?!” And he was just so proud and energized, he kept saying “I just sounded it out, I didn’t know I could read those words! I just sounded it out!”

He was so excited we called Jeanne to tell her. He wanted Mom to know.

There are times when life goes so fast. When we let it, no when we MAKE it go so fast, that we miss things, lose them. Events, change, growth. Moments. We forget to listen, and look. This 10 minutes between my son and I, in the car, could’ve been one of those lost moments.

I’m so glad it wasn’t. And, I’d like to say Thanks to the publishers of The Berenstein Bears books. They gave my son and me a great moment. Of course, at 5 years old, I’m not sure if he’ll remember it.

But I know I will.