Here's a nifty Ana-cdote.

Ana fell asleep on her last day of camp last week. (Yeah, she went to half-day camp for a week.) So I picked her up, and put her on my back, and hung around an hour until my ride showed up. The kids had gifties, and after I convinced Deniz that no, she did *not* get two of everything, half that stuff was clearly Ana's, Ana received, among other things, a book on butterflies. A guidebook about butterflies.

You should know that one of the best things you can do to encourage literacy in a young child is to read around them. Not to them (though that's great too), but simply in their presence. I take this advice to heart, along with the rule that you don't actually have to jump up every time the four year old wants a cup of water, and so the phrase "Just wait until I finish my chapter, honey" isn't unknown to the niecelings.

So today, Ana picked up her new butterfly book, and told her mom "Wait until I find my chapter. I have chapters now. Like Connie". She was apparently quite proud of herself for this :)