Reading and Writing

My daughter has shown an interest in writing and reading lately. At least once a day, she'll ask me for a sheet of paper so that she can "write" me a letter, like the one shown above.

"Read it," she'll say. And rather than just say, "I can't read this," I play along.

"Hello, Mommy. I love you ... ," I'll start.

"No," she'll say. "That's not what it says." And then she'll tell me what she envisioned it saying, such as: "Mommy was in her room, and she said, 'It's time to go night-night, but I didn't want to go."

I'm encouraged that she wants to know how to read and write, though her curiosity disappears rather quickly whenever I try to teach her the letters of the alphabet or try to get her to write them.

Small steps, I tell myself. Small steps.