Little Leaguers who wear logos on their uniforms, not out of a concern for enhancing image but as a means for getting to play ball

When I started to read I didn’t know I was reading. I was a young adventurous two-year-old ready to take on snack time. There was applesauce and color goldfish to eat that day. Once I finished my snack I decided I wanted to “read”. Reading is in quotation marks because I wasn’t really reading the words on the pages. For the first year of my life there was a lot of sleeping. However, once I turned two and was wobbling around my parents started reading me books. I enjoyed the Dr. Seuss books which looking back are very hard to read without getting tripped up on the words. But this is how I started to read and enjoy books.

It was a weekend because I wasn’t at daycare and we were staying home and lounging around the house. My mom and dad were sitting on the tan fabric sectional while I was on the floor playing with my dog. My dogs name was Jordie, she was a retired guide dog. She was a golden lab who was fun to play with when you are a small child. We were all hanging out in the living room when my mom asked me if I wanted her to read me a book. My parents had read me the book old hat new hat by Stan Berenstain so many times it was my favorite. It was a hardback book with warn in marks from turning the pages so many times. I had been told the wonderful story of different colored hats so many times that I decided to get up off the comfy tan couch and read it myself. Of course, only being two I didn’t actually read. I grabbed the book confidently and walked to the front of the living room cracked open the book and started reading it out loud for my mom and dad.

My parents were shocked. They let me read through the whole book. I flipped the pages and looked as if I was reading the words. When I had finished the short book, I looked up excited. My mom was confused because she didn’t think it was possible that I could actually be reading the book. I was only two and barely just learned how to walk. She had me come sit next to her on the couch and give her the book. When I gave her the book she opened it to a random page and pointed to a word asking me, “what does this say.”

I had no clue what the word actually said so I said, “I don’t know”.

She asked me how I was able to read the book without knowing what the word she pointed to was. I simply replied with I wasn’t reading I was just repeating. I
had memorized the book after they had read it to me so often. Which made way more sense to my parents who were very shocked at first.

Once they figured out that I wasn’t able to read yet they settled down. They asked me if I knew any other books and I said not completely. I grabbed Hand Hand Fingers and Thumb by Dr. Seuss and started to “read” that one too. I couldn’t fully read it because I couldn’t remember it all. That being said it was the first time I was able to tell a story that wasn’t mine.