Arosa

s t o n e spells stone

It took me a minute to realize what he was doing. I was doing some on-line research into this magazine and Alex was crowding up next to me, like he often does (the boy has no concept of personal space), and chattering something, like he often does (my new favorite Swiss word is plappermou - chatterbox), when I realized he was sounding out the letters he saw on my computer screen.

"Do that again," I said.

"Sss. Ttt. Ow. Nnnn."

"Do that again. Try it faster."

"Sssttt. Ow. Nnnn."

"That's right! What word does that sound like?"

"I don't know."

"Try again."

"Sssttt. Ownnn."

"Right. Ssttonn. Stone."

"Ssttoonn. That says stone."

"That's right! Your first word! You read your first word!"

*Beams*