Julia has recently become a lover of reading.

There has been a long progression towards this spot, beginning with all the reading we did when she was a baby. She would recite stories back to me that she knew from memory as a toddler and preschooler. In kindergarten she became an official reader, learning sight words and how to sound words out. Still, reading was far from her idea of fun.

When first grade started, she knew how to read but would do it almost begrudgingly.
My hope for her was that she would transform into someone who was drawn to books, seen often lying with them open, absorbed.

I knew we had arrived at that magical place where knowing how to read turned into enjoying reading when we were at the library last week and she begged to check out a whole stack of Young Cam Jansen books. Before that she was usually not that interested in picking out books for herself to read. A few days later I couldn't believe she'd plowed through almost the whole stack.

To see her lying in bed at night reading to herself fills me with genuine happiness.