Difficult concepts

Our efforts to teach Elaina how to read have had mixed results. She can recognize certain words, but the whole concept of phonics hasn't sunk in yet. Heather tries, asking her things like "What starts with M?" Elaina's replies are sometimes correct, but usually not.

This morning we went to Krispy Kream for breakfast, and as we drove past Fred Meyer on the way home Elaina pointed and said "There's the grocery store! Tuh - tuh - tuh grocery store." We tried to explain that it's "Guh - guh - guh grocery store" but her reply was "Tuh - tuh grocery store." And a few days ago it was "Mmm - mmm - mmm princess."

In one of those free-associative things our minds do to link mostly unrelated memories, we were somehow reminded of a few months ago when, while singing "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam", she threw out the line "At home, at school, at shopping." Now that she has equated shopping with play, I'll definitely work hard to teach her about concepts like self-sufficiency, hard work, and scarcity. She'll probably be the only first grader at her school to understand downward-sloping demand curves.