DS, 3.5, is reading. Very early reading, but it's definitely reading--he'll go through the BOB books sounding out, get a bit distracted and start reciting from memory, and then stop, correct himself, and start actually reading again. In any case, I tested him with random easy phonetic words on the whiteboard and he got them all right.

It's all sounded out--no sight words except for "the" and "and," which he picked up because he had to to read those books. So that's interesting. I'm not sure if this is still a party trick or if he'll really learn this way or what.

To be perfectly honest I think this clicked because I've been letting him watch streaming episodes of Word World on my weekly drop-dead work deadline day. (Where's the embarrassed smiley?) We really don't do TV as a general rule.