You guys are just awesome!!! Thank you so much for all your ideas and support. I'm relieved to hear that my son's behavior is not completely unique. I also just love reading about your children. They're all so special.
After reading all your posts, this is what I'm thinking. It doesn't seem like there's some weird latent phase in beginning reading that I was unaware of. His vision was better than 20/20 at his three year check-up, so I don't think that's the problem. I don't think he is motivated by wanting to fit in like Zia's mom's son because my kid is just not that socially aware, at this time anyway. So I think maybe it is a combination of fearing that our mom/son reading time might come to an end (he really dislikes change like most 3 yr olds), and just wanting to relax and get into a good story without struggling to figure out each sentence. He does get frustrated easily if he doesn't understand what he had just read because he was concentrating on reading every word. Maybe that's why he prefers to read silently. Also, we did move to a new city last summer and I am pregnant. Maybe these changes have affected him in ways that were not obvious to me.
I think once he becomes a more competent reader (by his own standard), he will probably get over it. In the meanwhile, I will assure him that I will always read to him as long as he wants me to, and I will also try introducing some books of various levels and types he hadn't tried yet, just to see what happens. I'm actually really excited at the possibilities.
Junior
