All three of mine were different (no surprise). DD14 was around 2.5; her favorite "toys" were books. I kept board books everywhere. I remember handing them to her in the back seat of the car when she was a year old (over & over...). I enjoyed reading to her & she enjoyed reading to herself. I didn't really ask her to read to me. It was just what we did. There was a lot of repetition and she just picked up on the words, phrases, etc. Not to discount her teachers in school. I know they refined some of her phonics. Anyway, she still reads like a fiend, which is extremely gratifying. We try to go to the used book store so that she can get credit for her previously read books and get more as often as possible. (All three kids do, actually.) She ends up reading most of her books several times over. I did the same thing at her age. Kind of cool.
DD12 (who was just dx'd with dyslexia) was not as much of a reader. She probably started reading independently around 5ish. Her sister read to her a lot & we would all read together. But she did not pick up on it like DD14. I did not feel the need to push the issue, though. We worked on fluency a lot when she was in 2nd grade. She still is not crazy about reading though. I'm sure it has to do with the dyslexia.
DS9 was around 3.5-4. It sounds strange, but I don't remember his process. Probably because he had so many people to read to him. We lived near extended family when he was young. But it definitely came easily to him. He has always preferred non-fiction books to fiction. (He never liked Dr. Seuss.) He wanted to know about how things work, where they came from, etc. So those were the kinds of books I read to him & from which he learned to read. Not the easiest to find for a little guy. Now he drives his sisters crazy because he has learned so much & of course he wants to tell them. And most of the time he is right. Keeps his 14 year old sister on her toes!
