I don't remember learning to read either! But from looking at that particular list, it sure does look like you could sound them out. Maybe it's more along the lines of the words are so common, that if you can recognize them easily, then you'll have an easier time of it.
I'm not going to be especially helpful, as I was an early whole-word reader, as was my DS. Hopefully someone else who has had a hand in teaching kids to read will pipe in. Sorry!
Is being an early whole word reader really intuiting the rules behind the words you start to recognize and then applying them to words you don't yet know? That is what I thought it was, but I'm not sure since I have no idea how I learned to read.
