Learning new things

We're learning new things in this house.
     Last fall I bought Zander the book "Learn to read in 100 easy lessons". I have been very nervous all along when it comes to teaching my children to read. My sister and I read at 4, but all my older 3 have learned to read in public school kindergarten between 5 and 6.
      Zander is his own being. He is totally different from his big brothers and has been a new adventure all around. I know I have a few more months to a year and a half before he has to start kinder, but he's so smart and so ready. A few months ago he looked at the clock in the kitchen and read me the time. No one had taught him to do it, he just did.
     Yesterday I found the Learn to Read book on the table. I didn't put it there, but there it laid. So after doing lessons at the table with the big kids, I called Zander over and opened the book. We went through Lesson 1. He loved it. We moved very quickly through it and then practiced writing the letter/letter sounds we had learned. We made the letters out of cheerios and he got to eat those.
     Later in the day yesterday I again asked him about his lesson and he remembered what he had learned. So today we sat down to do it again. He again whizzed through the lesson. I am loving seeing him learn and do these Lessons.
     I don't know where we will end up with this, but for now he's loving and it and I'm loving it. We'll do it until it's not working and then see where we are.

     Then there is Mason. Our little free range baby. We pretty much let him do anything he wants. He had his first birthday last month and is just a learning/developing little thing. He has mastered walking and is almost running. He can stoop and stand back up. He can stand from holding on to the floor. He loves to be outdoors with his brothers.
     But Mason's biggest accomplishment is learning to fall asleep on his own. We do not want him to cry himself to sleep or feel alone or abandoned in bed, so until the last week or so he was put to sleep and then transferred to bed. Tony decided one night after me trying to lay him down, when I thought he was asleep, to comfort him and rub his back until he settled (Little secret, he's much better for his dad than me.) I said as long as Mason didn't cry he could do that.
     Well it has been such a blessing because I was sometimes fighting Mason for 30-45 minutes to fall asleep. We now nurse and snuggle and then Tony or I, go in with him until he's asleep. He's a good sleeper and needs his naps, but sometimes with the commotion of 5 older siblings and anything else we have going on his naps get messed up. He has also been sleeping better at night.