One more thing...

I just have to share this.  Lauren as a small child used to play on the computer in the Word program, and last night asked to do it again. So I set her up and went to fold laundry. I came back and this is what she wrote:

I had to admit I looked around on my desk to see if she was copying something written elsewhere, but no. She explained that she has memorized the words 'is', 'and' AND 'ponies'. The other words she explained she sounded them out. She pointed out the AY sound in mermaids. She is learning about different letter combos- like the 'AY' sounds, or the 'SH' sounds. Very exciting to see it all come together for her.