Of all the countless parenting dilemmas out there, I never thought I'd face this one, at least not at this early stage. My son, 2 1/2, has turned his yearlong obsession with the alphabet into the ability to read. At first I thought he was just recognizing certain words that he remembers from his favorite books or videos, then I realized he's actually reading.

We were at Babies R Us the other day when he said, "bab." I looked up, and sure enough, most of the store's sign was blocked and he was reading what he saw. My husband took him to the bank the other day and Elias announced "Drive-Through ATM." And this weekend we were at Old Navy waiting at the cash register when he saw a sign (in reverse, mind you, on the store's glass meant for patrons coming toward the store) and said "Baby and kids." That's not even the half of it. He can read practically any three-letter word and lots of simple four-letter words too.

What's the problem, you may ask? Of course, I'm pleased and proud of my little guy. He's super-smart. But my older son Evan is pretty smart too. He's starting to read too, which I think is pretty normal for a 4-year-old. He sounds every letter out, while Elias instinctively just says what he thinks, which is right most of the time.

The dilemma is this: how do I make sure that Evan doesn't feel inferior? For instance, the woman ahead of us in line at Old Navy immediately said, "Oh my God, he just read that sign backwards!"

"Yeah, he's starting to read," I respond, trying to downplay the situation.
"Is that normal?" the woman asks.
"I don't know," I say, "I have two smart boys."

I have no idea if all this fuss about Eli's early reading even affects Evan. But I would guess that it does. I wonder if my response to that woman at Old Navy was lame, or if Evan can see right through my attempts to make him feel good too.