Reading with Reynolds
When Reynolds was a “wee” baby I read to him every day. Looking back, I wonder if it was because he was just a blob, laying there on the bed and it was nice to hear someone’s voice in the midst of the quiet. And being that we lived 45 minutes outside of Columbia then, I was desperate for voices.
I collected Little Golden Books for him – mainly ones that were geared towards boys, like little “Scuffy The Tugboat” (don’t worry, Eliza Jane will get the “girl” books!) and enjoyed reading those stories I’d read as a child. I also read him The Jesus Storybook Bible, which I thoroughly enjoyed…it’s amazing the stories that you sort of forget or just don’t think about and how a child’s book can put things back into perspective.
Somewhere along the way…probably when R became really squirmy and energetic (read: wild and crazy), the reading sort of stopped. Not that I didn’t try to read to him, because I did, but more like he just got mad and yelled at me if I tried to keep his attention (away from his toys…).
Well, I’m happy to say that he’s come back around and wants to have books read to him! I think it’s because his sweet teachers are reading at daycare and he’s learned that he enjoys the stories (and pictures?).
The last few nights, however, he’s gotten mad at me. He literally wants to read EVERY book on the bookshelf in his room. EVERY.BOOK. Y’all. There has to be at least 25-30 books on that bookshelf. MY attention span is not that long!! And he’s so sweet about it. He knows how to sign “please” so he makes this sweet “ooh” sound, points at the books and signs please. How do you resist?! Well, at first I don’t. I tell him “ok, three books. We’ll read three books and then you go night-night.” You know how this is going to go…. Four books, Five books….and I keep saying “one more, and then it’s night-night.” Tonight we read six and upon him asking for the seventh book I lovingly told him, “no. No more books tonight. It’s time for night-night.” The kid was exhausted but doesn’t know when to just give up and lie down. So he had his short fit, but within 5 minutes he was out like a light!
Mommy and Daddy might have trouble reading (remember this post?), but I’m happy to say that R is eager to get his hands on a book! {Never mind that he took a bite out of “Pinocchio”…}