Like most parents, we have been reading to our children before bed from the time they became ours. I even took books to Russia to read on the plane. I am an avid reader and have desperately wanted to plant that same love in my children. B enjoyed many books, but quickly settled on My Great Aunt Arizona as her personal favorite. We read it in soft back until it fell apart and then replaced it with a hardback copy. B is a struggling reader on her own, but she still loves to be read to and as you can tell from my personal reading list, we continue our nightly reading adventures. Her new favorite is Ruby Holler.
Perhaps because I was occupied with B, who was unwilling to share me, Brian became H's reading partner. We tried reading as a family, but H is very active and her insistence on turning flips during the story made B crazy. Brian does not love to read and their time together quickly became about action books and finally Eye Spies. They spend hours pouring over the pages trying to find all the hidden items. Both of them still claim their favorite family Christmas card as the Eye Spy from several years ago.
J is all about the animals. We jumped around a little but it now seems we will not be able to end our evening without a reading of Margaret Wise Brown's classic, The Big Red Barn. I guess I should not complain as it is classic children's literature at it's best.
L is another story. She continues to struggle with eye focus and for that reason seems to have been captured by music instead of the written word. She is a huge fan of the Beach Boys and The Mamas and the Papas. Her second would be 40's big band swing. She drifts off each evening to her mama's very bad renditions of Favorite Things, Edelweiss, and Amazing Grace.
How thankful I am for those precious moments each evening. I know they should probably be in bed earlier and B needs to do more personal reading, but for now, while they are still so sweet and snuggly, I think we'll keep on reading, searching and singing.
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