Reading

Every mom out there knows that when you are pregnant, you just can't help but think of what type of mom you'll become. And with those thoughts, come the thoughts of what type of kids you'll raise. That leads to the fear thoughts - what if my kid is a drug abuser, what if my kid turns into a criminal, those awful middle of the night thoughts. My fear thoughts were different - what if my kid doesn't enjoy reading? I couldn't comprehend raising a child that didn't enjoy reading because reading is my biggest childhood memory. We (my brother and I) read as we flew across the country to FL, we read in the car to the point where our parents would force us to put down our books and look out the window, we read on the boat, we read during summer vacation, I looked forward to reading when I'd get home from college, and when I pack for vacation I pack more books than I do shoes. Okay well maybe not, but I pack a lot of books. Okay and a lot of shoes too.

I did what I could to prepare the house for raising a reader. I stocked up on all types of children's books while I was pregnant with Emma. I renewed my library card, I vowed my children would see my read as a hobby. I was ready to raise a reader.

From the moment she exited my womb, Emma has loved to read. She would sit quietly and listen to books much earlier than I expected, and we graduated to paper pages and complex story lines a year before I thought we would. She'll sit and listen to as many books as you are willing to read to her now, and a trip to the library is sheer delight. She reads her books to her stuffed animals during resting time, she reads board books to Grant if he'll let her, she reads books to herself when no one else will. No doubt, the girlfriend enjoys reading.

Grant has had a different reading journey. Grant also started listening to books at an early age because I read to Emma while I nursed Grant in an effort to keep her out of trouble and give her the snuggle time she saw Grant getting. But once he had a say, he wasn't a big fan of books. He'd try and hit the book out of my hand at bedtime, he'd never stick around longer than 5 seconds if I tried to read him a book during playtime, he didn't have any interest in the book I'd be reading to Emma, and he certainly would NEVER choose to pick up a book to pass the time. I was starting to worry that the boy was not going to enjoy reading.

Then one day a few weeks ago, Grant started picking books out of the drawer and flipping through them. And he started bringing me books and sitting on my lap to indicate he wanted to read it. He sits still through more than one book now. He looks at books at the library instead of tossing them the length of the aisle. The other day, he and Emma and I sat on the couch together and looked at 5 books in a row. Five. I was in awe that this little boy who just last month would only sit still for one bedtime story, was now enjoying reading five books. So maybe I've been worrying for nothing, maybe he's just a slow to warm to reading kid. But I can tell you this, every single time he walks up to me with a book, I stop what I'm doing to read it to him. And our almost burned grilled cheese sandwiches yesterday proves it!