Thursday, April 10, 2008

Reading -- not just a contact sport

Yesterday Owen sat through an entire reading of "Goodnight Moon," the bedtime story we've been reading every night, without once attempting to attack the board book. This is the first time he has been so enthralled by the pictures and words of a story that he hasn’t been desperate to turn the pages back and forth through at least half of it. Until now, reading has been a mostly physical sport for Owen. So watching his wide, enthralled eyes and his finally relaxed arms last night brought me real joy. I’ve got another reader on my hands.

(After our story, Owen and I also make a nightly routine of saying goodnight to at least a dozen different objects -- from lamps and chairs to painted cats and wooden frogs – in Will’s room each night. He loves the goodnight tour, and so do I.)

What nighttime rituals help your children transition to sleep?

2 comments:

Becky said...

My three year old daughter sleeps with me in my bed. Every night we both climb into bed together and she asks "will you lay with me?". So I do and we pretend that we're having a "slumber party". When she's asleep I get up and leave the bedroom until it's my bedtime :)

Becky said...

Incredibly off-topic, but I didn't have any other way to contact you.

Would you be interested in organizing a B.O.L.D. (Birth On Labor Day) event in September?

My e-mail address is vbacwarrior@gmail.com

Read about BOLD here:
http://www.birthonlaborday.com/