Story Time

There is nothing more attractive than watching/listening to my husband read stories to our little boys. It has become one of my favourite times of the day again. Supper has been cleaned up, pajama and diaper wars are over for the day, and we all cozy in for story time.

My mom loves to tell me about how my Dad would read out loud to me when I was a baby. One of my first books was apparently Hamlet at one month old (we are not quite that hardcore). I vividly remember story time and especially loving the tales my parents would make up. Dad invented a planet named Blue June and told stories about the characters and life on the planet while he drove us up to visit our Oma and Opa on the weekend. Mom had a series of stories she created about the adventures of Rufus the dog. I remember begging my Dad to ask me math questions after story time (nerd) and I remember nights when my mom was too tired from single parenting and working and she would put story-vinyl on the record player full blast so that we could listen from our rooms.

Tonight, Stephen was reading the books to Felix and I was sitting nearby with Willabee on my lap. Every time Stephen turned the page to a new picture his legs would kick like mad with excitement. I guess Wilbert had a pre-introduction to many of these books while he was still in my belly and Felix would squish him as he tried to get comfortable on a shrinking piece of my lap. Still, it is incredible to see Wilbert's delight with books at such a young age.

And Felix, who is a very active and busy 2 year old, never sits more still or with more focus than at story time. I love testing to see which books he has memorized by seeing if he can finish the sentences or by changing something up and seeing if he reacts. We love it when we notice that Felix has picked up a phrase from a book and uses it in every day life such as when he started chanting "Two weeks two weeks!" from The Very Hungry Caterpillar or "not even a meatball" from The Paper Bag Princess.

The best part is that the fun is only beginning. I can't wait until we can start reading more and more interesting books together.