Mommy is a reader. I've loved reading ever since I was little and even made a career out of it for a short time. I still read a lot, but not as much as I used to before you came along. Now I read for myself only after you go to bed; otherwise, I read your stories to you and try to share my love of reading with my Bug.
Every night before bed, we read. Right now, you sit on my lap and listen quietly for about two minutes before you start grabbing for the book and trying to eat the pages. Last week, you tried to put "Scuffy the Tugboat" into your mouth and got a little paper cut across your cheek. So now I give you something to chew on while we read so you don't interfere with the process. I also want to teach you how to respect books, and chewing on them is definitely a sign of disrespect.
I've been reading to you since you were a few days old. The day after we brought you home from the hospital I read you "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" during the 30 minutes or so that you were awake that day. It was fun reading to you back then, because you laid still and watched my face intently while I read. But usually you dozed off before the book was over and didn't show any reaction at all to the different voices I used to tell the story. Even though you try to eat the books now, at least you're more involved with reading. And I look forward to the day when you can start understanding the stories and all that. But for now, books just make you hungry, and that's okay.
You have a rather impressive library. I tried getting you some of my favorite books as a kid, like "The Velveteen Rabbit," "The Monster at the End of this Book," "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," and "Love You Forever." I also bought you a book of Emily Dickinson's poems, because Emily Dickinson is Mommy's favorite poet. The few times we read her poems together you smiled at me, because it all sounds like I'm singing you a little song. Maybe you'll be a poet like Emily someday.
Every Saturday morning, we go to Storytime at Barnes and Noble. Storytime is freaking awesome. Usually they read two or three books, and sometimes they have a character from one of the books come visit. When Maisy came to visit one time, you went crazy! You flapped your arms like a harpy and cooed and drooled all over my lap. It was awesome. Mostly, though, you just like watching and grinning at the other kids at Storytime. Then, when Storytime actually begins, you're all ears.
You are by far the youngest kid at Storytime, but you are also the most well-behaved. We sit on a little bench in front of the stage and watch the lady read a few books, and you smile every time she looks up at you. She always thinks that you're smiling at the story, but she's wrong. You're just a flirt. Anyway, after every Storytime she comes up to me to tell me how good a listener you are, and how you are her favorite Storytime participant. I keep it a secret that, if you were only closer to the books, you'd be more interested in eating them than anything else.
Bringing you to Storytime is my favorite thing to do with you. We always go alone together because Daddy works Saturday mornings. And, it seems to me, that the perfect Mommy-Bug time is best spent in a library or a book store, since I want to share my most favorite thing with my most favorite person, you. Maybe when you grow up you won't like reading as much as I do, and maybe we won't be able to talk about books like I hope we can. But for the time being, you seem to enjoy trying to gobble your way through our own personal storytime, and you certainly LOVE going to Storytime on Saturday mornings. And I love the time I spend with books, and you.
I love you to the moon, and back!
Mommy
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