We've turned the page...

... on really enjoying being read to. When we first met Gwen, she tolerated books only if she had her bedtime bottle to keep her still while we read to her. Things have improved greatly since then, and there have been a good handful of books that she's liked, but mostly those were books that had some kind of bells and whistles to keep her interest, like flaps to peek under or textures to touch.

Caleb, being the first child, was the only one who received my undivided attention as a toddler. I started reading to him early and often. I was also pregnant when he was a toddler, so reading to him seemed like a nice, sedentary activity. We had lots of time to read... and at the age of two, he would sit and listen to stories for long stretches of time, much to my weary body's relief.

This fourth time around, I have much less time to read to my toddler. Fortunately I have other readers in my house now, readers who are doing a bang-up job of reading "Goodnight Moon" and other favorites to their little sister. I am trying to give myself some extra moments at naptime and bedtime to sit with Gwen and read, because now, instead of just making it through one book on her attention span, she is lingering over pages, making extra sound effects, turning back to favorite pages, and getting up to pick the next book when the first one is finished.

I'm so thankful. I love to read to my children. I would go so far to say that for me it is one of the greatest pleasures of parenting. Even if the story is so familiar that I could recite it in my sleep...

In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red balloon...