You are much more aware in the car now, looking out the window and chattering nonstop. Recently, Daddy and I were discussing something in the front seat as we stopped on Interstate Drive by Shoney’s, waiting for our turn to merge onto I-65. Out of nowhere you spell out, “F-O-O-D.”
Surprised, your dad asks, “What does that spell, buddy?”
Your prompt response: “Restaurant.”
You made a request yesterday to read Panda Whispers, a sweet, rhyming story by Mary Beth Owens that tells of various parents in the animal kingdom whispering inspirational messages to their offspring as they drift off to dream. I LOVE it! You hadn’t had the patience for it before today. As an aside or perhaps as background info for this post, I’m not sure what’s going on with the book selection team at Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. It’s a fan-TAS-tic program designed for every child in the state to receive one book a month from birth to age 5. We signed you up at Vandy. Thing is: you’ve received several books that are good books, classics even, but that are a little beyond your age, attention span and fledgling patience. Even though it’s geared for pre-school to grade 2, Panda Whispers seemed to me to be too advanced for you, which leads me back to our story…
At your request, I began to read, and you showed tremendous interest… until we were a little over half-way through. Then you hopped down with no explanation. You returned with your pals Hippo and Sleepy; this seemed reasonable to me, as they are regulars at our story-times. The story was interrupted again, as you made connections between this story and others in your growing collection. For example, when we read about the penguin family, you hopped down to show me the penguins in Pssst. When Red Fox suggests, “You’ll find crickets,” you had to find your Very Quiet Cricket book. It didn’t help the flow of the story, but I’m really impressed with your ability to make those sorts of connections. Lastly, with only 3 pages left, you needed milk. As you left the room to get it, you turned and said, “Momma, you read by self.”
Hahahaha. Well, I did say I love that book.
