Traditions Continued

The summer I was seven my mom changed me into a reader. That summer she made a deal with me that if I read so many books and/or pages per week she would take me to see a movie each weekend. That was the last time I had to be bribed to read a book. Before that summer I have a progression of memories of reading with my mom that also gave me my love of books. I remember sitting next to her on her bed while she read to me. Then she would read a page and I would read a page and eventually I was reading the whole book to her. My mom made me the reader I am now and I'm hoping to make my kids readers too. It's nice to have another world to slip into for a while and books can offer that mini vacation.

I started reading to Ryan when she was only a few months old. She really wasn't even sitting up that well, but she could rest against me in the rocking chair and we could read together. I started with any book that had lots of bright, pretty pictures to hold her interest and we have slowly worked our way up to the tongue twisters of Dr Seuss and Shel Silverstein. Ryan can already "read" some books to us. She LOVES to read already.

Now I am reading to Braylen. *Sigh* It's hard to accept that he is getting so big, but the proof is there. He babbles all the time now saying Mama and Dada and Hey. Tonight we read about the colors that make a rainbow - again with the bright and pretty pictures. He loves the vivid pictures just like Ryan did. Hopefully by the time he is four he will love reading too.

Hopefully by the time they are both adults they will both love to read.