My earliest memories are of bedtime at our house in Forty-Fort, reading in bed to my mom or dad. I guess I was around four. I could read long before I ever stepped inside a classroom, and my love of books just never stopped. It continued all through elementary and high school. My sophmore year, when I took a creative writing class that consisted of all seniors, I realized I was a pretty good writer, too. I went to college to be an English teacher. I'm not a huge fan of TV; there are a few shows I like, but it's usually just on for background noise... and I'm not crazy about movies. Instead, I love books and I'm fascinated by words and language and the emotions that go into writing something really great and powerful.
So of course, I want to instill these values in Mason. I want him to love to read and write, like I do. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'd be disappointed in him if he didn't love it, but I want to be able to share with him the books I loved as a child and still love today. We'll start out with Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney and move on to Hemingway and Faulkner.
Which brings me to last night. Mason has a pretty simple schedule at night. When we follow it he tends to sleep better, so I sleep better, and everyone is happier. At 8:30 I take him in for his bath, I let him splash around for awhile, he's clean and happy by 9:00, and then he eats in bed with the lights off. At 9:30 I can drop him into his bassinet and he's out. Last night I decided I'd get out my favorite Dr. Seuss book, The Sneetches. I thought we could throw five pages a night into his routine, after his bath, before his feeding. Even if he can't understand the story, he likes hearing my voice and the pictures are really colorful. So I started reading and he started squirming in my lap. Okay, maybe three pages a night. Then he started to fuss. Just let me get through the first page. But I hadn't read the whole first sentence when he really started to cry. He didn't want to read... he was tired, hungry, had to poop, and wanted nothing to do with this sneetch business.
I was more than a little disappointed when I put the book away and fed my crying baby. Maybe it's impossible to instill the love of reading in a ten week old baby.
But that won't stop me from trying again tonight.
2 comments:
you are a wonderful mother. mason is so lucky that you're his mom! i was a reader when i was really little too, so definitely keep trying. and when he hits about 12, throw him some whitman. ;)
ha! mady will go as far as to kick the book out of my hands. on purpose i swear. maybe she'll like math better.
Post a Comment