Friday, July 21, 2017

Today


This morning, after I ran downstairs to grab another couple of bananas for my hungry kids, I came upstairs to see all three of them sitting quietly on the floor looking at their board book collection.


One of Neva's little post-breakfast rituals is grabbing a stack of books from the book-nook, spreading them out onto daddy's table, and  flipping through each one. There is usually a line of books, at any given moment, sitting on this bench. 

What a fun week the kids have had! On Wednesday night we went to grandma and grandpa's house for aunt Kassidy's birthday dinner. On Thursday we had a play date with Sheryl and her boys. Today Grandma came over to take William and Barrett to the library, and tomorrow the boys are going to a baseball game with uncle Joel and aunt Dayna! 

The boys have been participating in a reading program at the library this summer. Every day that they read for at least 20 minutes (or, as in the case with my kids, are read TO), they put a sticker on a special sheet. For every five stickers they accrue, they get a gold coin, and then they can use those gold coins to shop at the bookstore at the library. My mom had offered to come over to help today, so I asked her to take them to redeem their gold coins at the library bookstore. I knew I would not be able to adequately help the boys pick out their special books if I was trying to corral Neva and Mac. So as I write this blog, they are playing at the library with Grandma, having already redeemed their coins. I can't wait to see the books they've picked out!

Reading is so important to me. I LOVE to read. And I love children's books! I started collecting children's books long before I ever had children. Even before this summer reading program, I've always made it a point to at least have one storytime a day. It's almost my favorite way to spend time with my kids, reading stories. I've always loved books and one of my deepest wishes is to pass that love onto my kids. In my opinion, there's no better spelling and grammar curriculum than reading heaps and heaps of stories. (Of course I am still buying a spelling and grammar curriculum when we homeschool! Got to cover all our bases.)

And to my delight, it does seem as though my kids have developed a love of books of their own. Not a day goes by that doesn't see each of them, at some point in the day, silently flipping through books in the book-nook or on the couch. Neva especially loves books ("gooks")- more, I think, than the boys did at her age. She loves nothing more than to bring me book after book after book, standing beside me as I read them and then quickly running off to fetch the next one. 

When I look beyond the baby years, I truly hope that my kids and I will still enjoy reading together, even after they have learned to read on their own. I envision all of us listening to stories while we put puzzles together, or curling up on the couch together while we read a chapter book as a family. 

We took these later, when Grandma and Grandpa stayed this evening. I so thank God for grandparents like these for my babies. 



















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