A chapel speaker told the kids to raise their hands as he queried them about what they like to do. I watched Zeke for his response. “Who likes to play games?” Zeke’s hand went up. “Who likes to watch shows?’ Zeke’s hand went up. “Who likes to read books?” Zeke’s hand stayed firmly in his lap, and I hung my head in shame.
My first child loves books as much as me. I read to him while he was in the womb. I read to him while he was an infant. I read to him while he was a toddler. I read to him while he was a child. He reads and reads and reads.
My second child followed nineteen months after my first and was subjected to the same reading routine. Although she loves listening to music best, she also likes to read. She prefers historical fiction and strange stories by Roald Dahl.
My third child wasn’t read to as extensively as the first two, but I read to him often and we read books out loud together as a family when he was young. He prefers to build things, but also likes to read books that teach him about science, animals, and how things work. He is especially fascinated by the elaborate pop up books of Carter, Sabuda, or Reinhart.
I neglected to read extensively to my fourth child, so he taught himself to read. However, he is not interested in the enjoyment of reading. His latest purpose for reading is to find places on maps and check the traffic and weather reports.
When my kids sit down to read the blog together, Zeke insists on getting his turn. Usually the older kids will find shorter, less complicated posts for him to read out loud. I suspect they must read along silently, because by the time Zeke finishes, what he has read and what I had written are quite different.
Lately, he has decided to vary his reading skills with sound effects. Because he was racing through the words without bothering to stop at periods, I told him to take a breath whenever he gets to the period. So, now at the end of a sentence you will hear “heum hah.” In the event of three dots to indicate a pause (…) “heum hah, heum hah, heum hah” will be heard. (When I told this story to Dale, he informed me that the three dots are called an ellipsis.)
Isn’t he a smart one.
Furthermore, when Zeke reads a question, he now finds it appropriate to pause and say “hmm?” Finally, Zeke has decided that my blog poems need to be set to a tune which he will make up on the spot. Between his tune and my poetry…
Well, somethings are best avoided.