Sometimes You Have to Follow Their Lead

Yesterday was a success - sort of.  Mr. A more than happily grabbed his pirate book and settled in for a good read.  In fact, we had to read it twice, which I was more than happy to do.  He's totally engaged with this book.  He points out the shark eating the soccer ball every time, and loves the pirate cat.  After the second reading I asked if he wanted to color a picture of a pirate.  Mr. A yelled "YES!!!" I thought I was really on a roll.  I broke out the coloring pages and crayons.  It turned out he only wanted to watch me color, not actually handle the crayons himself.  I got exactly three black lines on a jolly roger before he was ready to move on.  We went outside to play instead.  That was alright because even though he didn't want to color, we got to read and have just-the-two-of-us time.  Those were my big goals for the day anyway.

Today, we're going to do more of the same.  I filled the wading pool this morning and I'm thinking the little guy will have more fun in it when his sisters aren't splashing him to death.  We'll break out our large collection of balls again, and have fun floating them and throwing them and whatever he wants.  And since I am still encouraging his interest in books, just before it's time to head in for nap time I'll teach him to jump like a frog.  We'll jump and ribbit till he's tired of that, then get ready for a rest.  If I'm lucky he'll be excited about this froggy book before he goes to sleep.

Here's to growing a reader and enjoying our time together!