Stop! Daddy Time!

Several months ago, my husband and son discovered a book to enjoy together (a rather thick book) and the ritual of the male bonding began. This nightly reading time with Daddy is coveted and Mommy simply will not do. That's mostly okay with me, although I kind of miss being his go-to parent for all things snuggly. But this has afforded me and the girl-child to have some reading adventures of our own. Why, just last night we finally finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

So, earlier last evening, while sitting around the dinner table, my son asked me, "How was your day today, Mom?" (And he asks in a way that is so grown up and sincere - I'm just sure he really wants to know!) I mumbled something noncommittal as a response, something like, "Fine." or "It was okay." Not unsatisfied, he moves on to dad, "So, Dad, how was your day?" Whose (better) response was (not necessarily based in reality), "Awesome!"

The next thing the boy said was one of those statements that make a parent's heart swell with pride and a mushy-gushy kind of feeling ...

"And it should get better, 'cause we're going to read tonight!"

It's a good thing that thick book has a sequel.

And so I will leave you with this little snippet of a poem from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl (one of my daughter's favorite authors):

Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowing growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.