A Love for Reading

I cannot express how grateful I am that Rebecca & Mary-Gail have a love and desire for reading and books. Each night we read, starting around 6 pm (after dinner & baths) and finishing around 7:30 pm, before songs & prayers. Rebecca & Mary-Gail clamor for a spot on my lap, armed with their milk ("sippy cups" as Rebecca says) and we read our stories. Both girls jump out of my lap when I ask them to get us another book. Sometimes we read the same story again and again, as requested by Mary-Gail. "Read it again" or sometimes she'll just say, "again!" in her smiling, laughing voice. She knows I'll read it again...after I copy-cat her request in an imitated "MaryGail"voice, and after I tickle her.

*** These pictures are from our Las Vegas, NV, trip March 29, 2009 - Arpil 2, 2009. Carly drove up from Arizona, and Dadda flew in from Utah. They stayed with us for a couple days and got to read books to Becca & Miguel (and Pixie & ArlaMae!) ***

Hey, Wake Up!

In Grandma's Arms


The Monster At The End of This Book
Pappy reading to the girls. Rebecca was nervous about his "hurt heart" (Pappy had Open Heart Surgery in January)

The Monster At The End Of This Book - a Mary-Gail favorite

(she has memorized this book and will read it to herself! Favorite quotes: "Shhhh, listen, I have an idea;" "You turned another page!" "You make a terrible mess;" "Oh, I am so embarrassed!")

I can say as a new mother, I felt as if I had failed my daughters, yet again, because I was not reading to them. Marianne, sweet Marianne - the RN from the County Health Clinic - looked astonished when I answered her question with a "No" if I had been reading to Rebecca & Mary-Gail. They were 4 months old (1 month if you adjusted for their age), and had been home only a short month before Marianne began her monthly visits with us. I could have sworn she gasped at my answer, didn't you think so, Mom? (Mom was there, luckily, and had to seriously console me after Marianne left). Marianne left us 2 paperback books, "The Kissing Hand," and "The 10 Best Things About My Dad."

I read to them after that, sometimes crying thinking how much "damage" had I caused by not reading to them immediately. I felt as if I had handicapped Rebecca & Mary-Gail further by not reading to them from day 1. Another failure! Silly me. Silly, silly, silly. There is no damage, no damage at all. Rebecca & Mary-Gail LOVE to read, they love it! I had to put "The Kissing Hand" in the mending box because Miguel "handled" it so much; and "The 10 Best Things About My Dad" remains a hit with Rebecca and has become a book that only Daddy can read. ("Daddy read it!" she says) O.K! I know I'll have to add "The Monster at the End of This Book" to the mending box, but at least I know it's getting read!