We’ve turned a corner. He is now “mock reading” alongside his sister. They spend minutes on end like this.
Sure, he’s also still running around in circles, slapping his behind, chanting “shakeyabooty.” More frequently than I would like, he succumbs to his temptation to try to swat the cat. He has a coiled spring-like energy inside him, and when you pick him up under his armpits, and he automatically raises his legs forward, as if to get a little extra workout on his core.
All of this energy pulsated in such a way that he was much older than his sister was when he began to sit still for a whole page of a picture book. (I know! Knock me over with a feather! Biologically rooted differences! Go figure!) We can’t help but love every iota of his being, regardless of where his being takes him. But we were also thrilled to see that the energy in his body is not making it impossible for him to become still and mine wonder from a book.
Some time ago, he began being able to sit through several pages of a picture book at a time. Then he managed a whole short book. And now, on the eve of his second birthday, he is picking up books and sitting down and “reading” them on his own, often inviting “Sissy” to sit next to him. They sat on our bed, above, for a good fifteen minutes, side by side this way.
Long exhale of breath.
This is too heart-meltingly sweet for words! When those little readers emerge, it is absolutely the best.
megincl said it best!! Thank you for your post – I know all too well the reflex of picking up our (just today!) one-year-old son, and having him lift his legs as if he were hanging out on the parallel bars! It also makes me feel like we’re not completely off track, in terms of behavior! His energy seems to know no bounds, and while he will at times play with his books quietly, flipping through the pages, his attention at any times other than bed time seems to be intermittent. Insert dog instead of cat, and the story is the same! Being a first time baba definitely poses a steep learning curve.
Welcome back – or at least, welcome back to taking the steps of getting back after a knock-the-air-out-of-you/us 2008!?
Thank you, justkeepswimming. Seems like baby steps, then I take a breather. Only upside of all this is that it seems to be indicative of what a lot of us are feeling.
These days, your “handle” is a pretty good motto. Both for the toughest job we’ll ever love — rookie parenthood, and the toughest job we’ll really look forward to retiring from — fighting for our own damned civil rights.
oooohhh I love this photo…. I love how it looks like you’ve painted the color into the photo … I love how calm they look but how you can see all that latent energy in the bend of your little boy’s arm.
I love how together they are here.
I’ve got a 22-month-old daughter who swings back and forth between being an intense/joyous/earnest reader (a kind of poet-in-the-making who studies each word and illustration, reads books backwards and forwards over and over and over again) and being an easily bored/destructive reader (like a distracted/impatient patient in the waiting room flipping through bedraggled magazines).