Stroller-Walking: the Littles Version

The Little Man has discovered chapter books.

Well, let me clarify. He has not so much discovered chapter books (this year I've force fed him Mr Popper's Penguins and Farmer Boy, oh, and Mary Poppins and now The Little Prince) as he has discovered that he loves chapter books. And when I say "loves", I really mean that he is showing signs of a genetic disposition towards a reading addiction.

It was sure to crop up sooner or later.

He had it coming from both sides of the family.

The culprit was My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. And it was aided and abetted by Mommy's love of reading out loud and Bruiser's stomach bug. If you're wondering what Bruiser's stomach bug has to do with it, the answer is that while he was sick, we had 4 wonderful days of sleep. The first two while he was feverish and vomiting were not so restful, but after that, he had an extreme break in personality and was going to bed at six, only waking up once a night, and taking naps that lasted longer than 45 minutes.

It was fairly surreal. And it gave me a lot of time to read to the boys.

It also gave me a lot of time to sit on the front porch and watch the sunset while eating chocolate cupcakes. True story. That's not the point.

Anyway, the first night that we sat down to read My Father's Dragon, after the cupcakes and the sunset and the pajamaing and the brushing of the teeth, we read the whole book. No joke. I mean, it's not hugely long, eighty pages or so, but that's a lot for a five and three year old. And they were riveted!

Then it just so happened that I'd gotten the book I got also contained books two and three (this seems more confusing than it really is). So the next day the boys were hounding me to read it to them, but the twins were fussy and it just wasn't going to fly. I suggested to the boys that we take the dog for a walk and get the twins out of the germ infested house, so we loaded up the stroller and went out to enjoy the sunshine together, bringing the book along...just in case we got a chance to read. Well, the Little Man conned me into reading while we walked the dog. Seriously. I'm sure we looked like even more of a circus than usual.

I don't do as much stroller-reading as I did when Alex was a baby. Something about twins and maniacs on bicycles and a crazy four-legged canine.

Then we dropped the dog off at home and went to play in the field next to our house, and by play I mean, I sat on the quilt and finished reading book two out loud.

The next day was full of doctors appointments...which was super fun. There is nothing more enjoyable than taking four kids and a ginormous double stroller and cramming everyone into a tiny, sweltering hospital room. Some days I think back fondly on the time when I could sit for hours in waiting rooms, blissfully reading, all by myself... I think I must've been thinking back to those fond memories when I tucked My Father's Dragon in the diaper bag.

And then Littles found it. And hounded me mercilessly until I read it to him. Even though I was desperately trying to fill out new patient paperwork while still shoving half a stale belVita cracker in the general direction of the twins who were having a yelling contest. Ever resourceful, I told Littles that if I could finish the paperwork and he could get the twins happy, I'd read.

We knocked out two chapters.

I'm making him take book three a little more slowly. I know that crash after binging on the written word. May he experience it more gently than I do.

A few side notes: 

• I hate book jackets; I hate them even more when libraries tape them so that you can't see the maps on the inside covers of fantasy novels. 
• Littles' nose is green in the first picture because of sidewalk chalk. More on this later.
• Blurry pictures are entirely my fault. I'm still trying to figure out the new camera. Expect me to take a while. Nice cameras and grabby handed toddlers do not mix well.
• There is photographic evidence of both me and the Man on multiple Christmases and birthdays with our noses stuck in books. Family gatherings are fun when we're around.