We were watching The Voice after the kids went to bed, so that might be influencing my flair for dramatics tonight, but honestly – sometimes, as moms, we just have one of those days! Days when we feel like we are making a dent, like we are making sense, and making memories, like our work is flourishing into joyful kids. And we want to shout from a mountaintop, or a coffee table, whatever, the middle of our living rooms, if our living rooms are too small for a coffee table – that title thing was imaginary… Yes, I embellished! I can’t see straight right now, or think straight, or say anything properly. I am having a moment!
Where was I? Oh – yes. It’s Language and Literature Night, and it all came together tonight. The boys were playing with Lego’s while I read from a new book from the Library, Remarkable. It’s over the top ridiculous, and the boys love it. We got to learn some crazy words like Notorious, Nefarious, Implicate and Accomplice. The story has to be that good, if we are looking up words along the way to fill in the blanks of understanding, while still enjoying the plot, and laughing at the antics of some trouble making twins.
Scott started playing catch with a hat with Bean right in the middle of reading, and I thought I’d lost them all, and got a little sulky, and almost put the book away. But Ben chimed in to please read more. He quoted back to me all the stuff I thought he had been missing in the last page while they were hamming it up, so I went back to reading and didn’t worry about the shenanigans going on in the background. (Kudos for Mom!)
At one point, there was a “WHOMP,” which reminded us that we had learned about Onomatopoeia a while back. It’s always fun when lessons start piling up one on top of the other for fun.
Then it was bedtime, and Ben wanted a flashlight so he could read the book that we are reading together for a Book Club for Mom and Ben. It is our first month. He chose the topic and I went and found the book. He said that because he likes racing and I like scooters, we should find a book about Racing Scooters. Let me tell you, that is not an easy thing to find. There is exactly one book on the topic in the entire world. Luckily, it is fit for his age group. It is Scooter, by Vera B Williams, and so far it is tremendously genius. I got two copies off Amazon.com so that we could each read at our leisure. We started this morning in the car at the bus stop.
He kept coming out of his room, eyes aglow, all excited to tell me about something he was reading, completely forgetting the whole point of a Book Club – to get together someplace cool at a later time and talk about the book. He’s going to tell me all about it before I have a chance to read it. But, it was delightful to see him coming out time after time, with a giant grin, feeling a connection to this book, feeling like the racing and going over jumps was something specifically meant for his enjoyment. He was beside himself.
And thus. I am a very proud, happy mama of a super excited 3rd-Grade Reader.
photo from here
