I have some pretty bad habits for reading to Maya. She loves books. I mean LOVES books. I mean REALLY LOVES books! I have to read her at least four books before bedtime. Sometimes more. A LOT MORE! And did I mention that as she ages, her books are getting longer.
But it is no problem. Because, you see, I have a perfect naughty solution. I skip pages. That's right! When I am meant to turn one page, I turn two instead (Works especially well with the Mouse Cookie series). Alternatively, I just skip words and phrases. I paraphrase, basically. I mean, a lot of books have lots of unecessary repetition anyway or are just plain wordy. So I just take a few liberties. It works perfectly, and Maya has never noticed ... until tonight!
Tonight we were reading one of Maya's favorite books, Thunder Bunny, and I skipped a line about how Thunder Bunny runs and jumps and thumps his feet like all the other bunnies. And I turned the page. Maya just about had a heart attack. She said: "No. No page. Thunder Bunny jump". And she started bouncing up and down in my lap to demonstrate. And I had to turn back the page and read the text over again. I guess I am not going to be able to wordskimp with Thunder Bunny anymore... Darn! I wonder if this new rule will aply to all books. Hope not!
I actually really enjoy reading with Maya. I just don't like it when it delays bedtime. She is starting to actually like storybooks now, which is really cool. And the previous books that were in book detention -- mostly due to being to scary -- are back on the shelves. We are now reading Corduroy, and tonight she read the Three Billy Goats Gruff with no ill effects.
There is only one casualty from book detention -- the two Llama Llama books. I hid them because Maya used to get scared from even seeing the cover. But the problem is I hid them so well I can't find them...
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2 comments:
I bet the Llama Llama books will be found during the moving process! You also might as well get used to Maya catching on to your choosing to edit as you read. One of the benefits of being read to is that she will eventually learn to read & then you'll be in big trouble. Trust me on this. I know from experience because you're not the first mother who has employed this technique!/ G'ma L.
I have to admit to "editing" the books I read to the kids all day! Maya is looking so big and is so gorgeous. :)
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