Book Time With The Sprite

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The Very Very Very Lazy Lazy Ladybug as read by His Spriteness.

One busy morning as I am rushing about the house deep in my morning ritual of putting on my cornflakes and pouring nice cold milk over a bowl of underwear, I heard a voice. It was talking, conversing, telling a story. I easily recognised the voice as that of my own child (now THAT'S parenting for ya) but it was different somehow.

It wasn't whining, pleading for some sticky sugary food item he is not allowed. It wasn't crying because the house next door was painted the wrong color. It wasn't screaming, shrieking at the top of his lungs, just to see if it's true  that Daddies eyeballs start to bleed from sound over 21,000hz frequency and 120db of amplitude. No, this sound was quite, peaceful, conversational.

I stopped to listen for a moment, half expecting to hear a secret conversation with a new found imaginary friend, or worse. For him to be speaking in Aramaic, uttering strange ancient curses. But once I poked my head around his door, instead of picking an outfit for to wear today at school, I saw him sitting on the floor, book in hands, reading to himself.

Of course this would make any parent proud. The fact he chose to pick a book, one we had been reading every night for a couple of weeks, and voluntarily entertain himself with words was a huge step in the right direction as far as I am concerned. Not to mention it was darn cute.

Obviously he wasn't actually reading the words off the page. He's a way off from doing that. As I mentioned, we had been reading the book every night, and The Sprite Brain had clearly absorbed the story and memorised the words. This is almost more impressive, a trait he has displayed many times since, memorising words and books with ease. Matching the story to the pictures, and understanding the context, he is able to recount his most popular books.

I told ElectricMommy he would make a great actor if he can memorise his lines that easily. She said if he can remember a birthday or wedding anniversary (something his Dad is incapable of) she'll be happy.