This just gets funner and funner!

I got through college babysitting. I think I've mentioned this before. There was a sweet family that kind of took me in under their wing, and I grew very close to the children. They were very young at that time, 3 and 1, but already were showing what ultimately would be their personalities. The boy, eager to learn, energetic and sweet, the girl reserved and quiet, but once she felt comfortable she was all in. I learned many things from them and their Mom. She was middle aged mom married to a Methodist priest. She was an excellent mother to them. She worked part time, seemed to be balanced and happy. She always seemed to be working on something with them, puzzles, games, drawing, or writing notes.

The one thing that struck me the most was how much she incorporated reading into their childhood. There were lots and lots of books around their house and the children loved to be read to. There was an adventure in each book. I spent countless hours sitting in their floor reading a book to them. When the oldest was in early elementary school, I remember their Mom telling me that she read chapter books to him. This was amazing to me. The fact that she would take this amount time with her child each and every day was selfless, but the fact that he loved that time together was priceless. I remember thinking: I'm gonna do that when I am a mom.

Nearly 10 years later, here I am a Mom. I began collecting books before I was even pregnant with my first child and had hundreds of Little Golden Books from various yard sales and thrift stores. I will never forget the gift she sent for my first baby: 3 books out of the Dr. Seuss Learning Library. So her passion for reading carried on to me and my children.

I guess it was when Josh was about a year old, we began introducing a routine of reading a book every night before bedtime. We would sit in the nursery, in the yellow rocking chair and read books like "Goodnight Moon, The Going to Bed Book, I Love You This Much, The Goodnight Book and The Good Morning Book" At first I remember it feeling awkward, but soon he began to listen and turn the pages. Now I at ages 4 and 6, reading is an integral part of our bedtime routine and something they look forward to every night. Each gets to pick out a book to read, we lay on Mommy and Daddy's bed together and either Daddy or I read the books to them. Then a bible story.

When Josh turned about 5, he seemed to be having a hard time falling asleep at bedtime, so I decided to try to read a chapter book to him after my youngest went to bed. It was a way to incorporate some special time with just him in the day. He loved it. I thought at first he was just amusing me to get to stay up later, but after reading to him he would ask questions that proved to me he had been listening. Now he is 6 1/2 and we have read many many chapter books together. It has become a treasured time in which we both look forward to each and every day.

By far the most meaningful books we have read together has been the CS Lewis series, Narnia. We only started these this summer and we are on the 2nd in the series right now. I was hesitant to read these to him, worried they would be too deep, boring, wordy or I would lose his interest. In The Magician's Nephew, the first in the series of 7, there is a very moving chapter about the creation of Narnia. I can't even explain into words what it was like reading this aloud and thinking about God and how he created this world. I never dreamed that my 6 1/2 year old son would make the same connection, but I remember him saying "Mom! That sounds like when God created the Earth!" That alone was a very powerful and moving moment for me.

I am so glad that throughout my life I have had so many examples of great Mothers. From each of them I take different things...I'm so glad Laura gave me this example. It is a true gift in my life that I will treasure forever.

As we finished our chapter of the 2nd in the Narnia Series, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," last night, Josh got up from the couch and my arms and turned around and said: "Mommy, this just gets funner and funner!" His eyes wide and face lit up. My heart...was full.



books we've read: *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, The Adventures of Buster Bear, The Boxcar Children books #1, 2, and 3, Superfudge, Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, Junie B. Jones First Grader at Last, *Junie B. Jones Toothless Wonder, The Tale of Desperaux, *The Miraculous Adventures of Edward Tulane, *The Magician's Nephew, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, Charlotte's Web, Peter Pan

*our favorites