Reading Rainbow and the Daddysaurus

I love to read. Love it. Some people love to watch TV, some people love music. I love to read. I'm not happy unless I'm in the middle of a good book with a nice stack of books on my bedside table, ready to go. I'll read almost anything - biography, travel memoir, chick lit, LDS fiction, mystery, fantasy, history. Sometimes I'll go on a tear and read every book that I have or can get from the library by a specific author. Or I'll find a book about an interesting subject and read several books on that subject. I read two newspapers every day - mainly to keep my brain cells from slowly dying - and subscribe to several magazines, both weekly and monthly. If I have a few minutes to spare during the day and the kids are otherwise occupied, I'll sneak upstairs to grab my book and try to sneak in a chapter or two.

So far the kids seem to love reading as well. There are plenty of habits that I hope they don't get from me, but if they inherit my love of reading I will be thrilled. They love to order books from the Scholastic Book orders that William brings home from preschool and I try to let them order a book every month, as long as it's in the budget. We go to the library at least once a week and they all love picking out books of their own. Henry is reading chapter books; he likes to read books in a series and his current favorites are Arthur and The Secrets of Droon. He also reads books about sports, geography and science. William always chooses books about dinosaurs (surprise, surprise) but has recently begun to branch out into prehistoric mammals. Did you know that the names of prehistoric mammals are harder to pronounce than the names of dinosaurs? Well, they are. Tessa goes with whatever catches her eye - she loves Winnie the Pooh, Dora the Explorer, and Mickey Mouse, as well as storybooks about her favorite princesses. Her favorite bedtime books are Curious George and Dr. Seuss. And who doesn't love a good reading of Green Eggs and Ham?

While reading with the kids is one of my favorite things to do with them, pretend play isn't. Sorry. It just isn't. I get bored playing play dough or fooling around with Tessa's Little People. There are only so many times I can dress and undress her baby doll or place an order from the play kitchen before my eyes start to glaze over. Blocks, plastic dinosaurs, cars and puzzles hold limited appeal. Board games I'm better with, but again, there are only so many games of Candyland or Chutes and Ladders that I can manage (thankfully Henry has moved on to Trouble and Sorry, which hold my attention longer). Thank goodness Jay seems to be a more creative parent than I am. He can do of all the above things with the best of them and even throw in a few rounds of what we call "Dinosaur", which I believe involves the Daddysaurus (Jay) protecting the baby (Tessa) from a predator or two (William and/or Henry). As long as things don't get out of hand, nothing makes the kids happier than a round or two of "Dinosaur" at the end of the day.

Jay is also more of a music lover than I am. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy music. But Jay is the one who loads his Ipod with fun songs for the kids to listen to through the speakers. He puts in the Primary CD that we get every year with songs from the Primary Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation and encourages the kids to learn them. He suggests singing a song during Family Home Evening while I am content to go straight to the lesson. I have come home from an hour or two out by myself on a Saturday and found Jay hanging out with the kids, playing music.

Maybe, between the two of us, Jay and I can help our children love to read, enjoy music, be creative, and have fun. And if they learn a thing or two about evading a rampaging Daddysaurus as well, all the better.