Butterfly in the Sky

I don't like to read. Elliott doesn't like to read. Well, I think that we do like to read, actually. We've both bought and read books and enjoyed them. We've also purchased several books with the intentions of reading them. The intention is still there, it's just lower, much lower, on the priorities list than the average person's intentions to read. Those people actually do follow through with their intentions. I know, sad sad. I do, however, LOVE children's books. I could have bookshelves and bookshelves filled top to bottom with hardbound, soft cover, plush, board, pop-up, lift-the-flap, pull-the-tab, and the family favorite, touch-and-feel, children's books. I could read them all day. I think I read so many books in elementary school (chapter and picture) that I got enough of a boost throughout my upper education to save me in times when cliff notes, skimming, and BS'ing were all I had in a paper or group discussion. I think all of life's most fundamental lessons can be found in one children's book or another. Today I received my copy of "Everybody Poops" in the mail. I bought a copy off of Amazon for my potty-training nephew and thought, "Well I know I'll need a copy for myself." Regardless of any interest Beckett may have, I love this book too much to not place it in my house where childhood memories of giggles can surface each time I open the cover.


I constantly see Beckett with a book in his hand, "Goodnight Moon," "Baby Touch and Feel Farm" (and Christmas gift from Nana and Papa), and of course his usual collection of Sesame Street board books. Today it was "Waiting for Cookie," a book where Cookie Monster learns patience (though not very well, in this reader's opinion).  Beckett is flipping through them while a show is on, hardly paying attention to the images on TV. He is pulling them off the top shelf of his bookshelf to create a suitable pile on the ground for him to pull from when his current book will not do anymore. I'll pull him onto my lap and start reading the pages, allowing him to turn them of course. This is simply not enough for the boy who wants nothing more than to get every ounce of doing and being in during a single day. Hopefully this will mean a more revved up enthusiasm for reading. Which, for the record, I may not be in a position to say this as I am severely lacking in the habitual aspect of reading,  but I really don't care much for the Kindle's. I'm a fan of the etextbook for iPad, but not much else. Maybe it's just because I like having and getting stuff now and then... and often. And when I want a book for one reason or another, I like the thrill of going to the store, wandering through the aisles of Barne's and Noble, smelling the fresh pages, and finding my book. I like closing the cover and hearing the audible "thud" when I place it on the coffee table. It's a "thud" sound because if I actually get through a book, I feel as if I've just run a marathon and am proudly collapsing on the ground... Or in this case, a table.  

Gritty Baby.