Reading to them lasts a lifetime!

Miss Missy is home for the second day from her beloved Pre-K class. I know she's sick when she doesn't argue about having to stay home. She loves school. Her teacher is always letting me know that she is very smart. They are impressed with her, always telling me that she's the smartest one in the class. What can I say? She get it from her MAMA!

And here I was thinking that she wasn't going to be much of a scholar. She wasn't anything like the boys. She wouldn't sit through a whole bedtime story and wasn't constantly bringing me books to read to her.

She didn't catch on to recognizing her letters as quickly at 2 as they did and she just didn't seem that into sitting down learning like the boys were.

But here we are! She's starting to read and it's only 2 months into pre-k. I'm proud of her as we sit down to read A House For Little Red by Margaret Hillert and she can recognize so many of the sight words that we went over in the summer time and is almost reading the book to me! Here I was thinking that she was gonna be slacking in comparison to the boys and she is actually excelling.

Runnin' Man, who everyone praises for being so smart, didn't start reading until Kindergarten. I remember very well because the first one he read to me was the same one that Miss Missy and I are practicing reading together. A House For Little Red. I love Margaret Hillert books. They are an easy ready for beginners. Easy and repetitive.

When I was a kid I always wanted my mom to read to me at night. She doesn't let me forget that my favorite book that I ALWAYS chose was Hiram's Red Shirt. I don't remember the author, but it was A Little Golden Book and I had her to read it to me all the time. Snippety Stitch, Snippety Stitch. A little from here makes a little for there! LOL! It was about a farmer who found out that the things that you love don't last forever. Poor Hiram cut up his favorite shirt to patch other parts of the shirt until there was nothing left, which is probably how I read that book! Until there was nothing left! I wish I still had it to read to my kids, though they probably wouldn't love it quite as much as I did.

My mom use to get so tired of me choosing that book, but she was trooper. She'd always read it to me anyway.

I have to get better about reading to my kids. They ask, but a lot of times I just don't make time to do it anymore. It's a big job getting them down as is and a story would just add to the chaos. But I have to make the time. I truly believe that reading to your children broadens their imagination. This is where their love of reading starts. I don't even think they can say that they have a favorite book that they could just read over and over! Oh yeah, I gotta get better!

I mean, I complain about Runnin' Man not liking to read, but I'm not helping the situation. This is why, along with skipping out on church on Sundays because I'm tired, I also have set Sunday's aside as a day to have Power Reading Hours with the kids. During this time, we turn off the TV's and video games and all get in my bed and read a book. I like to choose books that don't have a lot of pictures, where they are required to use their imagination, but right now we are working on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The boys love the series, but Miss Missy is waiting for the princesses and tea party chapter.

Power Reading Hours are the best time of my week. It's a time when I'm not yelling, not chauffeuring, not cooking, not fussing, NOT STRESSING. Just doing something that I love to do anyway, with my children who love the idea of just spending the time together.

Now, if I could only squeeze in those darn bedtime stories!