the book lady

Hahaha! Last night we had eight hours of uninterrupted sleep! I'm positively dizzy and giddy from all the sleep I got.
What did we do, you ask breathlessly, to make our once-recalcitrant non-sleeper perform such a miraculous feat? What kind of brilliant parenting coup did you score? What, you wonder, is the secret of your magnificence?
I have absolutely no idea!
We didn't do anything different. We fed him (grilled cheese, his new favorite food), we read to him, we played with him, we bathed him, we put on his PJs and he went to sleep. And he slept. All. Night.
His grandmother says that maybe he was sore from trying to walk.
This past week, he's been tentatively taking some steps. He'll take between three and five steps, look all excited, and then collapse to the floor on his butt. Of course, when Charles and I start cheering and standing him back up to do it again, he turns into a noodle, slithers through our grasp and crawls away from us as fast as he can.
Yeah, I can see how that would be tiring, most definitely. But see, when I'm tired, I do this crazy thing called sleeping. Apparently, in Drew's world, the answer to "tired" is not "sleep" but rather "scream."
Anyway.
I've earned a new title at Drew's daycare. No, it's not what you're thinking; it's actually kind of a nice title.
I am...the book lady.
This all started last week; Charles has to be at work at 7:30 a.m. whereas I don't have to be at work until 8:30. In the interest of saving gas money, though, we decided to carpool. Since I have an hour to kill between when I drop off Charles and when I have to be at my desk, I've started hanging out with Drew at his daycare.
That early in the morning, only a few kids have arrived, so they sort of lump them all into one room. Usually, there's two or three one-year-olds, a couple of 3-year-olds and two first-graders who, as they smugly informed me, do not go to "this baby school" but rather were waiting for the bus to take them to "big kids school."
So one of the rituals I developed was to pull a book off the shelf and read a story to Drew before I left for work. We'd read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" or "Good Night Moon" or "Mother Goose" or whatever caught my fancy that particular morning.
What I didn't realize, having never had another child before, was how captivated children are by the simple act of having a book read out loud.
The first time I did this, I was sitting on the floor with Drew in my lap; I was looking down at the book and, when I glanced up while turning a page, I noticed with a start that I was surrounded by suddenly-quiet, raptly attentive children. It was endearing and frankly sort of creepy at the same time.
The two first-graders soon began "helping" me read the books by turning pages, pointing out various features of the page ("that's a red bird! that's a blue horse!") and, lately, they've been making requests as to which book they'd like me to read.
This morning when I arrived with Drew, one of the first-graders was already there. When he saw me, he ran to me and said, "It's the book lady! Will you read us a book?"
That's me; the book lady.
At least it's not the "always forgets to bring extra diapers" lady or the "is always 2 weeks behind on her tuition" lady.

Comments

[Mom]

How great!!!!! You do read with wonderful expression and make it so interesting to listen to. Keep it up!!! Just think what a gift you are giving not only your child but the others as well!! Mom

[miz b]

i am proud of you! i read all the time as i am a librarian, but children love to be read to, no matter who's mommy it is. keep up the good work. wait until a little boy reaches out and rubs your calf to feel the silkiness of your knee highs..now that is the best reward of all...and a little kinky on his part!

[Jan]

What a neat thing to do! I'm sure the daycare workers appreciate you enteraining the kids for a bit, too!