Nighttime reading to the children

Along with Shel Siverstein's books, I am reading to Greg and Jon at night a book co-written by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson entitled Peter and the Starcatchers. It is a hoot! It takes place at sea. Peter is one of five orphans forced to be on a boat that, shall we say, has few comforts. It, along with a pirate ship appropriately named the Sea Devil are chasing a fast ship called The Wasp. There are two trunks believed to be filled with wonderful treasures. We shall see. Jon fidgets a lot during the reading, but he remembers all the characters, and gets all the humor. Harry Potter is still his favorite read. I try to get him and Greg to guess what is going to happen next.

Tonight Sara and I read The Bog Baby, which is exquisitely illustrated by Gwen Millward. We also read The Little Red Hen, which I am sure many of my blog readers remember. The hen tries to enlist the other animals in helping her at various stages of wheatgrowing and breadmaking. No one wants to help until it is time to eat the bread, but by then it is too late. Sara got the message: "When I don't clean my room, I don't get to watch t.v., right, Dad?" "That's right, Sara."

Before it was bedtime, Sara wanted me to see how fast she can run. We went out to a far pasture to collect firewood, and she ran and ran and ran. She really loves to run, and is getting stronger and stronger. I tried to help her with her motion ("elbows in, and move your arms back and forth to help you go faster.") That translated into a weird stroke that looked like a flailing, drowning swimmer, so I said to her, "Just forget that advice, and run naturally, like you were before."