Metal Meredith

I have read this book no less than 23 times in the past three days. And amazingly, I am not complaining about it.

From very early, we read to Vivienne. She would sit in our lap in our big red rocking chair and absorb every word. She wasn’t interested in turning the pages herself or eating the book. She liked to have us read to her.

When we tried this with Henry, we found ourselves wrestling the book from his grip. We removed it several times from his mouth. We rescued it from being torn, folded and turned inside-out. It wasn’t enjoyable to read to him and he didn’t enjoy the act of being read to. Until now.

This week, he started picking up tiny board books and paging through them. I sat amazed at the lack of destruction while he did this. Then, to my surprise, he handed me a book. I turned the pages and read the words, “Hand Hand Fingers Thumb One thumb One thumb Drumming on a drum” and he sat still. At one point, he turned to me and gave me a small head butt, which is his way of kissing me (or more to the point, getting me to kiss him.)

Since then, he has brought this book to me many, many times a day. He will grunt and put it in my hands. I have read the book so much that I am thinking millions of monkeys drumming on drums will show up in my dreams this weekend. It is a small price to pay for a boy who might just end up liking books as much as his sister and I do.