Thalia is a little sick today, and was quite lethargic this evening. I took the opportunity to sit her down and read Goodnight Moon to her. For a good stretch this was Siena’s favorite–or at least most frequently read–book, and I’m hoping it will be for Thalia as well.
She enjoyed the reading quite a bit. It turns out she’s a more participatory reader than Siena was at this age. Which is to say, the reading of each page progressed as follows. I’d turn the page, get it set in front of her, and as I’m reading the page, her little hands reach out and grab the book on each edge, just like I’m holding it. Then those little arms start folding towards her with hydraulic strength (she’s strong!) like a back-hoe moving a boulder. As the book hears her face, she tilts it down and just manages to get the corner of the book into her mouth, at which point I pull it out and move on to the next page.
I read The Going to Bed Book after that, and held it out of her short but stout reach, and she got sufficiently upset about that that we couldn’t even finish the book.