Read

It's been a pretty normal week here. Anya and I are happily readjusting to our time together, and Nathan remains busy busy busy. We did have a really nice weekend. We had our friends Kendra and Billy (Kendra is expecting in 8 wks!) over on Saturday evening, and spent the evening chatting and playing Dominos. And Nathan got to clean this weekend, which made him very happy. Seriously. He loves to clean.

One thing that has changed over the past couple weeks is Nathan has begun reading... for fun! Nathan always enjoyed the books he was assigned to read in school, but never had any interest in picking up a book for fun. He thought he didn't like to read. The other day, he was telling me about a movie he wants to see called The Road. He mentioned it was based on a novel. And he kept talking about this movie, that I really did not want to see. So it dawned on me to check it out from the library. I wasn't expecting Nathan to read it, but I figured it was worth a shot. Sure enough, he gave it a chance and was hooked within the first two or three pages. Instead of watching TV in the evening, he'd pick up his book. Instead of bringing the ipod to bed, he'd bring his book. And he finished in no time. Nathan's response was, "I didn't know I liked to read." !!! As soon as I saw he was nearing the end, I ran back to the library to pick up another book.

This time, I picked up a David Sedaris book. I knew Nathan liked what he has heard of him on NPR, so I thought this would be a nice change of pace from The Road. He was skeptical. He wasn't sure whether or not he could get in to it. I pushed for him to give it a chance. Sure enough... by the second or third page, he was hooked again. Needless to say, I couldn't be happier! Its very important that this baby grows up seeing both of his parents reading. But not just reading, reading for fun. Of course we will read to our child, we have already started doing that, but we know that we need to lead by example. I have now made it my responsibility to be Nathan's personal book finder, keeping a book in his hands.

Last week, I read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I was warned not to because of its emotional content. But I did anyway. I figured my emotions have been pretty stable during this pregnancy, I could not put the book down. And while it was very emotional, and caused you to do a lot of reflecting it wasn't until the end that I cried. As I read the book, I knew there was a sad ending... I was expecting the worst... but I was not expecting what actually happened. I feel like after I closed the book, it caused me to do a lot of thinking and reflecting. I like when a book kind of lingers in your mind for a while. I'd now like to see the movie even though I know I will likely cry more watching it... you know how movies are all about emphasizing the drama.

I'm not sure what I'll read next, but I'm happy to know that sparking an interest in books can still happen in people who for almost 25 years thought they didn't like to read.