Lost

This sight of Gavin is not uncommon in our house. Much of the time, we find our biggest little person lost in a book. I love that about him... yet it's surprising to me that he enjoys reading as much as he does... You see, he seems to contradict himself in that he is so distractable and full of energy most of the time; that is until a book is placed in his hand. With a book in hand, he won't pay anyone attention, let alone look up, until hunger strikes.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled and proud of his love of reading. I feel like he can do anything, if he can read. Not just 'can' read... but a real willingness and eagerness that comes from the sheer enjoyment of the act.

I used to think that he learned to love reading because he was so darn nosey. He seems to be on a constant quest for information... as a smaller child Monte and I would spell things that we didn't want him to hear in conversations we had in front of him. (How rude of us... I know.) We did that until he started sounding those spellings out and proudly telling us the word.

That nosey spelling gradually turned into our night-time ritual of reading the Paddington Bear chapter books. Gavin loved the stories about the mischievous bear. I enjoyed reading the stories too. We talked about some of the words that were different or challenging, which I really enjoyed as well.

Then last year, his teacher introduced him to Harry Potter and it was all over. Gavin poured through the first three books at which time I cut him off... feeling as though the story was a little dark for my second grader. He moved on to other books, undeterred and discovering new authors to enjoy.

Now he has a stack of books near him most of the time, mostly Rick Riordan. It drives me crazy that he has three or four books half finished... but I guess that's the contradiction coming out in him. Distracted by his distraction...

He's consumed more than two million words since the start of school. (We have an actual count because he tests on every single book that he reads.) I can honestly say that Gavin has read more in 2012 that I did. I'm not sure if I should feel proud or sad... Maybe I'll use it as motivation, motivation to put a book in my own hand and become lost, not looking up until I'm hungry... or more likely until someone else tells me that they're hungry.