Bookworm

So many developments to record these days... I think I need ten different posts to discuss them all. The biggest change recently is Mazin's love of reading. He doesn't decode the words yet, of course, but he loves the ritual. I say, "go get a book" (or he takes the initiative on his own); he trots over to the shelf and pulls out a favorite, bringing it back to me. Then he eagerly plops down in my lap and waits for me to announce the title. I let him turn the pages. He points to things he recognizes. We play the "where is" game, and he shows off his receptive vocabulary. Certain pages in certain books make him giggle or shriek. Who knows why? When I finish one book, he pops up and retrieves another. He'll do this with five or six books before he's ready for a new activity. Current bestsellers in Mazin's world are Kitten's First Full Moon (in which a precocious little cat mistakes the moon for an elusive bowl of milk); Goodnight Vermont (in which hikers, bikers, and sugarmakers collapse in exhaustion after their frantic days of wholesome outdoor fun); and Go Dog Go (in which a gaggle of pups arrive at a treehouse party by way of a blimp, a boat, and a line of antique cars). There are many others: Curious George Goes to the Zoo, I Love You Stinky Face, Dear Zoo. I wonder what it is that determines his favorites. Is it familiarity, for the most part? Clearly he loves repetition and ritual. Why is that? Because we are wired to learn that way? Is it innate, or does he simply pick up on the fact that our lives are ordered by habit? They say children crave predictability and thrive on routine. But is that behavior shaped first by our desire for them to be predictable and allow us the comfort of our familiar routines? We spend so much time trying to mold and socialize them... part of me wants to let Mazin be wild and free of my impositions. I have already started to let go a little. I don't obsess about the vegetables, instead rejoicing when he accepts anything with the slightest nutritional value. (On the rare occasions that he savors squash, I am positively giddy.) How do you nurture that creative spirit, those brave and inquisitive impulses, while also protecting them from harm? As my son's personality emerges, so does this new parental persona of mine. I, too, am a new person learning new tricks.