Bedtime reading

Books and Lil' General are poles apart. So I often wonder when parents tell me they read to their kids who lovingly look at pictures and look forward to bedtime reading. I started reading to LG ever since he was 6 months old. Lucky were the days when I held his attention for a minute. The kid is more keen on flapping pages all eager to tear it into pieces every time he picks up a book. So for a while I got him those hard bound ones that are tough to tear - atleast for a year-old baby.

The Seniol and I are fond of collecting (and reading) books. As a tradition we write something as a signature on the first page followed by the date on which it was bought. Going back to LG's shelf in the book case, we are not surprised to see some dating back to as early as 2002 and 2003 when LG was not even in the 'thinking' stages, forget planning! But we knew all along that he would perhaps share our passion for books if he saw them in the house. Whether to read or not was his choice. I read my share of Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys early on by borrowing from the school library. And never remembered having any novels at home. You would find all sorts of books lying around the house starting with "Eats Shoots and Leaves" under the coffee table to "On Writing" by my bedside table to "The Borderless World" on the dining table. In good measure, there's LG's fairy tales books that I keep handy in his wardrobe. On most occasions, I satisfy myself reading Cinderella and Rapunzel over and over again while LG busies himself in other equally entertaining stuff like plugging in the mosquito coil or separating the pillow from its cover or trying some acrobatic motions on the bed to distract his mother.

So it was only surprising to see LG sit with me at bedtime listening to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and not shred the remaining pages. Capturing this moment on camera distracted him and here he is crying to get his hands on the digicam.