Storytime last night, with The Little Voice, did not quite go as planned.
TLV (The Little Voice) had eaten a good dinner, including TWO chocolate chip cookies, plus lots of milk. The three of us then went outside, kicked around a big ball, threw the big ball, then took a walk around our 'block'. Bath time included making lots of 'orange juice' with bath water and sharing the OJ with me. (Who knew bath soap could be so tasty!) Then came storytime with Grandpa, which would normally include Grandpa reading story books that TLV has memorized.
However, this night, Grandpa 'encouraged' TLV to pick one of the new books about Grandpa's red tractors. TLV loves his grandpas and tractors and I knew this book would be a hit........with TLV, I thought. The book is a large, hard-cover coffee-table type book, complete with many color pictures and, unfortunately, lots of text explaining each red tractor's history and mechanical components.
The two of them settled in with Giraffe, a blanket,the tractor book, and (this was not Granny-approved) a flashlight. I was moving about, picking up towels, dirty clothes, etc. while enjoying listening to the conversation between grandson and grandfather. I soon realized that I was hearing two totally different lines of dialogue. Grandpa was completely engrossed in reading the technical text accompanying each tractor's photo and, TLV, not quite understanding the complexity of the syntax, was, instead, using the flashlight as a search light over the ceiling, looking for 'mean' and 'friendly' dinosaurs. Several times I interjected my granny-wisdom, imploring Grandpa to look at more pictures and read less, but it was hopeless. Grandpa loved the book and TLV loved sitting on Grandpa's lap scanning the room with his flashlight for T-Rex and friends.
In the end, they were both winners and I kept my teeth firmly implanted in my tongue. It was I who learned that cuddle time is far more important than book content.
Hence, Ancora imparo!
