December 4, 2003 - Thursday
Jeremy didn't start out as much a fan of books as Harry did, but he's been coming around for a while and has now certainly come to love stories. His habit is, like most kids I guess, to want to hear the same books over and over and over and mostly that's fine with me. Interestingly, Harry's Preschool has been doing this mini library thing where children are encouraged to take a book home for a few nights. But, all of the books they have are really below Harry's level of interest and what ultimately happens is that Jeremy finds them and reads (has us read) them. That works particularly well because Harry and Jeremy like the same topics, mostly trains, fire fighting, and construction. Harry, at some level, seems to understand this dynamic and so, apparently, do his teachers. They probably ask Harry about the books and he must tell them that Jeremy likes them or has them in his room. I tend to doubt that Harry actually picks books for Jeremy, instead opting for books with an interesting picture on the front only to tire quickly of the limited storyline.

A couple other observations: Jeremy has discovered "the hole" and, after an initial hesitation to lying down to read (he seemed to prefer sitting up), he now regularly holds up a book and says, "reet book me, lie en hole." Also, Harry just can't resist a story (or maybe it's the fact that his brother is getting special attention, I'm not sure), even if it is one of the simple stories he otherwise quickly loses interest in. If Jeremy is in the hole, Harry will invariably climb up on the arm of the sofa and insert himself into the process by pointing out things on the page. It's charming, I suppose, but also annoying in that he's effectively stealing from Jeremy's quality time.


Comments, Opinions?