Cal has suddenly expressed a Great Interest in reading. To be fair, he is very proud when he can read things on his own, but he still prefers being read to, because why should he have to put in all that effort when he can just lay back and let Momanddad mangle the more rickety portions of The Lorax for him? Reminds me of that Simpsons where Homer is in the hospital and sees that guy on the ventilator. "And here I am, breathing on my own like a sucker." (I paraphrase.)
But anyway, it puts a song in my heart to be a nerd and have my child express these budding nerdistic qualities (some of my most cozy memories of childhood are lying on the couch with a giant pile of books next to me--no, I was not very good at sports, nor did I have any friends, why do you ask?) so of course when Cal started talking about reading, I immediately pounced onto Amazon and ordered him a kings ransom of "I Can Read!" titles, Uncle Elephant, Frog and Toad are Friends, Bread and Jam for Frances etcetera. Oh, and Amelia Bedelia. It remains to be seen if the somewhat more nuanced fumblings of Amelia Bedelia will be above a four year-old's head (this is a kid who says that his favorite part of "Monsters Inc." is when Mike Wizowsky burps up the microphone) but whatever, we'll see.
I worked him into a fine frenzy rolling yesterday when I kept telling him that the books were set to be delivered that afternoon, that evening at the latest (creating the saddest possible tableau of him sitting next to the door looking for the mail truck) until I realized that it was President's Day and thus no mail delivery. And so it goes. But for sure they will come today, and frankly I am just as excited as he is. My little old man is becoming old for real!