Reading

Even though Gabriel isn't even two yet, he already loves books and loves to be read to.  So I entered him into the Fort Worth Public Library's Summer Reading Program.  We got to log a day of reading in if I read to him (or if he looked through books by himself) for at least 20 minutes a day.  We quickly logged 15 days and the website told us to come by any branch and he would get a prize.  I lallygagged about this, but finally went by last Friday.   We were sent to the customer service desk, and when I told the library employee what we needed, she got this look on her face like, "Yeah, right, I'm sure he really read that much at his age." and I guess thought we were only out for the prize.  I could have assured her this was not the case, since I figured it was probably just some China-made little something or other.  It really made me mad, but of course I didn't say anything.  I mean, if she is skeptical and unenthusiastic about a child reading, what is she doing working there?  She seemed to lighten up when she saw how many library books we were checking out, and when Gabriel waved and said "bye-bye" to her in his cute little baby voice.  (Who wouldn't?)  Of course, when I found out one of the prizes was a free ticket to a Ranger Game, I kind of understood how people might take advantage.  But still.

I love how much he already loves books.  I brought our library books to Mass last night, and he spent almost the whole homily looking through them.  His two favorite books both have trains for the main subject - Puff Puff Chugga Chugga and Chugga Chugga Choo Choo.  He also loves both books I got at Half Price Books for him, which just makes me so happy considering how cheap they were.  We're going again this afternoon, and who knows what new adventures we'll find between the pages?