I read all kinds of books to Jaclyn. Long, short, in english, in Romanian, I translate live – she like me reading to her because for now, she understands the words that come out of my mouth easier. With daddy she needs to make an effort. But in the long run all the effort is paying off. So we continue to take turns in reading to her.
Sometimes she gets restless when I read the long stories. And we keep telling her to sit still. She tries. When she pretends to read us stories she tells us with a serious face: “now you sit still while I read. Because if you don’t, I will close the book and go to bed and not read one more word to you”.
To my surprise, while she fidgets, she listens well. She reacts to the funny parts or empathizes with certain ones. I still feel like I read into a vacuum sometimes, as the fidgeting turns into humming or leaving my side.
On the other hand, when we make up stories she is mesmerized (maybe it’s the rhythm of talking). When we went to Budapest we didn’t bring any books with us, so we made up stories about a princess. Daddy told her a made-up story in english and she listened through the whole thing.
Yesterday she sang a whole song I used to sing to her months ago. Big words too. Words she used to interrupt me during singing to ask what they mean.
We roll with the punches as they say.
I only search my heart in earnest, and pray to do well by her and by us.