A little room to move

So last night was a relaxing book time for myself and my two youngest, the oldest was under the weather and asleep.  My three year old really likes at times to just hear a book and snuggle next to me, and the youngest just wanted to point at pictures and turn pages.  This is that moment when you see how they just enjoy the time you are giving them, that they really have control over how much they read and we present the stories.  I love the days we just snuggle and read, when they are intone with hearing my voice and the story at hand, it gives me the chance to present the characters and create a style for the listener.
Often when reading to children adults forget that there are characters and that they each have their own voice and the story just becomes a flow of words with little impact of how it was meant to be read, this is not something we think about dads it just is our nature to present the facts and get to the bottom of the story.  So often is the case when all three of my boys want to hear a story and one has a book about bugs the other a counting book, I get caught in the mix of material and this is harder to achieve. 
What you do at that moment is look at the books they bring to you read the title and glance through the pages, this takes very little time.  Then set your mind into the characters setting and take a deep breath.  Last night it was A Charlie Brown Christmas, yes this is what my 3 year old picked, I love Christmas so I was ready. 
This is a Hallmark gift book from their Nana, it is interactive with voices and sounds that really get younger children involved.  Anyone who remembers growing up and watching this special on TV will find this book a joy to read to their children, it is easy to present and with the added interaction it offers you a time to see great smiles.  I love getting into the characters and really letting the story become real for my kids to almost see them looking at me and not the book.  I mean lets face it the lines between Lucy and Charlie are always great and the emotion that Charlie Brown brings really gets you to connect words and emotional reaction, this is a great way to help teach social interaction. 

My youngest chose this book by Richard Scarry which can be found at http://www.fivemile.com.au/ or Amazon.  We have a set of several easy to follow board construction books that are great.  This book is full of bright colors and busy pictures of food, planes, and pigs to name a few.  My yougest was in the mood to point and listen to me talk about the things he pointed to and it abled me to work on pronounceing words and helping him to hear the sounds.  Like Fork, SPoon, TOothBRush,  and to hear him try and repeat those sounds, there is nothing more exciting and comical I love this time with the boys and look forward to it every night.  Knowing that I am offering them a chance to learn and see me in a different way means the world to me.
Until next time have a great day