Reading...ahhhh

It is still so strange for me to think that Agustín's reading. He is doing a great job in Spanish, but sometimes he surprises me and reads in English just as well. I love the fact that he can pick something up and read what it is about. Or that he can read the signs on the road, or at the store, and know what's going on. It is a huge step in independence, something that I think most of us take for granted.

Watching him decipher what things say has reminded me of how I felt at that age, realizing that there was an entire world out there in words. It has reminded me of my favorite books when I was just a little bigger than him: The Littles, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Harriet the Spy, The Boxcar Children. He is reading a book in school called Un Día Más, short stories about animals that are in danger of extinction (the animals are characters in their own adventures), and although he doesn't like having to read it for homework, I think he enjoys the stories, and being able to sit down and read it himself. We are also currently rereading the Captain Underpants series that Grandma Chris gave us this summer, and he notices if I miss any parts.

I don't know if he will become a reader, and I don't want to push it too much, but just watching him read makes me feel so happy and proud. Yet sad. He is growing up way too fast!

About to figure it out

Agustin is getting to the age where, any one of these days, he is going to figure a few things out and make the transition from toddler/young child to young boy. Tonight Nicolas chose "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as his bedtime story and Agustin started asking the questions: "Why does Santa only wear red and white? That seems strange." and "How can Santa deliver presents - doesn't he need to sleep?" and "I really don't think Santa can fit down a chimney - and it's too dangerous!" Of course I came up with a good enough answer for each one, but day by day it gets harder and harder.

The other day he said to me that monsters don't exist. "Of course they don't, honey," was my immediate response. But then he looked at me quizzically and said, "But then fairies don't, either."

I dread these talks because one day, inevitably, the light bulb will go off and my little boy will be a big boy. :(

Bedtime Music Ritual

Grandma Chris gave the kids these books with funny songs a couple years ago. The one the kids like the most is "Philadelphia Chickens". They will often sit on their bed during the day and turn on the music and just listen while they follow along with the books. They listen to it as they fall asleep, too. Daddy hates it - he says they listen too loud, but I love it. I think it is cute that they want to listen to music as they fall asleep (I remember doing the same), and they are easier to convince to go to bed now and seem to wake up fewer times during the night.

New pyjamas

One of my favorite things to get the kids is pyjamas. I love seeing them all comfy and warm in their pjs. Tonight we got to wear new ones - a pair Grandma Chris had given us a while back that were too big (in Agustin's case) but finally fit, and a pair that used to be Big Brother's, not that Little Brother knows that, of course!

Tin loves his new pj bottoms (the black Spiderman), and I keep catching him admiring them, from the back, from the side, from the front. Now he is convinced that he is Spiderman, and shoots webs from his wrists all day long.

ETA Pyjamas = British spelling