An Audible "Click"

Two likes to read. He reads pretty well for his age. Nevertheless, it is never his chosen activity. When he is asked to read, he reads, and he enjoys himself. We read side-by-side in my bed every night, and he likes his books and telling me about them afterwards. But I have never seen him voluntarily pick up a book and curl up in a corner to read. He is a doer and a mover. He rarely makes it through a favorite movie without getting up in the middle; he usually goes off to make something related to the show, and then comes back in time for the end.

Yesterday, something changed. I don't know if it's permanent: it may be completely specific to the book in question. But I brought him home the first volume of The Spiderwick Chronicles, told him it was the favorite series of all the 2nd graders when his brother was his age ... and he couldn't put it down. The child who proudly announces "I read one chapter!" and runs off to play read four chapters of that book in several hours time. He brought it in the car, he read at the dinner table at the restaurant, he sniffled when told he had to put down the book and get ready for bed, and then he read in my bed until I had to order him to stop. He brought it into his own bed, and blissfully ignored me as I kissed him goodnight, wanting only to get back to "the interesting parts".

Husband and I heard a "click". It may take a thousand more to turn him into a real book-loving reader; he may never get there at all. But we heard the click, and we went to bed happy.

A note on the picture: he's reading on the way to bed, trying to drag Knight with him. His get-up? You'd dress funny too, if you had 2% bodyfat.