An Old Friend

My grandson, Connor, loves to be read to. One of the books I had saved from the library of my own children is The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Happily, Connor loves it as much as the children did and as much as I do! He is 10 months old, so isn't close to reading yet, but I do believe the love of reading starts as soon as we give children the chance to hear a good story. Connor loves to play with the hard paged cardboard books, and likes the paper paged books as well, but has learned the joy of tearing paper, so those are reserved for story time. Each time Connor has a story read to him, his posture changes. He settles back. He snuggles up. He knows what is coming. And he loves it. As I get to one of my favorite parts of the book, where Peter comes across the white cat sitting by the pond, I can hear his father's childhood voice say 'cat kitty' and when I read 'Scritch, scratch, scratch, scritch' as Mr. McGregor hoes in his garden, Connor smiles.

While I am sharing a love for reading with Connor and making new memories with my favorite little guy, I am at the same time strolling down memory lane, reliving moments with my own little ones so many years ago.