“I’ll start Winnie The Pooh while you finish your soup”
“No, that’s my job!” he insisted with fun in his voice.
Matthias wouldn’t really call himself a reader, but we read regularly together as a couple and as a family. Tonight I was ready to begin on our bedtime routine with Eliot in the middle of our much-later-than-usual dinner time, but Matthias didn’t want me in my rush to take away his dad duty: reading a chapter from the full collection of Winnie The Pooh. It’s a part of our nightly routine right now and he is the one that reads it out loud.
Do you drink wine? You know that feeling when it warms your throat, chest, and belly? I felt like that tonight when he insisted on me not taking over Winnie The Pooh duty. Warm, fuzzy all the way through. He really loves being the dad who gets to read to our baby.
Eliot is 12 months... He doesn’t laugh at all the funny things Pooh and Piglet have to say or understand the predicament of getting your head stuck in a jar of hunny, but Matthias and I laugh out loud often at the ridiculousness and Eliot plays on the floor nearby while we do. I wonder if he even really knows we’re reading this *for* him. He often babbles and talks or sings loudly while we read. It seems like he’s trying to match his dad’s volume. But we’re happy with our noisy, distractible firstborn.
I am thankful we have a safe place to call home and have a nightly routine in. I am thankful we have time freedom for reading books together. I am thankful for a partner who is learning alongside me how to parent with presentness and intention. Thankful, thankful, thankful. To God be the glory.
**Eliot can sit still looking at a book for aboutttt 90 seconds. Although that is such a sweet picture, it’s not really what our nighttime reading routine regularly looks like.**
