I like my Mamma

We are at the beach in Wilmington. As usual, PJ had a hard time falling asleep tonite. Josh and I were in the living room and after about 45 minutes, we hear him pushing buttons on the alarm clock. Tried a new tactic. I said, “Are you still having a hard time falling asleep?”

“Yeah, I’m having a hard time, Mamma.”

So, I said, “OK, let’s try reading a few books and see if it will help you get sleepy.” I turned the light on dim and handed him a stack of books. “I’ll check on you in 10 minutes.”

“OK, Mamma.”

After 10 minutes or so, I checked back. “Are you sleepy yet?”

“No.”

“OK, I’ll check on you again in 10 minutes.”

10 minutes later, “Are you sleepy yet?”

“No.”

“OK, I’ll check on you again in 10 minutes.”

“Mamma, I want you to stay with me.” Puppy dog eyes. “I want you to read me this book.” And he points to Cat in the Hat.

“OK, just ONE book.” I said.

So I point to the cover and point to each word as I read it. Lately, he’s really started to catch on that something is happening with individual letters to make words. He is always trying to decide what letter a word starts with. “The – Cat – in – the -” And then I said, “What is that letter?”

“H.”

“What does it say?”

“Huh.”

“Yes – what is that letter?”

“A… aaa.”

“Yes, and what is this letter?”

“T – tuh!”

So then I sounded them out. “Huh — aaa — tuh; huh — aaa — tuh; huh – aaa – tuh…. what does it say?” We sounded it out a few times and he said, “hat!”

“Yes! You read a word!!! HAT!”

We were so excited. So throughout the book we tried to read the big sound effect words in all capitals, but he was so excited, nothing really worked. But it was fun anyway. After reading a page somewhere in the middle of the book, PJ snuggled up next to me, gave me a hug and said, very deliberately (and for the first time), “I LIKE my Mamma.” And then again for emphasis (one of the few times lately that this new fascination with repetition hasn’t annoyed me), “I like MY Mamma.”

Melt, melt, melt. “I like my PJ. I LIKE MY PJ.”

And then we finished the book. And then he almost had a fit about putting the books away, but that’s another story…