On Reagan the Reader

Reagan,

Last night, we were reading a Matt Christopher book called Tough to Tackle. It’s our 3rd MC book, and I loved reading them with you because it brings me back to reading them when I was younger. You also like reading a comic book called Dog Man, and it’s something you usually do once I say goodnight and head downstairs. Before bed last night, you and Koen were also drawing and you brought up some paper and a pen and wanted to do that too.

Your mom and my stance on bedtime is kind of like, “if you stay in your room, you can stay up and read or draw or listen to music quietly.” Basically, as long as your calm and in your room, “go ahead.” You boys are mostly good about following the rules, and usually fall asleep within 30 minutes or so of us putting you down. When you get a TV in your room or show that having all the things keeps you awake, we’ll revisit.

Anyway, we’re reading last night and as I’m getting into the chapter, you are trying to draw. I get a little irked, miffed if you will, about me reading to you and you not paying attention because you’re either drawing or reading Dog Man, and I’ll usually have you put the thing down, listen to the story, and when I leave, you can go back to whatever you were doing. I just think you’re not thinking about what is happening in the story when your brain is doing something out, and I also think that being calm and listening to a story will help your little brain from going 100mph like it does for most of the day.

So anyway, we’re reading Tough to Tackle and you decided that you wanted to read to me. I thought it was a great idea and something I should encourage more of, but that is not for this post. I was happy to have you take over.

The way you read is so impressive. You’ve always been a good reader in that you could read words most kids your age couldn’t do then, and definitely can’t do now. It’s not to say you’re the Benjamin Einstein of reading, but I think most adults that see you read know that you’re pretty advanced. But what I loved most is that you’re fantastic at changing your tone to match the story.

Most kids your age read like robots. “The. Dog. Ran. To. The. Field. He. Rolled. And. Was. Very. Ex-ex-cited.” You can imagine. But your tone changes when you read in quotation marks. Your can adjust pace and inflection depending on what is happening in the story. At one point in the book last night, I don’t know exactly what was happening, but the main character was walking home from practice with his teammates. He said something like, “Hey Johnny. What do you think about what coach said today?”

It’s not that the words are overly difficult, but you read it like it was meant to be read. You read it using the type of voice someone who is actually talking to his friend would actually use.

When I write, it’s almost like I’m talking to you in my head. I use a lot of semicolons and hyphens, probably incorrectly at times, but what I think it does is control the pace of what I’m writing. What makes me happy is thinking that you’ll come across these posts someday and when you read them, and they’ll sound the same way to you as they do to me now.

Anyway, I hope you know that I’m proud of you. And I hope you know that I love you so much.

Dad