Back to School

School is back in session so I’m back at work full time. While I miss the boys like crazy during the day, I am so excited that they both absolutely love their teachers this year. When I went to pick up my little guy after the first day he exclaimed, “Mommy, I get to come back tomorrow!” My oldest was also pumped because he got the teacher he had been hoping for. We are very blessed!

During the summer, the boys enjoyed late night movie marathons and sleeping in as long as they wanted, but with the school year starting it means that bedtimes have been moved up. We have found that the easiest way to get the boys to sleep at a decent hour is to read them a story before bed. My iPad makes this so much easier because I can turn off all the lights in their room and turn my iPad’s screen to the darkest setting so that they aren’t distracted by anything in their room, thus making it easier for them to fall asleep quickly. Last year David and I tried taking turns reading to the boys, but with all of the lights turned out, David has a hard time staying awake so I have taken up the task or reading to them each night. I usually give the boys a list of books and let them take turns choosing what we are going to read. Last year we read several classics including The Jungle Book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, and many more (an added bonus is that you can download many classic tales on your tablet for free). Just before my oldest started going to school, I read him Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary because I thought hearing about Henry going to school would make him excited about school as well. It worked so I decided to try the same strategy with my little guy, this time reading Beverly Cleary’s Ramona the Pest. Thankfully it had the same results. I’m sure we’ll be back to reading Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby books before too long, but for now, the boys have moved onto the classic tale, The Wind in the Willows.

An unexpected outcome of our nightly readings has been that the boys actually look forward to bedtime. They are eager to know what happens next in the story or to pick their next great adventure so there is rarely a night that they resist climbing into bed. Another advantage has been that as our oldest grows more confident in his reading abilities, he actually chooses to read books on his own time, without me nagging him. I have always felt that there is nothing better for a child’s imagination than a love of books so it warms my heart to see them falling in love with stories and with reading. Hopefully it will carry on for the rest of their lives.