Don the devious dad

Ellie has learned some time ago that she can pretty much get me to read a story whenever she asks even if it is after her bedtime. I know she does it to stay up late, but I think it is better to have her asking to read books than to worry about bedtimes.

Reading has consequently become something of a bedtime ritual, so when I started warming her up to the idea of bed tonight ("You only have 15 minutes...") she asked me to read stories. I picked 3 books out that are favorites of mine, Mrs. Mooley, All the Places to Love, and Green Eggs and Ham.

When we finished, I took her back to her room. I asked her, "Do you want to stay up a little longer?" She said yes of course, so I picked up a boardbook, Time for Bed, that we have been reading a lot lately and said, "If you want to stay up, take this in to Mom and ask her to read it to you."

I don't know if Linda said no, or if Ellie didn't understand her, but she came back right away. I told her, "Crawl on Mom's lap and say, 'Please read this book.'"

That's how I got Linda to read to Ellie tonight. I was surprised by how much difficulty she had, although she is much improved from the last time I head her read aloud. Ellie is such a little speech therapist. At one point, she stopped Linda and said, "Say 'goose.'"

Near the end, Linda couldn't turn the pages with her fingers, so Ellie said, "Here, let me." And she turned the last few pages. It was one of those scenes that in a movie would make you cry.