Why do I wonder about Baby Brody's recent finger pointing ability? Why and what does that hint about his thinking? What about his head pointing...("Where's the dog?" Whips his head and pointing finger to the dog. And how about the putting the hat on the head while making a whooshing sound?
And what do I make of the fact that Brody sat on my lap while we read this book over twenty times? He is twelve months old...how many times can the book, grandma and Brody interact? Why does he pat the book to signal "Again". And yes I know that all the textbooks state that babies babble, but what motivates Brody to produce a symphony of the most beautiful sounds early in the morning when only the song birds are up and listening.
And what do I make of the fact that Ethan has created his own Cozy Reading Corner in his bedroom? Or how do I make sense of the his comment that he learned to read three weeks ago when he was reading Amulet in the car and they stopped at Buckley Bay for gas on the way home from skiing.
How do we celebrate Ethan's dedication to rehearing every night for a week, Grandma's recent story "Shh I'm Deciding" so that he is ready to perform the story for his entire class. Should we have an After the Show Pizza Party?
And just how cool is this picture and can it be used as the Canadian Early Literacy poster for the year?
Title: No screen time , just reading time.
And how about in my own personal life, My new friend, Lara, from Toronto was going to be in Vancouver for a very short time. She also likes to talk about early learning, children's books and how kids learn to make sense of black squiggly lines.
I immediately booked a flight to Vancouver just so we could have a chance to chat. We talked non-stop for two hours, almost always coming up with more questions. Why is the conversation so rich despite the fact that we can't come up with any answers to our burning questions? Even more curious: why was it so enjoyable to talk to her about this topic?
And then I started reading Alberto Manguel's newest book about Curiosity. I had to send Lara the quote because I knew she would love it. (And she did)
"I am curious about curiosity...
very soon we find out that curiosity is seldom rewarded with meaningful and satisfying answers, but rather with an increased desire to ask more questions and the pleasure of conversing with others.
As any inquisitor knows, affirmations tend to isolate; questions bind.
Curiosity is a means of declaring our allegiance to the human fold"
Today, I am heading to my computer to write more stories about the Animals of Pine Forest. I do not have any worries or even care that the stories will be published or even read. The whole reason and the point of my creative instinct is simply to get it done... and once done, there just might be a chance for a great conversation.
Because those precious conversations provide the glue that binds me to humanity. I just ask questions because I wonder about everything. Life is a wondering. What about you, What do you wonder about? What are you curious about?
Happy wondering,
Donna, aka the Book Lady
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