"Reading" Bird

Birdie can often be found "reading" to her (stuffed) friends after being tucked into bed for the night. Sometimes, a quarter of her bookcase makes it into a pile that forms at the foot of her bed where she tosses them after she's "read" them. Around eight-fifteen last night, Julie told Clara it was time to put her book down and go to sleep. About fifteen minutes later, wails broke out in stereo. Ted dashed upstairs to investigate. Joe was crying because he'd heard a police car siren and--and this is not quite clear--possibly thought they were coming to get him. Clara was crying because Joe was crying--and because she thought the police were coming to get her a take her to jail because she was reading her book after bedtime.  Oh Fans. It's just too dear, isn't it? Do you think there's a library at such a prison?

Birdie recently "read" to Joe and Julie, too. The trio begins each day in the big bed snuggling and reading while Ted showers. Birdie read Grumpy Bird, which features a bird who wakes up too grumpy to fly and so walks instead, collecting friends along the way, all of whom want to know what he's doing. Our Birdie was, of course, "reading" by summarizing from memory and, of course, this just slayed Joe. Joe is six. He knows stuff. He is a stickler for The Rules and Doing a Things Right. Naturally, he could barely contain himself and demanded Julie re-read the book as soon as Birdie had finished "reading" it. It continues to be true: sometimes it is a drag to be the Big Brother, and sometimes, the Little Sister.

But Birdie is getting there. She has been  working hard at tacking down, definitively, alphabet neighbors G and H. They are collectively referred to as "challenge letters." (Guess who is always ready to throw down a challenge? Big brothers! Argh!) Other challenge letters include K and Y; W is also sometimes confused with Y.

Sooner enough, she'll be reading, too.