Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Day 790 - The Brown Bear Conundrum


I could spend the next ten minutes choosing to rewrite from scratch all that I had written before my computer unceremoniously crashed. Unfortunately I don't remember most of what I had written prior to that moment. There was something about "talking" about pandemics or quarantines within the confines of the blog post. There was also something about "being careful what one wished for".


Taking those two things into account, you should be able to follow along with this post just fine.
Throughout most of Ethan's life, Bethany and I haven't had any complaints. Sure, he occasionally gets upset and throws a tantrum. He even has those rare nights when he fights sleep at all costs. For the most part, he's been a really easy baby. That being said, we have had one minor complaint: we just want to be able to read books to him! 

You can rest assured that the issue is not entirely our fault. Ethan's been around books since he was a baby as he's frequently in Ellie's room every night for Bible and story time. However, when it comes time to read a book to Ethan, it's always been a nigh impossibility to convince him to sit still long enough to get through two pages, let alone an entire book. Every time we tried, it wouldn't take long for him to wriggle off of our lap or for him to just repeatedly slam the book shut.

Lucky for us, all of these reactions from Ethan are now a thing of the past. Although, to tell the truth, it's probably just a matter of time before we find ourselves wishing for those days of struggling to read to the baby. At least, that will be the case until Ethan decides to broaden his literary horizons. For now though, we are seemingly resigned to an eternity of reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.


For the last month or so, Bethany and I have really been striving to convince Ethan to read a book. One by one, we'd work through the bookshelf until finally, Ethan found his favorite book. Now, it's a near impossibility to get him to put it down. In fact, the second he spots the book, Ethan drops everything he's doing, holds the book aloft, and cries until someone reads it to him.

It's not reading Brown Bear to Ethan that's the problem. The problem is how to stop reading Brown Bear to Ethan. The second the story is over, Ethan will flip back to the first page and patiently wait for Bethany or I to read it to him again. If for some reason we decided not to do so, the waterworks begin and screaming will commence until he either wears out or gets distracted by something else. 

Honestly, I'm just happy that Ethan has finally found a book he loves to read. It's still an early enough trend that I'm not entirely sick of Brown Bear at this time. However, judging from my experiences with Ellie and Animal Sounds, it's probably just a matter of time until that becomes the case. Beggars can't be choosers though, am I right? #DaddyWrite

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