Worse than Dick and Jane...

Have I mentioned that S is reading? And I mean really READING! It's amazing how fast it's all happening-- he started first grade knowing little more than how to spell his name and now he's reading circles around all of us. It's absolutely amazing!

His teacher sends books home with him and every afternoon he reads aloud to us. And while I love to hear him speeding his way through these books I have to say that the abysmal storylines are starting to get to me.

Case in point: an entire book about the wacky adventures of An and Jan, who are twins-- most likely inbred judging by their limited mental capacity.

Today An decides to hammer something in the basement and asks Jan to hold the nail in place. And of course she pulverizes his finger.

No surprise to us, but An is so shocked that she drops the hammer. On her foot. Ma hears them both screaming, freaks out and spills coffee on herself. Pa brings the two kids upstairs and promply bumps his head on the cabinet she's left open. And that's it- story's over!

Pa's behavior throughout the book is less than brilliant. I'm thinking this is not his first blow to the head. Ma probably makes a habit of leaving that cabinet door open-- she's punishing him for running around looking like a yeti!

I'm surprised that S keeps coming back for more. (?) But he's been bitten by the reading bug and the story doesn't even matter at this point-- he's just hungry for more and is devouring everything he can get his hands on.

It's amazing to be able to experience this kind of evolution first-hand; one of those privileges that people forget to mention for some reason when they're talking about the positive sides of parenting...