Wednesday, June 20, 2007

28 Pages of Why??

My boys and I have a favorite past time-it's reading books.

We could sit for hours on end reading book after book after book after book after book-well, you get the picture.

The present book of "choice" for Sullivan is, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie," by Laura Joffe Numeroff. A cute book about a mouse that is always thinking ahead.

You give him a cookie, and he'll ask for milk...
You give him milk he'll ask for a straw...
You give him a straw he'll ask for a napkin...

..and so on and so on and so on.

I adore reading this book not just because of the storyline itself (even though the story is something that I feel anyone can incorporate into their life) but because of the questions I'm fed by dear Sulli bulli.

Each page, each sentence read, is followed by Sullivan's current "choice" word, "WHY?"

"Why'd he ask for a cookie, mommieee?"

"um, because he was hungry, Sullivan."

Next page.

"Why'd he ask for a glass of milk, mommieee?"

"hmm, perhaps because he was thirsty, Sullivan."

Next page.

"Why'd he ask for a straw, mommieee?"

"Because he needed help drinking his glass of milk, Sullivan."

Next page.

"Why'd he ask for a napkin, mommieee?"

"Because he needed to wipe off the milk moustache on his face, Sullivan."

28 pages.

28 pages of Sullivan asking "why?" each and every time a new sentence is read to him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm intoxicated with the fact that Sullivan is interested in this book. Reading in general is so good for them, I'm happy that I have 2 boys that really love books.
Even more so, that a young almost 3 year old (JULY 1st!!!!!) is able to absorb the words and comprehend them. I don't even mind the perpetual "why's."

This is typical in a 3 year old's world, the need to understand, the interest in amenities other than himself. A true sign of development from the infancy to the terrible two's, he is now aware that the world doesn't revolve around him. Something a one year old cannot understand.
Thus the development of a small child.

Wrapping up the book, I turned to Sullivan after answering 28 pages of "why's" and asked him the following simple sentence:

"Sullivan, did I answer all your questions?"

"Mommieee, wanna know why I ask why?"(okay, so he doesn't always listen to me, but that's something that we're working on.)

"Yes, Sullivan, Why?"

His answer sums it all up,

"Cuz I want to."



Welcome To Crustybeef~
Comprehensive learning at it's best. I think I need to take a lesson from my middle child just because "I want to."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

He is so freaking cute. I love how he is always asking why. He is really coming into his own. ahhhh. He is very lucky to have such a loving dedicated mommy..

bdd

Anonymous said...

Gee, I wonder where he gets the never ending questioning from....hmmmmm???? :)

Anonymous said...

LL:
he's so cute and i love the mr. rogers reference the day before. ha! :-)

Anonymous said...

Sullivan is GREAT. I love all your boys, but I can tell he really loves your attention and lots and lots of boyish mischeif. Ha. Good luck with that! jk

~ Kiki