David and I have been reading/listening to elegant, gorgeous, heartbreaking, spellbinding books this week.

Charlotte's Web (read by E.B. White himself)
A Cricket in Times Square
Stuart Little
Wind in the Willows

I was worried the books wouldn't be dramatic enough--no sword fights, no fast car chases. But he seemed to find Mole grabbing the sculls and tipping himself, Water Rat, and the very precious picnic basket into the water, action enough. And the dramatic tension when Avery climbs into the pig crate and might discover Templeton and Charlotte hiding--well that had me on the edge of my seat.

I was worried the vocabulary might be too complex for him, but he just stops the cd when he doesn't know a word and asks me to explain it. My favorite was "guilty." I filled a plastic cup with water and knocked it onto the kitchen floor. I was guilty; he was innocent. He was also dumbfounded (the next word he wanted defined) that I had done such a thing. This morning he knocked on the bathroom door (a big improvement from bursting in) and wanted "fit" defined. How do you tell a child who doesn't know what a sentence is that he has to use it in a sentence? I explained "fit" has lots of meanings and he had to give me the other words around it. "Fit to burst" Oh, that fit.

I was worried the books would be too sad for him what with Charlotte dying and Chester deciding he had to go back to Connecticut. But we just commiserated together about how sad it was, and David reminded me that Wilber now had three friends with him, and maybe we could all go visit Chester.

And oh the pleasure we have gotten from riding on the swing in Fern's barn and messing about in boats.