Isaiah loves to read his little children's Bible. On this particular day, he pulled every stuffed animal, pillow, and blanket off his bed and piled them on his chair to form a kind of nest he could nestle himself into to read his Bible. Doesn't he look so grown up?
For the most part, he "read" it to me and made sure he pointed out his favorite parts. I love watching him make connections between what he reads and his life. Heck, that's what I'm trying to get my middle and high school students to do all the time! Now that I think about it, that's exactly what I strive to do when I read my Bible. It's all about taking God's words and finding a way to relate to them, interact with the message, and apply them to our lives.
Funny that a toddler can do that better than I can. One of his favorite stories is the birth of Jesus. He loves to point out that Mary is riding a donkey and he has a special love of babies, so he gets all excited when he can point out that the baby Jesus is sleeping in a barn with "moos and sheep and horsees."
The best part is when we get to the story of David and Goliath. After we read that Goliath was "too big and strong," Isaiah always comments "Like Daddy!" I love it!
It's so wonderful to watch these stories come alive through a child's eyes. You should hear him "Rarrr!" like the lions who are in the den with Daniel.
I think he wants to learn to use a slingshot, but I'm afraid he would be chucking rocks at his Daddy's head.
It will be so cool this Christmas when I can use this book as a reference point to explain that we are celebrating the birthday of the Baby Jesus! It still amazes me how much his little toddler brain is actually starting to be able to process and understand. He's even starting to take an interest in reading more advanced books at bedtime, like a collection of children's literature we have that contains stories like Snow White, Thee Billy Goats Gruff, and other fairy tales. I'm a little wary of this because so many fairy tales are a little horrifying dark in their original form, but I'm excited that he's taking an interest in a greater variety of books. Maybe we can start reading a chapter in Charlotte's Web every night soon!
What are you reading with your kids? What are they particularly excited about reading?
