But, since Josh had to do some of his pursuing-his-masters-in-apologetics-high-brow-homework reading tonight, I thought I would take the opportunity...to read Twilight...to Matilda.
This is another beautiful thing about newborns - they don't really care what you are doing as long as you are within sight and talking in a soothing voice. Matilda is often happy and calm (yes, I am counting my blessings) so I snuggled up with her on the glider in her nursery and propped up the bestseller for our entertainment.
I read to her with great inflection, my voice illuminating the world of Bella and the mysterious Edward. We're only one chapter in (my vocal chords can only take so much reading out loud) but I think she's a fan. I'm curious to see what emotional turmoil and drama Bella will get herself into. Yes, I saw the movie - but I've been hearing all about the teenage angst the book offers and I'm wondering if I will have difficulty keeping my reading voice at an entertaining baby-level if the book turns too after-school-special-with-vampires-ish. We'll see.
I think this is a wonderful vocal warm-up for many books to come. I don't know if we'll make it all the way through the Twilight series, but I certainly love reading to my baby girl. I can almost see her brain waves expanding as she listens intently to my voice. I hope the beauty of storytelling is seeping into her ears and making their way into her imagination one word at a time.
I can still remember my mother reading the Little House on the Prairie books to me when I was a child. I was obsessed. I loved hearing about Laura Ingalls and her adventures in the Big Woods or in Walnut Grove or wherever they were pioneering at the time. It wasn't until junior high that I discovered there was a tv show based on the books, and watched it every day after school on PBS. If there was a Little House equivalent to today's Lord-of-the-Rings-World-of-Warcraft-Battlestar-Gallactica-geekazoids...I was it. Cute, right?
I wonder what obsessions Matilda will fall into...what characters will she get sucked into the lives of....what books will she sneak a flashlight under the covers to stay up late and finish reading long after bedtime?
Of course, one of the books I know I will have to read to her is "Matilda" by Roald Dahl, one of my very favorite authors of all time. If you've never read the book, it is a Dahl classic (and later made into a movie). While I'm a fan, no, Matilda was not named after the book. Afterall, on the back cover of the novel it is described as "a story about a clever girl with stupid parents".
Hmm, we're hopefully not stupid...but I'm not counting on winning any awards for reading Twilight to my four-month-old. Still, she'll be way ahead on her knowledge of pop-culture.
just like that scene in Three Men and a Baby when Seleck is reading about boxing. Too good. As long as you end with a happy inflection, you can read them anything.
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