::literature & life::

If you ever read the books about Ramona when you were little, you might remember that when Ramona went to Kindergarten she met a little boy named Davy. She decided she loved Davy, and every time they were in the school yard she would chase him around and try to kiss him.

That was all I could think of today when I was waiting in the school yard with Max for his teacher to come and call the kids into class. It was cold. All the kids' cheeks and noses were rosy bright.  I couldn't see their breath--but I know that's not far away.
For some reason we haven't been able to figure out there is no playground equipment at the school--just a yard. So all the kids can really do is run around. And run they do.
The girls like to chase the boys and hug them. The boys like to run away. If you get caught in the middle of one of these events it feels like being accidentally caught in a stampede--a miniature one, but a stampede none the less.

Unlike Beverly Cleary's Davy, Max likes to be chased. Today he was hiding behind a tree waiting for the girls to notice him. When they didn't he came out along with another little guy and they yelled, "Hey girls! Hey girls! Hey girls!" Finally the girls came. And the little boys were chased.
And then everyone was happy.
That Mrs. Cleary knows her stuff.

::plenty::

We're missing Kris right now. He's in California for the California Society of Pediatric Dentistry (CSPD) meeting. Whew that's a mouthful.
We're hoping he might meet some helpful people out there so we'll have a good place to end up in a year.
Anyway, to fill the emptiness of a missing daddy we went to the library. Max and I have been enjoying the library lately. He finally realized we could get fun books there that he might actually like.

Looks kind of like a book rainbow, doesn't it?
We came home with over 20 tomes. They're all good ones too. I had to read 6 stories to him at bedtime, and that was on top of the 4 or 5 I'd already read when we got home from the library.

I'm really glad he's enjoying books, and the library. Both those things have been very important to me in my life and very beneficial too. In fact I don't know what I'd do without the library right now. I'd have a very costly habit I guess.

It was so funny, I had requested a book I knew he'd want, so it was waiting for us at the check out desk. When he saw what it was he was so excited that he plopped right down there and started reading it. Cute? Yes.

About 90% of the books are about dogs too. It's pretty funny.

Anyway, if you see Kris tell him to come home soon? It's a bummer he has to miss conference weekend. It's a bummer he has to be gone at all, we miss him!

::so far so good::

So I took Rachel's advice. She said that if Sultan slept with Max it would seal the deal and they'd be friends forever.
I asked Max if he wanted to have Sul sleep in his room. Max was a little worried about the carpet getting hairy, but once I promised him that carpets can be vacuumed he was excited and went and pulled Sultan's bed into his room.
Sultan thought it was weird. He wasn't sure he wanted to sleep there. I gave Max some dog treats to try to smooth things over, and it helped a bit.
But he didn't want to sleep there when night fell. He usually sleeps on his bed all night, but last night he kind of wandered the house.
I think he ended up on the bed though.

Anyway, the whole point of this story is that I went into Max's room this morning after my shower. Max was supposed to be getting dressed, which is always an ultra long process.
Here's what I saw:

Does he have that kind of put upon look in his eye, or is that just my imagination?
Max was letting him read. He'd gotten out his dog books. McDuff, and Martha Speaks. They're open to specific favorite parts.
I thought it was so cute. How nice of Max to help Sultan read! And to find the books he might be interested in.

So far so good I say. I like that Max has to think about somebody else besides himself once in a while. It can't be a bad thing. Now if we can just get Sultan on board we'll be set.