Barnes and Noble

Before I was a mom, I used to LOVE to go to Barnes and Noble (or any bookstore, really).  I would grab a coffee and wander aimlessly, browsing the books.  Once I became a mom, my visits to Barnes and Noble were quick and to the point--grab gift card for this person or look for a book for this person.  Get in and get out before the toddler climbs out of the stroller or I lose my pre-schooler. :-) No time for browsing.

Well, the other day, I rediscovered my love for Barnes and Noble and browsing...and my children were with me. :-) My oldest son, who is 5, recently started reading (!!!!!). It is very exciting for his reading teacher mother.  So, as a right of passage, I decided to take him and my 3 year old son (we left the 1 year old with Grandma) to Barnes and Noble to pick out books.  On the way there we talked about what kinds of books they were interested in looking at.  The primary purpose of the visit was to pick out books my 5 year old could read himself.  In addition, he was looking for books on sharks.  My 3 year old was on the search for cheetahs and dinosaurs.  I was so excited!! I was going to teach them how to love bookstores!! It's not like they have never picked out books before...we go to the library all the time and we pick out books through Scholastic almost every month.  They have had ample opportunity to pick books, but somehow this felt different.

We wandered up to the children's section (which is directly BEHIND the toy section--super fantastic marketing there). We found the early readers and after finding ones I thought he could read, I presented choices and then we were off to find a shark book.  My 3 year old and I started looking for cheetahs (he found a roaring dinosaur book right away).  After looking for a bit, I noticed my 5 year old wasn't right with me.  I looked around, and be still my heart--my child had found a spot for himself and was READING HIS BOOKS...completely unprompted by me, completely on his own.  Definitely a proud mom moment.  I later made him reenact the moment so I take a picture. :-)