Where is the bookworm?

Taken in August 2006

He used to be able to stay at Borders or Kinokuniya for a long while, reading through their good selections for free while I read the magazines for nothing.

He used to enjoy flipping through our collection of books and would hide in the little corner in my bedroom for a good half hour, just browsing and studying the details of each page.

These days, he prefers to be read to, especially at bedtime. He would ask for a story, usually a request that would always be repeated a few more times, as a bid to delay bedtime. Some days, he prefers a English story, but on others, only Chinese tales will do.

He has learnt that only mummy can read him Chinese stories, so he instructs his papa to go learn Chinese.

At times, he takes pride reading a book to his audience - his mama, papa, Pooky, Pig, Teddy Bear or Piggy. More recently, he just shakes his head a lot when asked to read and says "I don't know" even though he can read it. The novelty of reading out loud to impress his attentive audience is probably wearing off, or maybe he is just rediscovering the pleasure of being cuddled and read to.

Last night, he read to me a few of his rather advanced Chinese books like Dong(4) Wu(4) Yuan(2) (Zoo) and Xue(2) Da(4) Xiang(4) (Mimics the elephant). Not the whole book, or I would be popping champagne, but a few good pages from each book. Already, I find it an achievement worth mentioning and celebrating somewhat, so I am posting it to aid my memory of this elation decades later.