The Oldest Trick in the Book

Ethan does not like reading. It has been a struggle to get him to read even one page a day this summer. He is the king of stalling tactics. He will read a sentence, then do a flip off of the couch, climb back on the couch, lie down, pound his legs on the couch and starts making guttural sounds. I will calmly tell him to keep reading. He reads a few more sentences and begins his antics all over again.

So, this morning when I told him it was time for him to read and he promptly went to the book basket in his bedroom and came back with a book on planets without any fussing, I was pleasantly surprised. He was huddled on the sofa and I was sitting across the room from him in our big, comfy chair.  He and I were happily reading.  I kept glancing at him and he was smiling. Life was good.

Then he started giggling. I couldn't imagine what was so funny about planets. But before I could ask, he confessed that he was really reading his Lego magazine and he promptly pulled it out of his planet book to show me. I laughed because I realized he inherited my inability to carry out the simplest deception without cracking up. I thought it was kind of charming.