Boring, Or Soothing

I'm really hoping for the latter, but y'all can be the judge. The Bean is at an age where she is enjoying chapter books read to her at night, and I'm having a blast re-reading all my childhood favorites, as well as some new ones. Certainly I read some of these to her when she was quite tiny, but not even I think she "got" anything out them at that point. However, now? Now she really digs on them, and is showing remarkable empathy for the characters and appropriate grasp of humor. I know that sounds odd, but, for instance: we were reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and there was some passage about how desperately hungry Charlie was. She started to cry. We stopped, and said, sweetheart, what is the matter? Are you sad for Charlie? She snuffled. In passing, let me just assure you that a non-verbal child is a hell of a conundrum on a daily basis. Anyway, we told her, don't worry, it will get lots better for Charlie soon, she calmed down, and cheered right up as we went on. Sure, it's possible that the crying was somehow completely unrelated, but I choose to believe empathy, or at least a burgeoning sense therein.

At any rate, we have gone through, let's see, Harriet the Spy, Stuart Little, at least one Just-So Story, the first two in the Swallows and Amazons series (thank you Auntie Camille), Abel's Island, Mary Poppins, and as of tonight, Mary Poppins Comes Back (there are three altogether, with a fourth sort of "prequel" in the set we own). I'm sure there is something else in there, although I don't think we technically got all the way through Harry Potter, though I suppose I should revisit that now. Oh, Little House in the Big Woods, that's right---many more to go there, needless to say. I am even saving Anne of Green Gables until she gets a bit older, same with The Hobbit.

I had a point to this post, but what was it? Oh, right. So this has happened twice now, where she kind of thrashes around as I'm reading, playing with her stuffed animals, having a drink of water, getting comfortable, etc...and then falls asleep. While I'm reading. Usually she is still awake at the end of our chapter and we do the whole bedtime poem and song routine we've done since she was a baby, but twice now, she's just sacked out to my reading. Am I desperately boring, or, dare I hope, deeply soothing?

She may have just been really, really, really tired.

My bet would be on really, really, really tired.