Story Time

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the Pacific Science Center, which is right next to the Space Needle. The picture above is Felix taking a picture of the Space Needle. He was a little cranky that day but the picture was from a happier moment.
Anyway, every night, as we've done for years, Renae and I read to Felix. He goes through phases of things that interest him- space, dinosaurs, fiction stories, etc. currently he is interested in a nature encyclopedia. Over several nights he will ask me to read the same page due to finding a particular piece of information very interesting. About a week ago it was bogs and marshes because of the venus flytraps catching bugs. This week it's been termite towers and the fact that some termite soldiers will explode to block an entrance of the tower. He has also been fascinated with a passage in a dinosaur book that describes a twelve year old English girl finding a complete Icthysaurus fossil 200 years ago.
What is new, however, is that Felix and I alternate each night telling a story we've made up. Felix is also particular about the process; a story can not begin without the story teller asking the other what they would like in the story. With Felix, his requirements for my story have lately been a combination of these things: the moon, the Earth, a family, a little boy, light sabers, rock monsters, lava monsters, and his favorite- a spider-like robot named Mechanico. He also has a name for the little boy: Powerlane. I have no idea where he got that from. With those limitations every other night, it can become difficult keeping the stories fresh. But I imagine when he wants to hear something different, he'll ask for something different. A couple years ago I read that kids will watch shows, listen to songs, read books, over and over because they are saturating; they are still getting information from it.
What also seems to be relatively new is that Felix adores me. Yes, he has always loved me and wanted to play with me, but I could not compare to mom. Now, however, he opts to stay with me when mom goes somewhere, he asks for me in the mornings, on my days off we share bowls of cereal (he loves this), and from the moment I get home from work (excluding a break for dinner) we play until bedtime. There are times where it gets a little tiring, devoting my waking, non-work, hours to his attention, but it's so worth it.