With the brightly-colored book now in my hands, I moved the pillow out of the way. My four-year-old daughter snuggled closer to me. No light remained outside, and the warmth of the lamp next to us glowed softly. “Let’s read The Lorax!” my daughter excitedly announced.
Placing my feet gently upon the coffee table, I settled in. “Let’s do it, honey!” I said. On the table where my feet now rested lay a disheveled pile of colorful Dr. Seuss books. This week, my two older daughters and I have been spending time in our respective schools participating in “Dr. Seuss Spirit Weeks.” I smiled as I regarded the pile of books; the girls pulled every one of them off the shelf, I thought to myself.
Tonight felt special. For some reason, my four-year-old has resisted Dr. Seuss up until this week. Why is that? Not sure. We’d read plenty of Curious George, Snowy Day, Corduroy, fairy tales and nursery rhymes . . . dozens and dozens of books. But for some reason, Dr. Seuss had not yet captured her interest.
However, now here we sat, we two, snuggled together on the couch- not our normal location nor routine, but that was okay. We started in.
Then, the priceless moment.
I read the words from The Lorax:
He lurks in his Lerkim, cold under the roof,
where he makes his own clothes
out of miff muffered moof.
Suddenly, my daughter gasped, repeating the nonsense word “miff muffered moof” aloud. “Papa! I know what that is!” she exclaimed.
Feigning genuine intrigue, I widened my eyes and turned to her. “You do?!” I asked.
Eyes now sparkling, she nodded. “Yes! But . . . it’s a secret,” she whispered. Cupping her hands over my right ear, she leaned in close. I felt her warm breath as the barely-audible word came: “Fabric.”
I turned to her again. “Fabric,” I quietly repeated. “I bet you’re right, honey.”
LANNY BALL, Literacy Specialist 
A mystery of the world has been solved. Fabric. Of course.
You’re creating such a beautiful collection of moments with your girls. Someday you’ll read them and transport yourself back to those moments, and you’ll be grateful all over again.
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The very first Slice of Life posts I ever did in the very first Slice of Life Challenge (2008) was about reading The Lorax to my young sons, so reading your post was like this whooooooosh back in time. Yeah! Keep speaking for the trees! The oldest just graduated college and the other is in college. Dang.
Kevin
PS — I found the post! (this is why I love blogging as curation): https://dogtrax.edublogs.org/2008/03/01/slice-of-life-chapter-one/ (And Stacey was the first person to comment on my Slice of Life!)
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I can picture you there in the warm lamp light making memories with your four-year-old.
Treasured memories.
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I love this. It encapsulates how readers are made. Beautiful!
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This certainly captures the magic of books. My 4 year old grandson is staying with me this week and found an OLD copy of the Berenstain Bears Gimmies! He was intrigued on multiple levels. First he loved that his dad once snuggled to read the book. He also realized he sometimes had the Gimmies! So many books, so few nights!
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What a lovely post! I could feel the warmth and closeness of the moment.
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These moments are treasures.
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What special memories you are making together. My father read to me every night. That was our special time together, and I’ll carry that feeling with me forever.
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