Harry Potter

I am a little over halfway through my annual read through of the Harry Potter series.  This is one of my favorite traditions that I've started for myself.  This is my third year of doing it.  I'm now trying to pace myself a bit so that I finish up the series right around the time the Half-Blood Prince comes out in July.  But I'm on the fourth book and things tend to go pretty fast from here because the books are so good, I can't stop reading. 
I absolutely cannot wait to share these books with Garrett and Harper.  I got all excited, because my friend Kathy blogged that they started reading them with her daughter after Christmas.  The exciting thing for me is that her daughter is in the first grade and that's not too far away for Garrett.  Now, we will, of course, have to evaluate whether Garrett is ready for them, but I cannot wait.  Even now as I'm reading, I'm picturing myself curled up with Garrett reading aloud.  I remember my mom reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" out loud to me as a child and it remains my hands down favorite book of all time (hello, my dog is Scout and my daughter is Harper!).
My niece turned 6 a couple of weeks ago and we gave her "Ramona Quimby, age 8".  I was so excited about giving her this book.  Beverly Cleary basically defined my elementary school years and the Ramona series was my absolute favorite.  I can only hope that Graysan will begin her love affair with reading with this book.
I have not had a good month or so with my kids.  I am tired, I have very little patience, and I am really tired of taking care of them.  But reading HP and buying Ramona for Graysan has reminded me of what's ahead for me.  I still maintain that being a parent is great because you get a massive do-over with the benefit of your age and not having to do it again, but just watch it.  I will get to read Ramona again for the first time when I read it with Harper.  I will get to do my fake British accent when I read HP to Garrett-and that will forever be the voice he hears when he reads it on his own.
I am really trying not to wish away this phase of my kids lives.  But, it's hard when what is coming seems so much more fun than what I'm doing right now.  But I guarantee my week will be way more fun than my friend who brought her second son home from the hospital today!  It's all about perspective, I guess.