Chapter 6

We are in the middle of our third adventure together. Overall it has gone quite well. Ty wasn't ready to read The House at Pooh Corner but we stuck it out. Every time we would read he'd remind me that he "don't like this book." I'd tell him to pick out a shorter book from his book shelf and I'd read it to him after we were done with Pooh.

Tonight's reading of Charlotte's Web was pretty typical. Here is a sample of how things went:



Chapter VI

"Ty, you cannot lay on me. It's too hot. Move over and lay next to me and don't wiggle." (blue font is me)

"The early summer days on a farm are the happiest and fairest days of the year. Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, and then fade. Apple blossoms come with the lilacs, and the bees visit around among the apple trees."

"Mom, I thought you were going to read about Wilber." (Red font is Jack)
"I am Jack, just keep listening."

... The days grow warm and soft. School ends, and

"Ty, get off me."

...children have time to play and to fish for trouts in the brook. Avery often brought a trout home ...

"Who's Avery?" (Green font is Ty)
"Avery is the brother."

...in his pocket, warm and stiff and ready to be fried for supper.
Now that school was over, Fern visited the barn almost every day, to sit quietly on her stool. The animals treated her as an equal.

"What's an equal mean?"
"An equal is someone who is the same as you. Like me and you, we are not equals because I am your athority. You and Ty and Wyatt are equals because ya'll are all friends and no one is in charge of the other ones...".

... The sheep lay calmly at her feet.

"Ty come lie down beside me and get out from between my legs. Don't push on my (oumph!!) stomach."
"I need a drink."
"You can go get one, but I'm going to keep reading and you'll miss part of the story."
"Wait for me to get back 'till you read."
"I'm going to keep reading."

... Around the first of July, the work horses were hitched to the moving machine, and Mr. Zuckerman climbed into the seat and drove into the field.

"When are we going to hear Wilber's name?"
"Soon, just let me get though this part."

... All morning you could hear the rattle of the machine as it went round and round, while tall grass fell down behind the cutter bar in long green swathes. Next day, if there was no thunder shower all hands would help rake and pitch and load, and the hay would be hauled to the barn in the...

"Mom, mom? Mom could you quit talking because I need to make a phone call."
"Sure Ty, go ahead."
Ty lowers his voice and speaks quietly into his phone. "Hello? Yes, ok. Yes. Alright Goodbye." Ty puts down his toy phone and I continue reading.

...high hay wagon, with Fern and Avery

"Who's Fern?"
"She's the girl. (I turn to the cover and show Ty the picture of Fern.)

... riding on the top of the load. Then the hay would be hoisted, sweet and warm, into the big loft until the whole barn seemed to smell like a wonderful bed of timothy and clover.

"What's clover?"
"Timothy and clover are types of grass."

... It was fine to jump in and perfect to hide in. And sometimes Avery would find a little grass snake in the hay, and would add it to the other things in his pocket.

"Who's Avery?"