That Sam I Am...

"That Sam I Am, that Sam I Am, I do not like that Sam I Am." Dr. Suess Really? I know how you feel, I am beginning to detest the little freak. I think every mom who encourages reading in her toddler has had the experience of having that child latch on to a particular book and want to have it read to them numerous times during the day. It is wearing but not a bad thing since the key is develop within them a love of reading. My little guy seems to have taken this to an extreme I haven't had to deal with before. Kevin is currently enamoured of Green Eggs and Ham; There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly; and A Crack in the Track. On Friday I was obligated to read each of these books eighteen times. That is a lot of Sam I Am which not my favorite children's book at anytime. Now I would cheerfully flush it down the toilet if I thought the plumbing would handle it. We have been stuck with these selections continously for about three months now and I find my sleeping hours occupied with dreams of Sam I Am trying to force that Old Lady to chase down the fly with a plateful of green eggs and ham. All while Percy and Thomas are still stuck at that crack in the track and a goat pops open his throat to swallow a horse that chased a cat, that ate a rat, that lived in the house that Mary Ellen built!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! Ok, I'm ok now. Don't get me wrong I am very glad that he enjoys stories with mom. We snuggle up in my big chair in the living room, it is a hidden recliner so mom can put her pregnancy weary feet up and we read and read. The same three books. Every day. Many times. Now when I see him coming with them my first instinct has me hiding in the basement store room telling the spiders to "SSHHHH, he'll hear us!" Yesterday I sat him in front of the low bookshelf in the schoolroom that is filled, actually overfilled, with wonderful picture books and board books guaranteed to enthrall a three year old. Not this three year old. "How about Brown Bear, Brown Bear?" "Sam!" is the determined reply. "Peter Rabbit, look at the bunny." "Sam and ham," says he pushing the dreaded orange book in front of me. "Cordoury? Paddington? Aesop? Goodnight Moon? The Big Red Barn? Look here is one about a boat" "Sam!" He looks up at me with a big grin. I lose again.