New naptime and morning ritual

I'm always amazed about how fast new rituals and habits form with kids. A lot of time I don't realize that patterns are being established until the same actions have been occurring for days or even weeks at a time. For a while now, Guthrie has been requesting books to read in his crib when he wakes up from his nap, and now he's wanting them in the morning too. Often he'll want books from our "special" stash that aren't available all the time (you know, the pretty ones with paper pages...) and many of them at once. Today I counted 15 as I emptied his bed before nighttime. G will spend upwards of 45 minutes post nap reading alone- he makes it very clear that he wants to read on his own. Once I hand over a few books he says, "Bye bye Mama" until I leave the room! I'll often lurk outside for a bit to hear him jabber out loud to his stuffed animal friends about what's in the book, recognizing a few words here and there. When he's ready he'll shout, "all done!" and I'll come retrieve him in the form of a hug because he's simply irresistible!

These are two sleepy-faced pictures from this morning. He still has bed head and squinty eyes, but the reading must go on!