Oh, the Places (He'll) Go!

A very, very dear friend of mine gave me a hardbound book of Dr. Seuss' most popular stories when I was pregnant. It contained all of the favorite stories I had grown up with and I couldn't wait to share them with the little man.

I think I was always destined to be a writer. Even as a child, I think the most fascinating thing for me about Dr. Seuss wasn't the colorful illustrations or imaginative stories, it was his ability to use words and convey the most magical stories in rhyme.

To this day when I think of Dr. Seuss, I think "genius."

I had been waiting for the day when little man was old enough for me to share my love of Seuss with him. I had been closely guarding the book my friend had given me when I was pregnant with him, careful to see that it didn't become victim to little hands ripping the paper pages or jumbo crayons. I had read to him from it before, but as a baby he much preferred something more along the pace of Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?

Then, on Valentine's Day, love was definitely in the air as little man discovered his own love of Dr. Seuss.

We had gotten him the DVD of Horton Hears a Who for Valentines Day, thinking it was a fun kid's movie he would like. We had also gotten him a copy of Wall-e, which we already knew he loved.

From the moment the opening scene began in Horton, little man's eyes were fixated on the screen.

And there he sat, until the last of the closing credits.

"That's my most favorite movie, mama," little man said all weekend, begging for me to let him watch it just one more time.

However, the sun eventually went down and the bedtime hour neared. Little man was upset as we picked him up to carry him to bed. He wanted to watch Horton again.

But daddy was one step ahead of him.

"I have a special book for you tonight," he told little man. "This is Dr. Seuss. The man who wrote Horton."

Little man's eyes fixated on the cover of the book.

"Horton?" Little man asked.

"Yeah, Dr. Seuss wrote Horton, let's read some of it" daddy said.

As I stood at the bottom of the stairs I could hear the familiar rhymes of my childhood as daddy read little man bedtime stories.

And as little man drifted off to sleep, he had visions of Whoville, the Cat in the Hat and Horton dancing in his head.

And a very proud mommy, excited to see the appreciation of genius has passed on to one more generation.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

~Dr. Seuss