Dewey's Read-a-Thon

I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this year's Read-a-Thon. Normally, I am so excited by this time I can barely sleep. My mind is filled with dancing images of books, snacks, places to read and plans to put life on hold for a blissful 24 hours. And then there is this year...

I promised to babysit my two-year old nephew, (a.k.a. Suspicious Baby) for the day so that my sister can take his six-year old brother to be the ring-bearer in a friend's wedding. No way to gracefully get out of this one! To make matters even more interesting, Suspicious Baby has some sort of virus, is teething and according to his mother is meaner than 10,000 hornets. I know that there will not be a lot of reading time on S. Baby's agenda, which generally includes a lot of random screaming, setting his sister's hamsters free, trying to flush random objects down the toilet and throwing himself on the floor in full-on hissy fits. Did I mention that he's two?

I thought about letting this Read-a-Thon go and just pretending it was any other day. I tried to talk myself into waiting for April because, of course, that would make sense. And then I quickly signed up anyway. Even if I only read for an hour, at least I can still be part of something wonderful; a community of readers taking a day off to do what they love and connect with each other. I'll be cheering all of you on silently as a wrangle the grumpy toddler. And who knows...there is always the possibility of a long nap!