Goodnight Gorilla

I have to share this story because I love it. As I've mentioned several times before, Luke LOVES books. More than anything. Andie told me that when he picked Luke up from school the other day, all of the kids were playing in the middle of the floor with toys that were scattered around on the rug - but our little Luke was sitting by himself on the other side of the room flipping through a book. :)

Anyways, Luke and I read three books together every night before bed. Actually, we usually read countless books together BEFORE bed - but three additional ones are part of our routine. He picks them out, then we snuggle up in the rocking chair and read them before I tuck him in bed.

It is funny to see how his preferences have evolved. I used to just grab three books - different ones each night - and Luke would happily listen. Then one day, Luke made it very clear that I had made a wrong selection and said "no" as he forced the book closed every time I tried to read it. Now he picks the three he wants to hear and lately it has been the same three. Every. Single. Night.

1 - Llama Llama Red Pajama
2 - Ready, Set, Skip
3 - Goodnight Gorilla

That's the line up.

Needless to say, I've read Goodnight Gorilla many, many, many times over the past several months. Goodnight Gorilla is a book of very few words. The storyline is that a guard at the zoo goes around and says goodnight to all the animals before heading home at night. Little does he know that the gorilla grabbed his keys and goes behind him setting all the animals free. Then all the animals follow the guard home - they all get cozy in his bedroom - then his wife discovers them and walks them all back to the zoo. Keep in mind, the guard and his wife just live across the street from the zoo (obviously that's where they'd live, right?).

On the first page of the book, as the gorilla is stealing the keys from the guard, a little mouse sets a pink balloon free.



Luke (like all kids) is a big fan of balloons, so he always points it out and smiles. Cute.

Then on the second page, the balloon starts to float away. I always ask Luke where the balloon is and he happily points it out. Cute.



Usually, that's all the balloon action and we just continue on with the story. However, when I was reading the story yesterday and I turned the page, Luke immediately pointed to something on the page.

How funny, the balloon was on the next page and I had never even noticed it before! It was getting smaller (as it floated away) and it was partially hidden behind an animal's cage.

I flipped the page again, and Luke immediately pointed. The balloon! This one was really, really tiny!

Next page. Luke points. The balloon again! I'm talking teeny-tiny. Like, so small that I could barely see it.

As it turns out, the balloon is on almost every page of this book and Luke with his eagle eyes was spotting them all. I was so impressed at his skills! I know what you are thinking - the balloon is probably fairly easy to see (for an adult) - but I swear, I actually had to take the book into the kitchen and look at it up close, under the light to see if one of the images was actually the balloon or a tiny piece of lint on the page.

For example:



(see the little black mark above the "m" in "copyrighted material" at the top of the page? That tiny black mark is the string of the balloon)

I don't know why - but this balloon spotting was really cracking me up! As we continued through the book, it was fun to try to find the balloon before Luke did. On the very last page of the book, I saw the little-bitty, teeny-tiny balloon way out in the distance outside of the zookeepers window. Luke wasn't finding it. Finally, I pointed it out to Luke and once he saw it, he got the biggest smile on his face and let out a huge belly laugh. He was so tickled to see that it had made an appearance once again!

Maybe this story isn't very exciting to other people, but it just makes me smile to think about it. My little man is growing up so fast!