I was standing at the kitchen bench yesterday peeling the veggies for dinner, with the start of a headache on the horizon. Maybe it was due to the distinct lack of sleep the night before or the fact that Hubbster had lit the woodfire, all I knew it was growing in intensity.

As I reached up into the cupboard to grab a Paracetamol, three year old Bubble appeared from my bedroom carrying my ipad.

“Muuuuuum,” she said with the tone and volume of a cat with it’s tail shut in a door “Can you put Damna Star on peeese?”

Shoot-me-now!

Now, as many a mother will know, you may as well talk to yourself than try to explain to a three year old that you have a head-ache, but there was absolutely NO WAY I was going to put Gangnam Style on! Not a snowballs chance in hell!

“Um,” I answered searching through my mental parental repertoire of diversionary tactics at warp speed….”Um.”

Nothing, quick, think before she lets out a squeal or begins to nag and your brain shatters like a pane of glass…quick.

“I have a better idea,” I said in a sudden and very welcome flash of inspiration. “There is something I want to show you.”

I sat her up on the bench stool opposite where I was chopping the veg, and tapped at the keyboard on the ipad screen.

w-w-w-r-e-a-d-t-o-my-c-h-i-l-d-.-c-o-m (crap was it au? Not sure. I’ll stick it in and see what happens) a-u
“Oh, what’s that?” Bubble squeaked excitedly.

“You pick one of the books, and the lady will read it to us while I make dinner.”

“To me and you?” Bubble asked wide eyed. “Cool!”

For the next fifteen minutes, as I prepped and cooked the dinner and wiped away the dishes off the sink, Bubble sat transfixed by the stories, quickly selected another when one had finished.

“LOOOK MUM! We’ve got this book!”

I leaned across to see her chubby-bubby finger pointing at ‘Diary of a Wombat,’ on the screen.

“Yes we do,” I replied.

“I find it Mum?” she asked already scrambling down from the stool. “I find it and you read it to me tonight Mum, okay?”

“Good idea,” I nodded, realising my headache had gone.

I picked up the ipad and popped it away again in my room thankful for the escape from Gangnam!
If you haven’t yet seen www.readtomychild.com.au I highly recommend it for those times when you need to buy yourself a little bit of time to get some housework done, have a shower, cook the dinner or maybe just go to the toilet in peace!!!  We have even discovered a few new favourites that we have added to the bookshelf wish list for bedtime!