I wasn’t even sure he was listening. Then he found a mistake in the book.
It actually took me two re-reads to figure out what he was talking about. He patiently explained what he meant (and happily called me blind and old because I couldn’t see it … thanks). I finally saw what he was talking about and realized it was a very clear mistake. But hey, I missed it a few times around already.
He was throwing a mini-basketball in the air, arranging his stuffed animals in the bed we were reading in and he caught my error. I wasn’t sure he knew I was in the room. But he was doing all of that stuff and was not only listening, but he was understanding, comprehending.
The error was also something where you had to remember what was written the sentence before as the second sentence referred to the earlier one. In my “old” brain and “blind” eyes, I didn’t notice, I just breezed right over it.
Disclaimer: when I’m reading aloud, I admit that comprehension is not the main thing I’m going for. I actually very much enjoy reading aloud so I’m shooting more for style, flow and tone.
My other son, seeing how impressed I was with my younger son, then also paid more attention and found something else that didn’t quite make so much sense. He was also proud.
So there’s an added bonus: my kids are competing to pay more attention to grammar.