My Grandad Brings Me Souvenirs From Business Trips!

Hannah has a dress up basket full of fun accessories like the wooden shoes Dad brought her from Holland, the hat and necklaces he got her in New Orleans, and some other fancy stuff. In the picture above, Hannah is giving me her "princess wave."

I'm not sure who taught me the princess wave, but Hannah likes to shout, "ow-bow, ow-bow, riss, riss, riss!" (Elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist) while doing the motion. Sometimes that is followed up by a rousing "ooh la la!" and blowing kisses. She's very dramatic!

All By Herself

Hannah is getting better at doing things for herself. A common refrain is, "I do it! I DO IT!" This morning I was nursing Jack and she wanted to change out of her pajamas. Absently, I told her she could go pick out her clothes for the day. I was shocked when she returned carrying the outfit she's wearing above. She actually remembered which drawer holds her pants, which one holds her shirts, and the one that holds sweaters and socks. She can't put the clothes on by herself (except for the socks) but she picked out an outfit! It isn't what I would have chosen, but it doesn't clash horribly. Cream corduroy pants, white shirt with red trim, and Jack's navy blue sweater (she has adopted this sweater for some reason, and I think it's crazy that they can wear the same size!). She wanted a hairbow too, and I was REALLY shocked that she picked a red one, which matches the shirt!

This is much improvement over a few days ago when she wanted to wear her cow costume and purple socks!

The Kids' Week In Books, No. 12

For some reason I have fallen behind on requesting books for the kids from the library, so I have an imbalance of too many books for me, and too few books for them. As they say in Braveheart, "That is something we shall have to rrrrrrrremedy!"

Lynley Dodd writes cute books about animals. Currently we have "Slinky Malinki" and "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy" checked out. Slinky is a "rapscallion cat" who turns into a thief at night. One night he outdoes himself and takes all kinds of things home where mayhem ensues and Slinky is utterly disgraced. Slinky learns to avoid temptation, which is a good message, if you're into kids books with messages, but it's not one of those "Ta Da! The moral of the story IS..." type of messages.

Another of Dodd's books is "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy" which introduces lots of funny dog characters, many of whom have their own books that we haven't read yet. I like the names and descriptions of the dogs. For example, the greyhound is "Bitzer Maloney, all skinny and bony" and the hotdog (whatever the real name for those is) goes by "Schnitzel von Krumm, with a very low tum."

Jack Babble

The other day Jack was babbling consonant noises (ga ga ga, ya ya ya, ba ba ba, etc) and I said, "Jack, what are you trying to say, buddy?"

Hannah looked at me, and patiently with careful enunciation said, "Mama, Jack said, 'ba ba ba'."

This morning I got Jack to say "Ma Ma" but I think it was a fluke because he hasn't said it again since. I'll be pretty psyched if he says "Mama" first, since Hannah's first word was "Dada" for Josh.

Happy Easter 2008

A boy and his bear

Sister "borrows" the bear

"Why does she have my bear? Why are my sleeves so long?"

"It's ok Jack!"

The boy still wants his bear returned!

We had a very nice Easter breakfast as a family, and then went to church. After church, we went to Josh's parents' house where Hannah had an indoor egg hunt and we had a very nice dinner and visited.

Here We Go...

Kids in central Indiana can get free books from Dolly Parton (thanks to Amy K and Alaina for telling me about that!) and this month Hannah got one about big sisters and little sisters. She's really into it. She asks, "Where's Hannah's sister?" Yesterday she told me that Emily, her babydoll, is her sister. She did sisterly things with Emily for a while, then went back to consult her book again, as if concerned that Emily was not doing what real live sisters do.

Maybe someday Hannah will get a real sister. I hope so. But in the meantime, Emily will have to suffice.

The Kids' Week In Books, No. 11

I checked "Noodle" by Munro Leaf out because the illustrator is Ludwig Bemelmans, who illustrated the Madeline books. Noodle is a little weiner dog who wishes he was shaped differently so he'd have an easier time digging up bones. Then he gets a chance to choose a different shape so he visits all his friends in the zoo to see what shape they like best. Each animal likes his own shape best because he's uniquely designed to do what he does best. Eventually Noodle decides the best shape to be is the shape he already is. I think that's a good message, but really the book just has delightful illustrations and is a fun story.

"A Million Chameleons" by James Young is a fun little book about...wait for it...a million chameleons who run around in a pack turning different colors. The text of this book is great - how many kids books rhyme "chameleon" with "vermilion" and "pavilion" all on one page? Each page is fun to peruse, as you can see within the passel of chameleons a little group dancing the can-can, or one wearing a bathing cap, one getting pinched on the nose by a crab, one who has a pillow strapped to his behind while they ice skate en masse, and so on. This is a great little book and I would really recommend it.

The thing that throws me off about "Ginger" by Charlotte Voake is that in the book Ginger is a male cat. Ginger is a female name, so that bothers me. Ginger should be a girl cat. So I read the story as if Ginger is a girl cat, and that makes up for the cognitive dissonance I would otherwise suffer. Other than that, it's a good book about the big cat getting used to a new kitten. Obviously this has parallels to children getting used to a new baby.

"Noah" by Patricia Lee Gauch has THE best illustrations (by Jonathan Greene) I have ever seen in a Noah story book. The text, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired. It's not so much an accuracy issue as it is a cadence issue. It's a lot more fun to just talk about the pictures.

Strange Bedfellows

Hannah always sleeps with her Sam I Am doll and her blanket. Tonight she also insisted on bringing her jeans and one of her red slippers to bed with her. When I asked her why she earnestly told me that "It's very IM-POR-TANT."

Who am I to argue with that?

More Waving

I should mention that as soon as I wrote the last post about Jack only waving to himself, he started waving madly and at everyone else too.

Hannah managed to sit through the entire service this morning for the third Sunday in a row! That's very encouraging for me.

The Kids' Week In Books, No. 10

Some people think you shouldn't read children nursery tales until they are 4 or 5. I'm not sure why, maybe because they think kids will be overly sensitive to the wolf eating Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother or something. In that respect, you probably know your child best. Hannah is not phased by fairy tales and Jack likes any book with pictures in it, so we checked out "The Three Little Pigs" by Charlotte Voake. It's a collection of tales, mostly favorites, with fun illustrations.

"The Tale of the Turnip" by Brian Alderson, illustrated by Fritz Wegner, is a cute story about the dangers of being greedy and the virtues of being content and hardworking. The pictures are great, and the dialogue includes lots of gems like "Hen's teeth!" and "Stone the crows!"


"Horton Hatches the Egg" is classic Dr. Seuss. The rhymes are clever and the story is fun. I actually hadn't read this one until I checked it out for Hannah, but I really like it.

Hi Jack!

I think it's funny that Jack only waves to himself. If I'm holding him and we pass a mirror or other reflective surface, he will begin waving frantically at himself and smiling and making happy sounds. On the other hand, when we wave at him, he doesn't wave back at us. I wonder if he thinks everyone just waves to him, so he should wave to himself too?

As you can see from the picture, Jack likes to read books just like Hannah, but we have limited him to board books because he has an unfortunate penchant for ripping the pages of paper books. In addition to books, Jack also likes to stack things, take things apart, and play with wheeled toys like trucks and the phonics bus and this rolling inchworm toy my aunt gave him. He's definitely a boy!

Thus Spake Hannah

In case you wondered if Hannah listens in when we talk:

Josh usually calls me "Honey." Lately Hannah has started calling me "Honey Mama." Usually she does that when she is trying to be comforting or reassuring, as in "It's ok, Honey Mama, it's gonna be ALLLL right!"

Hannah came into the room today when I was changing Jack's dirty diaper. "WHOA!" she said, "Dat's grody to da max!"

Sometimes Hannah is very diplomatic. When she wants to disagree but doesn't want to get in trouble for back talking, she says, "Wellllll...I think..." and when she wants something, she sometimes says, "OK, couple a' things..." and holds up her fingers like she's going to count down a few requirements!

In other news, I stumbled upon a way to overcome Hannah's recent aversion to putting shirts on over her head. She was yelling "No! No! Too small!" but now I put the neckline on top of her head and say "Look! It's a hat!" and then quickly pop it down around her neck and say, "And now it's a necklace!" I don't know why that works, but it does.

Overheard

Jack has started doing a really cute thing. When Josh or I hold him, we will say, "Hey Jack, where's Mama?" or "Where's Daddy?" depending on who is holding him, and he will put his head down on our shoulder. I tried to get a picture of him doing it, but they didn't turn out. I will keep trying.

This morning I needed to pick something up from the floor, but instead of bending down jack-knife fashion, I bent down in a squatting motion. Hannah said, "Oh Mama doin' a pee-yay! Good job Mama!" It took me a minute to realize she was congratulating me for doing a plie. The girl knows her ballet terms!

Hannah was enjoying yogurt for breakfast, and I asked her where yogurt comes from (she knows milk and cheese come from cows etc). She smiled the knowing smile of a child who has the answer and shouted "FROM AN OSTRICH!" Close, but no cigar.

The Kids' Week In Books, No. 9

In James Mayhew's Katie books, a little girl visits museums with her grandmother and hops inside the famous paintings to meet the subjects. I love that, because I have always wanted to do that too. There are several different stories in the series, but currently we have "Katie Meets the Impressionists" and "Katie and the Mona Lisa." I think the stories are well done and the illustrations are great, with good reproductions of the paintings and weaving in facts about the paintings, subjects, and artists without feeling like a textbook. I'd recommend these books for toddlers up through early elementary age, if you are interested in integrating art into your day without too much effort or a curriculum.

"The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-be" tells the story of the princess and the pea from the pea's perspective, which is clever. The illustrations all have kind of a fruit and vegetable theme going, which is fun, and the pea's solution to the princess problem is entertaining. In a very subtle way, this book teaches the "pretty is as pretty does" lesson.

"The Lady with the Alligator Purse" is a silly rhyme you probably learned while jumping rope - "he tried to eat the bathtub but it wouldn't go down his throat" and all that - but it's fun and the illustrations in this version are engaging and detailed without being too fussy for the material.


The illustration who did the Katie books mentioned above also compiled "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream," a collection of quotations from Shakespeare illustrated with scenes of children playing, sleeping, etc. It's a pretty book, although I wonder what made Mayhew choose some of the quotations he did, because they aren't necessarily the well-known ones you might expect.

We finished "The House at Pooh Corner" and I'm sad there aren't any others. I haven't decided what to do for our big book next.

Cuties

Hannah thought she could give Jack a piggy back ride. Since he only weighs about four pounds less than she does, that didn't work out, but they did have fun trying!

Yesterday morning I was changing my toe nail polish, and Hannah must have been observing closely, because today I found her attacking the dog's feet with a cottonball. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I cleaning up Bailey's toes." At least she didn't find the red nail polish to finish the job!