As aforementioned, we went to Austin last weekend to celebrate our niece/cousin Ella’s third birthday (early — since they’re moving). By no understatement, the party was crazy. The kids loved it (aside from the little girl who had her finger bitten by one of the pigs). Where else can you get away with holding, feeding, even throwing little animals? I wish I had video. Scott actually has video of Ella slinging bunnies. Afterward, we stayed and played at the pool along with the Carruths. Anyway, here are some pictures.
I’m going to reengage and confess that I’ve been a b*tch this last week. We all have — well, carried some form of the attitude anyway. Or at least it’s felt that way. I want to blame (what’s confession without blame?) the surmounting irritability on the suffocating heat combined with our 1950s household windows – the ones you can actually feel breezes through and participate in whispered conversation on separate sides of when they’re closed. Our AC fights to hover near 80 during the days. For the last few days I’ve been listening to my kids whine and bicker and “me first” toward one another and thinking “what the hell has happened here?” as I fill up our baby plastic pool (that’s big enough for the three of them to sit in, opposed to swim in) so they can play outside. We’ve continued our normal adventures outside of the home, but nothing has seemed to appease these self-sufficing-with-total-disregard-for-others attitudes. Then the clouds came and along with it, the rain. Relief. Rest. Epiphany: I’ve been just as whiny and self-focused as my children. Certainly not one of my finer moments (by “moments” I mean weeks). I’ve been impatient and hard, quickly recognizing and speaking to all their “needs for improvement” rather than commending their accomplishments, obedience, and kindness (no matter how sporadic they’ve been lately). I’m glad that’s not how the Lord deals with us.
So, I thought on a positive note, I’d share a picture of some of the recycled art that the boys have produced lately. (From left to right): Luke Skywalker with his light saber on a skyscraper, a robot helmet, and a tank). They also have piles of paintings and drawings not pictured. Blythe’s art, also not pictured, has mostly involved a variation of mediums (chalk, watercolors, crayons) on my walls. Thus far, I think her favorite color is pink.
So in this all-knowing-self-help-reference-book age of parenting, most of us realize how valuable it is to read to our kids and for our kids to spend time “reading” to themselves. But, in the overwhelming market of children’s literature, it can take a while to find what you want or anything new your kids (and of course yourself) might enjoy. So, I thought I would share some things that our kids are reading and enjoying — as are we. If any of you have any recommendations of your own, I would love to hear them.
Enticing to all of my children because of Eric Carle’s fabulously bright animal art, but this book also includes poems (written by various poets) about each depicted animal.
Ideal for toddler wiggles. I often read this to Blythe while we stand, so that she can perform all the “activities.” Each of my children has loved this book (along with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? & Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?).
A classic. The kids love the pictures and silly poems. Obviously they miss out on Silverstein’s frequent play on words.
The boys love looking through this book’s detailed pictures. As the title says, it follows one street through history giving a broad picture of the evolution of society. Along this same line, they also love the World History Encyclopedia: New Millennium Edition (obviously slightly outdated, but works for the other 4 million year it covers). Beware of apparently small questions that may be impossible to explain to preschoolers with limited terms and knowledge of history, i.e. “Mom, what’s fascism?” or “What happened in World War II?”
Full of bright, cheerful pictures, this book introduces the characters and mini-stories in the Bible, but intertwines them together revealing the bigger picture of the Bible: Christ.
(No Picture) A Child’s Swiss Family Robinson by Joan Marlow Todd
I just started reading this to the boys, as an alternative to the original. They love it. The chapters are manageable for their ages (at about 15-20 paragraphs) and pictures every other page or so.
