Reading with Elle Belle

When I was in college, I took a children's literature class that was one of the most entertaining courses of my college career. I don't remember many of the books we read, but I do remember being introduced to a book called "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type."

When I found out I was pregnant, it was a book that I knew I wanted for Baby's bookshelf (and somehow we ended up with two copies, which is a good thing since infant Elle had a page ripping problem).

It's an interesting book, and we've gone through stages where it was a regular in our bedtime reading rotation. Basically, the cows want electric blankets and use a typewriter to communicate with the farmer, the farmer thinks they are whiny and out of line, the cows go on strike, the hens go on strike, demands are made, the word "ultimatum" is introduced to infants and toddlers everywhere, and in the end the farmer has a mess on his hands, granting the cows and chickens electric blankets and dealing with some diva ducks who (spoiler alert!) hijack the typewriter and request a diving board. 

A few months ago, Elle and I were reciting parts of the book while I prepared dinner. And I discovered that the book may have caused need for clarifications to be made and enunciations to be practiced. 

The one note that the cows and hens present to the farmer says "Closed. No milk. No eggs."

Elle, who apparently has linked "legs" to the "eggs" in the story, told me that the farmer was out of luck in the limb department and should expect "No arms. No yegs."

Wordless Wednesday: Bookworm

Elle has always loved books, but I love that she loves to read them to us now, too. There are several that we have read over and over, and she knows by heart. But there are also a lot of newer ones, like the books we check out from the library, that we'll read to her two or three times and then she repeats parts of them back to us with varying accuracy.

Also? Why is she growing up so fast?!

Elle videos

Life has been bananas lately, so please forgive my lack of regular posting. I've got some posts in the works, just need to find time and energy to finish them. But because she cracks me up on a regular basis, I wanted to share a few recent Elle videos for your viewing pleasure :)

Elle was a (hyper) pirate for Halloween. We attended some fall festivals the weekend before Halloween, but at the last minute, I decided we'd check out a trunk-or-treat near us on the actual day. Since she was dressed up, we also decided to go visit Daddy at work. Elle wasn't very cooperative, but I did manage to catch her signature line on video:

Elle loves looking at old birthday and holiday cards (hers or ours). She got a few Halloween cards in the mail and was "reading" them to me. It was really cute to hear her tell me who had signed each card (she's mixed up several sides of the family and friends, haha).

We got "The Very Busy Spider" from the library a few weeks ago, and Elle picked up on it quick. I was surprised that she got 85% of the animals, verbs and actions correct as she was "reading" this to me (i.e. the cat cries "meow" and asks about taking a nap, the goat says "mah" and wants to climb on the rocks). Sometimes I listen to her and just shake my head in awe.

Literary absorption and perspective shifts

Reader's Digest version of this post: I read a lot, I'm an emotional person and I have an overactive imagination. I read fast. I liked "Two Kisses for Maddy" a lot but it made me sad. Still working on wrapping up the almost-finished rambling posts.

When I was going through our storage unit stuff, I found several bins of books. We're gone through these bins several times, purging and purging again. As I looked through my books on more time, trying to find anything that I might be able to part with, I came across a series of books that I had completely forgotten about.

They were books by Lurlene McDaniel - books about teenage girls facing love, loss and leukemia. As an angst-ridden teen myself, I immersed myself in the "real" drama of these fictional characters who were dealing with drastic diagnoses because it made everything that I might be facing seem trivial. It was always fun to read about their antics at summer camps - camps that they had to beg their parents to let them attend. Then they snuck out of their cabins at night, met fantastic friends and flirted with cute boys but ended up back in the hospital because of a tragic relapse.

I saved those books. They were stories that I read over and over - stories that captivated me - and I knew that I might want to read them again someday to see what appealed to my teen self. I also knew I might want to share them with my future children, hoping that they might share my love of reading, where they get so wrapped up in a book they do nothing but read until it is finished. Where they spend every available minute reading so they can finish the book that they just. can't. put. down.

It isn't often these days that I a) find a book so captivating or b) can make the time to devote to that kind of book. In a recent post, I mentioned some of the books (above) that I wanted to dive in to. I picked up "The Happiness Project" and "Two Kisses for Maddy" the day after I published that post, and I debated between the two before deciding I was in the mood for a story, not a self-help book.

I started "Two Kisses for Maddy" at 11:40 that night. I read a few chapters before giving in to sleep, then read a few pages while I was blow drying my hair at the gym, read as much as I could on my half-hour lunch break at work, and then disregarded all household obligations until I finished reading the book at 12:10 a.m. and had to go to bed. Just a little over 24 hours.

The book was emotional. It was real. It was written by a man who details an amazing love story of two people who fell for each other, got married and wished and planned for a child. It is a story I can relate to, with a long-distance relationship and other similarities in basic beliefs, experiences, etc. But within the span of two days, Matt welcomes his new daughter and has to say goodbye to the love of his life - and then has to figure out how to pick up the pieces of the life he knew and accept his "new" life.

Back when I first read the Lurlene McDaniel books, I didn't think about "What if I had leukemia?" I was absorbed, but I didn't relate. With "Two Kisses for Maddy," the story was gripping ... and terrifying. Because what happened to Matt, his wife and his daughter - that could happen to anyone. To me. To a family member. To a friend. And it wasn't just "Matt's wife." It was Maddy's mom. Someone's daughter. Someone's sister. Someone's friend.

This isn't the first time I've been so drawn in to a book. When I was pregnant, I listened to an audiobook that I almost stopped several times. It wasn't a bad book - it was by one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. The problem was it made me anxious. It gave me something to worry about. The main storyline in the book was about a young girl with Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease). Maybe I just can't separate myself from fiction, but I had a hard time reminding myself that it was just a book, that it didn't mean I had to worry about my baby having this condition. While I was pregnant I also saw the movie "My Sister's Keeper," based on another Picoult book. Again, another source of things to worry about. I quickly realized, even in my hormonal, pregnant state, that I needed to stop worrying about every possible problem, disease, complication, etc. that I heard or read about. But the fact remains that those stories are based on real things - diseases that exist, decisions that are faced. And "Two Kisses for Maddy" is a true, extremely compelling and emotional story of a family that reminds me of my own in some ways.

I try not to let my mind wander to terrible things, but there are moments when I catch my breath and go to a "worst-case scenario" place in my mind - where something would be wrong with me, or Tim, or Elle. Now that I'm a parent, I also see the roles of other people differently, and I'm reminded that people who were parents, sisters, brothers, etc., are also now grandparents, aunts, uncles. And Elle isn't "just" our daughter - she's the youngest granddaughter, the only granddaughter one side of the family, a niece and a cousin. These relationships are placed at center-stage when a family member is diagnosed with a disease, suffers an accident or dies suddenly, and as I read "Two Kisses for Maddy," I was constantly reminded of that, and reminded of how lucky I am.

Growing up, and books like "Two Kisses for Maddy," or hearing friend's stories of heartbreak or life unfairness, really put things in to perspective. My 14-year-old brother recently lost his 13-year-old best friend to cancer. It hurts me to know that my brother had to experience such a loss at such a young age, that the little girl's life was cut short. But as a mom, I also think of the girl's parents, who lost their only child. I can't imagine that. I have a friend who lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 11. I can't imagine that. Another friend's son just passed away. He was 21, and he was  someone's child. I think of all of the lost moments and memories and it breaks my heart, which is how I felt while reading "Two Kisses for Maddy." 

It might be time for some lighter reading (I did just finish "The Hunger Games"). But books like "Two Kisses for Maddy" - so raw, so powerful - definitely pull me in and speak to me in a different way than it would have before I had Elle.


Am I crazy person, or do people have similar reactions to books?

What I'm reading in my ample spare time

... to be more accurate, what I'm planning to read (other than anything involving Llama llama or rhymes) in my "spare time." It has really hit me in the last week or two that my days have fallen in to a vicious cycle: Go to the gym, go to work, have burst of determination for all of the things I will accomplish that night, pick Elle up, make dinner/play with Elle/bath Elle/put Elle to bed, get hit by semi-truck of reality: lunches need to be packed, gym bag needs to be packed, laundry/dishes/cleaning need to be done. Pass out and get nothing "fun" done, rinse, repeat.

So my slow-going on the blog posting is not because I've been spending my evenings curled up with a glass of wine and a book. It's because I'm exhausted and can't find my 2:30 p.m. idealistic energy rush at 9 p.m.

I think a good way for me to wind down, though, will be to get back to one of my favorite pre-bedtime routines: Reading. And there are plenty of books I want to be reading. I'm a fast reader ... when I make the time to read. So through the powers of Christmas gifts, Amazon.com and mostly my local library, here are the ones on deck or in the current rotation:

The Happiness Project: I read about this a few months ago, and then read about it again recently on Young House Love. Requested at the library, waiting to be picked up and delivered to my nightstand. 

The Book of Awakening: I read this one most mornings. There is a page or two of reflection for each day, and it's a nice, quick and uplifting way to ease in to the day and a natural routine to pair with my morning cup of coffee.

The Bullpen Gospels: I've read a lot of baseball books over the years. The reason this one appeals to me is because the guy who wrote this book went to high school in my high school's athletic conference, and I was a stat for our JV baseball team. He pitched against our team a few times, and years later, I found out he was a pitcher for my college team. I e-mailed him while we in college because I'm cool like that: "Hey, your team played against my team and now we go to the same college," etc., he responded with "Oh yeah, I remember that team, yay for baseball, yay for the same college," and obviously we're now best friends for-eva. Then his name came back up when he was playing for the Tampa Bay Rays and his book was getting a lot of local publicity. Tim was really interested in it, so we bought it and he read it last year. I'm hoping to get to it this season.

Two Kisses for Maddy: I read about the blogger behind this book early last year, and the book sounds amazing. While I think it'll be a tear jerker, I've requested it from the library and am armed with a box of tissues.

Happy Chaos: I was intrigued by this last year - Punky Brewster had babies and wrote about it, whee! Tim bought it for me for Christmas. So far I've had trouble getting in to it, but it could be the whole "I haven't been reading anything consistently since 2009" thing (except for all of the baby/parenting/childbirth stuff I read in 2010, but I'm not counting that).

The Hunger Games: I kept up well with the Twilight craze but kind of missed the boat on the Hunger Games trend. I bought the first book for my brother for Christmas (a year ago? two years ago?) and now I'm going to borrow the books from him to get my YA lit on.

The Happiest Toddler on the Block: In progress. I'd like to gain the knowledge just by being in the same proximity as the book. No dice. This has been a slow read for me, too (my toddler exhausts me=no time to read about toddlers).

Bloom: This one just came out, and I can't wait to read it. I started reading Kelle's blog right around the time Nella was born, and I absolutely love her writing and her photos.

Any books I need to add to my list? Any books I should definitely avoid? What's on your nightstand these days?

Random, photos and a question

* I hosted a gathering of some of my crafty friends yesterday. Our crafty gatherings always mean a reason to bake :) I baked cookies for the gathering, then made three new recipes and another favorite today. This was all well and fun, but the bottom line is that I cleaned up the kitchen several times in the last two days and spent an hour doing all of the dishes that my kitchen antics created. The flip side? I froze blueberry muffins, oatmeal bars and chicken marsala that I can eat over the next few weeks, and we enjoyed some yummy Texas cheese fries with steaks that I grilled tonight for dinner. AND I have a lot of catching up to do on the baking blog now :)

* Yesterday Elle did something (I can't even remember what it was) and I told her it wasn't funny. She fake, hysterical laughed and said "It IS funny."

* Tim got his hair cut for the first time since late last year (because of the scalp cyst, then because of the shaved area from the surgery), and he told the stylist to cut it all as short as the shaved-now-somewhat-grown-back area. He usually keeps it longer in the front, but that's not what he told the stylist. The end result has been the source of several self-imposed descriptions and my new nickname for Tim: Matt Lauer.

* I've been taking a lot of random snapshots of Elle lately. She's moving so fast (and often, bee-lining for the camera) that a lot of really great shots come out blurry. But I love that I'm catching so many different sides of her personality and expressions:

Love that half-smile, soft curls, round cheeks and luscious lashes.

* I've received what I consider to be a pretty cool chain letter, and I'm still looking for a few people to send it to so that I can fulfill my "send this letter to six people ..." request. This chain letter instructs you to send a book to the first child listed on the letter, then you move up the second kid to the first position and add your kid to the letters you send out. I'm all about spreading the love of reading and have fun buying some of Elle's favorite books for other little kids, but the whole process works only if the people you pass it along to are willing to participate. It has been surprisingly hard to find people to continue the "chain," but it means that I'm on the lookout for any friends who might be interested and willing to participate. If the chain works, the child should receive 36 books. That's 36 books - and you only send ONE. And if you don't have time to go buy a book, you can save time and postage by buying a book on Amazon or half.com and shipping it directly to the child. E-mail me at seacowcircus@gmail.com if you'd like to participate.

The kid loves her books.

Literary likes ... and dislikes

Elle has quite a library for a one year old. I love that she likes books - I've always been quite the reader, and it brings me immense pleasure to watch her absorb the books, to hear her "read" them herself. I love to read to her, and I even appreciate the clutter of books strewn across the nursery floor as Hurricane Elle comes tearing through.


But we've reached a stage where Elle wants to have the same book(s) read over. And over. And over. And over. The current culprits are two board books I got from the library - Hello, Bugs and I like toys. I read one, shut it, put it on the floor/table/chair. Elle picks it up, hands it back to me and settles back in my lap. Rinse and repeat until I can snag a different book (I'm digging Snack Time for Cow - another library pick - right now.) It might be slightly less annoying if these two books had more substance - more of a plot, a little bit of character development, some sort of dénouement - but they don't. So repeating "Rectangle" and "Hello, beetle" 25 times a day gets a little mind-numbing.

It got me thinking, though - there are definitely children's book that I steer Elle toward to because *I'm* in the mood to read them. And there are definitely others that I will put on the top shelves of her bookshelf (where she can't reach yet) so I don't have to read it right then. 

Right now, I'm a big fan of Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? and the Llama llama books. (Seriously, if you can walk around without absentmindedly saying "Llama llama red pajama" or "Llama llama misses Mama," a gold star to you.) I went through a The Snowy Day phase during the "winter." My go-to travel book is Goodnight Moon. This is partly because I like to think the familiar rhythm of the book is comforting to Elle when we're not at home, and also because I have a paperback copy that works well in my constant fight to stay under the 50-pound limit on my checked luggage. I am tricky like that. I also adore Love You Forever, but I don't read it too often because it makes me cry 99.9% of the time. When I was growing up, I was obsessed with the Angelina Ballerina series. Elle has a few of the books in her collection, but so far, she had no interest in them, and they *are* longer and less colorful than the majority of the kids books in her collection.

One of the best ways to distract Elle during a diaper change
is to hand her a book - I just can't give her A Tale of Two Cities
or she'll drop it on her head and tears will (justifiably) ensue.

Tim, on the other hand, is not a fan of Goodnight Moon. He's a big If you give a pig a pancake kind of guy. He also loves the Ladybug Girl books, but they're a bit lengthy, and right now, short is best with Elle's attention span.

Is your kid a bookworm? What are their favorite books? Do you have any favorites/least favorites?