2 and a half

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If I was a little girl in Kindergarten, I'm certain this would be the book I'd check out from the school library too.

Clifford shows up again

Audrey checked out her second ever library book. Apparently she's got a thing for Clifford - this time it's Clifford's First Snow Day. She's jumping the gun on winter but we'll cut her some slack. I love that Audrey loves her school library.

Audrey's first ever library book

Now that Audrey is a big kindergartner, she checks out books at the school library. She's super excited about it and couldn't stop telling us all about how her library is set up. Her first ever book to be checked out: Clifford Keeps Cool. Now that's a fitting a book for late summer.

What happens to books when you leave them in the crib

Unlike Audrey at the age of 1 year and change, Grace loves to put everything into her mouth. That includes books like this one, which has been left occasionally in her crib when she falls asleep. 

 

In the morning, when she wakes up and feels like playing for a bit by herself, she messes around with whatever she can get her hands or her mouth on and, as you can see, this book is no exception. Can't see the damage very well? Ok, here's another pic.

 

Yes, there's a whole right through the middle of it. As you can see from the cover the book is called "HUG" although in Grace's case perhaps it should be called "CHEW" (as in, "to chew on the book's binding"). It's about a baby monkey who can't find his mother. He wanders through the jungle, watching all the animals hugging each other (as if they are trying to spite him or something), until finally his mother finds him and exclaims "BOBO!" Then they hug too and there's a big hug fest at the end. 

Want more evidence of the damage? Here you go - the hole is biggest on the last page. She must have really worked on this over repeated sessions. I just hope she didn't digest any of it.

 

This book once belonged to Audrey and now Grace has truly made it her own. I've been looking for another of Audrey's books called "Goodnight Gorilla" which I'm sure Grace will love. I'll just be sure not to leave it in her crib.

The psyche of a 3-year-old

Sometimes it's just time for bed.

Like when it's 8:45pm and Audrey hasn't gone to bed yet. A good mood turns to bad and all hell breaks loose. Tonight she got it into her head that she wanted a jelly bean before bed. One jelly bean. 

My wife and I told her she couldn't have sugar before bed and her protest lasted nearly 30 minutes. It wasn't a normal crying episode - it was more of a strained, chain-saw like mix between crying and yelling and she carried on until she began coughing and became hoarse.

Finally I told her that if she kept it up she'd be asked a question tomorrow by someone and when she opened her mouth she wouldn't be able to speak. Her voice would be lost. She said, "Really?" and I replied, "Yes, it has happened to many children and many adults." She told me she didn't know anyone who that has happened to and I assured her that she'd be the first one if she kept it up.

She quieted down right away. It was interesting to me that this rationale worked, if only because my other attempts crashed and burned in miraculous fashion. But because of this, within minutes she was cuddled next to me as I read her The Day It Rained Hearts, her new favorite book. She had again become the sweet little girl I know.

I have yet to figure out the psyche of a 3-year-old.

Dr. Seuss's ABCs, reinvented

Audrey likes to read Dr. Seuss's ABC book each night. It's been great because she learns her letters while also being entertained by bizarre creatures like the Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz.

But now there's a twist. She wants me to read the book "funny" - as in, I completely make up the storyline as I go in a way that's both funny to her and tame enough for a 3-year-old's ears. It's not easy.

For some reason I tend to default to bathroom humor, which I view as tolerable but which my wife has declared is only appropriate while using the potty. I might, for example, say that the camel on the ceiling on the page about the letter "C" is about to go pee. Audrey laughs like crazy at that but it could get me in trouble. Or I might suggest that the picture of a foot Kicking a Kettle on the "K" page is instead going to kick the Kitten's booty and send her flying toward the King's face. You get the point.

As the pages wear on it's really tough to come up with funny stuff. I'm like a comedian on a stage who is running out of jokes. By the time the letter "T" arrives I'm fresh out of creativity and am reading straight from the page. She notices less by then but still notices.

The Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz is, of course, on the "Z" page and it provides some relief. The creature is so strange looking that it's easy to poke fun at. And then, freshly inspired, Audrey wants to move on to the next book and asks me to read it "funny" again.

Cupcakes take the cake

A friend forwarded along the link below after reading my Pinkalicious post. Here's to Audrey's love for cupcakes, and to the fact that there really is a blog being written about every single conceivable topic:

Cupcakes take the cake

Pinkalicious

We have finally found the perfect book for Audrey. It's called Pinkalicious and it details how a little girl eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink as a result. Her parents, unclear about what to do, take her to the doctor who prescribes green foods to combat the "pinkititis" she's come down with. However, upon returning home the girl is unable to resist and consumes one more cupcake from atop the fridge, late that night.

The next morning she awakes not pink, but red. Disgusted and frightened, she becomes determined to return to normal and eats lots of green foods. The following day her pinkititis is finally cured. At the end her dad wonders where the rest of the pink cupcakes went when suddenly her brother enters the room, pink from head to toe, and says, "Pink-a-boo!"

Audrey loves this book - she will happily listen to it over and over and sometimes requests it twice in one night. The reasons she loves it? It's about cupcakes, and pink ones at that.

I recently had a birthday and the other evening Audrey and I were discussing the events that took place. My wife had made cupcakes and Audrey had gotten to pick out both the color of the icing (pink) and the sprinkles (multi-colored). The whole thing was the highlight of her year so far and she wanted to recount each detail.

When it came time for the birthday song, the cupcake given to me had as many burning candles as one can cram into a cupcake and was well covered in wax by the time we (Audrey helped) blew them out. Naturally I needed a new one to eat.

"Daddy, why did you get a new cupcake?" Audrey asked.

"Because my old one was covered in wax," I replied.

"But why didn't you like your old cupcake?" she said, pushing back.

"Because I don't like to eat wax," I explained.

"Oh," she said, deep in thought.

While my wife was baking, Audrey had slyly located a tray on the counter displaying finished cupcakes that was close enough for her fingers. She had chosen a cupcake near the edge of the tray and would casually walk by and shove one finger into it to taste the icing. But when it came time to eat cupcakes with the rest of the group she insisted on a new one.

"Daddy, I needed a new one because my old cupcake was cracked out," she said.

"It was what?" I asked.

"I got a new one because it was all cracked out," she repeated.

I had never heard this term before but found the description quite entertaining.

"What does that mean? It was broken into pieces?" (She had completely defaced it with all her finger probing.)

"Yes. So I needed a new one."

"I see. How was the new one?"

"Good! I ate the icing and all the sprinkles. But not the brown part."

"Oh? What did you do with that?" I asked.

"I didn't like it," she said. "So I threw it away."

A few weeks earlier we had made cupcakes for Grammy and Audrey had eaten only the icing then too and had thrown the rest on the floor. She had also insisted on helping with the baking process, especially in applying (and eating) the icing, but her main role was to make one hell of a mess in the kitchen. When it came time to divide up the batch into ones that would remain at home versus ones that would go to Grammy's house she became very concerned about keeping her fair share.

"Nooooo," she said, "I want to keep those here!" We ultimately negotiated to keep four cupcakes.

Her love for cupcakes is not without a sense of irony. On her first birthday, in front of a rather large crowd at our house, we practically had to force her to try a cupcake we put in front of her. Granted it was an "organic" cupcake with alternative ingredients because back then she was allergic to dairy, but she wouldn't even stick her finger in the icing. I think my wife and I had expectations that she'd grab a fist-full of cupcake and smear it all over her face, putting on a great show for our guests. But it was not meant to be.

But on her second birthday we held a "princess cupcake picnic" in Golden Gate Park and ordered our baked goods from what was purported to be the best bakery in San Francisco. They were a huge hit and people expressed noticeable disappointment when they couldn't have seconds. I can honestly say they were the best cupcakes I've ever had, and I think Audrey agreed. 

From that moment forward she and cupcakes would have a love affair like no other. I just hope she doesn't turn pink.

Have you ever?

Have you ever...

Spent 10 minutes debating the differences between the letter "r", the letter "i" and the number "1"?

Searched a book endlessly, page by page, for capital letter "B"?

Re-read the same page of a book 4 times, followed in each case by the response, "How come?" And to which you didn't have any real answer?

Known someone who finds it hilarious that a cat named "Snuggles" accidentally falls into a swimming pool in her bedtime story book?

Or someone who doesn't necessarily read yet but has had certain books read to her so many times that she can say the words on every page as if she's reading?

Or read the same 2 books every night for a month in a row?

I have.