I'm on borrowed time tonight. It is 9:45 and L just went to bed. H just coughed in his room so he could be up any minute. I didn't blog as much as I would have liked last week but I've decided to take it easy on myself and only blog when I really have something to say. All I can think about lately is how much I like books!
J, or as he is better know in this house, Daddy, was surfing yesterday morning so I took the kids to Barnes and Nobles to spend the gift cards they received over the holidays. We arrive at the shopping center right at lunch time and against my better judgement went in to pick out books before eating. After and hour and a half we finally had our books. H had two Curious George books, I had a new nutrition book for myself and four books I had picked out for the kids. L had a Scooby Doo book and an Ivy and Bean book. L spent the entire hour and a half looking at the Scooby Doo and Barbie books which is why she only left with two. I just think that it is so sad that in a place filled with amazing literature the most accessible and attractive sections are the ones with characters. Forget Charlotte's Web or The Secret Garden or The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Scooby Doo is what is placed up front and center. I figure she wants to read what she wants to read so that is why I made an agreement with the kids before we went in that they could get one character book. I just don't want to walk out of the store with fifty dollars in five dollar Barbie books.
We all could have stayed in their for hours reading and looking at books but hungry tummies pulled us away. We went over to the Whole Foods and had lunch. I read to the kids after I was done eating and they were finishing up. Even though I was reading Scooby Doo it was so nice to sit and read in the bright and sunny eating area of the store. Sometimes just the act of reading, no matter where you read it or what book it is, brings a sense of peace and calmness.
Books have the ability to be a mom's ultimate secret weapon. If the kids are whining, fighting or just too crazy I can suggest a book and soon a quiet mellow atmosphere will cloak the house. In fact it is pretty much a guarantee that they will answer yes to the question "shall we read a book?" no matter where we are. H requests a stack of five books every night before he goes to bed. Mostly they are pretty good but I really struggle through Heavy Metal Mators Tall Tales and other movie or TV inspired truck books. But I read them anyway complete with special voices for the characters. I dreamed of reading L the Little House on the Prairie series but she shows no interest. Science fiction and mystery are way more her style. I find myself really enjoying them too!
We read all of the rest of the books we bought at Barnes and Nobles when we got home. I think I read the Curious George books 4 times each yesterday and twice today. Between getting J and I to read to her L managed to finish the Ivy and Bean book this afternoon. H and L even requested the books I picked out for them multiple times The passion they have for the new books is almost overwhelming! Just for record I have only been asked to read Scooby Doo one more time.
The book I got myself at Barnes and Nobles I am having problems putting down. It is a health and nutrition book, not a piece of amazing fiction, but it just happens to really speak to me right now. I love having the kids see me picking it up any chance I get to sneak a paragraph or two in. I love them seeing me as excited to read my book as they are to have me read one to them.
This weekend turned out to be a competition of books. Daddy and I were constantly getting asked to read a book at the same time we were trying to read my new one. This is problem that I will welcome any time.
When life gets to crazy it is good to know that all will be well curled up in Mommy and Daddy's bed with a stack of books, old or new, to entertain us, teach us, distract us, whatever we need them to do. At some point too soon in the future L and H will not need me to read them books anymore. This makes me sad to think about. Hopefully I will find as much pleasure quietly reading along side them as I do reading to them.
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