Watcha' Readin'?

I have no idea how this happened, but I'm raising a princess. She loves to style her hair, loves wearing dresses (finally - having an older brother slowed this down), loves wearing pretty shoes, and loves Cinderella and any other princesses. She talks about getting married when she grows up and speaks about her husband. I can't tell you how many times she has been "pregnant," sometimes with twins. Minna Beana even knows how to nurse her babies from watching me nurse her younger brother.

This is somewhat funny to me because I never dreamed of getting married. I just figured it would happen. I never imagined having kids. I thought I would never be ready and it would be too hard. I ask, "are we ever really ready?" I keep my hair short because I never really learned how to style it and it's convenient; the peanut gallery wants that to change. I love princess dresses and did watch Princess Diana get married. Oh yeah, I love pretty shoes, but only own three pair.

I enjoy raising my princess. She motivates me to be more of a "lady." Afterall, she will be learning alot of how to be one from me. My biggest challenge has been hair maintenance because I do hair once (in the morning as w/make-up if I use it) and that is supposed to take care of it for the day. Because she has more hair than I do, throughout the day maintenance is required. For now, I can get away without doing much because she "looks cute," but I want her to know how to properly groom herself, so I find myself fixing hair throughout the day. Actually, she does a pretty good job herself, which she just figured out. Maybe, this raising a lady stuff isn't so hard; if only that were true.

It only seemed appropriate that Minna Beana's book choice for the week is Cinderella. I asked her what her favorite parts were and she shared the following:

Mommy - "Ms. Beana, what do you like about Cinderella?"

Minna - "I like that she gets married. I also like when he sees her."

Mommy - "When he sees her?"

She took the book from me and started flipping through the pages.

Minna - "Here," she pointed.

The page she showed me was when the prince first sees Cinderella at the ball in her pretty dress and he is marveling at her beauty. A romantic at the age of four (4). If she ain't a princess, then she is definitely a "girlie girl." I guess I better hang up my worn tennis shoes and sweatpants. I've got an example to set.

After reading the book, check out Rodger & Hammerstein's Cinderella with an all-star, muti-ethnic cast that includes Brandy as Cinderella, Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother and Broadway actor Paolo Montalban as the handsome prince. Along with the excellent singing, because most of the actors have Broadway stage experience, there is humor (Whoopie and Jason Alexander to name a few), and Hollywood spectacular with a budget to match.

Related Post: The Joy of Reading

Watcha' Readin'?

I love to read even though I can't tell you when I last read a book from cover to cover. I have read quite a few magazines because that is about all of the time and attention span I have to spare. It is really important to me that my children read and I also hope that they enjoy reading too. So far, we are heading in the right direction. They still enjoy mommy reading to them and since I only have one reader, they need me to read to them. My daughter has been expressing her interest to start reading for quite a while, so we have been practicing and hopefully, she will be able to read to her little brother before long.

I intend to make a reading corner in their bedroom, but until then, they enjoy reading in mommy and daddy's bed. The older two listen the best they can while all of us try to keep the baby from falling off of the bed. He gets very busy playing and jumping and hasn't gotten the fact that he should sit and not jump. I often wonder if he is paying attention and every once in a while he will roll over and point to what is being read. I think he gets it.

Each week, one of the children will feature a special book they enjoy reading (or one that was read to them). We will start off the week with Schubaboobaly's pick of One Moose, Twenty Mice (also available in Spanish). This book is a Barefoot Book publication. These series of books, are fun, colorful, attention capturing, and all of my children absolutely love Barefoot Books. One of my aunts buys alot of books for my children and one of the Barefoot Books she gave to my oldest, which I used to read to him, he now reads to his brother and sister. So, these books are great for the early listeners as well as the early readers.

This board book is a little longer than some of the other board books I've read. Throughout the story of patchwork pictures, bright colors, counting from one to 20, the lingering mystery remains, "...where's the cat?" This is a great book for enfants because of the colors and the introduction to animals (even the spiders and mice are cute) and also for teen toddlers because of the ascending counting skills it promotes. The felt, patchwork pictures make me want to break out needle and quilting hoop to create some of the pictures. Several of the pictures would make great wall hangings.

Schubaboobaly enjoys sitting and "reading" through the book. Every once in a while, he will bring the book over to me and show me the pictures. It won't be long before he's reading to mommy.

Related Post: The Joy of Reading