Great New Alphabet Book

Calvin enjoys letters quite a bit. He's always asking us to "make a W" with our hands, or "make a U" with the noodles at the swimming pool. A corner of his room is decorated with big purple V's and F's. So when I saw the book Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types, by Sharon Werner, I had to get it for him. Each page has animals made up of hundreds of letters (like a huge giraffe that folds out and is made of little G's), letters in the shape of different things. There are letters in many different fonts, so kids can start to recognize different fonts.

It's a fun book that will give us plenty of ways to talk about the different letters.

Wanna dance?

We got an American Idol Dance Mat for a Christmas host gift, and everyone took turns trying to become an idol. But every time anyone got on it, Calvin would run up and start dancing like a nut. It was hilarious. We still have it out in the living room.

Tell me how you unwind and win a Baby Dino!

Hey guys! I haven't written in this blog in awhile. The holidays are coming up and I've been getting my house ready for out of town guests guests and trying to plan out fun activities that everyone will enjoy. But I think it's important, during this time when Im otherwise whipping myself up into a Christmas frenzy, to relax as much as possible.

And so I'm wondering how you guys are taking time out to unwind as the year comes to an end. Leave a comment (or an email at email@mandymarksteiner.com if the comment feature isn't working for you) telling me how you're taking time for yourself and I will pick out a winner, who will get this free Baby Dino! (I'll mail it to you!)

The prize is sponsored by CSN Stores, a website that sells nursery furniture.

San Antonio Children's Museum

If it seems like I'm just going from one children's museum to the next...Well...I guess I am. Visiting the children's museum in every town you visit seems like a wonderful way to travel. In San Antonio they had a program for toddlers (that started just when we arrived) where we played musical instruments, then played with play dough, then painted.

They had a little grocery store right outside the room where the program was and when we left all the toddlers grabbed a cart and started running around the room with them at once. Mayhem!

They have a front loader that kids can "drive" and an airplane and a huge tree. The biggest hit was the ball factory. It was a huge contraption with colorful gears and cranks and tubes. The kids feed balls into the machine and they get sucked into a ducts system that collects the balls and then drops them all on everyone's head. Good times.

Houston Children's Museum

Margaret and I took Calvin to the Houston Children's Museum. She hasn't been there since Ryne was a little baby. We spent most of our time up in the tot lot, where they had a lot of ramps and toys and little ball pits, and after playing for a couple of hours Calvin fell asleep, os we went home.

But downstairs there were a lot of things that looked like fun. There was an art studio with easels and paints set up, and a street that was like a miniature town with a police station, an ambulance where they could use all the stuff, a grocery store and a news station. We'll be going back soon.

Calvin and the Snowy J

Waking up from my musical hibernation

I don't know what's wrong with me (OK, I admit it, I can think of at least five things that are Wrong With Me) but it's been a very long time since I've played trumpet.

But I talked to some trumpet players in town and they said that nearly everyone in the Community Winds have had a time (5-20 years) where they put the horn down and came back to it. So they won't make fun of me.

And for a long time I thought it would be too hard to play with Calvin around. Because I'll wake him up if I play when he sleeps, and when he's awake he's always trying to get my attention. When I have a babysitter I usually want to make the most of it by writing, particularly if I might get paid for what I'm writing (because it's refreshing to know that I'm making more than the babysitter every now and again).

Anyway, I started practicing the other day and Calvin loved it. He was entertained. I played a song he likes from Fraggle Rock. Then he wanted to play. I think if I start to play my biggest challenge will be that I'll have to fight over the trumpet with Calvin.

But either way, the Community Winds is rehearsing tonight and I'm going.

Dance! Run Run Run! Upsiedown!

Calvin's 21 months right now. At certain times of the day, he likes to sit down with a book. But he has so much energy right now that it seems like times when he learns the most is when he's running around, playing and dancing. That's why I love the music classes that he's in. He learns a ton of words and songs, and gets to play with other kids. Here he is at Music and Movement, and the Mesa Public Library.

Next week we're going to join a tumbling class at the YMCA.

A Quilt to Remember Grandma and Grandpa

Ever since Mom died I've wanted to make a quilt using her clothes, so that I could have something that was soft and cuddly to remember her with. Once my sisters and I went to the store for supplies and were planning to have a sister quilting club. At our first quilting meeting Melissa had big plans, but was mainly chit chatting. Katie was incredibly efficient, making a ton of perfectly matching squares with the measuring/cutting device that she bought. I was more of a gimp, and cut out several lopsided squares using a CD case, while trying to fend off Katie's curious cats.

I don't know whether Katie and Melissa tried again. I managed to sew two of those squares together and realized that I am a terrible quilter. But I love my parents and I wanted to have a quilt that I could give to Calvin. So I took all my fabrics (my moms bathrobe and pajamas, my dad's pajamas and a shirt, a dress that mom and I made together and a sarong that they brought home for me that time they went to Jamaica and a dress that I wore to my mom's funeral) to a local quilting shop and told them my ideas. And here is the quilt!

It says "Grandma and Grandpa Audette Love You."

Finger Painting

I've Got a Dinosaur on My Head!

I just bought the CD, I've Got a Dinosaur on My Head, by Peter Apel, and we really like listening to it in the car.

"I Once Had a Balloon (But then it Popped)" is a work of genius, because it captures how psychotically attached little kids can be to their balloons, even though balloons aren't around forever. In the song, Peter tuns balloons into a poignant metaphor or mortality, while still being hilarious and also taking time to throw in an extended fart noise. Kudos!

The other songs are fun, and about simple subjects that kids relate too, often performed with silly voices and sounds. It's a great CD for kids!

Bossy Bear

Bossy Bear, by David Horvath, immediately got Calvin's attention. I read it to him once, and he immediately wanted to hear it again. Just like the David Shannon's books, Calvin loves characters who are being naughty. This book captures the kind of brattiness that toddlers can dish out, using language that's fun to say out loud. After hearing it once Calvin was already saying "Bossy Bear" and "gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme!" and "faster!" (I know, it sounds like the books going to warp his personality and turn him into a brat. But, he was already being a total handful today, so at least he can have words for it). Bossy Bear learns that if he bosses everybody around nobody will want to play with him. In the end he learns to make friends with a little turtle.

David Horvath and his wife, Sun-Min Kim, are the creators of those Ugly Dolls that I've seen in so many stores and wondered about.

Albuquerque Children's Museum

Children's museums, in general, are a gift from God. Last week, when we were driving home from Carlsbad it was essential that we stop by the Children's Museum in Albuquerque to break up a long car ride.

Calvin's favorite phrases these days are "Touch it!" and "Want it!" and "Climbind" (which means I want to climb up on that). He's learning by running around and getting into stuff, and this museum was designed to accommodate him.

We started out just following him as he explored. He went into an area where kids could build things with pipes, and he took a pipe and used it as a walking stick for about twenty minutes. He tried to jump into the fountain, but we didn't let him. Then he went outside and climbed a set of stairs. There was a playground outside, and I think he has a real complex about slides. He thinks he's supposed to enjoy them, but he's usually to scared to go down them. So he says "slide! Weee!" and points to the slide, but won't go down.

Eventually we ended up in the tot room, which has a two foot ramp that he used as a slide. It also has a ton of books, boxes of blocks and puzzles, and clear pipes that go from one end of the room to the other. Kids can drop little whiffle balls into the pipes and watch them travel across the room.

It was fun.

Little Art Monkeys

The director of Little Forrest Playschool in Los Alamos has a cool website called Little Art Monkeys. She has a whole bunch of art projects for little kids to do.

How to Save For College

In 18 years a public college education is estimated to cost over $100,000 and a private college education will be over $200,000!

There are a lot of ways to save up for college: dumping all your one-dollar bills and coins into a savings account, using reusable cotton diapers instead of disposables, buying secondhand clothes and toys and saving half the money that your kids get for birthdays and holidays.

But no matter how many pennies you pinch, you need to invest them wisely. Here are a few ways to do this:

State 529 Savings Plans allow you to invest the money you contribute in a mutual fund or other investment and the growth is tax deferred. When you take the money out you don’t have to pay federal taxes. Each state has their own 529 Plan but you don’t have to choose a college based on the state that you have your 529 Plan in.

Mutual Funds and IRAs can also be effective ways to accumulate money for your child’s future education. The tax-deferred earnings of a Roth IRA can be withdrawn before you are 59 ½ without a tax penalty if it is used for education.

Life Insurance - perhaps you have family members who depend on you for financial support like your children or grandchildren that are attending college, life insurance could be an additional approach if you need protection for a certain number of years.

Al Aglialoro is an agent with Farm Bureau Financial Services. He is opening an office in Los Alamos and can set you up with the investment plan that fits your personal needs. Email him at Al.Aglialoro@fbfs.com.

Eclipse Interrupted!

I bought Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer earlier this week. This is my favorite book in the series so far. I am totally into the love triangle, and have been plowing through the book.

Then, last night I was only three pages to the end, and Calvin started crying and crying and saying "Boobah!" and I had no choice but to abandon the book and breast feed him until I fell asleep. It was painful.

Twilight and Madagascar

I was just explaining the plot of Twilight to Quinn, and he made a very astute observation. It has almost the exact same plot as Madagascar! One creature has to resist the temptation to eat his best friend.

The Santa Fe Children's Museum

On Tuesday I went to the Santa Fe Children's Museum with my friend Michaela, her son, John, and Calvin. Calvin wasn't feeling well, his asthma was bothering him, and so he cried the whole time I tried to install John's carseat, and was grumpy all the way down. I was afraid we wouldn't be able to go and have fun.

As soon as we got there he was ready to play. The boys ran right past the admissions desk before we even paid. Calvin was yelling "Ball!" "Fish!" And running from a rollercoaster track for pool balls to a fish tank. There was a mirror station where we could paint our own faces. I put stars and hearts on our cheeks and he yelled "Stars STars STars!" when he saw himself.

The best thing about the museum was that it was kind of messy, and you don't have to feel bad about the mess that your kid is making (because he's learning). Calvin found a concrete pool and water fountain system that was full of boats and rubber duckies. He loved throwing the sharks and octopi in the water. I gave him an apron to wear, but he still got so drenched that I had to buy him a t-shirt and borrow a pair of shorts.

John, who's three, was really into the bubbles. There was a tractor tire in the middle of the floor full of soapy water. Kids stood in the middle of it and pulled a string that was attached to a metal ring in the water, and it made a bubble that surrounded their bodies.

(Calvin also liked the bubbles, but he wanted to put his face in the soapy water so I had to keep him away from them).

After lunch we went outside, where there was a sand pit, lots of little huts and a music area where there were instruments made out of planks, pipes and hubcaps.

These balloons are freaking me out

Some of the words that Calvin knows aren't from books, but from memorable experiences. We went to the balloon fiesta last fall, and so you know that Calvin can say "balloon" perfectly. It's hard to say no to him when he points to the expensive long-lasting balloons in the grocery store and say's "balloon" as sweet as can be.

So for the past week and a half we have had a Sponge Bob Square Pants balloon and a globe balloon living as guests in our house. Just before I started I had to ask the globe to move over so I could sit at the computer, while Sponge Bob flails insanely in the wind outside the window.

At first I thought a balloon is an inanimate object, but they keep moving from room to room on their own. I'll turn the corner to the stairs in the middle of the night to find Sponge Bob grinning at me from the tall ceiling over our stairs. The globe is hovering over the stove, when I could have sworn it was in the living room just a minute ago.



They'll sneak up behind us when we're reading, jump out of the closet to scare us, or leer around the bathroom door. They spy on us while we're asleep. I was just trying to relax and read a book to Calvin and I could see them scooting along the ceiling. The globe ducked under the doorway to my bedroom, and I sent him out and locked the door behind me.

Next time Calvin asks for a balloon I might have to say no.

Big Dog Little Dog captures our bed drama

But they did not sleep well!

Upstairs Fred thrashed and crashed and thumped and bumped in the little bed and Downstairs Ted tossed and turned all over the big bed...Big dogs need big beds and little dogs need little beds.

Our final solution for the head hitting

I would like to say the magic potion that Dr. Krohn gave us for head hitting worked like a charm, but I accidentally poured it down the drain, and his teeth kept hurting, and he kept hitting his head until we reached a low point. I was tired and miserable, Calvin was just following me around and hitting his mouth and Quinn and I were bickering about it all the time.

Then a few days ago, at three in the afternoon, I tried to get Calvin to take a nap in his crib. He was obviously exhausted. I held him in my lap on the rocking chair, hoping he would doze off, but instead he flailed his arms like a crazy boy and so I put him in the crib and went downstairs to get a glass of water.

When I came back, I walked into the room and my heart nearly stopped. His face was bloody and he had blood all over the pillow that I wrapped the crib in. He made his lip bleed. I picked him up and brought him into the guest room and breat fed him laying down, and he fell asleep in a few seconds. I checked to make sure he didn't do anything bad to his teeth, but it looked like he just cut his lip.

He slept for almost two hours on the futon. But I was stressed out for the rest of the day. I took the pillow off the crib and washed it. This was not going to work. It was obvious that he just hates the crib and he's getting overly tired.

We started out co-sleeping with him when he was young and we've always struggled to get him to sleep in the crib. When we got our new place we thought that it would be a good time to get him to sleep there because he is in a separate room and so he can't see us, so will go to sleep. It has worked on and off, but in general, he hates it. The point of the crib is to get kids to sleep without hurting themselves, but so far Calvin's most serious injuries have come from the crib.

So when Quinn came home we put the futon mattress on the floor of the bedroom, and Calvin has been sleeping there. He doesn't hit his head as much, and he never does it at bedtime. He's catching up on sleep and is noticeably happier. If he falls out of bed, it doesn't matter because it's only a couple of inches off the floor.

I can't tell you how happy I am that we found a solution to this problem. He just wasn't happy and was hitting his head to let us know.

Read this to explain the solar system

Calvin is currently obsessed with Stars! Stars! Stars! by Bob Barner. It's a short book where the narrator wants to see some stars and planets. Somehow in under 140 words, Bob Barner manages to explain all the planets in the solar system, the fact that the sun is actually a star, and explain the big dipper, constellations and shooting stars while still rhyming.

I wasn't sure if this would be a fun book for a kid when I first bought it, but Calvin loves it, and even talks about Stars! Stars! Stars! when we're going about our day.

Battle of the baby brain cells continues

Calvin still seems to want to bash his head against things, partly to vent his frustration at his teeth and partly to drive his parents insane. I mean, he really has us by the balls when it comes to bed time. We've struggled since day one to get him to sleep in the crib. And now he has a secret weapon. It's not like we can let him wear himself out, or fall asleep on his own, or self soothe, when he just starts cracking his scull against the rim of his crib rail. That bruise!

But I have a secret weapon of my own! When I was pregnant I took great comfort in a pregnancy pillow. It's long and J shaped, so you can tuck the end between your knees. Anyway, it has been sitting in the closet for over a year and I've been trying to think of what to do with it. It's unsellable (who wants a used pillow who's owner may or may not have broken her water on it?) and it even seems weird to give it to the thrift shop. Plus it was expensive and I may get pregnant again. It's also huge.

It's about as long as the crib...So I decided to tie the pillow to the crib rail. That way he can't give himself a concussion, and we can hang out downstairs. It's working so far. He's asleep.

Poem for balloon crazy baby

After driving around for hours with Calvin playing with a bunch of purple balloons in the backseat, eventually he popped one. It didn't seem to bother him, or deflate his enthusiasm for balloons.

Eight Balloons,
by Shel Silverstein

Eight balloons no on was buyin'
All broke loose one afternoon.
Eight balloons with strings a-flyin',
Free to do what they wanted to.
One flew up to touch the sun – POP!
One thought highways might be fun - POP!
One took a nap in a cactus pile - POP!
One stayed to play with a careless child - POP!
One tried to taste some bacon fryin' - POP!
One fell in love with a porcupine - POP!
One looked close in a crocodile's mouth - POP!
One sat around 'til his air ran out - WHOOSH!
Eight balloons no one was buyin'
They broke loose and away they flew,
Free to float and free to fly
and free to pop where they wanted to.

"Somebody Has To" by Shel Silverstein was a perfect Memorial Day Poem

Calvin loves stars. He yells, with glee, "star!" every time he see's one. I can draw a plain star on a piece of paper and he'll get really excited about it.

So for Memorial Day, Margaret got a string of stars to decorate the table, and we had American Flag stuff all over, mainly to get him excited.

It worked. He was still talking about stars when we got back to the hotel, so I read him this poem from A Light in the Attic:

Somebody Has To

Somebody has to go polish the stars,
They're looking a little bit dull.
Somebody has to go polish the stars,
For the eagles and starlings and gulls
Have been complaining they're tarnished and worn.
They say they want new ones we cannot afford.
So please get your rags
And your polishing jars,
Somebody has to go polish the stars.

Article about Eugene Kovalenko

I just got a story published in New Mexico Kids! about talking about dreams with your kids. It's about Eugene Kovalenko, who also has a blog.

The homeopathic remedy to head banging

We took Calvin to Dr. Krohn to talk about his head banging. She said that a lot of the kids she sees bang or hit their own heads...They seem to like it. Calvin even did it in her office, and did it a few times throughout the day. Each time he was trying to get attention, get his way, or he was having a temper tantrum.

She checked him over to make sure there wasn't anything physically wrong with him, other then his huge self-inflicted bruise. Then she asked us if we had a homeopathy kit. We didn't, but said we would try her homeopathic ideas. She consulted a book, and narrowed it down to two things. So she asked us a bunch of questions like "Does he seem malicious?" (no) "Does he seem restless or like a lot of activity" (yes) "Is he overly emotional?" (kind of)

She prescribed an Apis tablet. Apis is made out of bee venom, and is used to treat a lot of inflamatory problems, but also can help with certain emotional issues. Or else, people with certain emotional issues can benefit from it. I'm no expert, but it seems like homeopathy is about trying to figure out what type of person you are and then giving you herbs and remedies for your type for overall wellness. Anyway, they described his type as fidgety, restless and over emotional. I suppose, if he hit's his own head he can be seen as fidgety and over emotional.

She gave us a tiny tablet, about the size of a grain of sand, and told us to put it in a jar with 4 ounces of water and give him a half teaspoon three times a day. The results will come gradually. So in the next week or so I'll let you all know if he still hits himself.

Why does my toddler hit his own head?

Calvin has developed a disturbing habit in the past month of hitting his own head. If he's frustrated, like when I am cooking and not paying attention to him fast enough, he'll whack his head against the floor and start to cry. And if he's real upset about something he'll hit his head over and over. It's like a temper tantrum.

We don't know what to do, because we don't want to run up to him and give him loads of attention every time he hits his head, because that would be like a reward. I've been trying to casually stop him and distract him. But the other day I put him in his crib for a nap and he didn't fall asleep right away. Instead he cried, and I thought, he's OK, I'll check on him in a few minutes. But then I heard several loud booms from upstairs, like the neighbors were building furniture or something. But it wasn't the neighbors. It was Calvin hitting his head against the side of the crib. I picked him up, he was freaking out, and nursed him to sleep. He gave himself a huge bruise across his forehead.

We're taking him to the doctor to ask what we should do about it. I have a few theories: he might be in pain from teething, and hitting his head out of frustration. I put Oragel on his gums before bed, and he didn't do it. Other than that, he might be stressed out because we've been traveling so much and his grandpa just died and so he's picking up on my stress. He might just need more frequent snacks. I don't know. Hopefully my teething theory is right, because it's easy to fix and it will be over soon.

He's always been a very intense baby (ask my friends who try to babysit him while I swim) and I hope this isn't a sign of serious inner turmoil. Then again, he is a toddler. Don't they always have inner turmoil?

I'll post again tomorrow, after the doctor appointment, and hopefully I won't have to get him fitted for a helmet.

Mother son teeth brushing

Calvin immediately took a liking to brushing his teeth. Even when he was a baby and I had that little baby brush that you stick over your finger to rub on his gums. It must feel good, and it makes him laugh.

He loves brushing his teeth. When I told his pediatrician that he does it himself, she raised her eyebrows at me and said I better get in there and make sure he does a good job. The only problem is that he won't hand over the brush. I'm especially worried about his front teeth. I never see him getting them, and I can't get him to lift his upper lip so I can brush them.

So I just brush my teeth with him. I say, "Wanna brush your teeth?" and he crawls to the bathroom saying "brush" and "teeth." I put some Grins and Giggles on his ducky toothbrush and hand it to him. Then I sit on the floor and brush my teeth. He's content for a few seconds copying me as I jiggle the handle of my brush. But then he baby attacks me and tries to get my toothbrush. I try to explain that toothbrushes and tissues are two things that you don't share...even if it is with your mommy. He just wants to get his hands on my toothbrush. Maybe because it's big, and much more technical looking than his. My toothbrush had a tongue scraper and all sorts of bells and whistles that I'm not sure what to make of. Almost always he snags my brush. I tried to distract him with my spare brush, and he ended up with an adult brush in both fists, and with each stroke he would use a different toothbrush.

There's a right way and a wrong way to read a novel to a toddler

....Beleive it or not. I've been reading novels to Calvin from the beginning. It was easy when he was a newborn, because he just sat in my lap, serenely soaking up chapter upon chapter. He never tried to escape. I read the BFG, Peter Pan and the box set of Captain Underpants that way.

But now he's fast, and if you try to read anything longer than Green Eggs and Ham he acts like you're trying to force him to read Proust before he can have dessert. So when I try to read novels to him, I just get on my hands and knees and follow him around while he plays. I don't get too hung up with whether he seems to be listening, but I make sure that I read with gusto so that he will be entertained.

Right now I've been reading Little House in the Big Woods. I show him the pictures, but what really surprises me is some of the words he picks up on because they sound funny. Words like "cracklins," and "patty pan."

And he stopped what he doing to listen to the story of how Pa's got stuck in the Big Woods after dark.

"My bare legs were scratched by the briars, and when I ran through the bushes their bare branches struck me. But I kept on, looking and calling, 'Sukey! Sukey!'
"'Sukey! Sukey!' I shouted with all my might. 'Sukey!'
"Right over my head something asked, 'Who?'
"My hair stood straight on end.
"'Who? Who?' the voice said again. And then how I did run!
"I forgot all about the cows. All I wanted was to get out of the dark woods, to get home.
"That thing in the dark came after me and called again, 'Who-oo?'
"I ran with all my might. I ran till I couldn't breathe and still I kept on running. Something grabbed my foot, and down I went. Up I jumped, and then I ran. Not even a wolf could have caught me.
"At last I came out of the dark woods, by the barn. There stood all the cows, waiting to be let through the bars. I let them in and then ran to the house."

Even though this section only had a few pictures, it kept Calvin's interest because of the spooky mood and the owl noises and how funny Sukey sounds. He loved it.

I don't think you should spend all your time reading novels to babies. But a little every day or so can't hurt. It helps kids get used to listening to your voice to get the story, and to start to feel like a novel is an entertaining thing.

Books that will help us teach our baby about God

A few weeks ago Calvin was baptized, and he received a few books for presents. It occurs to me that without a children's Bible and small religious picture books, it would be nearly impossible to teach a small child about God (Well, I suppose the experience of going to church and hearing the music and everything will make an impression). An adult Bible is just too hard to read.

We have My Little Picture Bible, which is written by James Harrison and illustrated by Diana Mayo. The book is about 80 pages, with each bible story on 2 or three pages, so you can sit down and read them one at a time.

Jesus Storybook Bible; Every Story Whispers his Name, by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Illustrated by Jago, is 350 pages, and a little more sophisticated. What I love about it is how the illustrations, layout and design of each page is always changing. You have to turn the book sideways for David and Goliath, because the giant is so big. Even though the whole book is much longer, the stories are still divided into manageable chunks, so I've already read a few of them to Calvin. The pictures are so good that it is very entertaining.

The last book Calvin got was Today I was Baptized, by Dianne Ahern and Illustrated by Katherine Larson. The story is in the point of view of a newborn being baptized, and I was reminded how much babies and little kids love looking at pictures of little babies.

Books to keep Calvin entertained when we were out of town

Calvin and I recently took a momentous trip out to Minnesota to be with my father so that he wouldn't be lonely while he was dying of lung cancer.

The problem was that we went through the Minneapolis airport and Calvin didn't seem to have enpugh toys. But he saw the book "Don't let the pigeon Drive the Bus" and he sat there and pointed to it, saying "bus! bus!" The book was on the shelf, and so and I read it to him, and ended up buying a stuffed pigeon that says "Let me drive the bus!"

I also bought a book by Matthew Van Sant, called "Monday the Bullfrog." The book is a puppet and a stuffed bullfrog and a pop-up book all in one. I love it.

I had to get him some things that would keep him entertained for a couple of weeks...even though it ended up being over a month because we waited until dad died. These books got us through and kept us entertained.

Yikes! He's learned to say (and read) "No!"

Everyone tells me that I should dread the day my son learns the word "no." Well he's done it. We've been reading No David! by David Shannon, and the back of the book is covered with the word no. Before going to bed he had a book frenzy and spent ten minutes waving his finger at the book and saying no. Quinn was surprised. "How does he know that that says no?"

Then in the morning Calvin went straight to a big no no, the humidifier, and started shaking the tank, saying "no." I was about to say no myself. Then he noticed the electrical outlet behind him and his baby finger went for it. "NO!" I cried, and took him downstairs to find some trouble there.

He's getting demanding!

Calvin just turned one and he's started to get so demanding with books. He waves his books at us and begs us to read it. If we don't he throws himself on the floor or pulls on our legs and yells or cries. It kind of makes me proud to know that he likes his books so much, but it's one after the other and sometimes he wants the same book four or five times in a row!

So Quinn and I have been teaching him to say "please" before we read the book. At first he didn't know how to pronounce it, so it was frustrating, but we read if anything came out that even remotely sounded like please. He was sitting on the floor like King Tut, wanting to hear The Belly Button Book, and Quinn said, "say please," and he spewed "pppluhhhh!"

But since he makes us read to him so much, he's starting to remember the names of the books themselves. He actually says "cookie" when he wants to hear When you Give a Mouse a Cookie. Quinn was still trying to get him to say please, but Calvin was baby yelling the title of the book, and for a few days, before Quinn could tell what Calvin was saying, there were some frustrating times when Calvin said "Zoo" and Quinn was refusing to read "Dear Zoo" because he wasn't saying please.

Goodnight Gorilla

Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann is the biggest page-turner in our house right now. I've read it to Calvin about a hundred times, commenting on the pictures as I go. When we get to the page where they turn out the lights and all the animals say
"goodnight" and then there's the page with just the wife's eyes in the darkness, I've always made a gasping noise to show her surprise. Now when Calvin hands me the book he rushes to that page and makes the gasping noise himself.

How to Hook Your Kids on Books

I recently read How to Hook Your Kids on Books; Create a love for reading that will last a lifetime, by Karen O'Connor. It was a real quick read that basically lists ideas of how to saturate your family life with books.

Some of the ideas, like visit the library often, were no-brainers, but she also had a lot of ideas that would definitely make reading more exciting. Some of my favorites were:

Mingle books and toys. Especially with babies and toddlers, let them get their hands on the books. Add books to the toy box, or leave a basket of books on the floor where they can reach it and throw in a few toys. This way kids learn right away that books are fun.

Build a home library. I told my husband that as soon as Calvin can hold a hammer he should do this. Have your kids help you build or assemble a simple book shelf. Then paint it. This will give them an extra sense of pride over where they keep their books and it will be a fun memory to share.

Decorate with books. You can get book posters by contacting the publicity department of any major children's book publishers. Another fun suggestion was to make a mobile based on the characters in a book.

Organize reading and writing parties.

Get a pen pal or write a letter to a favorite author.

It would be cool if everyone's family was as into books as O'Connor's. Leave a comment with any other ideas to make reading more fun than it already is.

Use all the senses

If you want to teach your preschooler to read, get them interested in the finer points of reading using the five senses.

Sight. Readers of English are so used to looking from left to right and from top to bottom that you forget that babies don't automatically know that that's the way it goes. Run your finger underneath the words when you read to show them the direction of thoughts on the page.

Touch. Make or buy letters that babies can hold or trace with their fingers.

Sound. Sing about letters and make up silly songs about words that sound alike (I recently made up a song about how ducks have flippers, but dogs have paws). For ideas about what to sing about, "They Might be Giants" has two great DVDs, one about http://store.theymightbemerch.com/herecomeabcscd.html and another about numbers. I especially like their song about vowels.

Taste. Make pancakes out of letters, spell "hot dog" with ketchup and mustard and carry on conversations about the foods that you and your kids are eating.

Smell. Spend a day talking about the things that you smell; the citrus smell of an orange, peanut butter, trash, flowers, pepper. Make a big show out of pronouncing the letters.

For more ideas about how to teach kids to read before they reach kindergarten, check out Barbara Curtis's website, www.mommyteachme.net. I'm currently reading Mommy Teach Me To Read!

I want Calvin to teach me to talk

Saturday, January 10, 2009
I want Calvin to teach me to talk
I disagree with parents who say that you shouldn't talk baby talk with your baby. You know the type. They brag about how they always talked to their babies as if they were adults and by the time they were two they were reading aloud from Proust.

Pish posh, I say. Language is made up of little sounds put together and baby talk is a baby's way of experimenting and practicing making those sounds. I can talk to my baby like he's an adult all day, but the first time I got a reaction was when I started making fart noises while changing his diaper. He likes fart noises, and bee noises, and barks and whistles. He likes kazoo sounds and drum sounds.

And the noises that he makes to express joy make me wish that I was a baby with a chance to start all over with language. When he's pleasantly occupied, with a toy or an electrical chord, he makes a buzzing noise with his tongue. When he see's something that he thinks is neat, like a ceiling fan or an altar full of candles he says ha-Tah! and when he sees something that he's really impressed by, say, a Christmas tree or a carnival ride he lets out the heartiest Dang! I've ever heard.

I appreciate his sounds, and there are new ones every day. When he hears us copy him, even if he's doing something babyish, he feels good about his sounds and we let him know that we're listening.

Read to him whether he likes it or not!

Some of my friends say that their kids won't sit and listen to an entire story, and so they spend their time working on a puzzle or talking about the pictures. You can learn a lot from puzzles and pictures, but when it comes to reading stories from beginning to end, I never wait until my baby looks like he' s paying attention, I just plow ahead.

I mean, Calvin is a baby not an Oxford graduate student. He's never going to sit there with his hands folded and a thoughtful look on his face. He spends his time trying to eat the pages and rip off the moving tabs and flaps, but still, I plow ahead.

Tonight I read him The Saggy Baggy Elephant. He grabbed it while he cruised past the couch, and so I started to read it to him under the kitchen table, but then he crawled into the hallway, and I followed him, still reading, and finished the book with him laying on the kitchen floor waving a wire whisk. I think he enjoyed the story more when I crawled around the floor reading it to him.

Laughing about underpants brings our family together

My husband and I have been reading the Captain Underpants series, by Dav Pilkey to Calvin for months. We think the books are hilarious, and get a huge kick out of the Flip o' Rama chapters. Whether or not Calvin remembers the stories, having us get together and read something silly at an early age has been important. We have "mandatory meetings" where we sit on the couch with Calvin on our laps and read a few chapters. In Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants, the character Professor Poopypants devised an elaborate system where everyone got a silly name. Calvin's was Pinky Bananabuns. We still call him that.

Calvin's Favorite Books

When I was pregnant Quinn and I visited the Banks Street Book Store in NYC. I was looking at the little cardboard books, but Quinn didn't want to get a bunch of cardboard books. He wanted the big fancy picture books for our little precious. Little did he know what these people are like....

Reading a big fancy picture book to a baby is a challenge because he just wants to grab it and rip it and chew it. It could be enough to make you give up, but there are so many books out there that are designed to appeal to babies (Geez, this sounds so duh now that I've written it out....oh well). A few in particular:

I see a Monster: It starts out "I see a monster, hairy and red. Where is he hiding?"...and you fold the flap and see a huge red fuzzy monster "Under the bed!"
Calvin loves this book because it's touch and feel and because it's full of monsters.

Any book by Matthew Van Fleet: He has a book with the letters of the alphabet, and the animals that begin with those letters. Van fleet books are so full of flaps and textures and moving parts and scratch and sniff that we'll spend five minutes looking at one page. The letters of the alphabet book came with a free poster with flaps for each letter (Calvin loved it but he's already ripped it to shreds). There's also a dog book with fur that you can touch and tails and different breeds doing awesome things. And today I just got a book about tails. All the books have tons of unusual animals to learn about. Calvin loves them because they're mega stimulating.

Sandra Boynton books are great because they're short, funny and nearly indestructible. My favorites are the Belly Button Book and Hippos go Berserk. I said that I would be listing Calvin's favorites, but since I read them out loud to him it makes a difference if I think it's funny.

David Shannon Books: I just got "No David" and we also have a couple of others. It's nice because it's mainly pictures of David doing crazy boy things that Calvin does. He gets into lots of trouble but at the end we see that his mommy loves him. I get a kick out of them.

Llama Llama Mad at Mama, by Anna Dewdney. I just got this through a book club but I love it. The baby llama has to go shopping with his mom and she's dragging him through the store until he has a temper tantrum. The pictures are great and it's rhyme and meter are very good.

There you have it. Calvin's favorites.