Missing: Imagination

You know what book I absolutely love? “Where the Wild Things Are.” It’s just a spectacular children’s book. It’s poetical. Just a few sentences long, but an entire new world. Absolutely accessible to a 2-year-old who loves to have wild rumpus-es. Rumpus-i? Rump-eese?

It may be just me, but it doesn’t seem like books come like that anymore. And it made me wonder about maybe expanding our library.

So any suggestions? What is your favorite children’s book?

Maggnificent Monday

Okay, so after surviving our worst night since Maggie’s infancy (a cold for two members of the household + cats being carried away by wild animals + Copious, yes with a capital C, amounts of sugar + a full moon shining through the window all night + a huge pregnant belly + sweltering evening hotness for the season), we are back on track.

(Two examples from this weeks’ Manipulation Masterclass)
Bill: No feet on the the table, please, Maggie.
Maggie: Mom said I could.
. . . .
Gretchen: Run in and pee before we leave for the parade, Mags.
Maggie: Daddy said I didn’t have to.
(Where has she learned to be so devious?)

And another tidbit from this morning at the breakfast table: I was singing “Oh my darling Clementine” to fill in a conversation gap. Maggie waits until I’m done and then says to me, “Mommy, do you know what other song has that tune?” She then performs the entire song about the weather that they sing in school each morning. Which is indeed to the tune of “Oh my darling.”

Connections

Have I mentioned we live in a cool place? Last week Maggie and I took part in an event called Durango Connect, which you can read about here. We were part of a north-to-south 7-mile human chain, holding hands with Ron and Dolly the doggy’s mommy, yelling “stretch!” with everyone else, trying to make ourselves as long as possible and feeling very much a part of something. Afterward we shook hands and said “nice to connect with you.” Thanks, Durango, for being awesome.

Maggnificent Monday

Maggie is sort of showing us how part of her school routine goes. Ms. Kim asks the kiddos in turn if they are thumbs up or thumbs down today and why. Apparently the cool thing to do is to give double thumbs down and then all of a sudden switch to double crazy thumbs up. We got to go to an open house last week and see Maggie’s room and teacher and classmates. The kiddos all voted on what they wanted their parents to experience from their school day, so all the moms and dads got carpet squares and sat on the floor. We did the weather report, sang the alphabet and all the letter sounds, recited the class rules in rap, sang the months of the year, went through the days of the week a la the Addams Family theme song, pretended to be dancing mooses (meese?), and danced and ran in place and stood up and sat down and stood up and sat down. And got a good idea of what it’s like to be a Butterfly (Maggie’s room’s theme) in the morning. We met some other parents and Maggie introduced us around to some friends, and like usual, even though she didn’t want to come she came close to a hissy fit when it was time to go.

Maggie also got to spend a day with Baka Sue and Scotty this week while I nursed a cold and Bill wrote some lectures. They went fishing, rode in a tractor, ate popsicles, toured the house being built, napped all in one bed, foraged for coal, and all in all had a terrific time. Maggie came home jazzed and exhausted, carefully sharing her souvenirs and full of stories. Whew!