The Secret Handshake.

I recently had one of those great reading moments where the universe seems to align perfectly for the sole purpose of enhancing your engagement with a piece of writing.

Last night, I was reading Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole (the revised version recently reissued by Random House.) It dovetails quite nicely with the novel I finished last week, Americanah by Chimanda Ngozie Adiche. All references of a Nigerian expat returning to Lagos were fresh in my brain. I can see the walls of the compounds, the shady police officers, and the internet cafes, all thanks to Cole and Adiche unknowingly working in tandem. I had a feeling of contentment for having chosen to read the right book at the right time. (It's the little things that make a bibliophile's heart swell.)

Then, I get to a point in the book where the narrator starts analyzing John Updike, the subject of the biography I am currently reading by Adam Begley. So, despite having only read one Updike novel and only being halfway through Begley's book (which is very well done, by the way), I completely understood the references to Updike's style and hometown of Shillington, PA. At this point, I have hit that level of happy where I just have to keep reading because I am having such a great time. I am actually grinning as I turn the pages.

And then the literary powers that be take it to the next level. While I read in the evening, I generally have jazz on in the background. It helps mask the goings on of my neighbors (and prevents me from inadvertently hearing Game of Thrones spoilers) so that I can focus on the task at hand. The narrator in Every Day Is for the Thief is describing how he spends his nights in his bedroom attempting to listen to Giant Steps by John Coltrane over the loud hum of the generators that kick on during the inevitable power outages. And what song should I be listening to at that very moment but Giant Steps by John Coltrane! I kid you, not. My mind was blown. I had to put the novel down and pause to give the moment its due.

This book might have to go on my favorites list for this experience alone. It was like the heavens opened up and the angels sang. It is that moment that every reader dreams of when it seems as if the book were written specifically for you. The author is talking directly to you. You are the target audience. You have gained entrance to the super elite club. You know the secret handshake.

This is why I read.

Hey, Mom!

There were multiple times this morning when AB interrupted me while I was working. Normally, this would have driven me up the wall. But today, I found it endearing.

  

 

The Top 3 Interruptions:

  

1. Kiddo tucked the entire hem of her dress into her underwear. She strutted toward me as if on a catwalk: "Hey, Mom! Check out my dress. I like it like this."
2. Kiddo runs toward me with her favorite yellow cup, mouth full of carrots: "Hey, Mom! I made a snack. It's grapes, raisins, and carrots! It's soooo yummy AND it's good for me!!!"
3. Kiddo rushes in and plops herself next to me, pressing her tiny warm arm into mine and giving me a kiss (and a whiff of peanut butter breath): "Hey, Mom! I love you! Bye!"

  

Ditto, my love.

Proud Mama.

The past few weeks have been full of milestones big and small for AB. She successfully completed kindergarten, testing well above grade level. (While I hate the thought of my kindergartener being tested at all, it's a spoonful of sugar that she did well.)

Last week, she completed her Lego Robotics camp, rubbing elbows with 4th and 5th graders and holding her own. She even made a new friend, an 8 year old, whom she would trade books with during free time. (Yay, for bookish nerdy kids!)

In addition, she has completed two summer reading programs, receiving two awesome brand spanking new prize books: Smile by Raina Telgemeier & Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary.  

Proud mama = me.

Therefore, I am ready to let the summer fun of sprinkler dancing, beach excursions, quality time with the grandparents, and book picnics begin.

Book Review: I Had A Favorite Dress

First things first, this book is fabulous for the illustrations alone. (Julia Denos is one of my favorite illustrators. I dare you not to love her work.) When I came across I Had A Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn, I was extremely excited. Way more excited than a grown woman (mother or not) should be about a picture book. A little black girl! Pretty pictures! A crafty mother! Creativity! Happiness! More pretty pictures! I was in love with this book. Thankfully, AB humored me. She agreed that it was a very lovely book and that it might be a good idea to keep it. Her appreciation for the book has increased since she acquired a favorite skirt of her very own that she wears on Saturdays.

I Had A Favorite Dress is about an urban mini-fashionista with a favorite dress that she is,to her dismay, starting to outgrow. Her mother says, "Don't make mountains out of molehills, make molehills out of mountains." The little girl decides to make something out of the dress. So, her mother makes the beloved dress into a shirt. When the little girl tears the sleeve, the mother makes it into a tank top. When school starts, her mother makes it into a skirt. When skirts are deemed "out" and pants 'in", the mother makes it into a scarf. And so on, and so forth, until the little girl is left with nothing but a few scraps of the fabric that used to be her favorite dress. She uses the fabric in a collage of herself wearing her favorite dress, making it possible for her to wear the dress every day of every season.

It's a great story about a little girl being creative and resourceful. It also highlights the seasons (including seasonally appropriate clothing) and days of the week. And, oh yes, it has very pretty pictures. 

AB Pic of the Week.

AB Pic of the Week.

When I was pregnant, this is the image that I often dreamed of:

My little one, lost in a good book. 

"Hey, AB, it's time to go."

"Just one more page, Mom." 

It turns out that dreams do come true.

AB Pic of the Week.

She shrieks with delight the moment she lays eyes a playground.

She speeds off to jump onto the first thing she sees, trusting that I will follow.

She performs seemingly death-defying leaps from varying heights. 

"Look at me, Mom!" 

She successfully completes a circuit of every single thing the playground has to offer.

She runs back to me with a mischievous gap-toothed grin on her face, asking,

 "Wanna watch me do it again?"

Yes, indeed, I do.

Forever.

AB Pic of the Week

Book Review: Extra Yarn.

AB and I love knitting and we also love to find our names as characters in books. (i.e. The Doll People by Ann M. Martin with main characters named Tiffany and Annabelle.)

So, it comes as no surprise that we are in love with the picture book Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. It is a book about knitting and the heroine is named Annabelle. What more could you ask for?

There are many reasons to love this book. First, Jon Klassen's illustrations are fantastic. Second, the villain is an archduke. My kid now know the word "archduke" and uses it while playing. Score. It's just such a fun word. Third, it features yarn bombing. That's right, adorable little Annabelle becomes a guerilla knitter thanks to her extra yarn and desire to prove a naysayer teacher wrong. Last, but definitely not least, it teaches a great lesson about honoring your gifts. You may look at someone else's talents and envy them. It may seem that their process is simple and ordinary.  You may attempt to imitate, but it just doesn't work. It doesn't look right. It doesn't feel right. Why? Because it's not your. Like the archduke,  you have stolen the extra yarn only to wind up staring into an empty box. Instead, find what makes you truly happy  and you have found your own gift that looks right, that feels right, that works.

Knitting + heroine named Annabelle + happy ending = a favorite book.

Garden Surprise.

{image via we heart it}

                                                                                                                                 

This afternoon, I watched as AB flitted around the backyard like a woodland sprite, gathering flower blossoms, pebbles, pine cones, leaves, and blades of grass into her basket. These were the ingredients for her famous dessert, "Garden Surprise". Every so often she would pause, step away from her "work", and twirl as fast as her little feet could manage until she collapsed onto the grass, giggling uncontrollably in the hazy sunshine.

I marvel at her ability to find such joy by simply combining nature with the limitless possibilities of imagination.

Oh, to be six years old again.

AB's 6th Birthday.

Oh, happy day.

Time with children runs through our fingers like water as we lift our hands, try to hold, to capture, to fix moments in a lens, a magic circle of images or word. We snap photos, videotape, memorialize while we experience a fast-forward in which there is no replay of even a single instant. - Louise Erdrich