Lu and Gem and P and I have been reading the same handful of books several times a day since the babe and I came home from the hospital. I’ve largely memorized Sandra Boynton’s ‘But Not the Hippotamus,’ and ‘The Goodnight Book,’ Mem Fox’s “Harriet, You’ll drive me Wild,’ BabyLit’s ‘Anna Karenina’ and ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ and Laura Numeroff’s ‘If You Give a Pig a Party.’ The girls might throw a new title in now and then – I was never so excited to see Peter Rabbit as I was yesterday! – but these have been the staples.
Also ever present? Lucy’s interruptions. I’d be annoyed but darn it all if they aren’t hilarious and cute. In the books where there is a child, she places both hands on the page and declares, “Woo-see!” (That would be “Lucy.) And if there is a mom, EV-ER-Y page is, “Wook! Mama! Dat’s you! Mom!” She does the same for any item she can name – hats, cats, juice, moose, dog, frog, etc., etc.
Meanwhile, if she doesn’t know or remember what something is called or the name of a color, it is “Dis say?” It is nearly constant when we read and reminds me of my trips to Mexico and how most of my conversations went.
“Hola! Como se dice . . . *insert everything you can think of here*”
About the time I think I can’t answer one more question from Lu I remember that she’s still learning the language, too. One page, one picture at a time.
All of the above books are winners – highly recommended!
