Billion Books Bash

Bright Water had an excellent goal this year: A Million minutes of reading from the children in the school community.  All year, we tracked out minutes and handed in the numbers.  (Some of us more regularly than others.)  All yea, we watched the volume grow in a special sign at school.

Last night, we celebrated the accomplishment of exceeding this goal.

Clio chose to dress up as Trixie and Knuffle Bunny.

There are many beloved books around these parts, and yet, when asked to dress as her favorite character, Eleri suggested "That Barbie from the first Barbie book?"  I suspect she just wanted to wear a fancy dress.  We compromised on Sleeping Beauty (At least this was a fairy tale before it became a Disney movie, and we have on occasion read the story.)

Dave and I even got in on the action (but luckily I was not photographed.)  I was this:

But most people thought I was this:

Can you guess who Dave was?

If you guess Bartholomew Cubbins, you are correct.  Most people did not guess this.  It was amazing to me how many people didn't know books so familiar to us, and how many children brought favorite books to the event that I had never heard of.  We each have our own family canons, I suppose.

At this point in the year, it is fun to see the girls so comfortable at their school, and so cemented in some relationships.

Eleri sticks to Adele like glue.  (She has been saying she wants glasses, which I thought was because of Clio's glasses.  But then I heard her ask Adele, "how did you get your glasses?")

Clio has become very close with Elizabeth and Ophelia this year.  Both girls dressed as Dorothy, which may explain Clio's original plan to dress as Toto.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed at school functions.  Even though I know many of the families and most of the staff and administration, the noise of the gym and chaos of so many kids at an event can paralyze me.  I had been feeling sort of squinchy all day, and leaving the party in a sunshower broke me out of it.  The resulting full rainbow completely made my day.  We pulled into the dollar store parking lot on the way home to be sure everyone could see their fill.

Clio Grace, Author

Clio has taken to making books. The process is pretty straightforward: Clio makes a bunch of related drawings, then puts them in order and dictates the words for each page, which a grown up writes down. Then she makes a cover, comes up with a title, and the whole thing is stapled together. Mostly this is a Daddy activity. I am delighted that I finally replaced our scanner (it broke while I was at the hospital birthing Clio, when a floating shelf came crashing down on top of it) so that I can share her artistry. Text for each page appears below the image.

I love this rainbow. I really want to buy it.

I really love this flower because it has some silver in the middle. I really want this flower because I think it has underwear.

I want to climb up this rainbow to get this snowman because it has underwear on its hands.

The flower I really like because it's all covered in red. There is also green.

This flower is so pretty. It just has some dandelions on each petal.

This flower has a flower inside of it.

This flower has rainbow petals on it.

This flower has pokes around it. Pokie pokes.

This street light has a monkey in its belly.

This whole thing is so crazy. Cause it is so crazy.

It's hard to argue with that. I might share a few of these, depending on how much patience I have for scanning and transcribing.

From the Archive

I was digging around in Picasa trying to find the little video of Clio at her dance performance, when I discovered that you can filter by media type: voila, all the little videos I've taken with our canon elf, all in one place! I just gorged myself on these little snippets of our past life, and this one was just too good not to share.

Eleri is about 5 months, Clio is pushing 2 1/2. I forgot how obsessed Clio was with Bear Hunt, and how she used to make us read it again and again. It's amazing that we now have all these tools for remembering.

On Clio's Bookshelf

A few months ago, we noticed that many of Clio's board books were starting to seem too simplistic in their concepts and vocabulary; add to that the fact that she suddenly seemed able to handle paper pages with very little damage, and we knew it was time to expand her library. Before I went on bedrest, I spent a morning at Barnes and Noble Jr.browsing the (many) possibilities; Clio and Dave joined me after swim class to approve the selection.


We got the classic Harold and the Purple Crayon, which I like for its use of imagination, and the wonderful childlike sensibility that If You Draw it, It Is Real. Plus, it's a fun one to read out loud.
Mary Had a Little Lamp and I Like Myself share the great message to be true to yourself. Mary drags her lamp around like a security blanket, unphased by the stares and snickers she gets. I Like Myself focuses on the notion that it's what's inside that counts The narrator claims that she'd like herself even with "hippo hips or purple polka-dotted lips" and any number of other silly afflictions.


As a big sister gift, Uncle Rory and Aunt Nicole sent Bear Snores On, a modern classic about a party that happens in a bears den while he hibernates, and what happens when he wakes up. Clio loves this one for its rhythm and charming rhymes (plus she's obsessed with the badger in the story.)


Finally, Clio is loving I'm a Big Sister (this one she"reads" aloud herself, having memorized key passages, such as "the baby is so little. Too little to eat pizza or apples or ice cream") and Once Upon a Potty, two "issues" books that are self explanatory. I especially like this Potty book because of the collaged illustrations, and Clio thinks it's hilarious when the protaganist, Prudence, sits on the potty for a whole page's worth of "sat" ("she sat, and sat, and sat and sat and sat, and so on.)

My only complaint is that she loves books so much, and right now, these in particular, that she demands that we read them over and over again. All the time. But I guess we should appreciate that.

Clio's New Book

A week or so ago, Grandma emailed me to say she had made a little birthday present for Clio, and to keep an eye out for the package. As she herself pointed out, she doesn't usually make things, so we were intriuged. Well, it arrived, and we let Clio open it as an early gift (her birthday is July 5). And it may be one of the single best gifts ever.

This one needs some background, too. When Dave was a toddler, he was given a book called Come Play With Me. The authors were Barbie and Glenn Peterson; as Dave's parents also happen to be named Barbie and Glenn Peterson, I suppose Aunt Fern couldn't resist the coincidence. The book addresses the reader directly ("I'm glad you came to play" "Would you like some milk and cookies?") with a series of full-bleed photos depicting a day of play-date activities. Clio loves this book. When we're in Morrison, she forces us to read it over and over again.

Clio opened her present yesterday afternoon,

And discovered Come Visit Us, by Barbie and Glenn Peterson.

Following the same format as the original, the book is full of pictures of Clio doing various activities on the farm, from feeding the calves to collecting branches. ("you can help Grandpa feed the Calves" "You can help Grandma collect the branches")

What could be better for a self-portrait obsessed toddler than a book all about her? I think I have already read it 4 dozen times. It would have been more, but I pulled a bait and switch and hid it for a little break.