children’s books

Eat, Say, Love: What I’ve been Into Lately

catherinemryan

I spend a lot probably too much time on my computer every day. The downside: tight shoulders and a sore back. The upside: stumbling across gems throughout the Internet. Here are a few favorites for your clicking pleasure.

WATCH

Lupita Nyongo’s speech on beauty I’m often reminded that it’ll be a formidable challenge to raise a child, but especially a daughter, who loves herself in spite of the messages she’s not beautiful, thin or fashionable enough. Role models like Lupita Nyongo will make that project just a tiny bit easier.

READ

Reaching My Autistic Son through Disney I’ve been passing this link to whomever lets me. If you click through on one thing today, let it be this. It’s a story about how one family used their son’s fixation on Disney to peel away the layers of autism and come to know him. My husband works with children with autism, so the article struck even closer to home. I can’t even imagine the struggle of raising a child on the far end of the autism spectrum, but this article shows the triumphs and love of that relationship, too.

Top 100 Children’s Books We love book time in this house, but I could “read” Peeper’s favorites with my eyes closed: I have her go-to board books memorized. I loved this list, then, because it gave me some ideas for new titles to check out.

(Does anyone know of a good app to recommend kids’ books? I am usually at a loss at the library and end up getting board books with baby faces in them.)

EAT

Banana Oatmeal Muffins The fact that this recipe calls for about a quarter of the refined sugar as similar ones made me feel better as I ate one the other day at 5am. Hey, I was hungry after nursing, changing, then changing Peeper again. (Ugh, I hate middle of the night poos.)

Red Lentil, Tomato and Kale Soup This soup is insanely easy and equally delicious. It makes enough that you can freeze some to reheat later. I topped it with a dollop of yogurt one day and a squeeze of lemon another day. I also added whatever veggies I had in the house—I love that about lentil soup: It’s so versatile!

What is your favorite link this week?

Our favorite children’s books

catherinemryan

Several times a day, Edie and I sit together in the rocking chair and snuggle up with a book. Sometimes she squirms and cries before we get even a few pages in; other times we go through a stack before she’s satisfied.

This time together is important, according to the Association for Library Service to Children: Not only does reading to very young babies teach them to love books, it makes them more prepared to start school than children who didn’t grow up reading.

Research aside, reading aloud to Peeper—both now and even before she was born—is fun. These are a few of our favorite books.

Baby FacesBaby Faces, by Margaret Miller. Peeper laughs out loud when we break out this board book. She giggles at the other babies; her favorite is a little boy sticking out his tongue. We talk about the kids’ expressions, imagine what might have prompted them (“Yum-yum, I love peas!”) and name the different parts of their faces. We usually read it three times in a row!

fox in soxFox in Sox, by Dr. Seuss. I’m with Mr. Knox, sir, on this one—the tongue twisters are tough! Peeper cranes her neck to look up at me and puzzle out the linguistic acrobatics. She gets an extra-big kick out of me trying to read the parts about the beetle battles, which are my favorite, too.

when i was bornWhen I Was Born, by Isabel Minhos Martins. This story imagines discovering the world from a child’s perspective: beginning to hear, smell, taste, see and touch the world outside the womb. “When I was born I did not know there was a sky or that the sky could change or that clouds were so beautiful. When I was born everything was new. Everything was about to start.” Vibrant illustrations by Madalena Matoso match the beauty and poetry of the words.

Hola JalapenoHola Jalapeño!, by Amy Wilson Sanger.  A book dedicated to Mexican cuisine? Yes, por favor! I know Edie is still chowing on pureed peas and squash, but it’s never too early to learn about tacos, burritos, guacamole and horchata. Am I right? Plus, the rhymes are so catchy I recite them to myself days after we read it.

What are your favorite children’s books?