Book favorites - 26 Months

Trying to throw this up here quickly so I can fit in a workout before the kiddos are up.

(I plan to recap our family vacation up north - this time with pictures - but I can't upload all my pictures on my phone's data. Major data usage, there.)

I'm particularly tired this morning. Last night, right before bed (and AFTER bath, of course) Will went poop on the potty! Finally!

He knows he gets chocolate for pooping, but it was too late to get him all wired up on candy. So I promised him he'd get it first thing today. WELL, he was up no less than three times in the night. When I raced up to find out why he was crying, he begged for "choc-it!" The third time, I was not very understanding. "William! You are not going to get any chocolate tomorrow if you don't go to sleep! Mommy is trying to sleep! No more!"

Hence me rolling out of bed looking like Oscar the Grouch, and sounding a lot like him too, I'm afraid.

Can't you snooze that darn alarm, for goodness' sake?!

Anyway, I HATE working out and try my darndest to avoid it. Why do I do that? I do like the feeling of being done. I guess it just feels like wasted effort to me. All that panting and sweating and misery and then I walk upstairs and nothing feels accomplished. I know the payoff is health and a better body but those things are long-term benefits and if I'm being honest with you, I am an instant-gratification type of girl.

My greatest prayer is: God, please make me someone who likes working out!

Okay, that's not my greatest prayer... but close. Anyway. I didn't come here to whine about that.

At over 26 months, here are some of Will's favorite books! Mostly library borrows.


Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes
Eric Litwin/James Dean
-I guess there's a reason this is a best seller! It's a simple tale and Will LOVES it! The illustrations are funky and the text is perfectly engaging. I've memorized this book and it's great to "pull out of my pocket" when he's bored in the car or just when he wants to hear a story. Big hit here! Book to buy, I think. And I think we'll be borrowing more Pete books for sure.


Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm
James Dean
-Okay, I hate this book. It is interminably long. It's the same familiar song on every page, just switching out for a new animal. When Will brings me this book I inwardly shudder. I admit to skipping pages and shortening the song. Book to NEVER buy! (Yes, Will likes it, and I suspect because there is a tractor on almost every page!)


Feel Better, Ernest!
Gabrielle Vincent
-I bought this book in a library sale where I was just tossing books into a big box. It's recently, finally, gotten some love. I think older kids would like it a bit more, when they could better appreciate the adorable illustrations. It needs a lot of improvisation to engage Will (super simple text, some wordless pages), but that's fun for us and I love reading it to him.


Green Eggs and Ham
Dr. Seuss
-At first he hated this book and did not want me to finish it. My informal rule is that you have to sit through it only once. If you don't like it, we never have to read it again. But you have to give it a chance. So I made him sit there and now I rather regret it, because NOW he really likes this book and let me tell you - it's a SUPER long book. But it's a classic and it has a wonderful lesson (try something new and you may like it!), and it's far, far better than Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald. Cute story about this book here.


In a People House
Dr. Seuss
-My kind of book! Quick, fun, instructive! We love "PeePee House"!


Go Away, Big Green Monster!
Ed Emberly
-What a fun, creative book! We love banishing the big "scary" guy... and then making him come back. Quick and simple and.... make sure your kid doesn't rip at the cutouts on the pages, especially if it's a library book. Thank God for Scotch Tape.


Tractor Mac
Billy Steers
-This book is actually more about Sibley the horse. Will's not too into the actual story. He just likes the page where all the animals introduce themselves and compliment Mac's big tires and all his wires, gears, and cables. He'll ask me to recite that page OVER and OVER. He also likes the page where Mac is stuck in the "muck". Will is obsess with things being "stuck in the muck" because of THIS book:


Duck in the Truck
Jez Alborough
-I have a love/hate relationship with this book. Will LOVES it. He loves yelling (in his own broken, toddler way), "My truck's in the muck and it won't come out!" It's quick and easy and fun to read over and over. It's easy to memorize and I can recite it to Will when he wants a story. But Duck is a jerk! I try to use this as a teaching moment but I worry that it's over Will's head. Not a book to buy, but I'm sure it will be renewed at least three times.


Elmo's Alphabet
Michaela Muntean/Richard Walz
-I really recommend this book! I got it for a quarter at Salvation Army. It's fun to read, educational, and cute! All my criteria are met! (Except I am a sucker for gorgeous illustrations, so maybe it falls a bit short in that particular area. To be fair to Mr. Walz, I don't think you could ever make gorgeous illustrations of Elmo and Big Bird.)

PIGEON BOOKS!



Mo Willems
-These are the two we have read. I plan to get every one from the library. And hopefully collect them all for my own library. ER, I mean... for my KIDS' library... that's right. Anyway, just get these books. There's a reason they're wildly popular. They're just a lot of fun.

Finally, to wrap it up, here are the latest in the tractor book lineup:

Fantasic Farm Machines by Cris Peterson


Classic Farm Tractors by Randy Leffingwell


Ford Tractors by Robert N. Pripps

And of course, many of the books I mentioned in my last book post are still very much loved. I think I may have to invest in the Duck and Goose books. I believe we have renewed them five times. Which reminds me, they're due tomorrow. I've got to go and renew them again.

Oh, good! Another reason to delay my workout! ;)

(And here's my big guy at 26 months, wearing his free hard hat from Meijer, driving his "milk" around in "Unkey Joel's truck", and listening to "Childra-Yord" on the CD player... really titled "Children Obey Your Parents in the Lord"... but if you're two, you're allowed to skip words!)