Children's Books: Favorite Books ( 2-3 yr olds)

So, here we are moving into the next age of books. Pretty soon Ransom will be up for CHAPTER BOOKS! And I'm soooo  excited!!! But until then we'll work our way up to that by giving you some of the books that Ransom is currently loving. When a child's attention span/ability to comprehend more info starts expanding so does the wonderful world of books....Friends its only going to get better... Once again I'm dividing this age into two parts. "Favorite Authors" and "Favorite Books"....with the authors, obviously you've got a whole BUNCH of books at your disposal and that's pretty awesome for library trips when you can just head to the author's letter and start picking up books ( Post coming soon)....but then there are those wonderful little delights that I will share with you here, that could quite possibly get lost in the mix:


First comes a book that was given to me at a baby shower for Ransom. ( Thanks McClure Family!!) And a few months ago Ransom seemed to discover it for the first time, and surprisingly its one of Brett's favorite books to read to Ransom. Well, really NOT surprisingly because it really is wonderful! It's got good lyrical writing ( important for reading out loud), beautiful drawings and a really sweet moral at the end. This book is perfect for both boys and girls and seriously...its a diamond in the rough. Go get this book immediately.

This next book makes me extra happy because we're currently reading it to Ransom from my torn and tattered paperback copy from when I was a little girl! I have many happy memories of my Mama reading this book out loud to me, and I even find myself reading it exactly the same way that she read it...getting slower and quieter and LOUDER and FASTER in the appropriate parts.  This book is FULL of repetition which can be hard for us adults, but boy do those little tots love it!But I say if you're going to have repetition at least have it be with animal noises....

This next book was given to us by the wonderful Tabitha the Elder or as Ransom randomly said today on the way to the grocery store ( where's Bigger Tabitha right now?!) haha! Anyway, Tabitha discovered this book a year or so ago and gifted it to us, and then low and beyond it started to win all sorts of well deserved awards! Yay! I love it when good books get the glory they so deserve! If anything I hope it means that more people will discover them. However, if you aren't one of the people who have already discovered"A Sick Day for Amos McGee" then rectify it immediately! This book not only has a beautifully sweet story about a Zoo Keeper and his animal friends, but the pictures are GORGEOUS. On each page you really HAVE to look for the little mouse who often shows up...

So this next book was also a gift. Ransom got this wonderful book for Christmas this last year and it has fed nicely into one of his favorite things. Construction vehicles. In fact, that's what his teacher wrote on first week of Preschool report "Really likes Construction trucks."...hahaha! Ummmm yes. We know. Anyway, this book is my FAVORITE of the construction trucks books ( some of them are SO BORING)....the pictures are cute and the wonderful rhyming text is all about each construction vehicle getting ready for bed. Pretty much perfect. I'm not so sure girls would dig it (ha!) as much, but if you've got a little boy in your life....this book is wonderful.

Now this last one was truly a surprise. Ransom got to pick out a free book at the library for completing their summer reading program. ( UMMMM....seriously having 15 books read out loud all summer?!?! We did it in two days. Come on people! Step up the game!) Anyway. So I didn't have very high expectation for this book because Ransom just randomly grabbed it off the "Pick a book" shelf  of prizes. But we went home and read it and it was fantastic! The pictures are fun, but the story is hilarious! This is one of those "two teared" books....one level is for the parents the other is for the kids. So Ransom and I BOTH end up enjoying this book! Bonus is that Ransom is also really into pretending he's a doctor too so that has added a new level of authenticity to his playing. But, whatever your kid is into...if you'd like to encourage their "imaginative play" and also get a good laugh yourself....get this book.....  OH MY GOODNESS! When I went to look this book up on Amazon come to find out it IS a series! FANTASTIC! So, I guess it should technically go in my Favorite Authors post, but to remain true to myself I'll keep it here....but you better believe we'll be checking out the other Ted books at the library soon!

So, on that note....I'll hopefully share some MORE of my favorite books or ages 2-3 in another post coming soon, because believe me it is SO HARD to narrow down which ones I'm going to talk about. Sigh. Hard problems. 

Children's Books: Books that I love (1 year olds)-golden book love

I feel like in a lot of ways the books that Ransom liked when he was one were a mixture of his board books and then many that we had to "alter" as in, paraphrase the story to fit his attention, these books he now loves as a two year old and will sit through every word. ( Point being, don't let a book being a little bit over your child's head stop you from reading it to them!! ) However, there were definitely some books that I will soundly fit into the "one year old little boys love them" category...and here are a few that I love too. ( because you KNOW there are some that Ransom loves that I hate. Whhhhhy do some books have to be so boring?!?! And whhhhhy do children still love them!? )

I have this book memorized. It is why we had a "fire engine" themed second birthday. But its also an easy and painless book for Mommies and Daddies too. Points for Golden Books! 

And while we're on the subject...

This book has a certain "rhythm" in its writing that is not quite rhyme but does add just enough interest to the little listening ear. Ransom really liked it and still does. Bonus, I kind of dig the 1960s vibe.  And to be royally sexist, apparently there is a Nurse Nancy book out there that I refuse to purchase ( You'd be proud Amy King). 

Another one of my favorite Golden Books has to be: 

The Happy Man and His Dump Truck

This is a gorgeously happy book ( see title) and it includes tons of things that make it a winner: repetition, animal sounds, and if you're a little boy...dump trunks. I really love this book. So does Ransom. 

Stones

You know what's hard? Blogging. Or should I say writing a post on your blog when you're also trying to write a book and single-parent your two children under 3 while their Daddy is off doing "special work" ( as we so aptly named it so that Ransom could distinguish it from his usual every-day work). At the end of the day I'd have such big plans but lets be honest no matter what my plans were,  I'd crawl into bed with some chocolate and watch episodes of Suits instead. Day after day.

That being said, the Hubs is officially home and in the 3 days he's been home I've taken a nap (!) and gotten on Pinterest (!!) twice ( incidentally I found this sinful desert called Hot Fudge Pie...and it was amazing) which means that I'm back within my capacity and I have a few brain cells left to function at the level that I need to write this post. So here we are.

Let's back track to the part where I said I was writing a book ( its up at the top in case you missed it). Yup. I'm admitting it. It's embarrassing really because if you go to a bookstore lately its crazy what gets published (twilight?! really?!)  and then I think about all the stuff that doesn't get published and I've got to be real with myself and admit that what I'm writing will probably not see the light of day and so up till now was just calling it a "story"...and it is. It is our story.  But now that I've gotten several chapters in I feel like its only fair to call it a book. And no one ever said you had to publish said book for it to be a book.  So there it is.

And secretly I will be trying to figure out how you do publish books...because that seems kind of cool.

But speaking of our story, this week will be one year since I had emergency surgery in the hopes of saving our girls. One. Year. It blows my mind going back to those memories, remembering how we felt  -what we didn't know then. So, today as I sit here next two a super chubby 7 month old who's watching Praise Baby for the first time ( she's more interested on eating my grocery receipt sitting next to her), I am in awe of how perfect Tabitha is....its worth saying over and over again like a broken record because miracles, in fact, don't happen to me every day...and sometimes I need to remember the ones that have happened.  Tabitha is a miracle. I've got proof.
I've been reading through the beginning of the old testament the last few months and I like how God's always telling the Children of Israel to put stones various places and name them certain things so that their children will look at that big rock over there and ask, "Hey, what's that big rock doing right there?" and then they'll get to tell their children what great thing God has done. I think that's how I feel right now. I want my children to know what the Lord has done, and for me to do a good enough job explaining it that they will really be able to comprehend its greatness.

For now I'll just give my baby kisses and thank God for her every single day.


P.S. My goal is to be done with my "book" by Tabitha's first birthday...you know, first draft...but we'll see how it goes.