Random Kid Stuff

[naomikritzer]

If you tap Kiera on the chest and say "who's this?" Kiera will say, "Kee Wa."

I find it interesting that she learned her real name, rather than her nickname, Boo. Boo is definitely easier to say, and we use it a lot.

Her new favorite sentence is "I do it, I do it, I do it." Her new sentence of the day was, "I find it!" after finding a bead that Molly had dropped. Her new sentence yesterday was, "My turn now!" when she wanted to play with a toy that Molly was reluctant to relinquish.

Molly needed a haircut, so after Kiera's nap, we all walked down to this little neighborhood salon that opened up a couple of months ago, Riverstone. Their kids' haircuts are reasonably priced, and since they filled (and beautifully renovated) a long-empty storefront I'd like to encourage them to stay in business. We got there at a little after five, and I was happy to see that they're doing a booming business. I had Molly's hair cut there once before and they did a really good job. When Molly got out of the chair, Kiera said, "Haircut too! Haircut too!" Kiera doesn't have anywhere near enough hair to cut yet, but the stylist let her sit in the chair, and put her wispy hair into a matching set of toddler pigtails. Kiera had pulled out the elastic on one side before we'd even gotten out the door, but she was very pleased with the pigtail concept and would bring the elastics back to me repeatedly to have me put them in again. I noted to Ed that if I had the patience to do this every day, maybe people would even know she was a girl. Ed studied her for a minute: she wore her favorite t-shirt today, which is bright red and has a picture of a teddy bear playing baseball. He didn't think the pigtails would help.

Kiera's current security objects are a set of teddy bears -- one pink, one a panda. Except today, she insisted on taking Molly's lunchbox to bed with her when she went down for a nap, and didn't care at all about the bears. Go figure.

Kiera's favorite books -- or at least, the ones she has names for -- at the moment:

"Monster" (The Monster At the End of This Book)
"Puppy Book" (The Pokey Little Puppy, which she demands constantly but can't actually sit through)
"Kitty" (Mrs. McTats and her Houseful of Cats)
"Ah Oo" (Doggies, by Sandra Boynton)

Molly just finished Charlotte's Web (Ed read it to her at bedtime over the course of a couple of weeks). The reading of Charlotte's Web inspired a conversation about farming, and the whole eating-pigs-as-meat issue. I had been slightly worried that she would respond to the book by declaring herself vegetarian, but no, quite the opposite. I listed out all the different kinds of meat that come from a pig, and she said, "Can we have pork chops for dinner sometime?" Not that I wanted her to become a vegetarian, but I found this mildly disturbing.

Does anyone have suggestions for read-aloud chapter books that Molly might enjoy? She also enjoyed Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and its sequels. I tried reading her Little House in the Big Woods a bit over six months ago and she found it boring.

Comments

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

re: The Pokey Little Puppy. I *loved* that book as a child! I even had a stuffed one that I brought everywhere with me until I lost it or it got stopen or something. Occasionally I check ebay to find another one. But wow!

Have you tried the other E.B. White books? When I read "Charlotte's Web" it was in a boxed set with "The Trumpet of the Swan" and "Stuart Little". So perhaps Stuart Little?

In the same vein as talking mice, how about "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis and "The Rescuers" by Margery Sharp?

Hope this helps!

[(Anonymous)]

Off the top of my head:

any of the Junie B Jones books
Anne of Green Gables
the Captain Underpants books (quite silly)

These are some of the books that I read to my 8-year-old and she now reads to herself.

Deanna S.

[springbok1.livejournal.com]

The Ramona books
Harriet the Spy
The Narnia Chronicles (I think you read this to Nate when he was only a year or so older than Molly is now)
Any number of Roald Dahl books. If she liked 'Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing', the one that particularly jumps to mind is 'Danny, Champion of the World'. But as you know he has many other fantastic chapter books, so I won't list them. Just do an Amazon search on Roald Dahl and you'll come up with books you'd completely forgotten about but which you loved when you read them.
The Littles
Goodnight Mr. Tom (it might be a little bit heavy, you'd be a better judge of whether she could handle the child abuse when he goes back to London and a couple of characters dying)
The Wind in the Willows

Also...

[probably-lost.livejournal.com]

My dad read Watership Down to me when I was 5, and I loved it.

[(Anonymous)]

My ds is really getting into Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (also Dahl) right now, partially because I've promised to take him to the movie *after* we've read the book together. :-)

He also liked "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

On his own, sadly, he almost always chooses "Goosebumps" or "American Thrillers" by Jonathan Rand (the latter slightly better). Well, at least he's reading. Zea

[squigsoup.livejournal.com]

How about The Mouse and The Motorcycle?

I hope all the Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume books don't sound dated to our kids.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Susan Cooper's _Over Sea and Under Stone_ is good for a 5 year old who isn't easily frightened. It's sort of a preface to the somewhat more complicated _The Dark Is Rising_ series, which I also love.

Scott Corbett comes to mind, from alphabetical proximity. ("What did I do with the glue? Well, what did you want me to do! I spread it on bread, and stood on my head, and ate it, and slowly turned blue!" There's something to be said for a book that can stick that in my head for 30 years. I'm not sure if it's anything good to be said.) Susan Cooper shows children involved with the quest for the Holy Grail, and desparately serious, chills-up-the-spine, magic. Corbett, in a word, doesn't.

Have you tried any Joan Aiken? The chapter books tend to have more complicated plots, and more detailed historical settings, than _Little House in the Big Woods_, so Molly might think them boring if she was bored because she was confused or unready. Then again, if Little House bored her because the plot moved too slowly, or because Laura was too passive and obedient, she might love _Wolves of Willoughby Chase_. The main reason I mention Aiken is to recommend her short stories, especially _Armitage, Armitage, Fly Away Home_.

children's books are my favorite!

[dmyersta.livejournal.com]

Which Witch, Island of the Aunts, any of the Bobsey Twins series, Freedom's Gate, Freedom's Apprentice... ok - so the last two might be a little old for her. ;-}

[devonbree.livejournal.com]

So many of my intended recommendations already made...good to know I'm on the right vibe.

Also, for those concerned about the longevity of some of our favorites -- remember that many of them were written before we were born and that didn't stop us. As further support for them, however, I'll attest that they are still widely and regularly read in grade schools today.

For more on what kids read and enjoy, at least in the upper left coast, I direct you to
http://www.pnla.org/yrca/

Hmmm. My spouse just wondered aloud why Naomi and Molly don't write something together. Sounds good to me, but I'm not the one who'd have to negotiate such a collaborative process...

[naomikritzer]

We've collaborated a couple of times. I've been meaning to type in some of the results. She's gotten fairly adept at dictating when she wants me to write something down. Last Christmas, I bought her a blank book from Borders and put a sticker with "Molly's Book" written on it on the front. I'm thinking I might buy her a new one each year. The current Molly's Book has a mixture of drawings and stories.