Birdie's Favorite Books Right Now

Reading books with Birdie is lots of fun these days, too. She is a huge fan of the If You Give a. . .series, and in particular, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and If You Give a Dog a Donut. She calls If You Give a Mouse a Cookie "Coo Coo," which is her way of saying cookie. She has favorite pages in all of them, and motions that she does when she hears words she knows well: washing, bubbles, duck, dancing (appears in Pig a Pancake and Dog a Donut), stamp (postage stamp, but Birdie hears stamp like stamp your feet), drink, apple, and ball (a bit part in Moose a Muffin, part of story in Dog a Donut). Birdie's other favorite books are the Berenstain Bears Old Hat New Hat, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, and Little Blue Truck. Birdie will attempt to say all of these titles in her way, but she also signals what she wants with motions. A hand to the head means Old Hat New Hat. Furiously flapping arms means Pigeon because that's what Julie does when she reaches the page when Pigeon loves it over not being allowed to drive the bus ("LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!!!"). Clara's shorthand for Little Blue Truck is to say "Beep, beep!" Sometimes she wants to read Chicka Chicka ABC, which she calls "Boom Boom." She also still likes Go, Dog, Go! (which Joe liked at this very same age; it was all we read just before Clara was born). Most of these are bigger girl titles, so Julie recently swapped more of them in for the board books that had been on Birdie's go-to shelves, and Birdie looks so dear as she considers them each night.