The Cupcake Kitchen

We have been meaning to report that the cupcake kitchen, which Clara was given for Christmas by her Grandparents Trump, has become a favorite thing with which to play. Clara likes to remove the pan of cupcakes from the oven, and place each one into a tea cup. One can often find her squatting in front of the cupcake kitchen busying herself in this way. She also likes to offer cupcakes to others. Joe likes to don a oven mitt, and busy himself with various pans. The other day, he offered Julie some tea in a stock pot, and then all manner of containers save a cup, a gag he made up all by himself and thought was hilarious.

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.

Joe Reads Worm Watches!

Joe received some new books from Aunt Kate as well. Two four-packs of pre-readers: Wow, It's Worm and Piggy and Dad Play. They are fabulous because the only bit about teaching someone to read is the drivel one has to endure in the books that comprise the bulk of the schlock-filled pre-reader catalog. WIW and PDP are fabulous because they are stories that are simple and short, and told with few words, many of which repeat, but they are still stories that don't feel as contrived as much of what we've seen in the rest of the pre-readers we've read. Plus, they come in little boxes and Fans, Joe loves him a little boxed set which he can dump the volumes out of and then gather back up in a big-small pile. Joe took a shine to these books right away, and now, we read one or two of them every night.

On Wednesday night, Ted joined Julie and Joe on the couch for books because Julie was feeling sort of flattened by a cold (Ted had it, too, but was less flattened). That's how it came to be that we were both there when Joe FULL OUT READ THE WORD WORM!!!!! TWICE!!!!! And maybe "watches," as in "Worm watches." He was reading Worm Watches, a story "about what Worm does when he watches different kinds of movies," so says the helpful introduction that one reads before to get the lay of the land. Joe was leaning against Julie, who had her arm around him, and the first time he did it, there were cheers all around and Julie gave him a big one-armed squeeze. The second time he did it, more cheers of course, and Joe turned to Julie and said "Hug-y!" He was so excited, and so proud!

Fans, it was glorious. Hug-y!

Telling Time

Earlier that same evening, Joe was flitting around with his camera. He kept saying that it wasn't time for books yet; that it would be time for books when "the wrench was pointing to the brush." On his camera, the new clock.

One-Pal-o Canoe

The other week, Julie got some new books for Joe, one of which is called One-Dog Canoe. ODC concerns a young girl setting off on a canoe ride with her dog who encounters all kinds of animals who leap into the one-dog canoe, despite her protests that she and her pal and their canoe cannot possibly fit one more passenger. Eventually, the canoe capsizes with a great splash, and the girl and the animals lll have fun swimming until she and her dog set off again in their one-dog canoe. Joe loves ODC. The first night it was read, he quickly pretended that Julie was a canoe, which of course meant Julie had to wobble and shake about, which Joe also loved. (When taking these pictures, Ted commented that the Mama Canoe didn't look very yar. Can you believe that, Fans?!) Now, Joe will sometimes take the Mama Canoe to bed (for a very long time, the Daddy Bus was the only way to travel, and even if it was only taken to the train station, it was always called and boarded). It is a one-Pal-o canoe. When Joe takes the Mama Canoe, he takes his paddle, of course, and sometimes his fishing pole. The night of the Mama Canoe's inaugural voyage, after Julie had Joe tucked in, she, as usual, told him she loved him, and Joe said "I love you my little canoe-y!"