May 13, 2011

• Libraries & Books

  Zoe’s Daily Funny:
  Zoe was playing with her Ariel figurines in our bed one morning this past weekend. Her father comes in and give her a big hug from behind. She tries to push his arms away and with and exasperated sigh she goes…
  
  Zoe: Apah! You’re making me nuts!
  
  This morning we were going down the stairs and she was right behind me and said…
  
  Zoe: When I grow up I wanna be a mommy too! (she was blushing for some reason and she did this embarrassed giggle)
  Me: Oh yeah? That’s great. I bet you’re gonna be a great mom. Are you gonna have babies?
  Zoe: Yeah when I’m big like you.
  Me: Oh yeah how many?
  Zoe: One and Kayden is going to be in my belly too.
  Me: Oh well it doesn’t work like that.
  Zoe: Why?
  Me: Because Kayden is mommy’s baby and when you have a baby it will be a totally different baby in your belly. It will be your own special baby. And you can name him whatever you want. You don’t have to name him Kayden.
  Zoe: I’m gonna name him Xavier.
  Me: Oh really?! I would love that!
  
  Just in case you don’t know Xavier was the name that I picked for Kayden that Zoe and her father VETOED. I was totally aiming for the end of the alphabet when it came to naming the kids. I would have called him Professor for short. It’s sweet that she remembered the name.
  

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  Zoe got her first library card! I’m so excited, way more than she is. The last time I felt like this was when we went to the Yo Gabba Gabba Live show. Once again, WAY more excited than she was. Anyways back to the library card! I miss going to the library. In elementary school I loved going to the library. I even remember my first school, Hancock Elementary (which is no longer there by the way) and I remember we made butter out of cream that was inside a jar and I remember we all took turns shaking the jar. And I remember some teacher brought in her pet boa constrictor and we all took turns petting it. *sigh* And I remember after they shut down that school I started going to Gwyn-Nor Elementary and I remember the librarian’s name, Mrs Atwood and how she had a crush on Tom Selleck. I remember her being really pretty with lots of freckles. I used to just stare at all her freckles. How I remember this I really don’t know. Then the new librarian came along and I think her name was Mrs Gauche. But she was short, chubby with big ajoomah boobies, and she had 2 pet ferrets which was ironic because ferrets love to chew on books apparently (this is what she told us).  Not only that but every summer there was a program that they’d do in our school district to promote reading and you get this library card and can use it at ANY of the elementary schools in our district so we’d go to ALL of them EVERY week. My dad was all about us reading. So we’d have piles of library books at home each week and there were 4 of us in elementary school at one time so that’s a whole lotta borrowed books! AND THEN my dad also signed us up at our local Public library and we’d go to that as well.  *sigh* Ah the memories… and I’m so fond of all of them. I really am. Libraries remind me of my father and just how he really wanted us to love reading. The endless rows of books, the crinkling sound of the clear book jackets, the mossy smell of old pages, the card catalog system (although I heard a lot of places are getting rid of these?), Caldecott Medal stamped books (love), the Dewey Decimal system (is that even still around?)… So nostalgic! Don’t you love that feeling that you get when you reminisce? It’s a shame though. I haven’t read a book in so long unless you count all the books Zoe makes me read her. But I mean an adult book, like Harry Potter (hahaha it is too adult!). I have had the last book since I was pregnant with Zoe and I still have yet to read it!
  
  Anyways I think Zoe will really enjoy it. I’ve been working on expanding her collection of books. It’s an ongoing process. The hubs and I made this new rule which is NO MORE PRINCESS BOOKS. She goes a little psycho overboard any time she sees any of the Disney Princesses on a cover of a book. Now we have to buy unisex books so that Kayden can like them too. Haha… Seriously enough. Do you know how many books she has based on the movie Tangled? She’s got like 5. Don’t look at me ok? People bought them for her. I bought her ONE and that’s because I didn’t even go to the theater to see it with her so I figure I’d buy her a book and then that way I would get to know the story too as I read it to her. But going back to the princess thing… she’s got the books, the dresses, the dolls… You’ve got your looks! You’re pretty face. And don’t underestimate the importance of body language! HA! Sorry, I went into mermaid mode. Do you do that too? Go into a conversation and then end up singing a song from The Little Mermaid? You’re weird if you don’t. I know you do it Jeenie! Which reminds me, I was having a Peter Pan moment this week where I flashbacked to when I was like 7 and my sisters and I used to LOVE sliding down the stairs on cardboard boxes. I swear I think I’ll be  like forever 7. Which also reminds of this one time at band camp… Actually this one time Zoe was sitting on her bedroom floor and I told her to put on her pants. I look over at her and she put both of her legs in one pant leg and said excitedly “Look at me mama! I’m a mermaid!” Omigod. I almost teared. I USED TO DO THAT TOO! My little protégé. I SHO PROUD (singing in my opera voice)! I swear when I look at Zoe it’s like looking at me. She reminds me so much of myself. Down to the things she hates to eat to the way she talks, her sassiness, the things she does. My mom says she’s “just like you when you were little”. She thinks it’s uncanny and I really see it. Like if I tell her to do something and she holds up her hand in a “talk to the palm” type of manner and says “OKAY BOSSY OKAY CALM DOWN!” I like roll my eyes but I deep down I’m thinking “HOLY SMOKES BATMAN! THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I WOULD SAY! TO THE BATCAVE!” Hahaha…. And every now and then I hear her talking to her friends saying “Um excuse me! Excuse me hello?” Hahaha cracks me up. Hello? Totally ME. I’m really enjoying her now because if she is like me then I know I will hate her later so I must take it all in now before she turns into the “rebellious me”.
  
  So onto my 2 recent book finds…
  
  :: The Magic Stone ::
  I remember from a few of my previous posts that every time I’d write about Zoe’s books or post photos of her growing collection of books at least one person would write to get her Stone Soup. And I’d think, “that sounds so familiar.” However whenever I would Google the book (there are a few different versions out there now) NONE of them looked familiar to me. So then I bought her the Marcia Brown version thinking maybe this was it. But the whole time I’m looking at the illustrations I knew it wasn’t. The version I remember started off with a vagabond and he comes upon an old lady and asks her for a place to stay and when he asks her for something to eat she told him she had nothing to eat and so the story of stone soup begins. And then one day I FOUND IT! I saw the illustrations and got excited! The version I read was called The Magic Stone. The author is Fran Hunia and the illustrator is Martin Aitchison. His illustrations are beautiful! Which also brings me to the next book I found after MUCH research.
  
  :: The Magic Paintbrush ::
  I have been looking for this stupid book foh-eh-vuh, foh-eh-vuh, foh-eh-vuh! Did anyone see The Sandlot?
  Anyways I can’t remember if I read this book or if I saw it on Reading Rainbow but I loved this story! I read the version by Demi but I just remember the illustrations being more elaborate? I was searching for a while and then gave up. I saw the Demi version at Zoe’s school on the couch in the lobby when I dropped her off one morning last week and asked the Grandmother in the nursery room if I could take it and bring it back at the end of the day. She looked at me funny and said “For Zoe?” I said “No. For me.” And then she started to laugh at me like what kind of a grown ass woman reads children books without her children kind of laugh. Sticks and stones halmohni. Sticks and stones. Anyways a few of the pages were ripped out (damnit kids!). And so began my search ONCE AGAIN for the book that is The Magic Paintbrush which when I find it will have illustrations where I will say “I PINDING! I ROOKING POR YOU RONG TIME! SHUCKSHESS ISH MINE!” And then 2 weeks ago I PINDING! I ROOKING POR YOU RONG TIME! SHUCKSHESS ISH MINE!” I saw the illustrations online and was like SHIVER ME TIMBERS! This is it! (You know shiver me timbers in French is diable m’emporte? Just in case you didn’t know. I Googled it). It’s been in front of my face this whole time whenever I would do a google search but I never bothered clicking on the image. Like duh. Coulda saved me a lot of time. Now I know and knowing is half the battle. *fist in the air stance* G. I. Joe! I actually found this book FIRST which led me to further probe into the illustrator which is how I found The Magic Stone! You see? Same illustrator. The stars were aligned in my universe that day and the book gods were smiling down at me!  Yahoo! Anyways these books are hard to find because they were published by a London based Publishing company. I found them used online in the states each for under 10 bucks.  I’ve read the Magic Paintbrush to Zoe 6x already. I don’t know if you guys have ever experienced this but my mommy mission was to find this book, which I did, I read it to her, and when I got to the end of the book I was thinking “Wow I don’t remember this but the ending kinda sucks!” Hahaha I hyped it up so much in my mind.  Man. I hate when that happens.
  
  I am on a hunt for another story though. Apparently it’s about a Chinese Cinderella. I saw this when I was little on CBS Storybreak one Saturday morning. Do you remember that show?!! I loved it! I also loved watching the Menudos but we’ll save that for a rainy day. So basically it’s pretty much the same theme only it’s based in China and the fairy Godmother is really a goldfish who actually gets killed and eaten by the stepmother. I know. Morbid. You know the Chinese. They’re not about candy coatin’ it. They just tell it like it is. Hahaha Hardcore yo. Anyhoots I found a book that I’m thinking of buying. Does anyone else know this story?
  
  
   

  • 9:54 am
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