Books!

Many of you might remember a video that Kurt posted several months ago of wee Madelyn providing a very thoughtful and provocative critique of her book "10 Little Monkeys." We (ok...I) was tickled that she seemed to like books so much, and I'm pleased to say that her affinity hasn't seemed to waver. Madelyn LOVES her books. We moved all of her board books out to the family room on a shelf that she can reach, and she logs considerable time everyday pulling them off the shelf, sitting amongst them, gnawing on their bindings, and trying her best to flip through the pages. What is so amusing to Kurt and me, though, is that she has clear favorites. Not even 10 months and this little Bugtuss has opinions about which book she'd like to read! I love it. Far and away her favorite at this time is Jamberry. "One berry Two berry Pick me a blueberry..." and on it goes in its delightfully rhythmic and deliciously imaginative way (the illustrations depict elephants skating on a pond of strawberry jam with waffle lily pads, etc.) Madelyn "Busy Bee" Olmsted will actually sit still for the entire 4 minutes it takes to read this book. She "mmm's" her enthusiasm and pulls the pages in close to give them kisses. But the best is when she hears "Strawberry ponies, Strawberry lambs, Dancing in meadows of strawberry jam" and starts dancing. Every time!


On a slightly related note, we've tried to create a little reading nook by the shelf with all of her books. We found this adorable monkey rug that is really more like a stuffed animal pancake. Our intention was to put it at the foot of the rocking chair in her room, but Maddie loves to cuddle with it so much that we decided we couldn't dirty it up with our feet! It now lives right by her book shelf so she has a cozy spot in which to get book lost. Upon coming out to the family room every morning, she has to crawl over to this monkey and lay on it and give it a kiss--an affectionate gesture that is ALWAYS available for the monkey but only sporadically bestowed upon Mommy and Daddy!