My Wiener Family: December 2011

Yesterday I came across the picture above while catching up on my Facebook friends. It's a stack of books that someone received as a gift for her baby shower (great gift!). The collection contains a few that Abigail loves, but many that we've never read. Of course, we will not ever own every child book in existence, but it made me think about what we have and would like to get, so I took inventory!

Bedroom books

Living Room books

Books in our room (these have dwindled as she only wants to play on the bed when in our room)

Here's a list of all of Abigail's books, sorted into categories by how much she likes to read them:

Abigail’s Books

Loves (or loved)

The Very Hungry Catepillar by Eric Carle

I’ll See You in the Morning by Mike Holley and Mique Moriuchi

You Are My I Love You by Cusimano/Ichikawa

Mama How Long Will You Love Me? By Anna Piguataro

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

Pinkalicious School Rules! By Victoria Kann

How Do I Love You? by Marion Dane Bauer and Caroline Jayne Church

I Love You Through and Through by Marion Dane Bauer and Caroline Jayne Church

Mommy’s Best Kisses by Margaret Anastas

The Tickle Tree by Chae Strathie and Poly Bernatene

Old Hat New Hat by Stan & Jan Berenstain

On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss

There’s A Wocket In My Pocket by Dr. Seuss

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins

How the Trollusk Got His Hat by Mercer Mayer

Herbert the Timid Dragon by Mercer Mayer

Fluffy Scruffy (a soft spot book)

A Cuddle For Little Duck by Freedman/Pedler

Guess How Much I Love You by McBratney/Jeram

Baby Giggles by Rachael Hale

Baby Colors by Rachael Hale

When the Elephant Walks by Kasza

Where is Baby’s Belly Button by Karen Katz

Who’s Your Dady? by Diane Muldrow

Where’s My Sweetie Pie? by Ed Emberley

You Are My Sunshine by Caroline Jayne Church

The More We Get Together by Caroline Jayne Church

A Little Book of Shapes (Peaceable Kingdom)

First 100 Words (bright baby)

Colors and ABC Numbers (bright baby)

Sesame Street Colors! Bath Time Bubble Book

Ocean (soft shapes foam book)

Look by Dwell Studios

Likes (or liked)

Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman

Inside Outside Upside Down by Stan & Jan Berenstain

The Big Balloon Race by Coerr/Croll

Dr. Seuss’s ABC An Amazing Alphabet Book!

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Koala Kid (a soft spot book)

Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer

The New Baby by Mercer Mayer (no, we’re not having a new baby)

Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer

In My Den by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

In My Flower by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

In My Nest by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

In My Pond by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

In My Meadow by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

In My Tree by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems

Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcake by Jane OConnor

The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein

Not interested

Me and My Dad! By Alison Ritchie

Me and My Mom! By Alison Ritchie

Little Football (The Little Sports series from Sleeping Bear Press)

One Fish Two Fish by Dr. Seuss

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss

Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss

Frog Goes to Dinner by Mercer Mayer

Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo by Mercer Mayer

When I Get Bigger by Mercer Mayer

Sleep is For Everyone by Showers/Watson

Of Thee I Sing A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

A Light In The Attic by Shel Silverstein

What Makes it Go? What Makes it Work? What Makes it Fly? What Makes it Float? By Joe Kaufman

Sails Rails and Wings by Seymour Keit

I could say something specific about every single book on the list--why I think she enjoys the book, or doesn't, a memory that comes to mind. A few are old books from Jake's childhood, and they are in amazing shape (I'm reluctant to tape them like I do the other books when she causes little [or big] tears while turning the pages--how did his parents keep them so nice!). Each of the "love" books had a glory time, when it was the book to read, but only a few have been popular from infancy into toddlerhood (Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb might be her all time favorite). Many, many, many of them were gifts. Thank you to all who contributed to my little one's literary beginning. It makes me smile every single time she brings me a book from across the house, insists I sit on the floor, does an about-face and sits down in my lap. It's certainly worth all the repetition.

I would love to hear suggestions of books you or your kids love.

The books 10 minutes after I organized them for the photo

P.S. I'm trying to get a great picture of Abigail looking at our tree this year. She loves it, says wow every time I turn it on, and spends a lot of time touching ornaments and lights. I put all the zoo animals and non-breakables that I own down low, along with some bells and ribbons. She can't get enough of the tree. That's my girl!

Wearing daddy's hat and playing with her belly button

This year the holidays didn't really sneak up on me. Jake's cousins, Barry and Phyllis, made plans to come visit his father for his birthday and Thanksgiving months ago, so I knew I was going to be cooking for eight on Thanksgiving day and travelling to Riverside the next day for a celebration with my family. Everything turned out great at both events. It's so interesting and fun to watch Abigail experience holiday fun this year!

She loved Jake's cousin Phyllis and generally had a good time with all the people in the house.

Here she is looking out the window before anyone arrived, wearing her little Thanksgiving outfit, which is one of the benefits of having a toddler instead of an infant--dresses are just adorable on little walking people.

In Riverside we had an open-topped bouncy house for the kids which featured a bouncy slide, lots of pillars and blown up trees to bang up against, and of course bouncy house balls which were definitely used as weapons throughout the day. I think the adults probably enjoyed it more than the children! I came home with burns on my elbows and knees from way too much fun.

Here Abigail is oblivious to the fact that she was in the line of fire.

Despite the multitude of things that I truly enjoy giving thanks for, I have always viewed Thanksgiving as the beginning of Christmas (my favorite time of year!). What makes Christmas so special? I think it's different for everyone. I love the lights, trees, warm fires, cider, cookies, and especially the focus on family. I love making lists of all the people I love and deciding what I can carefully wrap in a pretty box and present to them as a token of my love. I love singing carols and carving out time to spend with friends. I love Christmas, even though I don't really care if it's spelled with a capitol C. I was raised in a Catholic family where we sang O Come O Come Emmanuel every evening before dinner while lighting the advent wreath. I remember going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve and being allowed to open one gift before going to bed, since it was technically Christmas day when we returned from church, then sleeping for 4 hours and sneaking into the living room with my sister to check out the presents under the tree. After which we would run back to bed and pretend to be asleep so that my father and grandfather could come and carry our sleepy little bodies out to all the Christmas fun. I hope that I can build memories like these for my daughter, despite the fact that we won't be attending mass. I hope to instill in her a love of Christmas as a time to reflect, spend time with family, enjoy the sweetness of life, help others see the good in you, and eat a lot of sugar!

My favorite part of our outdoor decorations is my liquid amber, with falling leaves, lights and ornaments--it's beautiful.

Abigail fell asleep holding these jingle bells that she found the day I took out the Christmas boxes--she's off to a good start

The first thing that I always do to prepare for Christmas is spend one day acquiring and decorating a tree with my dad....here are some pictures from that day. It's an extra special tradition that really captures the essence of the holiday for me--the fact that it occurs at the very beginning is a bonus, because then I get to enjoy it for the month ahead.