Monday, June 9, 2014

Berzo Bear's Picnic

Little Party Girls are Ready!
Our little Berzo Bear turned three on Thursday. Saturday was Charley's half marathon, so that left Sunday for the party. Since Berzo is only turning three, I took advantage of what will probably be my last opportunity to choose her party theme, so I chose Teddy Bear Picnic. We have pretend picnics with the girls' Steiff bears, Oma and Opa Bear, almost daily, so she was happy with the idea as I explained it to her. Then Boots would ask Berzo what cake she wanted, (while I was shooting her the evil eye from across the room) and Berzo would usually say she wanted a kitty cat cake.

“Mom I think we should let Berzo have the type of cake she wants, not what you want—it is her birthday.”

It's good to know that Boots listens, but why does she use my teaching to thwart me??

It took a little coaxing but eventually Berzo consented to having a teddy bear cake. Whew. (How do you make a kitty cat cake??)

In keeping with the picnic theme, I decided to make each of the littlest guests a picnic blanket, and buy them a basket. After buying the material for the blankets, I decided that the guests could bring an Easter basket instead…

I was nervous about making so many blankets, (seven) and wondered if I was overcommitting myself. I hadn't sewn anything since I made my veil—for my wedding, ...calculating... 16 years ago.  But, I had a new machine and a month and a half in which to get them done. Thankfully, I also had my mother-in-law to give me advice on a pattern that would be simple yet sturdy. Once committed, I cranked them out one by one. They're not perfect—not even close—but they were handmade with love…

The day of the party came and the excited uncontained energy of the girls ricocheted off the walls, leaving a wake of disaster wherever they went. We sent them outside to play, then promptly brought them back in as their yelling and crying from tormenting each other was sure to wake up all the neighbors, who don't have toddlers that wake up at 5:45 a.m., on a Sunday.

Charley took them to the park to let them burn off some steam and to let me have a shot at cleaning up the house. About 9ish a.m. the doorbell rang. It was my friend, Lori, who was delivering super cute pudding cups made of entirely edible materials. Later, I felt like Willy Wonka chomping into my cup after the pudding was gone. She saw my wide eyes and offered a hand. I made some half excuse to give her a chance to run, incase she was only being polite… She didn't, so I put her to work. Lori made dozens of teddy bear shaped PB&J sandwiches, packaged munchies, and prepared pretty much all kids' picnic food.  Meanwhile I shifted into high gear to get the cleaning done. (I wasn't going for sparkly here, just not grody.) She left to get her son Sam ready, and around 10 a.m. the guests arrived.

Soon our house and backyard were hopping with some of our favorite people. Everyone pitched in at different times, hauling things out, taking pictures, setting up toys, helping the little ones, hauling things back inside...

The party was fun, big kids paired up with little ones for a scavenger hunt. It was neat to see the older kids so involved in helping the littler ones, who felt shy, yet excited at the attention. Next we herded the little ones in to fill their baskets with their picnic goodies, choose a blanket, and bring it all back outdoors. Berzo chose two juice boxes and a bag of bunny crackers for her lunch. The little ones sat in the shade and ate, and fed their stuffed animal friends. The adults and older kids had watermelon and Subway and enjoyed each other's company.

Happy birthday!
Then came the teddy bear cake, aflame with Berzo's three candles. Berzo made one wet, sputtering attempt to blow out the candles, which made me grateful she's healthy at the moment, then she took a mighty breath and blew all three candles out. We cheered and passed around cake and cupcakes. Berzo had three cupcakes and a piece of the teddy bear cake, all of which were licked clean of frosting—cake untouched.

Cake: noun, frosting holding apparatus.

Next Berzo opened her presents, and being shy she wasn't overtly enthusiastic. But I know she loves them, because she's hardly looked up from her gifts since the party guests departed.

It was a lovely day of visiting, sharing food, and gifts. When I had a moment to look around, although I was missing some people, I sat in wonder thinking about just how much I like every person here.  Before we had kids, Charley and I rarely entertained. Birthday parties are a lot of work and expensive, but they've pushed to get better at entertaining and given us a good, time-sensitive excuse to do it.

There's nothing like seeing your kid having fun at a party, and watching them watch you having fun at a party that was meant as a gift for them.   There is one thing I would like to improve on, being more organized in the days before and morning of the party to allow more time to enjoy our guests and to enjoy the little one, enjoying the day.  Luckily I have at least fifteen more years to get good at this.

From my favorite parenting guru, Elizabeth Pantley.  Mabye I can get Boots on board with a "party package" for her birthday...
7 Easy Tips for a Stress-Free Birthday Party

Madi Bear

Going on a Bear Hunt.  Gonna catch a big one...

Life is Good

Monday, June 2, 2014

Beavertail Canyon Campout... Adventure?

On a soggy winter day, Charley, sensing my cabin fever, suggested we go camping this summer at Beavertail Canyon on the Deschutes. My eyes lit up, “Really?”

“Really.”

Fast forward to May and the day has arrived to find me in a knot.  This is our family's first campout, if we have a great time, odds are Charley will be a willing participant in doing this again. Maybe even more than once a year... If it is a disaster, which with personality dynamics of our family makes that a likely outcome, it may ruin my family for camping.

So I searched for advice online, from my friends, and thought everything through. For a few weeks before we left, we talked about the trip with the girls, telling them the fun things we'll do, and what to expect, and what not to, what the hazards were, e.g. rattlesnakes, fast water. I also got them their own sleeping bags, (huge hit!) and mess kits, (Boots was pretty thrilled about it but to Berzo it just looked like regular dishes) and borrowed some kid sized spin casting poles for them to try out.

We packed the pickup to bursting on a bright Friday morning and were off. The drive was pleasant, Berzo was content to watch Frozen over and over, and Boots was interested in watching the scenery morph from moss and waterfall draped Western Oregon, to the Ponderosa Pines and golden hills of Central Oregon.
The other side of Mt. Hood

As we descended into Maupin, Charley and I relived our younger, freer days, when we were making the same trip to raft the Deschutes with the Brooklyn Crew. Smiles crept onto our faces.

We stopped at the revered Oasis Cafe for a potty break, and continued on to Beavertail Canyon. Each camp we passed was speckled with tents, and Charley fought to keep his anxiety at bay; Beavertail Canyon campsites are available on a first come first serve basis.

Sherars Falls
We passed Elevator Rapids and wished we had a couple life jackets handy to give it another go. Then came Sandy Beach, which would be more aptly named, Rocky Beach, and remembered our rafting take-out. We gawked at Sherars Falls and the tribal fishing platforms there. We watched as the outflow cuts through solid basalt channels and rages like a mustang herd fleeing through a corral chute.

We arrived and were relieved to see a campsite available right away—out in the blistering sun, right next to the outhouse, but hey, at least it was something. We cruised the campground and found another spot—thank goodness—tucked into a small cliff near the river with a shady picnic area. It looked lovely and inviting. Yes, please.

Tired little Berzo Bear.
We pulled in to claim our spot and released the monkeys to stretch their legs. They both jumped out hugging their sleeping bags.  After some cajoling we got them to return their sleeping bags to the pickup. Right away, truck numb Berzo, started whining, and Boots began to explore. We trekked over to the pay station and dropped in our fee, Berzo whining all the way about how faaaaaarrr away it was, and how she was too tiiiirred to walk, and how she wants to go hooooommmeee, while Boots spoke at a pace so rapid that I could barely make sense of one question before the next trampled all over it. The beauty of the place waited patiently while it absorbed the brain clutter we cast off.

Now that the spot was officially ours, I took the girls down to the water to show them how swift and cold the water ran. They both dipped in their toes and hands, Charley sprouted a few new gray hairs, and then they ran back to the campsite to play.


All set up and not blown away...
The day hastened towards evening and Charley began to set up our tent. As if on cue, the wind picked up, whipping my hair and pulling at my clothes. Charley laid out the tarp and unrolled the tent. The wind folded it back up. Undeterred, he tried again and so did the wind. A few calm moments allowed him time to stake the tent into the sandy ground and get a pole ready. He called me over to help and just as we erected the first pole the wind laughed as it blew so hard as to pull up a few of the stakes, knock the tent over and roll up the tarp again. Charley failed to see the humor in the situation, and ripped the tarp out and flung it aside. He told Boots to stand on it so it wouldn't blow away. She stood on a tiny corner of it and it whipped and flapped. I ran over and muscled our fully loaded cooler and dropped it in the middle. Then I ran over to the pickup and grabbed our bags and threw them in the tent corners to anchor the thing down. The girls both took it as their cue to bring in their sleeping bags. I wanted to snap at them to, “Just wait!” but thankfully my mouth works slightly slower than my brain and I instead I said, “Ok, toss 'em in.”

The wind continued to rip at the tent and pull up the stakes as Charley and I finished the setup, but we persevered; windows down to provide the wind a path through the tent. We both watched with trepidation from the picnic table as the wind flattened and flapped our tent ominously.

“Do you think it could blow us into the river?”

“I’m sure there are winds are strong enough to do that, but these aren't them,” I said with false confidence.

Thanks for the bouncy house, Papa!
Soon the wind died down and the pleasant breeze returned. I could swear I heard laughter; perhaps it was just the river babbling… Or maybe it was Berzo, who was pleased to use our air mattresses and tent as her very own bouncy house.

However, we were not pleased about how difficult it is to get her to take off her shoes when she was inside, and put them back on when she came out. We stayed insistent on shoes outside, due to the thorns and bits of broken glass sprinkled over the campsite. It was a major source of aggravation, I mean how difficult is it to wear shoes?!? When you have nature monkeys like mine, it's very difficult, apparently. Then I remembered how rarely I wore shoes in the summer as a kid...

I sense our trip is not going well and I start to fret… There's the worry of the river, poison oak plants mere yards from our campsite, rattlesnakes, thorns, glass, the river again… Charley's striving to keep his mood light but the trials of the day are really starting to get to him.

Sensing my discomfort from the Droopy Dog face I was wearing, he suggests I take a walk. I invite Boots and we explored the campground, and scoped out spots along the river that weren't quite so apt to swallow up a toddler. We found a sandy bank to play in and two birds came squawking and thrashing into the clearing. Flashes of bright yellow and streaked gray wings tumbled for a moment and then as one got a good hold of the other's tail feathers they thrashed back through the tree canopy. Boots was looking at me wide-eyed, with a what-the-heck look on her face.

“I think that was a couple Western Meadowlarks!” I say.

“Hey, that's our state bird! We just started a section on Oregon last week and we just learned about them. I'm gonna tell Miss Buckles!”

So cool. I was born here and had yet to see our state bird in anything other than a photo, and I got to experience that with Boots. Feeling lighter we headed back to camp to start dinner.

Slop me up, Papa!
We cooked up some hot dogs and baked beans for dinner on our camp stove and the girls loved the experience of eating outside with mess kits. When the beans were ready, I instructed the girls to hand their plates to Papa and say, “Slop me up, Papa!” Which they both did with much enthusiasm.  Afterwards it was s'mores time.

The evening began to set it and Berzo asked for her jammies and cocoa. Our littlest camper is a stickler for her bedtime routine. Although it was only a little after seven, we decided to hit the hay together, since we were all pretty wrung out. We read the girls some books and then went to bed.

Berzo, had a hard time becoming restful for sleep, after all she was in a bouncy house. We kiboshed the bouncing and tried to settle in. Then Berzo became offended by Boots' presence on “her” air mattress. Boots then became offended and started getting upset too. We tried to explain to Berzo that the double sized air mattress, was in fact, intended for both of them. It fell on deaf ears. Or at least I thought we'd go deaf from the screaming. Apparently two-year-olds are not so keen on sharing their portable bouncy houses… Huh. Go figure.

"I'm not sleeping!!" 
Fast forward another hour and a half. Boots has thrown herself on the floor of our tent, angry and put-out, Berzo is still squirmy and very fussy, I'm fuming (I've just wasted a sunset, an evening walk, stars, to listen to my kids—not sleeping), Charley is snapping at Berzo and Boots is echoing him…. Aaaand kaboom! my head exploded. All the angst about everyone enjoying the trip, all the annoyances, frustrations, anxieties. I yelled, ripped open the zippers, and stomped out to the picnic table.

I stayed out there for about an hour, at first having a pity party, then I reigned that in and tried to make sense of what was happening. Nothing was going my way, even the stars seemed to refuse to come out. Then I gave up. I had tried so hard to prepare and think of everything that would give us the best odds of having a good time… I can't control anything. I have no control.

Then suddenly there was the big dipper. Then with every pass of my eyes dozens of other stars appeared, faintly at first then more confidently. I felt much more peaceful. I felt I could brave returning to the tent.

I came in and slipped into my sleeping bag and Charley welcomed me back. (I know, I'm lucky.) He said that we should just think of this trip as a learning experience; there's nothing like it when your husband uses your own tricks on you. “We'll figure out what works and what doesn't for next time.” (Whew! He's willing to try again.) Then he listed off the things we've learned from this trip… “We'll need to use our utility trailer, so we can pack easier…”

Of course. It was so obvious. What is an adventure but the overcoming of challenges and hardships? I love adventure, I love the outdoors, and unfortunately for me, that's where I expect my challenges arise, not from discord in my family… But it's all the same. I'd never try to change the course of the river to suit my purposes, I accept it and navigate accordingly. So why do I try to control the flow of personalities in my family? If I simply accepted and navigated it as it was, not how I wished it to be, maybe I wouldn't get swept away—right out of the tent…

The next morning dawned bright.

The canyon walls were luminous as the river babbled its good mornings. A train rumbled and screeched through the canyon on the other side of the river and captured our awe.

We were all relaxed and happy. What a difference from last night.


Coffee Deliciousness
I went fishing. Although I didn't catch anything, I was euphoric with gratitude to be on the Deschutes River with my fly in the water. When I got back, Charley made me a cup of instant coffee, and it was the most delicious cup of coffee I have ever tasted. The same crystals at home have an aftertaste of burnt flakes from the bottom of the coffee pot and cigarette ashes… Funny how that is.

We spent the day fishing with the girls, watching the wildlife, laughing, playing in the sand, and all the wonderful things you do while camping, then we packed up and headed home, talking all the way about how much we like Central Oregon, and all the unturned stones there are out there...

Until next time...

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Raising a Reader

Now that I hooked you in with my snappy title, here is another version, “How to Increase the Odds of Raising a Child that will Enjoy Reading”.  Because, as parents, all we can really do is bend the odds. I love to read, my husband loves to read, and we have two girls who also love to read. It is nature or nurture? Both, and it's in the nurture component that we have wiggle room.  For example, I'm not a foodie, and I have two of the pickiest eaters ever to shun all things green; so I solicit advice from my foodie friends and, by golly, it is gold! Also, when we eat with them, my kids who are always "so full", suddenly have hollow legs!

If you have recently embarked on your parenting journey, or if you have kids who treat books like mine treat broccoli, this is for you.  If you already have a house full of book lovers, please share your secrets in the comments section.  I would love to hear from you!


Start Young—Really Young
As soon as my babies were born, it felt right to read to them while they were nestled in the crook of my arm, or splayed on my chest as we reclined.  It didn't matter if it was an article from Fly Rod & Reel magazine or a children's story; my babies loved the close contact and seemed to like hearing and feeling my tonal inflections. They both ended up being very early talkers—but don't let that deter you...

Lay on the Ham and Cheese
Kids, especially toddlers, react to emotion. When a character in the book shouts, make sure you're shouting too. “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT COOKIE!!” If monsters are roaring their terrible roars, give up your most terrible roar, ham up the terrible teeth gnashing and pause while your child roars and gnashes too.

Find Books that Interact with the Reader
Some books ask the reader to do something, then the characters respond on the following page. A couple popular examples are Monster at the End of this Book, and Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Dora the Explorer and Diego books are also intentionally interactive.

Or Adapt them Yourself
Adapting a book to make it interactive is a great way to read it the thousandth time and not be completely disengaged.

Examples:
Teeth prints from "eating" the book,
like a Mess Monster.
  • When we read Mess Monsters, we roar, crash, stomp, clobber the pictures on the pages right along with the monsters. When the monsters “bang down their tails”, we hammer on the ground with our fists, when “the whole bedroom shakes”, I make sure to do my best lap-quake. 
  • In Pilot Pups, I use lead-ins, “Flick the switches pull back up, zipping, zooming…” and pause for her to shout “Pilot Pups!” 
  • If a book about a picnic has a spread of tasty food, pretend to pick items off the page and gobble it up. “Mmmm.. That cupcake was delicious! I'm going to have a juice box now… slurp, slurp” Berzo finds it hilarious to pick gross things off the page and feed them to me. “Ewwwee, blech, I don't want to eat dirty underpants!!” (Knuffle Bunny)
Older kids
Keep reading to kids who are old enough to read by themselves. Although by now the you can spread the cheese a little thinner, kids still absorb the way you use inflection and voices, helping them to speed through that robotic monotone most kids adopt when they first start reading out loud. Also, they will often follow along while you read, (especially if you run your finger under the line you're reading) rapidly building their vocabulary as they hear you pronounce words they've not yet experienced in written form.

Let Older Kids Read to You
This takes a surprising amount of patience because there are a lot of “don'ts” here. Letting kids read to you visibly boosts their confidence and helps them practice the aforementioned inflections and fluency. Reading quietly and aloud are two distinct skills; a child can be a voracious quiet reader and be terrible at reading aloud. (This was me.) Yet, reading aloud is one way teachers judge their abilities. If you have younger sibling, they can often be coaxed into reading with the older ones, provided your older child chooses the younger's favorites.


Don'ts When Listening to Your Child Read
  • Don't correct. This is extremely annoying and can squash their confidence. I know it's annoying because my older daughter corrects me when the three of us are reading together. “Mom, you skipped that part. No she ‘yelled’, not ‘said’.” Grr… 
  • Don't give straight answers. When he asks what a word is help him sound it out, kind of playing it like you're not sure yourself. If he doesn't know what a word means, help him look at the context to try to figure it out. However, if he's getting flustered, do the work and narrate what you're are doing, slide your finger under the tough word, e.g. maneuvering, and say “man-nuuu-verr-ing, maneuvering”. Whatever process you articulate they'll be likely to adopt.
  • Don't get impatient. Reading aloud is taxing and takes all his focus, if you're checking your watch, squirming, or sighing, it's going to make him lose focus and doubt himself. Be fully present or suggest another time when you can be relaxed.
  • Don't interrupt. Just listen. 
Do's When Reading Together
  • Be attentive. Can't stress this enough.
  • Give non-verbal feedback. A pat on the leg or shoulder when he's worked through a tough sentence can be very encouraging. Gasp, or ooh and awe at appropriate moments to show you are listening.
  • When done reading, praise his effort and progress, not his prowess. He's in a stage of development, you don't want to give him the idea that he's done, or that he's great at reading when he might feel otherwise.  Use specific praise like, “Wow, your reading is getting much smoother,” or “I loved that voice you used for the dragon; it was really fierce.” 
  • Ask questions about what he liked about the story and discuss the plot and surprises. Having a conversation about the book afterward will enhance his comprehension about what he read, and show that you were paying attention and enjoyed the time you shared. 
  • When he spend time alone reading, show interest.  Ask questions, even read a book or two. I recently read one of Boots' Magic Tree House books called, Mummies in the Morning, and she was flattered that I would choose to read a book of hers for myself. We spent a fun fifteen minutes discussing the story. I told her I was a little disappointed I didn't learn something new about Egyptology, and she rolled her eyes and said, “Mom, it's a book for little kids! They can't put all that stuff in.” 
Get Dad on Board
Hi, Charley here. Amy puts Berzo to bed an hour before Boots' bedtime. It is my job to keep Boots quiet; she's also required to read for fifteen minutes every day for school. We knew if we tasked Boots with reading fifteen minutes every day, she'd balk. It's just who she is. We hid the Reading Log and I started inviting Boots to read with me. If she refused, we'd play cards or watch a show together. I didn't make it a big deal.

She was reluctant to read out loud at first. So we made a deal, that she would read the first paragraph of each chapter then I'd finish the chapter. While she was reading, I'd only help her if she was really struggling with a word. Pretty soon she just keep going. I was amazed at how quickly she got better.

As for her teacher's log sheet, I included all the time we spent reading together—not just when she read. If Boots didn't want to read, I'd put down a zero for the day; confident that we were doing the right thing by not pressuring her.

Hi, it's me again.

As it turns out, it was the right thing to do. (For once!!) She will now read for an hour or more on days when the mood strikes her. At bedtime I sometimes get exasperated hearing, “Just let me finish this page.” Then she turns it and I see her eyes sliding across the lines on the next page.

I still put a zero on her reading log sheet on days she doesn't crack a book, but the feedback I hear from her teacher has only been praise for how well she's progressing and how much she (her teacher) appreciates her enthusiasm during reading time.  Also, I no longer hide the log sheet from Boots.  I'm also selectively vocal about writing down her times, "Wow, so that's a total of forty-five minutes for today.  I'm going to write that down on your log sheet." She likes that I notice her efforts in this way and knowing that her teacher will see it too.

Got Tweens?
 If your kids are tweens or teens and don't like reading it's likely they simply have yet to find a genre that speaks to them. I remember not reading much between the ages of about eleven and fifteen. I was too old for my Nancy Drew books and the drippy, sticky books targeted at my demographic were utterly unappealing to my tomboy nature. (Yes, I mean you, Sweet Valley High series.) My reading comprehension and vocabulary weren't great, so deeper more intriguing novels were out; then I on a whim I picked up The Shining. That was it, I was done. I read little else than Stephen King novels for the next few years. My standardized reading test scores skyrocketed. Although, I haven't read any of his stuff in a decade or so, I haven't been without a book-in-progress since.  Encourage your kids to try out different authors, genres, or  non-fiction books that follows an interest; whatever their interests are, there's a book for that.

Reading isn't slimy canned spinach. If we shove it at them, we're sending the message that this spoonful of goo is disgusting, but we should eat it anyway because it's good for us. If you treat reading like, well… a treat, it'll be much more appealing.

Happy reading!


Tips for Getting Kids Interested
  • Books make great rewards. If your kid has accomplished something you want to celebrate, invite him along for a trip to the bookstore and give him license to pick out a book of any kind.
  • Draw them in. When you're reading something and a part of the story appeals to one of your child's interests, say, “Hey Boots, commere, you gotta check this out.”
  • Read the same book in tandem—occasionally.  To score extra parenting points, lag behind her progress and ask her questions about what's going to happen. Make sure to criticize things you didn't like. “I thought it was lame how long it took for the dragon to hatch. I mean for half the book he's carrying around an egg!” She might surprise you with some insight as to why it was important that the story went that way. “Geez mom, if the dragon hatched right away…” Or she might say, “Yeah, that really bugged me too.” I find being critical of plot points gets them engaged. (Weird, I know.) Then we talk about other aspects of the book as well. 
  • Make going to the library routine.  Start a routine of going to the library every other week. Let her choose whatever she's interested in, even if she only gets DVDs and video games. Books have a way of enticing people all on their own. Try to be flexible and let her take as many items home as she wants, or if your child needs limits, like my oldest, make it as much as she can carry in a tote bag. Then stop off at a cafe and share a treat on the way home. Select a time that will allow you to be relaxed and unhurried, and you both might start looking forward to this excursion every other week.
  • Establish a quiet time where reading is one of the choices.  Maybe for a half hour after lunch, (on weekends for older kids) or just before bedtime.  You probably need the downtime too, and when it's routine, you don't won't feel as guilty about neglecting housework or other demands.  It might be difficult at first, but before long you and your kids might start looking forward to spending that time together.
  • Give them a little special recognition when they finish a book. If the only applause they receive is when they get a hit on the ball field, that's probably where they'll set their focus. As one of my favorite parenting gurus, Becky Bailey, says, "What you pay attention to, you'll get more of."

Skill Building Tips for Babies and Toddlers
  • Exaggerate sounds and point to letters. When reading alphabet books, instead of reading “A is for apple.” Put your finger below the A and say, “A, ahhhh. A is for ahhhhhp-ple.” Then pause to let them try to repeat it. Even if they're not talking yet.  Then be sure to pretend to eat the apple and bite into a slimy worm, which you then spit out in a very dramatic fashion.
  • Ask them to make predictions. When reading a story, stop frequently and ask him what he thinks is going to happen next. When I started doing this with Berzo, I was surprised that she didn't know or would guess wrong, even though we'd read the book a dozen times. I'd say, “Uh-oh, what going to happen when Critter puts his stick in the hole in the ground??” It didn't take her long before she start answering right off, “The ground bees are going to buzz out and chase him!! Buzzzz!” (Just a Day at the Pond.)
  • What do you think he's feeling? Kids get really good at this fast. If a character looks sad, mad, scared, or happy, point to the picture and ask what she thinks the character is feeling. Understanding how the characters are feeling enhances their understanding of the story and sometimes add to the fun. In Mercer Mayer, Little Critter stories, Critter often says one thing when the characters are certainly feeling another. “My little sister liked my new puppy right away.” Berzo, what does Little Sister look like? “She looks maaad.” (Just Me and My Puppy)

Got tips? Got book recommendations??

Please feel free to share in the comments section. I would love to hear back.


Books Mentioned in this Blog Post
Duckling Gets a Cookie - Mo Willems
Knuffle Bunny - Mo Willems
Monster at the End of this Book - Jon Stone
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Pilot Pups - Michelle Meadows
Just a Day at the Pond - Mercer Mayer
Just Me and My Puppy - Mercer Mayer
Mess Monsters - Beth Shoshan
Mummies in the Morning - Mary Pope Osborne
The Shining - Stephen King
Dora the Explorer
Diego


Berzo in her stuffed animal/reading basket.