Books

                                     
I have been looking for books about "changing" to have in my house, something geared for the 9-12 year old crowd. I have been doing research, reading book reviews, and really investigating this. There are so many to choose from and I wanted to make sure it was appropriate and not super embarrassing. It was freaking hard to do. Some of the stuff they put out there is outrageous. This book for instance:
                                      
Granted, it's for boys but still. Could you imagine if your parent handed you a book with that on the cover? I would just want to crawl under the couch. I like their reactions. One kid is uphappy, one is puzzled, but the kid in the middle is a little bit too excited. I saw this and thought, "Thank Jesus that I don't have boys." This is the kind of stuff that is on the market in the puberty book section. It's just horrible. So I settled on the Care and Keeping of You which talks about a lot of different things - eating healthy, skin care, making sure to wash your feet and underarms because you will soon be a disgusting, smelly adult. No stuff about boys or anything icky. They had a section on bras and maxi pads but generally is not cringe-inducing. So my daughter has been reading it. We were at the breakfast table and she laid the book down on the table. My youngest was refusing to eat breakfast for some reason. My husband picked up the book and looked through the table of contents. "See, this book says you need to eat breakfast. You want to grow up to be healthy right? Look at the girls on the cover of this book. Don't you want to be big and healthy like them?"
                                                    
She was looking at him like he was crazy and she said, "Dad, they are cartoons." Haha. "Eat your breakfast." I don't remember books like this when I was a kid. I did read Are You There God? It's Me Margaret in the 3rd grade. You can always count on Judy Blume to ruin the innocence of children.

We purchased a lot of books this month. The kids had book fair at school and I spent an unacceptable amount of money. My oldest daughter has been reading chapter books for a while now and my 1st grader now reads so well. We were picking out books and she would only buy chapter books. Books with pictures in it are for "babies" she told me. So we purchased some more chapter books. We came home and had no where to put them. The book shelf is full, we have books stacked everywhere. I decided we would pack away some books to make room for the new "big kid" books. My oldest daughter helped me. We sat in front of the book case next to a big box. I began pulling books off the shelf. "Look, Quack, Quack you got this book for your 1st birthday." She didn't give a crap. We began to stack the box full of books. The Poky , Little Puppy, The Little Engine That Could, books that were once mine and my husband's. I laid my hand on the covers and thought out all the nights the children curled up next to me as we poured through the pages. They would lay their tiny little heads on my shoulders and listen. Now they read to me, or just read their novels silently. As I packed up the books, I felt a deep sadness. Those nights of reading little kids books to my children is over. I try not to attach emotions to things because I think that it means I have the potential to become a hoarder some day. It was so hard for me to do. I closed the box. My daughter asked if we were going to give them away. "No, when you and your sister have children I will give you some and I will keep some so we have something to read to them when they come to visit." It suddenly occurred to me that I am saving books for my eventual grandchildren. They will be awesome and well read. Just like their mothers. In 20 years.