The Beginning of Wednesday: Toby's new chapter

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Toby's new chapter

I know I've mentioned it here before because I'm kind of a freak about it but, Toby loves to read! (Or, at least Mama loves to read to him!!) It's no exaggeration that we probably read him well over 20 books per day and we also bring him to storytime at the library. I feel reading is so important and much prefer books over television (remember, we fired our TV last month!?) It's a really good way for him to learn language and begin to discover imaginative play. While he struggles to pay attention when I'm reading I heard this is normal and I should just keep reading.

Toby has a lot of books and it seems I'm always getting him more. We have his regular books, we have a tuperware full of books he hasn't grown into yet, and we also have his seasonal/holiday themed books (Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Spring, and Easter!) Each day we read some from the regular pile (his most "very favoritest" is Little Blue Truck) and then we read him the rest from the seasonal/holiday appropriate "themed" pile.

The books in his reading nook.

His bookshelf FULL of books

They have even trickled down stairs now; taking over Mama's bookshelf (I think Daddy needs to build us another one!)

And these are his themed ones. There are only about 20 Thanksgiving/Fall ones; we just put the Halloween ones away. I have a pile of Christmas ready to go.

Well, the point of this is what happened last night. Once Toby gets in his jammies, he gets one more book in his reading nook. As I was reading him Corduroy's Thanksgiving, he hit a HUGE developmental milestone... HE TURNED THE PAGE! I screamed for Aaron to get the camera as I fought back little sobs. Is he just a genius or what? I melted right where I sat.

2 comments:

Amy said...: I love reading with Em. I always have.

<3
(BTW Kohls? has the Kohls Kares books - this month it's "The Night Before Christmas" and "The Wizard of Oz" .. and I think there are 2 others - but I thought of you when I saw those 2. They also have matching Stuffed Animals that go - a reindeer, a terrier, and there's an owl for one of the other books); November 13, 2012 at 7:36 AM
Stephani said...: Wow, thats adorable!; November 13, 2012 at 4:37 PM

Quotes that define my life:

"Now this is the Law of the Jungle -- as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back -- For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack." -- Rudyard Kipling
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -- Dr. Seuss
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." -- Unknown
"Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it." -- E. Lutzer
“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea and the music in its roar; I love not man the less, but Nature more.” -- Lord Byron
"There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don't seem to help." -- Mr. Rogers
"If you don't crack the shell, you can't eat the nut." -- Persian Proverb
"Real peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mountains we climb

+ Currently: Life
+ Magalloway Mountain: Pittsburg, NH: 3,350 ft. Fire tower @ summit
+ Uncanoonuc Mountains: Goffstown, NH; Elevation: North Peak 1,324 ft. South Peak, 1,321 ft. *Indian Translation: "woman lying down" or "breasts"*
+ Mt. Major: Alton Bay, NH: Approx 4 mi. round trip; 1,100 ft. @ summit.
+ Monument Mt., Berkshire Area, MA: Approx 3 mi. round trip; *Beautiful waterfall* 1,735 ft @ summit.
+ Welch-Dickey- Loop Trail, Waterville Valley Area: 4.4 mi. round trip; 2,605 ft. @ Welch summit, 2,734 ft. @ Dickey summit.
+ Mt. Kearsarge- Barlow Trail, Winslow State Park, Wilmot: 2.8 mi. round trip; 2,937 ft @ summit.
+ Mt. Monadnock- White Dot Trail, Jaffrey: 4.2 mi. round trip, 3,165 ft. @ summit
+ Mt. Layafette- Old Bridle Path, Franconia Notch State Park: 8 mi. round trip, 5,260 ft @ summit.
+ Mt. Cardigan- East Side Loop, Alexandria: 5.3 mi. round trip, 3,121 ft @ summit. * some of the mountain was left bare from a fire in 1855
+ Mt. Morgan & Mt. Percival- Squaw Mountains, Holderness & Center Sandwich: 5.1 mi. round trip; 2,220 & 2,212 ft. @ summit
+ Mt. Osceola- White Mountain National Forest: 6.4 mi. round trip, 4,340 ft. @ summit

Mission Statement

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As a guest in my home would you pick apart my style, critique my furniture, or want me to spend your entire visit complaining about my life's trials and tribulations? No. The same goes for my blog. You’re a guest here. The virtual world is a "boundary" between what I am going to post here, and what goes on in my “real life.”

This is my forum. Much like if you were a guest in my house, I would scurry around cleaning up, presenting to you my best self. I do the same with my writing. You come here for a smile, an anecdote, a laugh, or a oui. You don't come here to hear about the bad parts of my life. Just because I don't post about them, doesn't mean they don't exist. That part of me just happens to be none of your business.

I choose to blog about things that make me happy, things I want to look back on and relish. I am constantly recovering (on a daily basis) from things that are unpleasant, I need no reminders via written word. That is what my diary is for. If that omission makes it appear as though my life is easy, then you are more than welcome to turn back now, don't waste your time. I have an amazing group of people who I can vent to and get feedback in regards to those matters, I don’t have an overwhelming urge to hang my dirty laundry out to dry in front of strangers.

My greatest fear about blogging is that someone, anyone, would rob me of this right. To instill in me a need to gauge my every word, for me to feel intimidated to speak, to share, or to write. I would never take that privilege, liberty, or luxury from any one person. It’s not mine to take. If you're here for the taking, I hope you come up empty.