books

My kids love books. Saedi devours books as fast as Nate does (which is REALLY fast). Gavin, as I have said, is doing really well at learning to read. It’s not something I am making him do, he really wants to. Even Solvei and Nels love books. As I have also said we have A LOT of books.

In the house we are in there is an eat-in-kitchen and also a formal dining room. We don’t do formal dining (and only have one table anyway) so we have turned the formal dining room into a library. While I was moving the books all in there and setting up the shelves during the winter break, Solvei and Nels discovered the books. Then they got some books of their own for Christmas. Now they won’t leave the books shelves alone. Every time we are downstairs they will try to get at least one book from the shelves if not all of them (at least they only go after the board books most of the time).

This afternoon while I was making lunch, Solvei went to the shelves, got out three books, then gave one each to Nels and Gavin. They all sat down on the kitchen floor (right underfoot) and read their books while I finished, trading books when they were done. Amazing!

This is what the tooth fairy brought when she came for Saedi’s first tooth.

Well, we got another visit from the tooth fairy last night.

When we were sitting down to breakfast this morning, Saedi told me that she might be able to sing the “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” song this year.

The other afternoon, as Gavin and I were just finishing lunch, Gavin looked out the back door and said, “Look Mom, the sun is starting to go down!” I thought it was way too early, after all it was only 1:30 in the afternoon. But when I looked out the window he was right, the sun was already half way down in the sky. There is just not enough daylight now that it’s getting to be winter. It’s strange to have it be completely dark outside when I’m making dinner. I know it’s always been that way, but it’s just one of those times when it feels different because you see it from a different frame of mind.

I have a weakness for kids books. Every month Saedi brings home a book order form from school and I can’t resist. Nate gives me a hard time but I don’t feel too bad about it because Saedi reads just like Nate. She can read fast and always wants more books. She always tells me, “I can’t help it, I just like reading!” It’s not a bad thing, I’m quite proud of her, and I want her to have good material so that only makes it easier for me to buy more books. Before I placed another book order, I decided to make a list of what we had already so I wouldn’t run the risk of buying books we already had. Granted I could only work on it between interruptions, but it took me two days to get it done! Now that I am finished, I can say with absolute certainty that we have SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX!?!?! children’s books. Let me state that again, six hundred and thirty-six CHILDREN’s books. That number doesn’t even include the books from mine and Nate’s bookshelves. Oh, and I DID just place another order ;).

Solvei is the only one of my children to develop a real affinity for a binkie. Saedi took one until she was about 6 months and then was done, Gavin really only ever used them as chew toys, and Nels likes his at sleep time but usually could care less during the day. Solvei on the other hand, always wants hers. If she doesn’t have one it’s not for long, she will usually go find one. We have five of the kind she likes (we bought enough for Solvei and Nels, but Nels ended up preferring a different kind). One of the funniest things to watch is when she finds two of them. She keeps one in her mouth and carries the other one around, constantly changing between the two.