Book Club

When I was a teacher, my favorite day was Book Club day. Usually Book Club fell on a Friday, and since Hadley seems to enjoy books so much, I thought that this Friday we would have a little Book Club of our own.

I've been wanting to keep track of the books Hadley and I get at the library just because I thought it would be fun for her to look back and see what she read when she was a toddler. A friend of mine who used to be a third grade teacher made a bookworm in her classroom, and every time a student of hers read a book, she wrote the title down and added it to the bookworm. I stole the idea from her, and started one for Hadley in her room.

I wrote the titles on the front of the circles, and on the back I wrote down what Hadley says about each book. For example, in the book Duck and Goose, I asked Hadley what the Duck and Goose find. "A ball." she says. Then I asked her what Duck and Goose think it is. She laughed and said, "An egg!" In the book Mine! Mine! Mine! Hadley told me that Cousin Clare is crying. "Why is she crying?" I asked. She said, "Ima show you Cousin Clare crying.....um....Cousin Clare, where are you?....Where's Cousin Clare crying go?" Eventually she found the page where Cousin Clare is crying and Hadley told me that she's crying because the other girl wouldn't share her toys.

I think I've mentioned this before, but Hadley usually likes to start her day with books and juice in her crib. This morning she and I read Small Small Pond, one of Hadley's favorites:

While we ate breakfast, Hadley and I colored some bunnies to go along with the book Tippy Tippy Tippy, Hide.

Then we made our way to the library to get some new books. Harper was happy to come along as well. I don't know why she's sideways.

Here she is patiently waiting with her uggs on:

I wish I had the next part of this entry on film because it was the best part of our morning. I didn't bring my camera along which I regret, but those of you who have been to our place know that one only takes the essentials when one is responsible for getting Hadley and Harper down three flights of stairs. The diaper bag, the bag of library books, Hadley, and Harper strapped in her carseat where enough. But even though I don't have pictures, I do want to record our trip to the library so I don't forget it.

Hadley and I were reading the enormous Sesame Street book (we have to read that one every time we go to the library because we can't check it out), when Hadley noticed that a girl at the table next to ours was reading the same book. The little girl was actually watching when Hadley turned the page to her book and then she would turn a page. It was pretty cute, and so I said, "Look Hadley, she's on the same page as you." So Hadley, being the extremely friendly child she is, picked up her book (it's bigger then she is) and lugged it over to the little girl's table.
"You want to read this together, girl?" she asked.
"OK." she said. And for the next 45 minutes, Hadley and her new friend read different books together. More than a camera, I wish I had filmed the entire thing so I could remember their conversations. One of the books had a firetruck in it, something Hadley was quite excited to point out to the little girl. This is how their conversation went. Make of it what you will.
"That's a firetruck." Hadley told her.
"We had a firetruck at our house. We had to go outside." the little girl said.
"No, the firetruck's in the living room." Hadley told her.
"My mom pushed a button in our house to call the firetruck. You have to push the button with a key and it is very dangerous." the little girl told Hadley.
"Yea. When you push it, you fall down and you get a band-aid." Hadley said.

This was Hadley's first experience making a friend all by herself, and I can't think of a better way to do it then through a story.