Baby books.

After posting my current reading list for 2013, I thought I would share Michael's favorite "reads" as of late. Boy, does that child love looking at books. We pull him off the grown-up shelves at least 10 times a day, and I think he is starting to get the hint. I have a little area for him for his stack of books, but apparently he knows he's missing out on the deeper stuff. Mama reads to him at least 3 times a day, and Papa usually reads to him  once in the evening. And we read the same books...again...and again. These are Michael's current favorites.

He loves the Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Polar Bear, Polar Bear books...I think the repetitive nature of the text and the brightly colored picture of a single animal on each page catches his attention:

And this gem that we grew up with; hard to find, but Nana has secured one for him and for his cousins:

He likes the illustrations of the children and angels in this book, and likes finding Jesus:

As Michael enjoys watching trucks and cars drive past, he pours over this book, turning the pages back and forth; he also enjoys the 'Boats' book in this series, as he is used to seeing many different kinds of boats around the Puget Sound here.

He loves seeing the little babies on every page of this book, coos at them and tries to kiss them:

This is a real favorite of his, although not a board book, which describes the different ways animal babies are carried by their mother, with a few human babies thrown in :):

This cute little publication is from the children's magazine Highlights and is a toddler edition complete with laminated baby safe pages - so cute! My great-aunt who writes for Highlights gifted Michael with a subscription. I think he enjoys being allowed to look at something more paper-like. The illustrations and little poems and songs are fun to read aloud to him. Thank you, Aunt Patricia!

It is good to foster a love of books, of learning and of reading early, even with babies. As we read to them, they start to grasp all the new and wonderful things they can see and learn about, yes even by way of picture books - especially truths about the world and God. I remember reading this once upon a time..."Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." I saw it occur within my family growing up. Mom would patiently read through the large piles of books that we children would drag to her side; religious, science, historical biography's, nature, fiction  etc., and I remember doing the same for my younger siblings. Also, as we got older, she would read aloud marvelous historical fictions books, usually pertaining to a subject we were studying in school. Just a chapter a day, over tea during the winter and outdoors during the summer. I truly believe these actions of hers nourished our love of books and of reading and still bear fruit in the present day. Thanks, Mother! 

"You may have tangible wealth untold. Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be - I had a mother who read to me."

~ Strickland Gillilan

On reading, 2013 style.

"A man is known by the books he reads." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let's talk books; specifically in the context of reading thoroughly and being edified.  Since I graduated from college a few years ago, I find that if I don't read something substantial every week, my brain does start to de-solidify. Truly. My mind feels stale and un-exercised, and I might notice a slump in my grammar and a lack of variety in my choice of words. I believe that even as mamas, we have an obligation to continue to cultivate our minds and increase our knowledge of God and of things, so as to be more fruitful in the lives of our families and in the world. If our children see us being responsible with our God-given minds and reason by continuing to form and educate them, they will understand the importance of learning. Of course, we can pick knowledge up from the Internet, but not in the same depth or with the same degree of mental stimulation, I think. And so, I've made it a personal goal to always have a book in progress on my coffee table or nightstand. The following titles are some I greatly enjoyed in 2012 and highly recommend:

- Unplanned - Abbey Johnson

- The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God; the Story of Ruth Pakaluk - Michael Pakaluk

- A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken

- The Four Loves - C.S. Lewis

- Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Undset

- A Mother's Rule of Life - Holly Pierlot

- The Heart of Motherhood - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

- Donkey Bells, Advent and Christmas with Catherine Doherty

I may have read one or two more, but these are the titles that stood out in my memory. The many other unmentioned titles here, were books having to do with health, pregnancy, birthing, babies, etc., which I devoured according to a first successful pregnancy and that season in my life.

Ongoing reference titles which have been extremely helpful in dwelling upon and celebrating the the Christian life and liturgical year:

- Around the Year with the Trapp Family - Maria von Trapp

- The Year and Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season -
Mary Reed Newland

- A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Help Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year - Evelyn Birge Vitz

- Grace In Every Season - Catherine Doherty

Now that my baby boy is getting more and more active, curious, rambunctious, inquisitive, semi-destructive (the adjectives could continue), I find it hard to read more then a few paragraphs during, the day, and so have made it a point to read at night before going to bed. Michael is starting to greatly enjoy books, and so perhaps I can introduce a time during the day when he can sit and look at his books while Mama gets a few pages in. (I'll do a post soon on our current favorite baby books.) Anyhow, here is my working book list for 2013:

- The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: the Woman Whose Goodness Changed her Husband from Atheist to Priest (currently in progress, and what a read!)

- Searching for and Maintaining Peace - Fr. Jacques Philippe

- Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, not Conformed to Culture -
Teresa Tomeo

- Discovering the Feminine Genius - Katrina J. Zeno

- Marriage, the Mystery of Faithful Love - Dietrich von Hildebrand

- The Cross and the Beatitudes - Fulton J. Sheen

- Yesterday, Today and Forever - Maria von Trapp 

- Dorothy Day, Selected Writings - edited by Robert Ellsberg

- How Do You Tuck in a Superhero: And Other Delightful Mysteries of Raising Boys-
Rachel Balducci
- Ramona - Helen Hunt Jackson

Most of these books are on the smaller size, so I have faith that I should be able to finish this set and start on another before the year is out! What good reads have you had lately or plan to read this year? Please do share below!!

"To recoil from duty and sacrifice is cowardly. Today, there is a duty to bear children (and it is often a sacrifice); it is a duty to have a care for those in less fortunate circumstances than our own in the matter of wealth or education; it is a duty to develop unceasingly one's intelligence, to strengthen one's character, to become a creature of thought and will; it is a duty to view life with joy and to face it with energy. Finally, it is a duty to be able to understand one's time and not despair of the future. All this a woman can do...But for that she must come and draw her strength from the source of all strength, and to increase her intelligence she must bring it into contact with the supreme Intelligence." 
~Elisabeth Leseur