We love to read in this house. Whether it’s the Wall Street Journal, Us Magazine or a an actual book, we just love to read. I’ve been buying children’s books since I was 14 years old, in anticipation of one day having a kid snuggle up on my lap to read a story before bed. Most of the books I bought were replacements for my own childhood library, most of which I tossed when I decided I was too old for little kid’s books. What a shame. I spent a small fortune replacing them all. Titles such as “The Story About Ping” and “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Blueberries for Sal.” Those are the books I remember fondly from my earlier years. But with Pea, it was all about the board books for the longest time, to be expected of course, but still… very boring for me. She loved the Leslie Petracelli books (like “Big Little“) and a little German book about pets that my husband brought back with him from his last trip to Hamburg – that’s his thing, he brings back books for the girls in the language from wherever he is for work… you should hear me attempt “Where the Wild Things Are” in Japanese – those are the books that we’ve been reading over and over ad nauseam for the last year of Pea’s life. Any attempt at a book with more than 5 words on a page was met with impatience and eventual fleeing the room. Until tonight. Tonight, she sat still in her white chair in her bedroom while her Daddy read her “Piper” and it was amazing. He used different voices for all of the characters and was really into it and she was bewitched. Looks like we’ve turned a corner. I might even move all of her board books up to her sister’s room to encourage her even more. Mostly because I’m dying to read her “Because” by Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Her little reading corner outside of her bedroom. Lots & lots of books. (For the record, I am not pretentious. I have children’s books in French, like “The
Little Prince” – seen above – because I’ve been studying the language for decades, in anticipation of one day living in Paris. I am a complete and total
Francophile.

Those board books. I swear they multiply when you are asleep at night. (These pictures were taken around her 1st birthday, almost one year ago. I can’t believe how much she’s grown!)