Day 12: Call to Action

Day 12 of "30 Days of Farm Kid Stories"

I didn’t write a farm story review today.  No worries.   I will double-book-review-it later this month. 

Today I’d like to share my thoughts about reading with this blogging audience. Quick segue to my “call to action” part of today’s post.  I’m already a fairly tall person, but I will go ahead and step on my wooden soap box.   Here… we…. GO!

We should read to children every day. 

The Read Aloud Dad says you can raise a lifelong reader in just 3 minutes a day.  I’ve never thought about it that way. 

On an average day I think about wearing matching socks to work, dodging deer on my blacktop-drive home and picking peas off dining room floors.  But 3 minutes, really?  I’ve got the time then.

Someday I want G to learn leadership through 4-H club, sports and FFA.  Right now, we read and it’s an incredibly effective activity.

Reading aloud is not something I’m a natural at.  As a silently-proclaimed introvert I don’t exactly think quickly….. especially when talking.  And I truly dislike being in the spotlight (cringe.) But I read to G anyway, and I think I’m not half bad at it (this is the kind of moment G and I would exchange “knuckles.”)

Reading Aloud:

·         I go outside my norm and exaggerate facial expressions, volumes and body movements when reading.  If you think you are getting into the story, get into the story a little more.  Kids love different.

·         I read the story before-hand.  It only takes a few minutes, and my story performance increases astronomically.  The folks at Tony Awards are considering me for a nomination this year for my performance reading Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems.   

·         Read stories in which the child shows interest.  The toys lined up on our floor today suggest G would most certainly pick up a book entitled Tractor Truck Trains.  

Encourage a Child to Read:

·         Give a picture book as a baby shower gift. Even better, go visit the child after they are born and read the story to them.

·         Follow blogs such as Jen Robinson’s Book Page and read her reviews for inspiration.  Also check out her Baby bookworm wish list.  Her book list introduced my family to the incredibly hilarious author Mo Willems. 

·         Visit a library.  Our pint-size library is open three days a week, and living near this town of 1,000 residents I feel incredibly lucky to have it. Open the doors to a library and you open a world of possibilities. And who doesn’t like to take a book home without opening your wallet?

·         Take time and read your own books.  Whaa? Spend time on yourself?  Yes, Monkey See. Monkey Do.

Ok, I lied. I can’t actually write a post without a review. It’s not an agricultural book per se (street food vendors and pigeons:  things not seen in rural areas.)  But I love this next book. 

 In The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by my new friend Mo Willems, an urban pigeon dwells on the decision to share with a duckling.  The author uses bolds, highlights and all-caps on the text to show intense emotions.  He changes typefaces to present vocal expressions. The facial and body expressions of the two birds also help the reader know how to act out the very funny verbal exchanges.

I love everything about this book: Urban setting and all. 

Do you have a children’s book you didn’t expect to enjoy at first introduction?

Lauren

My Library List:

Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2:  Perfect Pizza
Day 3:  Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8:  Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9:  BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes  “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.  

It’s a group party, of sorts!  Please join fellow bloggers as they tell their agricultural stories:

Beyer Beware: 30 Days, 30 Things You Never Knew About Food
Black Ink: Beef’s a Trip – 30 Days from Gate to Plate
Confessions of a Farm Wife: Life on Our Farm
Go Beyond the Barn: 30 Days of Farm Life Blessings
Kelly McCormick Photography: 30 Days of Thankfulness
Le Jardin da ma Vie: 30 Reasons Why I Love Being a Farmer’s Wife
Pinke Post: 30 Days of North Dakota November

a big TWO years old

Dump Everything.  My little G turns a big TWO years old later this month.   I scurry this week to celebrate (in construction-style) and remember this time in our lives. 

G words that make us smile:

• Bombine.  Broken.    (Grandpa fixes a combine in the driveway)
• Tank you  (Thank you)
• Pweas  (Please)
• Awww Choo (pretending to sneeze)
• Trackter    (Tractor)
• Babhoe  (Backhoe)
• Wagon
• HOT Fwwwww Fwwww
• BOOM  (thunder)
• Un….Tree (One Two Three)
• All gone
• Ryan (G’s buddy at our sitters)
• MilllllK
• Baaaa Bye Momma

G likes to help. He mimics me, a lot.  Saturday mornings find us cleaning.  I run the vacuum and G pushes a dry mop around the house.  He thinks this is fun, bless his heart.   One dust rag for momma; one dust rag for G.

Do we clean the house twice as fast?   Ahh.. no.  But if I catch G pushing his small table and chairs across the house and pretend mopping where it once stood…  I chuckle.

 

G makes us do that a lot.  Smile.  Laugh.  Dad asks me the other day, “Why are you throwing G’s sippy cups in the trashcan?” and I say: “I’m not doing that… Hmmmm.”  We both look at G. 

I stamp the missing coffee carafe lid mystery… SOLVED.  I give up hunting, and call Cuisinart customer service the next day. Sifting through things thrown away becomes a new habit. 

G shows interest in gardening.  Small yellow hoe in hand, he helps me attack and pull weeds.. and also the flowers.  “No G, don’t pull THAT one.”  I quickly replant the white Iris and give the soil a good pat. 

 

G laughs  when:

• Dad challenges him to a staring contest
• I step, push and bounce on a shovel to dig a hole in the garden
• We eat corn on the cob and make funny faces
• Dad tunes into the opera radio channel, and we lip-synch 
• We wear colanders at hats

In the past year G learned to walk, run, jump and dance. 

G’s favorite activities:

• Climbing the gravel pile
• Riding in the tractor
• Mopping with a broom  (all the time)
• Drawing with chalk
• Building Legos
• Feeding cattle

Exciting new things G does:

• Follows two part directions (as in:  G go get the truck toy and bring to this room)
• Eats with a spoon and fork (mashed potatoes brings out the default finger pick up)
• Gives his opinion (snack time,  book selection)

Speaking of books, I’ll tell you a secret.  I ordered three for G’s upcoming birthday:

Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce.  Based on Academy Award-winning animated short film, this book was released recently in June 2012.  A terrible wind blows away Mr. Morris Lessmore’s personal library, and he find meaning in caring for the books.  I haven’t read any of these books, but I think this will be my favorite because it’s filled with literary and film references (and I think the front cover rocks)

 

Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems.   I immediately love the oversized, old-fashioned lettering on this book’s cover. Leonardo is a terrible monster who is not that good at being terrible. He’s not big, doesn’t have hundreds of teeth, and isn’t even weird.  He decides to find the most scaredy-cat kid and “scare the tuna salad out of him”. 

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog another one by Mo Willems. When Pigeon finds a delicious hot dog, he can hardly wait to shove the entire thing in his beak.  But, then he sees a hungry duckling who wants a bite. Who will be the more clever bird?  The reviews of this book sold me.  It’s a favorite by many who commented.

I plan to pick my favorite book out of the three and write a special letter for G in the front cover.  I can’t wait for these reads to arrive. I can’t wait for his birthday.

 

I especially look forward to reading these books to my TWO year old.  What books are you reading?

Lauren