Sleep the Olympic Event

I don’t like to “talk sleep” with other moms.  Sleep is sacred.  I love sleep. I miss it. When we go a week sleeping through the night, I forget what it’s like to wake with bright stars in the sky. 

I think we all do:  displace the memory of sleepless nights and do a happy dance when baby doesn’t “beat the alarm”. Lately G does sleep, meaning wakes up once or twice a night.  Getting him to go to bed is a bit harder. Most nights it’s an Olympic event of reading, bouncing, and finally tucking in for the evening.  Except instead of cheering from the stands, I growl “Go to bed G.”

G sleeps in his own “big boy” bed these days:  A short, twin bed squeezed into the corner of his room with a crib sized mattress on the floor to catch him if he rolls off (or feels like jumping like a kangaroo) So far this is working out… and with a recent addition of a side table and lamp this makes the perfect bedtime story area. 

Lately G really likes Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Slide and Find.  He actually wants to sleep with this book, but the problem is….. it’s not exactly snug-able.

This read is a hunk.  A hefty board book that I believe will someday give me a small injury.  Momma at eye level, little guy holds book and swings arms without looking. If ordering this book online, consider dropping a box of Band-Aids in your shopping cart.   

G loves to open the slide windows to look what each animal will see.  Brown Bear. Red Bird. Yellow Duck.

Pages 10-11 give G great frustration. “Augh Augh Augh.” G points to the blank right-hand bottom  corners and shakes his head.  No slide to move on these pages. Let’s write a letter to author Carle to let him know of his great mistake. 

Thinking back to my last blog post “G’s list of Ag Books”… I have 10 books on my list, and my goal is 50.  If you comment on my page giving me a book suggestion, I’ll enter your name into a drawing to receive one of the books on the final list. 

I just choose the prize:  How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?: The Story of Food by Christine Butterworth.  The vintage artwork on the front cover makes me want to read what’s inside…. right now.  This book recently won The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s Book of the Year 2012.

When I get to 50 books, G will draw a winner, and I’ll mail you this book.  Sound good?

Here we go:

Seed, Soil, Sun by Cris Peterson
Grades:  1-3

Amazing Grazing by Cris Peterson
Grades: 4-6

Farms Feed the World by Lee Sullivan Hill
Grades: K-3

Kids Gardening; A Kids’ Guide to Messing Around in the Dirt by Kevin Raftery
Grades: K-3

Life on a Crop Farm by Judy Wolfman
Grades: K-3

Portrait of a Farm Family by Raymond Bial
Grades: 4-6

How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?: The Story of Food by Christine Butterworth
Grades: K-3

I pulled the above books from a couple of neat websites: National Agriculture in the Classroom's national resourse directory and Boys Mills Press website and the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.

Since I haven’t read most of the books on my list, I decide to request several through a local inter-library system.  Although our local library is fantastic, it is small. The library network proves useful: I can get my hands on books from area libraries in about 3 days. 

I go online to a website, search for a book, and with a click I send my request for a loan. My favorite phone call lately is from librarian Pat saying:  “Your book is here at the library.  We are open until 7 tonight.”

When talking to a mom of a newborn or a teething child, I try not to ask how the sleep thing is going.  I really should just offer her a cold Mountain Dew. I think the reason I avoid discussing sleep is because it’s unique per child, and it’s personal.  Maybe I’m just a bear without my 8 hours of snooze time.

Speaking of sleep, it’s time for the bedtime event.  We are going for the gold tonight (bedtime in less than 30 minutes). 

Do you have a children’s agricultural book you would like to read?  Please give me a suggestion for the list!