The Hardest Part

I'm still at work on my next crafty post.  I'm using the same basic pattern that I used for the mice from two posts ago to make some black cats for Halloween.  Overall, I'm pleased, but the combination of black embroidery floss on black felt is tough on my eyes and the going is a little slower than I would like.  I thought about using floss in a contrasting color, but it just didn't feel right.  So today, I thought I would talk about what I will miss the most during my handmade only experiment: buying children's books.

Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess both LOVE books.  Story time occurs after bath each night and is the highlight of the day for the entire family.   Due to a very generous gift from my Aunt Diane (who the girls refer to as "Aunt Great Diane") we have enjoyed a steady stream of books coming into our house.  When Little Tiger was born, Aunt Diane presented me (and sort of Little Tiger, but she was sleeping) with a certificate saying that Little Tiger was being enrolled in "Aunt Diane's Book of the Month Club" and would receive a new book each month until she turned five.  This has been a wonderful and incredibly generous gift that the entire family has enjoyed.  In addition, I love browsing anywhere children's books are sold including stores, Amazon and garage sales.  Since prices at the latter are especially reasonable, I'm used to purchasing interesting reads for the littles whenever I see them.  When I first thought about this experiment, I knew that not buying beautiful picture books would be the hardest thing to do.

It is difficult for me to think about simply NOT doing something without thinking about what I WILL do instead, so here what I and the rest of my family will focus on instead of pining over books that we cannot purchase:

1.  We will use this as an opportunity to rediscover some of our old favorites.  I recently found a collection of beautifully illustrated volumes of fairy tales that my Grandma Audrey gave to me when I was little, before Disney bought all of the princesses and stylized everything (oops...am I showing some snarkiness here?). I would love to share these fairy tales with my girls.  I've also seen the delight that comes across their faces when they rediscover a book they used to love but temporarily cast aside and hope that during this experiment I will have more opportunities to see that happen.

2.  We will visit our local libraries more often.  We are very lucky to live in an area where the children's sections of libraries are designed to entice children toward books and foster their imaginations.  With the weather starting to turn chilly, we will need to spend more time indoors and seek out these spaces more often.

3.  We will write our own stories.  Both Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess have amazing imaginations.  One of my favorite things to do is knit or sew and listen to them go about their fantasy play with dolls, puppets and stuffed animals.  I would love to work with them to record their stories so we can read them now and years from now too.  Bird and Little Bird has   great tutorials for how to make an accordion book in an envelope and books with a simple stitched binding so I would like to try my hand at helping my girls make "real books."

I'll leave you with a picture of The Milk Belly Princess who refers to looking at books as "doin' her thing" and will seek out any small, comfy space in which to do it. 

Comments

[Addy]

Great pictures! Great ideas for new things to focus on. Those are all super things to do, that will probably be easier having restricted your purchasing. I can sympathize with the loss. I like buying children's books for myself. You can of course let those who may still wish to buy gifts that books would be welcomed.

[Amber Strocel]

"Doin' her thing"? I love that. So, so profoundly. :)

[Haley]

thanks for sharing the links. this would be incredibly difficult for me. i LOVE books and although i know longer buy them for myself (except knitting ones on occasion) i still buy quite a few for the boys--especially when i get the scholastic book club flyers. good luck! the library will definitely be a huge help in this one.