black and white

So many ideas ran through my head for a mobile - but I never got around to it and one day, in the middle of a crying jag, Ben discovered the ceiling fan. He just stopped and stared. It moves and it is high contrast. And then I tried to get him interested in looking at other things (like the mural on his wall or the cat or a book) - but he wasn't. All he wanted to do was stare at the ceiling fan, and occasionally me, and then back to the ceiling fan.

So I talked to a friend who is a pediatrician and he recommended the Tanya Hoban books. They are black and white and red and just outlines -- good for little little babies. My brother gave Ben Who Are They for Christmas. This was fun because there were no words - it was more like a conversation piece. "The sheep has a lamb and says "baa" ... can you say "baa" good try ..." It is funny when your mom makes noises and so mostly we did that. It took me months to notice that there is a counting aspect.

Yesterday, we got Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman from the library. It was like the ceiling fan all over again - the surprise in extreme contrast. And the animals move; for example the Dd dove flaps between the photos and the Hh hippopotamus glistens. To make it more extreme, this is a paper page book so you can also accentuate moving the pages. And we sat and read the whole book - which has at least two pages for each letter, and then we looked through it again, and then we picked out our favorite page (mine: where the kangaroo meets the lion), favorite animal (his: zebra), favorite letter (Nn noctural) and then we read it again. This may never happen again, but it was an amazing 20 minutes.


(Today all that we could look at was the frogs and the binding page with zebra stripes and then push the book and crawl off.)

womb stories

I picked a special story for Ben before he was born. One that we liked and could read time and time again. To use as a starter for conversation with this new man in my body and as a comfort. I had heard that if you read the same book over and over while you are pregnant it will remind the baby of the same comfort (most recently I had read it in The Expectant Father) and books have always given me comfort. And it was a gift - this first book connection.

So I started reciting it to him in my womb when I was driving, or when I woke in the morning, or when I needed to slow down and breathe. I recited it during his birth and when he cried in the those first days of newness. And now we read it or say it anytime - anytime that needs a reset or a distraction or a bit of fun added in.

Each Peach, Pear, Plum . . .

Now that we know the rhythm and rhyme there is so much more to discover - characters to learn about, and find, and little details to connect with, and plum pie to some day eat!

Incredible is the strange sensation of someone kicking to the beat on the inside of your ribs. Weird is the transition from inside the womb to outside. More incredible is later watching that very person kick in time to the beat outside on your ribs. Wonderful is the soothing power of a story you know.

Milestones

I have not been good at recording the milestones in Ben's life - I cannot remember exactly when I felt the first push of his legs (he did not kick, he would just find a spot and push on it for hours), or when he first smiled (which he now does all the time forcefully, if you don't smile back he just smiles again and tilts his head to say "I am smiling at you" until you cannot resist and a smile comes across your face even if you try to hold it in).

But tonight, he asked me to read a book again (and again, and again, and again, and again until I hid it - ha ha - object permanence is not yet understood). And when I say "ask", I mean "demand" in a nine month old way - where there is a little whine and a shake of the book and a stare and peace when the mom understands, and the book is read again.

This is something special and fun that I would like to record. To create a place to keep track of books and thoughts and potential books and potential thoughts.

What book is worth such a fuss:
The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss's wacky book of opposites

Ben does love rhyming and rhythm and silly gestures - and this book has it all. There is more though, it is the something magical, something that is so good you just have to read it as many times as possible, something about Dr. Seuss which we got to experience tonight. Maybe it is the great lines such as "fuzzy fur feet" (best to say when the cat is around and you can grab her paws) or for Ben (S L O W F E E T) or that George has been chanting around the house "In the house and on the street, how many different feet you meet!"

"To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry." (Gaston Bachelard)