Animal Kisses: 12/21/06
Harriet is three and a half months old and already she has a little library of her own. Animal Kisses is her latest book, a gift from Judy and Charlie. As with books designed for young children, it is comprised of bright colors, bold line drawings, repetition of themes and tactile experiences.

Animal Kisses has a different animal on every pair of pages. For each animal the reader is asked if he would like to kiss this animal. The question includes a tactile aspect. For example: "Do you like scratchy cat kisses?" The other animal kisses offered are a cow, dog, bear, fish and pig. Like so many of these books, the last page tries to include the reader in the story; this time it does it by asking "What kind of kisses do you like best?"

Although the book is run of the mill, Sean and Harriet both like the book. While Harriet right now likes the bright colors, Sean has been enjoying reading the book to her and sometimes to me.

Gratitude #21: Playtime
I am thankful for Ian's silly streak. He is excellent with our children, knowing how to play with them. I'm more of a cuddler when it comes to infants (especially my own children). When they are crying I just want to hug them, rock them or nurse them. Ian takes the "play with them" approach and it usually works.

With Sean, the game of choice was "airplane." For a while it seemed that Ian would have to have Sean held over his head for eternity. Harriet likes to play "bounce." Ian will hold her under her arms and then make her bounce as if she were able to hop over things. She loves to bounce from Ian's knee to knees and up the stairs. Usually by the third bounce she's giggling and smiling.

Both children enjoy riding on Ian's shoulders. I don't remember how young Sean was when he took his first piggy back ride with Ian but Harriet has been doing it since she was about a month old.

 

Steps: 10000