Read ’em and Sleep

One of my favorite things about my/Faith’s baby shower was all the books she received. Instead of a card that would be recycled anyway, my sister Rachel put a poem in the invitation that asked for guests to bring a book in place of it. That, coupled with the fact that my sister Ramey never saw a children’s book she didn’t buy (when Borders closed, they just called her up to come haul the entire kids’ section away) means we have quite the Lindquist library here at home.

I’ll never forget the time one of my college professors, right in the middle of her lecture, stopped talking about Communication 101 for a moment and said something like, “I’m going to give you the best piece of advice anyone can ever receive.” I got my pen ready to take down her wisdom. She paused for a second and then said four words: “Read To Your Children.” I didn’t write it down but it stuck with me ever since.

I read Faith at least three books every night and Rob reads to her too when it’s his turn for nighttime duty. I’ve seen “what are you reading?” type posts on other blogs and thought it would be fun to share Faithy’s favorites with you all. If you have any recommendations, I’m all ears. In no particular order, our top 10:

Faith knows exactly which page Elmo asks for a kiss and leans in for it before I even get to that part.

This one has flaps that she can unfold and then pet the animals.

Start em young.

This one is more my favorite to read. The message is you can be anything you want to be. I always point out the writer and teacher options 🙂

I’ve blogged about my obsession with these books before. Faith likes them too.

There’s a reason this one is always on top of the Dr. Seuss stack. It’s a popular request.

By far my favorite children’s book ever. “Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born.”

This is one of a series. We also have the farm and colors versions. Faith first learned to turn pages with these.

Faith requests this one nightly by fidgeting in the rocker until I finally grab it off her table. Rob is thinking about putting the lyrics to music.

A classic from my youth. “It all began with that shoe on the wall. That shoe on the wall shouldn’t be there at all.”

‘K’s’ are hard for kids. In other words, this one can also be called: “Ohhh Pooooopie.” Gotta love her.