We read a lot at our house. I mean a lot.
I read many books to my girls every day. We talk about what we read. Sometimes we even do little activities related to what we’ve read.
When we come to Grandma’s house, things get taken to a whole new level.
She brings home wonderful new books from the library, where she works as the children’s librarian. 
Beautiful books that beg to be read over and over and over. Books that are so well written and illustrated that I actually enjoy reading them over and over and over.
Then Grandma does one better.
She busts out the felt board with all sorts of laminated animals and vegetables and fruits to go with classics like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?,” “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?,” and of course, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”
I love that she makes many of our old favorites come to life in new ways.
Last night she brought out a bag full of camels with different numbers of silly-looking humps, from five down to zero. She taught the girls a goofy song about “Sally the camel.” It was a little math lesson too, with her number of humps decreasing by one with each round of the song.
Miss got really into it and cracked up laughing every time the song ended with Sally having “no humps” and the revelation that she was a horse. She thought that was pretty clever.
Lass totally didn’t get the words, but she sang at the top of her lungs anyway.
I love this stuff. I laughed hard last night with my girls and my mom.
This week has promoted good bonding for my girls with each other and with Grandma and Grandpa.
We went as a family to story time at my mom’s library yesterday. I asked my husband to come with us, but then felt a little guilty about it.
I second-guessed my request that he join us right before we left and told him he didn’t really need to come. He was entirely willing to come, but I was still feeling bad and thinking, “Why did I ask him to come? I should be able to take my kids to story time by myself, for pete’s sake” (Mommy guilt is so stupid). He came anyway. And of course I did have reasons for asking him, knowing that the timing of the story time coincided with Lass’s second feeding of the day. It would have been a little tricky to help my older girls with the activities I know my mom packs into her story times (in yesterday’s story time they colored, heard two stories, used finger puppets and needed help to get them on their fingers, did a group numbers puzzle, had a craft project, and ate a snack) while nursing a baby.
And yes, I could have done it by myself.
But it turns out it was really good he was there. He held Sis so I didn’t have to wear her while sitting with the big girls on the floor. And of course in the middle of the second story, just after I had helped Lass get ten little monkey puppets onto her fingers, she announced that she had to go potty.
And Sis needed to eat right after we got back from that bathroom trip. So Daddy and Grandpa helped out with the craft project of the day. I just know that if my husband hadn’t been there, Lass would have waited to announce the need to potty until I was in the middle of feeding Sis, in the middle of the second story, right after getting ten monkey puppets on her squirmy fingers.
It was a little reminder that, even though I can manage to do all sorts of things by myself with my girls, sometimes it’s cool to ask someone to help. Having my hubby there made the morning infinitely easier. Thanks hubby.
This week is coming to a close way too quickly. Tomorrow we will be visiting with my brother and his family, and all too soon we’ll be heading home. I so wish my family lived nearer. My girls are blooming this week. Grandparents rule.
