The adventures of two kiddos, her folks, and a cat The Belle No Longer Stands Alone

I want to start keeping track of Annabel's favorite books every month or so, so that I have a record for memory, for future kids, and for age appropriate gift-giving for nephews (coming soon!) and nieces...so here are our favorites just as she's on the cusp of turning 2 (favorites being those I am asked to read multiple times in a day):

Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Mo Willems

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Mo Willems

Knuffle Bunny, Mo Willems

Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans

Pat the Bunny, Dorothy Kunhardt

Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes

Whose Chick Are You?, Nancy Tafuri

The Napping House, Don and Audrey Wood

My Little People Farm

Big Picture Story Bible

Goodnight Moon

Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak

Annabel is currently a huge fan of anything by Mo Willems. Right now, we're reading Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Knuffle Bunny, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster about three times a day. (Thanks, Graham, for turning us onto him!) She loves the simple pictures and text, which she can follow with ease, and she is crazy about the pigeon (she can track him down even when he just appears on a t-shirt or tucked into Hector's hat). I love that the books are witty, examples of great design in children's lit, and fun to read aloud. 

My usual strategy with books is to test drive them by checking loads out of the library; I think Willems' books are keepers worth purchasing - especially since she has a birthday coming up!

Annabel has recently become really excited about her Big Picture Story Bible - which of course makes me very happy. I love reading her one of the "chapters" before bed. Since she's a) 21 months old and b) really, really into routine (I wonder which parent she gets that from?) I find myself often asked to read the same chapter over and over again - namely, the first. You know, the one where God creates everything, and then creates people and gives them his boundaries.

Annabel managed to realize rather quickly that the man in the story we always read is named Adam, and she loves to point to her Bible and ask for "Adam!" 

I asked her the other day (after reading a few stories about Jesus) who the Bible is about. Her answer: "Adam!" (Despite the Big Picture Story Bible's and my best efforts to make clear that Jesus is the second Adam who succeeds where the first fails.)

My response: "No, the Bible is about Jesus. Well, yes. But I guess it's about Adam, too - because Jesus became like Adam so Adam could become like Jesus...you see, Jesus was God, but he was wholly Adam, too..." At which point Annabel said, "Auntie Becca - fun!" 

It's funny - I thought that growing up in the church and a good Christian home, going to a Christian college, and graduate studies in theology would prepare me to teach my child about Jesus. But the opposite appears to be true. I have a lot of learning to do about teaching her the faith - and teaching her to think well about it - without introducing distinctions and distractions...

I'm trying to keep track of Annabel's favorite books as the months go by - both for the memories, and for gift-giving in the future. Right now, we read books before nap and bedtime, as well as during the day when Mommy has some time to sit. Here are the current favorites:

Madeline (thanks, Maddy!)

You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum (thanks, Graham and Rebecca!)

The Big Picture Story Bible (thanks, Roger and Haley!)

Cinder Edna (thanks, Mom!)

I can recite Madeline by heart right now...and I actually find myself thankful that her second favorite (You Can't Take A Balloon...) doesn't have words, so I can at least vary a bit each time we read it.

Annabel loves the Tomi dePaola wordless book Pancakes for Breakfast, mostly because she loves pancakes for breakfast. In the book, the woman trying to make pancakes keeps realizing she's out of the necessary ingredients - first eggs, then milk, then syrup.

As I've read the book to Annabel over the past week, she has started to narrate along with me - when the woman wakes up thinking about pancakes, Annabel exclaims, "Pancakes!" (Or, "panka!") When she realizes she is out of each ingredient, it's "Uh-oh eggs!" "Uh-oh milk!" When the cat and the dog finally thwart her attempt to make pancakes, she observes, "Uh-oh kitty! Uh-oh doggy!"

And on the last page, when the woman's wish for pancakes is finally fulfilled, and she sits back full and happy, the Belle grins, points at her full stomach, and exclaims, "Tummy! Tummy!"