Wanna Color?

When I was little I loved to color. I had a ton of coloring books and an arsenal of markers, crayons, and colored pencils. My mom and dad made great coloring partners and apparently (so they say), I used to ask them to color in my books without me-- when they were on the phone or going to the bathroom or doing anything where I thought they should be busy coloring too. I think I just admired their really "good" coloring that stayed in the lines. Eric picked up on this too (I have a tendency to doodle), which explains why he chose to bring me a coloring book and crayons when I was in the hospital.

After reading a post on my mom's friend's blog about the Crayola Tadoodles line, I figured I needed to give them a try with Cate. Cate has been showing more of an interest in marking with things. She holds crayons correctly when we go out to eat and loved scribbling with the sidewalk chalk over the weekend. This line of crayons and markers are very fat for a new toddler's grip and very washable (we drew on the carpet a little bit with the yellow and it came out with a baby wipe). I got a giant pad of paper too, so Cate would have plenty of room to scribble.
As you can see, Mommy had just as much fun as Cate, and even Daddy drew a little bit. Cate enjoyed making random dots and lines, but found the spongy tops of the markers (at the top of the picture) even more fun to push on (which colored her hands and later, the bathwater). I think it will be fun to get these out every once in awhile this summer.

And speaking of summer (only one more day with students), our whole family is getting in on the summer reading action at our local library...yes, they have a program for adults (new this year) and for all kids under five.
These are our "game cards." Cate's is in the middle. She has to read a few more books to earn a prize. But she earns a toy for every 5 books for the first 15 and a book of her own after the 20th book. Every 5 books after that enters her into a drawing for a big prize. Eric and I earn a coupon for money off at the library book sales (we love these) after reading three books and entries for prizes after books 6 and 9.
Cate is already getting started. Here she is reading Growing Vegetable Soup by Louise Ehlert. The book is very colorful and all about growing a garden (which is our project for next summer, when Cate is a little older and can "help" mommy and daddy...plus, the summer is already full of projects).
I just finished this book and thought it was quite good-- a little depressing at times-- but beautifully written. The Patron Saint of Liars tells the story of Rose, a woman who, finding herself with an unwanted pregnancy in the late 60's (even though she is married) runs away to a home for unwed mothers where she begins to live a lie and hide her secrets. I think what I most enjoyed about this book is that Rose's story is told from multiple perspectives, starting with her point of view and then moving to her second husband's and then her daughter's. But it all goes chronologically (so they're not all three telling the same story from different points of view---instead, each one picks up where the other leaves off).

I'm hoping to update our summer reading (both children's and adult's books) throughout the summer as we fill in our cards.

Ahhh....summer vacation...it's pretty much here.

~Melody :-)