Valentines, Love, and Books

One of my to dos for this morning was to start the ball rolling with Valentine's Day.  Nothing big, but I want to do SOMETHING for the girls (and now that their sweaters are done ahead of schedule I needed a bit of a revamp).  Other than the new tradition of concocting a holiday garland and some festive clothing I was at a bit of a loss.  Not wanting to go overboard or NEEDING much I've been pondering how best to celebrate this season of love, acceptance and peace with the girls.  Then the answer kind of fell in my lap.

I've recently stumbled across chinaberry.com (oh wait, have I already mentioned that? :o) and have fallen head over heels.  I ordered a TON of books from the library based on finds and recommendations from this website and I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE ONE is AMAZING.

One book I borrowed was Under the Chinaberry Tree by the founder of Chinaberry, Ann Ruethling.  The book's subtitle is books and inspirations for mindful parenting, and it is that and so much more.  I have read the first two chapters word for word and then found myself skimming ahead for all the great book recommendations.  The advice is gentle and easy, the recommendations are amazing.  My conclusion is simple, if you're a parent you NEED this book.

I would love to meet this woman and shake her hand, no, give her an embarrassingly long, heartfelt hug.  She's the kind of person that I feel akin to, like we're already best friends, just never met.  Her whole philosophy behind chinaberry is that it matters what we read to our kids.  Duh right?  But really, I feel like the message these days is JUST READ! ANYTHING! READ! And while I guess that's better than nothing, surely it matters WHAT we read.

The further I get into this parenting thing the more strongly I feel about some things like this.  I've recently found myself purging our home of lots; books, toys, clothes, even what the girls are exposed to on tv (seriously, there is so much CRUD on tv for kids).  I have become quite choosey about what I want those little eyes seeing, ears hearing and minds mulling over.  To some extent I get that I only have so much control, that Ainsley entering school and playing with other kids is of course going to expose both her and Louise to lots.  For that I am actually really thankful, but I also feel strongly that I can create a haven for them in our home, a nurturing place of acceptance, wonder and innocence.

With that I leave you with my finds for Valentine's Day

"A pop-up book bursting and brimming with love, this is one sweet little 3-D journey around our world of love. From the bow of an Italian gondola where people tell their sweeties, ''Ti voglio bene,'' to a river at the base of an ornate Japanese pagoda where koi share their feelings with ''Dai su ki,'' everyone, everywhere, really does say ''I love you.'' 

Featuring six astonishing pop-ups of different locales and landmarks that leap off the pages, every spread more impressive than the next, this is one odyssey of love you'll want to share again and again." - chinaberry.com

A book about guardian angels for your little angel.  The illustrations are beautiful, the rhyming texts lulls and comforts.  Beautiful.

As a child we had the Jolly Christmas Postman and it was one of our favorites.  I had forgotten about it until seeing the original in the must haves section.  I am SO excited for Ainsley and Louise to experience the wonder of this book.  And how appropriate for a holiday based around the beauty of a simple letter.

These illustrations are breathtaking and the words are adapted from the Corinthians chapters and verses on love in the Bible.  What a beautiful way to introduce the biblical side of love to little ones?

In the spirit of love, acceptance and diversity I was thrilled to find these next two books.  Mem Fox is one of my favorite children's authors and this book looks amazing.  It's all about children all over the world, how they are all the same in many ways and their differences are really just beautiful color and vibrancy in this world.

If you have kids you know how into photographs of other children they are.  I am SO excited for this book.  Pages upon pages of children from all around the world, what they wear what they eat where they sleep and live and play.  I see us pouring over this for hours, just talking and learning and broadening.  

This book was one of my first finds.  We have it now from the library and it's Ainsley's new favorite.  We "read" it at LEAST three times a day.  I say "read" because it's a wordless book, something I'd shied away from for some reason in the past.  I think I thought when kids were still learning to talk they needed that consistent repetition of words and cadence that an author's voice brings, and while they do, they also need to develop story telling skills and goodness is this a story.  A sweet little woman spending her whole morning painstakingly gathering ingredients to make pancakes only to find a sad surprise upon the return of one of her errands.  We tell it a little differently each time, but the punchline is always the same, a fit of giggles and smiles.  I'm a total convert to wordless books.

So this Valentine's Day I so look forward to an occasion to love extra and in abundance, but also an excuse to introduce some beautiful treasures to my two precious little ones.  Good thing I cleaned out those book shelves after all!  And seriously, if you haven't checked out chinaberry yet DO, it'll change your life.