Bunnies are the coolest thing ever.
Pooh and Piglet have to be called in from the back yard and often sit down with us at dinner.
Blankies and pink piggies MUST be found at bedtime or the world ends. If they can’t be found when we wake in the middle of the night, everyone must get up to look.
Broccoli and frozen peas are nearly as much of a treat as cheese and bananas and crackers.
A baby’s smiles are the perfect excuse for conversations to stop and everyone to smile in the goofiest possible way.
Construction equipment is both terrifying and fascinating.
Putting on shoes is the greatest thing ever because it means we’re going OUT.
All dolls are called “doll” all babies are called “baby”. Dolls are not babies!
We frequently must go outside to smell the roses. This is not optional.
Butterfly barrettes magically make tangles go away.
Apples must be cut horizontally so you can see the seeds.
Sundays cannot pass without pancakes.
A well placed kiss heals any wound that isn’t bleeding. A bandaid fixes all cuts.
Thanks to Sarah at This Heavenly Life for encouraging me to revel in our wondrous world. Go see what life is like in her world.
When my two oldest were 3 and 4 (they are now 12 and 13), we had a cassette tape with certain of the
A.A. Milne poems read by Charles Kuralt. The girls—as well as my husband and I—loved to listen to it until it broke one sad day. One of our favorites was “James, James, Morrison, Morrison” as well as the one I think is called “The King and the Dairymaid” about the king who just wants some butter for his bread and the one about the mouse who likes to sleep in the geraniums or was it the chrysanthemums? And the little girl who always had rice pudding for dinner. I don’t remember whole poems anymore, but there are certain lines or stanzas that are now part of our family dialog.
I think I have the book of the poems around somewhere. You’ve inspired me to get it out again to read to my little ones. And maybe I should look and see if I can find a CD of Charles Kuralt reading them.
One of my favorites is the one about sitting half-way up the stairs and half-way down. Hmmm. Can’t think of the actual line right now, but you know what I mean!
Thanks for the prayers—much appreciated!
But what happens to poor James James’ mother? That awful King John…
Jessica, you hit some of our favorites too. I love “The King’s Breakfast”:
The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
“Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?”
and “The Dormouse and the Doctor”:
There was once a Dormouse who lived in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),
And all the day long he’d a wonderful view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).
and Bella adores Mary Jane of “Rice Pudding” fame:
What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She’s crying with all her might and main,
And she won’t eat her dinner—rice pudding again—
What is the matter with Mary Jane?
And you can buy or download(!) the Charles Kuralt When We Were Very Young from Amazon too. The download is cheap too. Just $4.46. I think I might just do that for the car….
Erika,
I love that one too:
Halfway dow the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
I do have to say, though, that I generally find the titles spectacularly unmemorable. They feel like they were tacked on by an editor and are seldom part of the poem.
Emily,
It’s obviously her own fault. She should have listened and done what she was told: “If people go down to the end of the town, well, what can anyone do?”
Have you been able to purchase the
Latin version
Winnie Ille Pooh?
It’s never too early to start!
I actually have had a copy of Winnie Ille Pooh for a long time. It was my mother’s book. I think I took a crack at it long ago in a more optimistic moment but though my Latin was fresher then my Pooh was rusty. I suspect I’d find it much easier going now that I practically have Pooh memorized in English. I should really go dig that out…
I recall several of the early Family
Affair episodes in which Sebastian Cabot
(or if you prefer to call him MR FRENCH)
reads Winnie The Pooh to Buffy and Jody. This was in the fall of 1966 and the
spring of 1967—and the previous year
Sebastian Cabot was the narrator for the
Disney animated version of Winnie The Pooh
How wonderful! I’ve never seen these before – I wonder if our library will have it…
“King John’s Christmas” still makes me cry. It’s a sort of metaphor for God’s mercy, perhaps, even on those of us who are not good men.
My father introduced us to A.A.Milne at a young age. He, now 80yr. was introduced during his med school residency by a fellow intern who would recite as he did surgery!
I must venture back to my father’s home to borrow his set and reintroduce Mr. Milne to my youngest, age 9, this winter.
As much for my sake as hers….
Thanks!