A fairy tale retold!
I am an avid reader and love to find unique books that contain stories that draw me back over and over again. One of my favorite books, The Solace of Leaving Early, is highlighted and dog-eared from numerous reads over the years.
Both my husband and I are keen on fostering a love of books in our daughter, so we’ve read to her every day since we first learned I was pregnant. The dedication has paid off as she spends upwards of thirty minutes at a time leafing through her books and “reading” to herself. Because she is so clearly into books I am always on the look out for books that contain not only a riveting story (hey, why can’t we be entertained too?) but also visually interesting pictures. If the book doesn’t meet my standards (listen, my kid is only 10 months old, she doesn’t get a say…yet!) then I don’t bother bringing it home.
Recently, I became aware of the English author Lauren Child. (For those of you with older children you might know her from the Disney series, Charlie and Lola.) Her stories are exceptionally well written, clever and penned with just the right amount of sarcasm and wit to keep adult readers enthralled while young readers howl with delight. I checked out four of her books from our local library and have read them to my daughter. Each book is twenty pages+, which is hard for a little one, let alone my husband, to sit through, but the cadence of the words and the unique illustrations kept her in my lap, and my husband on the couch, eagerly awaiting the turn of each page.
Of the four books we’ve read thus far, my favorite is The Princess and the Pea. (What girl doesn’t like a good princess tale?) For this retelling of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, Child partnered with portrait photographer, Polly Borland, to create a 3D world (miniature scale). Child has done a great job of contemporizing the tale with humor and the illustrations (all hand crafted) are clearly a labor of love.
The “sets” were created by first cutting out panels from cereal boxes and then painting them; the furniture in each set was either dollhouse furniture or made by Child. Each character was an elaborately fashioned paper doll. Borland then photographed each “set”, which lends a special air to each page. (You can read more about the book and how it was created on Lauren Child’s website.)
I can only imagine the love affair I would have had with this book when I was a child; it would have definitely become a staple in my bedtime reading! If you know of a little one obsessed with princesses The Princess and the Pea is a must for Her Highness’ personal library!
Filed under Children's books | Comment (1)Reason 5,999,999 why I HATE Walmart
On a recent trip to the Midwest I decided to pack lightly, and by packing lightly I mean that we checked four bags between the two of us just to have room to haul home the loot our daughter scored from her grandparents. In the interest of not over-packing I opted to take a small amount of diapers and then purchase some upon our arrival.
Given that we were visiting a sort of backwater town the only giant retailer around is Walmart, which is just SO not my shopping preference. It is made worse by the fact that the town we were visiting has an inordinate amount of redneck/white trash to begin with who love nothing more than going into town to hunt down a deal at WM. On the night we arrived we stopped at the NEW Walmart on the east side of town only to witness what must be a burgeoning past time of the locals: jumping the posts at the front of the store while emitting a rebel yell and then grabbing your best girl and giving her a great big smooch while pinching her butt. What else can one do after such an exhilarating display of bravado?
I am not too picky when it comes to the diapers I use. Generally, we stick to Pampers or the Costco brand, which my sources tell me are actually manufactured by Huggies. However, the Walmart brand was $14 for 104 diapers, so given that I am trying to be a bit frugal given the hearty decline of our economy and the 1/2% of a point pay increase I am going to receive this coming school year (Please, you don’t even want to know what that amounts to per paycheck! Let’s just say that given the price of gas these days that minuscule “raise” will essentially end up costing ME!) I figured why not? And really why not? Doesn’t Walmart pride itself on its quality, American made products? Wouldn’t I actually be better serving our economy by buying “local” so to speak?
You can imagine where this is going: the budget friendly, American economy supporting diapers were a complete disaster. So long as I was willing to change my kid’s diaper every twenty minutes things were glorious and I could bask in my frugality, but if we went oh, I don’t know, a couple hours without a change it was like Niagara Falls. Both my dad and I were peed on; me on the plane coming home…good times, Walmart, good times!
And forget about your child making it through the night without a leak. Granted, my little one sleeps a good solid 12 hours/night and pees a lot through the night, so a diaper has to be of pretty good quality to withstand her bladder’s action. I discovered on the morning after our second night that it was best to deprive her of any liquids lest I should find myself doing a load of laundry EVERY.SINGLE.DAY! And goodness knows my parents’ washer/dryer set circa 1970 is not that energy efficient, so the diapers would end up costing me and the environment. A hex upon you, cheap Walmart products!
As I slathered on some butt paste to thwart any possible diaper rash that might crop up due to the fact that my baby girl had been immersed in her own pee for hours I realized that you can’t trust a product that has been created under fair labor laws. Oh no, if you truly want quality it must come from some third world nation where the two year old crafting your product never sees the light of day and is fed some unrecognizable gruel whilst “the man” stands over him threatening to kill his mom and baby sister if he doesn’t work faster. That kid understands the necessity of a job well done, which means my kid, living it up in the States, won’t have to sleep in her urine covered pj’s and sheet anymore.
Filed under Baby stuff, Stores | Comment (1)
