Do you ever try to guess what your kids will be when the grow up?

I imagine Harbour will be really into dance. She has a great sense of balance that allowed her to walk confidently at 10 months old and, just the other day, proudly sit at the top of a step ladder that I mistakenly left unattended in the bedroom. Oops. She also loves bouncing to the beat of music and “sings” happily along with the coffee grinder and the blender – apparently she hears a melody that eludes the rest of us. If we dare to run either appliance without her in our arms, Harbour will quickly toddle over to the kitchen and shriek indignantly until we pick her up and turn it on again. Her love of movement and music makes me think dance could be in her future.

I know River would like to be a dancer too, but mostly because of the fancy dresses. I love asking her what she’s going to be when she grows up because of the variety of responses she gives. When she was three, she wanted to be a “princess farmer” or a “princess bus driver” – pretty much anything with a gown. Then she decided to be just a regular old princess, although she wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. One day she told me that she’d like to meet a princess; when I asked her why, she replied, “I want to be a princess someday and I don’t even know what they do!” These days, she just says she’s going to be everything when she grows up. Ambitious!

I know my husband likes to imagine River as a doctor or a nurse. I personally imagine that she’ll be an artist of some sort. My girl has a lot of passion, and I’d love if she found an outlet for it all. Maybe she’ll be a painter, or a sculptor. Or maybe she’ll be a writer – I could definitely see that. Lately she’s been walking around the house, narrating herself as she plays as if she were in a storybook.

River: “Mommy, let’s pretend your the evil stepmother and you want me to paint the wall. What colour to you want me to paint it?”

Me: “Um, green?”

River: (Pretends to paint wall with sponge brush.) “Okay green. ‘Green?’ she whined, as she started to paint the wall. ‘Pink would be better.’ But she used green like her stepmother wanted.”

There have also been times where she just narrates her own actions. For example, I’ve seen her angrily walk away a few times and say under her breath: “she stomped angrily out of the room.” Apparently my daughter believes her life needs narration so that we’re all fully aware of what she’s doing.

I’d love it if River chose to be a writer. I know that she loves books – she can sit happily and listen to stories for hours – far longer than I’m able to read out loud. Many mornings I find her in the bedroom surrounded by open books, staring intently at the pictures. I regret that we don’t read together more, but right now it’s too hard with Harbour actively trying to eat whichever book we have open. In about six months or so, I imagine she’ll have outgrown this phase and I’ll be reading books to them both for the better part of the day.

Right now, I try to read a book to Harbour as part of our night time routine. We always read Goodnight Moon or I Took the Moon for a Walk – two of my very favorite books. I also read to River, who is allowed to choose two books each night at bedtime. I try very hard not to skip this ritual and I’m glad to see she enjoys it so much.

Most of my favorite books to read are from the Barefoot Books publishing company, which has amazing books full of beautiful pictures and well-written stories. I actually tried their ambassador program out for a couple years, selling books at home parties and local shows. It was a lot of fun because I got to share my love of quality children’s literature with so many people, but it was also discouraging at the same time. A lot of people would pass me by when I told them none of the stories featured licensed characters – they insisted their kids wouldn’t like a book without Dora or Diego on the cover. Other people told me that they preferred buying educational books, which always confused me a bit. I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction – I bet many kids are the same. There’s room on the bookshelf for both. Besides, what better way to inspire a child’s creativity and imagination and love of reading than with a well-written, beautifully illustrated book? Anyway, I’ve stopped selling through the ambassador program now, but I still like to keep some stock in my store so that I can introduce them to book-lovers that come in.

In honour of Family Literacy Day today, I thought it would be fun to list some of my favorite children’s books. These are five books that I never get sick of reading with my girls (three of them are from Barefoot Books – what can I say? They’re awesome):

      

I asked River what her favorite book is and she said Shrinking Sam. Bless her heart, it’s a Barefoot Book too. My girl knows quality when she sees it.

So these are our favourite books – what are yours?