unsolicited advice...

...on helping your child develop of a love of literacy!

i know, i know, no one likes unsolicited advice. it's so annoying! (especially when given by nagging mommas!) but, i just finished up a series over at Hellobee about helping little ones develop a lifelong love of literacy. and since i could talk about this subject for hours upon hours, i thought i'd share the links to the posts here in case anyone was interested in checking them out:

i. cultivating young readers: library visits

ii. cultivating young readers: creating a literate environment

iii. cultivating young readers: reading to your child

iv. cultivating young readers: genuine opportunities to read and write

if you have any other tips or ideas, please share away! and you can consider it solicited! :)

i love my little reader!

my little reader.

i know posting has been light lately...i promise, once this EOYM (that's end-of-year madness) is over (ONE. more. day.!!!!), i'll be back to posting a little bit more regularly.

until then, to tide you CB fans over (hello, hahmuhnee and hahbuhjee! and hi there, linda p.! :) ), here is a sweet little clip of him "reading" at bedtime.


my favorite part is when he says, "i see...i see...i don't 'member." :)

i love bedtime reading...and ohmygosh, it melts my heart that choi boy loves it, too.

b-t-dubs, have you seen/heard this on NPR? so interesting!

there are nice people on the internet, too!

so, yes. the internet is full of creepers and stalkers and all manner of crazy folk.

but, i tell ya, if blogging has taught me one thing, it's that there are incredible people out there wanting and willing to make connections with you and your story. and i just big puffy heart that.

way back in september of 2010, my sister, the hubs and i attended the national book festival. one of the main reasons we went that year was because one of my favorite children's authors, mem fox, was going to be there. unfortunately, due to the large crowds, we weren't able to have mem sign the books we brought.

well. sweet, sweet ashley sought to rectify that. an opportunity to hear and meet mem came up in her local area.

here is ashley with her cutie pie son, chandler, and mem:


ashley remembered my post about the book festival and missing mem and not only bought a book for mem to sign for choi boy, but also had mem pose for a snap with my blog brought up on her laptop!

i know!

see?!
 

mem signed her newest book, two little monkeys, for cb (it's SO cute and the words are magical):

and the inscription was signed, "xxx Mem Fox (Finally!)" :)

cb immediately fell in love with the beautiful illustrations and the fun story about two little monkeys, one named cheeky, one named chee...




so fun! i love watching my little guy fall in love with books...makes my teacher heart soar!


ashley, i am so blessed by your kindness! thank you for thinking of us -- we are so very grateful and just tickled by your sweetness! thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. xoxo.



and just because...

who can resist little piggies?

"i would volunteer for you," and other thoughts from watching the hunger games.

{source}

in january of 2011, i spent nearly every free waking moment i had consuming the hunger games series. i literally lost sleep over the books and when i was done, i was so sad and felt like i had said goodbye to some dear friends.

i know, i'm such a nerd.

so, naturally, i was totally, totally, TOTALLY excited about the first movie. i may have even spent some time stalking forums regarding casting speculations. and i may have also stalked youtube looking for clips and trailers of the movie.

i know, serious nerd bomber here.

my parents very generously offered to babysit choi boy after our weekly sunday night dinner so we could go and watch the movie and i giddily accepted (and i may have even squealed and clapped). my sister, who is also a big time THG fan, and the hubs (THG poser -- did not read the books) headed to the theatre while my mom and dad happily whisked cb away, after not only buying us all dinner, but also buying our movie tickets! whohoo! (yes, i'm 31 and my mommy and daddy still spoil me :) )

like a true nerd fan, i wore cargo pants to pay homage to katniss. my sister, who is crazily often on the same wavelength as me, thought the same thing and we were totally twinsies again. this happens so frequently we are now rarely surprised and only slightly amused.

if only we had worn our hair in katniss-esque side braids.

my sister and i got to the theatre with plenty of time to spare to be sure to secure the good seats. we may have even tested more than one row for optimal viewing distance.

we were straight giddy.

at this point we had a half hour to spare and the hubs was being a gentleman and waiting for my cousin (also big time THG fan) who was running late. and it was probably a good thing since he would likely have rolled his eyes at the number of self-portraits we took and at our slightly obsessive conversation.

my sis and i had semi-sappy conversations about volunteering for one another if we were called in the reaping, though we agreed that my sister would last much, much longer in the arena and would have a strong chance of winning. i, on the other hand, would likely be one of the first that the cannon would sound for. sad, but true.

finally, FINALLY, the movie started.

and i tell you, i loved all 2 hours and 22 minutes of it. i cried (a lot), laughed, hid behind my hands, sucked in my breath, squeezed my sister's hand...so many emotions. (sidenote: i'm really embarrassing to go to the movies with. i get really into it. yes, i'm that person. thankfully, so is my sister. unfortunately for the hubs, it's twice as embarrassing for him when he's with both of us.)

it was SO good.

SO, SO, SO good.

jennifer lawerence IS katniss. it took me a little bit to get over how tall she was, but man, oh man, she played katniss so well and was able to depict many of the subtleties that are often lost when turning a first person narrative book into a movie.

the other characters were spot-on, too. at first, i was a little skeptical of josh hutcherson as peeta, but he won me over with his charm and winsome nature, just the way peeta would, and just the way josh did in one of my favorite movies, little manhattan.

the movie was just incredibly well done and probably one of the best book to movie adaptations i've seen.

but it also left me feeling really unsettled. the books did, too, but seeing it live action made the dark themes and the social commentary (suzanne collins is a genius) a lot more in-your-face and glaringly apparent.

i couldn't help thinking about the capitol and all its lavish and frivolous niceties and our own lives and luxuries and our first world problems. and all that we often ignore. and about all those people that don't have the luxury of choice.

it really made me remember and think.

which is often what the best movies do, no?

did you see it? what did you think?

something only a nerd would be excited about.

{psst...thanks so much for all your insight and wisdom and thoughts on my last post...i truly hope i didn't offend anyone with my comment how easy it would be for us to (theoretically) forget. what i meant was that we wouldn't have to deal with a lot of the nastiness from strangers, but that we didn't ever want to forget or want choi boy to forget how our family was built. i think it'll be something we'll have to continue reassess as we navigate through our life together as a family, finding our balance in how to celebrate our story and how to respect our son's privacy. you know what i mean? i hope that makes sense. feel free to comment or email with other things you feel i need to know or consider. and thanks again for your thoughts -- i so appreciate them!}

and now, moving on to totally trivial matters...

last month, my favorite children's author came to town! that's right folks, MO WILLEMS was pretty much in my backyard.

unfortunately, i wasn't able to get to the book signing because i was busy prepping for this lovely event. however, with some creative tag-teaming with one of my co-workers, i was able to secure an early number for the signing (they were giving out numbers deli-style) and pass my books off to my co-worker so she could get them signed for me along with the books for her kiddos.

i have quite a few of mr. willems' books, but the event only wanted new books to be signed, so i picked up these three beauties while getting my number:

my friend is sad is one of the first elephant and piggie books and one of my absolute favorites. it's hilarious. i never had my own copy, but instead hoarded the school library's copy from september to june. guilty as charged.

knuffle bunny free (the last book in the knuffle bunny trilogy) and we are in a book are mo's newest books and they are fantastic, as are all of his other works. seriously, i cannot talk enough about how awesome he is! he used to be the head writer on sesame street before becoming an author -- hello, dream job! another very cool tidbit about mo is that he deliberately draws his lead characters very simply so they can be copied by the children that enjoy his books. how neat! he has some really great websites (check out both!) that have games and other activities for kiddos and he also has a great blog (be sure to check out his chalkboard wall dining room doodles -- SO cool)!

and, i love him even more for taking the time to sign his books for my boy, complete with doodles of piggie and knuffle bunny:



oh, and an important note -- "knuffle" is pronounced "KUH-nuffle." it's made clearer in knuffle bunny too, and i didn't realize it until i read it. don't make the mistake i did, start saying kuh-nuffle starting with the first book. :) and, if you happen to see the animated version of knuffle bunny on DVD, GET IT. the voices are done by mo and his family, and his daughter, trixie (the inspiration for the book), does an amazing job. you and your littles will LOVE it. cross my heart.

and remember, those book plates i briefly mentioned? here they are:



yup, proudly displaying my love affair with elephants and hippos again. :) wait, that sounds kinda weird. you know what i mean, right?

by the way, mo willems has absolutely no idea who i am (although how cool would *that* be if he did!), i just love his work so much that i feel the need to share it with anyone that's willing to listen. and, i just so happen to have a ready audience whenever i so choose to whip out one of mo's books. and my students ADORE them! so much so that last week, i was invited to a former student's house to watch him and his older sister put on some elephant and piggie plays!

A was in my kindergarten class last year and really took a liking to these books and it really helped him learn about reading with fluency and expression. over the summer, he and his sister decided to read the books as reader's theatre plays and invited me over for a special performance. his two brothers also joined in for some special guest roles. ;)

check out the program they made for me:


it was beyond amazing -- so cute and so well done! i was so honored to be invited to this very special performance just for me. :) (and, p.s. totally not weird to invite a teacher over to your house for things like this, at least in my neck of the woods...in my nine years of teaching, i've been invited over to several families' houses, birthday parties, soccer games, etc and it's always been fun!)

yay! books make me so giddy! :)

i know there's a lot going on in korea right now, and really, it could send me over the edge, but i'm going to put my trust in the Lord and choose to be thankful for all the little things...even children's books...

have a happy happy thanksgiving everyone! i hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

give it to me straight.

okay, mommas, i need your input.

i'm reading parenting your internationally adopted child by the adoption guru (you know, ms. patty cogen). i know, it's about time, right? i am admittedly a procrastinator and am now frantically trying to read through the book before choi boy comes home!

the book has some really great insight and i'm learning a lot.

but, the thing is, as great as the book is, parts of it also scare the pants off me! i've been told to take the book with a grain of salt, but still...the parts that scare me the most are the parts about attachment and adjustment (so, pretty much the whole book!).

i know that it's going to be hard. and i know that there is going to be a considerable amount (a LOT) of grieving and adjusting on choi boy's part, as well as a lot of adjusting on our part. i know that things are likely going to be ROUGH for a quite a bit. i also know that there will be moments of great joy that will balance out these more difficult ones, but that does not make the hard moments less scary. (at least right now.)

now, the best part of blogging has been finding an amazing community of people who have traveled this road ahead of us and know what we might be facing in the coming weeks and months. i am sincerely grateful for your wisdom and your experience and for coaching us along as we travel in your footsteps.

so dear friends, i am going to call upon your wisdom and experience and ask you help me out. is patty right? is the attachment period going to be super duper hard??? for years? and no sugar-coating...give it to me straight.

and, if this is too personal a subject for you to comment on, no worries, i totally get that, too!

pete the cat.

i had this video forwarded to me at the start of the school year by one of my colleagues. and i thought i'd share it because i LOVE it. and i NEED to get this book. it would be the *perfect* addition to choi boy's library.

it's a bit long (4 and a half minutes), but i promise you'll love it! and if you have littles, pull 'em up next to you to watch, too. oh, and a warning, you might have this song stuck in your head for a few days...;) enjoy!

nerd fest!

this saturday, we headed downtown to the national book festival. it's something i'd always wanted to go to, but never got around to actually attending. this year, when i found out who was going to be there, i decided we *had* to be there. curious to see who was the driving force behind this decision? read on!

we got to the festival and it was packed!

that's me and my sister in the lower left corner. (ugh, i hate pictures from the back!)

the festival was held right on the national mall just in front of the capitol.


we got there early because one of the people i HAD to see was speaking at 10:30. i was so, so, SO excited to hear her.

want to know who it was?

is the suspense killing you yet?

i know, i'm cruel.

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people, i met the pioneer woman.



she was hilarious and warm and just as amazing as she is on her blog and in her cookbook. if you're not familiar with her, you *need* to start reading her site. her posts are awesome and recipes are amazing.

i even asked her a question.

i asked about her memoir, black heels to tractor wheels, that is in the works to be made into a movie. so cool. imagine, starting a blog one day, growing a readership that results in 18 million hits a month, publishing a best-selling cookbook based on the blog, being asked to write another book based on a series of blog posts and then having that book made into a movie! crazy.

i actually did meet her, but you'll have to keep reading to find out how that happened. ;)

after ree spoke, we went to stand in line for mem fox's book signing. she was the other reason i went. judith viorst, rosemary wells, and katherine paterson were some authors whom i love and respect and were also present, but i just adore mem fox. there is just something magical about her storytelling. her books are always favorites in my classroom.

i bought new copies of these books to add to choi boy's library and brought them to have mem sign them.


we waited in line for a good 30 minutes. and it was hot. the kind of gross, humid, nasty hot that you only get in dc. it was 95 degrees. hi, it's fall...apparently, the weather in dc didn't get the message.

we waited and waited and waited some more. all to be turned away! boo! i was so sad. seriously, crushed. so crushed that we had to go eat lunch to make me feel better.

amazing pizza and chopped salad did make me feel better.

i even managed a smile.

(sidenote: isn't my sister gorgeous? we don't really look alike -- i look like dad, she looks like mom, but you can tell we're sisters because we both have those weird cheekbones that make us look like we're hiding an egg under each cheek when we smile. really, look closely. you'll see what i mean.)

we headed back to the festival so i could at least hear mem speak.


she was wonderful. she told us about growing up in africa and being the only white child in her school. a school that met under a tree and where she learned to write using her finger and tracing letters in the earth. amazing!

she read my favorite book of hers, whoever you are, and told us that she would read this everyday to her prematurely-born grandson while he was in the incubator.

i totally cried.

while i was listening to mem, peter very kindly waited in line for me at ree drummond's book signing. isn't he nice?

this time, i was able to get my book signed. yay!

now, i've met/encountered a fair number of famous people in my day: shaq, carson daly (i went to TRL when i was interning at noggin in college), a good number of the mtv veejays back when there were veejays (noggin folks ate at the same cafeteria as the mtv, vh1, nickelodian folks), john mayer, steven curtis chapman, guilana depandi, paige davis, bob costas, the today show hosts, and others that i can't remember right now. but for some reason, i totally geek out the most when i meet authors.

i think it's because i feel connected to them like they're my people. and i just love them for what they do. i've met ann m. martin and jane yolen (they're alums of my college) and one day in college, i ran in to eric carle while buying lip balm. my college town was home to lots and lots of authors, and mr. carle could regularly be seen walking around town. i almost fainted when i met him. he is SO cute!

because of this, when i met ree and had her sign my cookbook, i was so excited and nervous. look how ridiculous i look talking to her.



i'm like a child at disney world.

here's the cool part. volunteers from the junior league were running the book signings and they were taking pictures for their newsletter. out of all the people in line, they asked me and peter if we wouldn't mind taking a picture with ree for the newsletter. peter said no, thinking they were asking if we wanted to subscribe to the newsletter, but i cut him off and emphatically answered, "yes! we'll do it! yes!" which is funny, because the girl said she asked us because she needed pictures featuring men, not just women, so, as peter reminded me last night, *he* was the reason we got chosen. thanks, honey!

so, yes, we had a special photo taken with ree. she was asked to come to the front of the table (which she didn't do for anyone else!) AND she told me that she loved my necklace. twice. :) (confession: i bought that necklace for $4.17 at old n*vy.)

unfortunately, the photo i have of that moment is really unflattering, for me at least. i'll show you because i love ree and i love you but, you can see what bad posture i have, how the summer of eating has really taken a turn for the worse, and how gross and sweaty we were.


see?

but, definitely a cool moment, unflattering and all!

we didn't get to see all that the festival had to offer because it was absurdly hot and we were pooped from walking around in the heat. we do hope to be back next year, though, with choi boy in tow! if you haven't been to the book festival you should put it on your list - so worth it!

nerds rule!