Overheard at the swim meet between two five or six year-olds: “No, you have to kiss him on the lips, THAT’S how you get babies.”
Good to know, good to know.
So, I did it again. I’m going to have to change the name of this blog to: Catholic All Year, Controversial Once a Week.
Thanks to all of you who commented on my breastfeeding in public post. It’s really been a great discussion and an eye-opener for me on some aspects of the issue.
I’m still getting a lot of traffic and comments on the gay marriage-supporting Facebook friends post.
And I’m all:
If you happened to check out Thursday morning’s post already, you might want to click over again — if you’d like to see how the Tierneys roll for the Fourth of July. I’ve updated it with a bunch of photos from the day’s festivities. Hope your family had as much fun as we did!
But it’s not all smooching and fighting heresy and s’mores. We’re also planning a birthday party. I’ll do a post on it Sunday or Monday. But until then, here’s a sneak peek:
Hey, here’s something weird about me . . .
When I was little one of my favorite books was this:
The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur. The thing I remember most from it was how the soldiers in your body fight the ugly (furry?) germs, sometimes with the help of reinforcements injected into you by the world’s largest needle.
To this day I do not like to use antibiotic ointment on cuts, or even really to wash them, because I take pride in watching my body’s imaginary red-coated soldiers fight and conquer the furry germs of small skin infections.
And that’s the value of reading, kids.
Hey, speaking of NOT encouraging kids to read, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is getting on my very last nerve. He’s really been pushing the public libraries for the last couple of years. Which, of course, is great. We are big fans of the public library. They know us by name at our branch.
But now he’s gone too far.
He has required that all kids attending the park district day camps spend 20 minutes of their 3 hour camp day reading, or being read to. And instead of an inflatable bounce house every Wednesday, the kids get . . . a visit from a librarian.
It’s a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem that doesn’t exist for all kids in all neighborhoods. My kids go to the library ALL THE TIME, they read and are read to often. But you know what they NEVER get at home? An inflatable bounce house.
I send them to camp to get exercise, not to sit quietly. That’s what nap time is for.
Plus, I’m picky about what my kids read. My 4, 5, and 7 year-olds are the ones at camp. They are not yet fully indoctrinated into the Tierney Family Discerning Reader Program. And who knows what they are reading to them there?
I do not want to hang out at the park for story time. I want to drop them off full of energy and pick them up exhausted. That’s it.
Is this what regular school parents have to deal with everyday? What do I do? Lurk at the park? Request a written list of books they plan to read to my children? Just ask them what they heard when they get home and deal with it here?
Why can’t they just jump?! Okay. Done with rant.
I heart grammar.
Have you seen the BabyLit board books? SOOOOOOOO cute!
Pride & Prejudice
is my favorite, since it’s is the best book ever and could only be improved by super-adorable illustrations and, you know, some counting.
etc, etc.
There are many books in the series now, from Austen to Bronte to Shakespeare. There’s even Moby Dick, which could really benefit from some serious abridging, amirite?
Check them out. Your baby would thank you, if babies did that. For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
I'll have to keep those baby books in mind. Thanks for sharing. Love your blog btw.
I loved that book! The picture of the rabid dog still scares me. I distinctly remember reading the Value Tales books in the S.C. State Capital in the 80's. We were there to lobby for homeschooling, of course. I can't wait until my girls are old enough for them.
Must check out those baby books!
hehe… like the "dinner" meme in No. 2!
I also love the Baby Lit books! I think we have four of them, including Wuthering Heights. The other day, I was reading the actual W.H. and it made my heart skip a beat when my three year old asked what I was reading and then said, "Oh I have that book too! I love it!"
Books that I love even better than the Baby Lit series are Cozy Classics. They're available on amazon – and shameless plug for my blog – I wrote a gushing review here… http://ordinarylovely.blogspot.com/2013/04/cozy-classics-book-review.html
They're super sweet!! And it was how my kids were introduced to Moby Dick, and why it's one of our read-alouds this summer!
Thanks for the recommendation. My kids just want to repeat the Lord of the Rings Hobbit loop on our read alouds with Dad, maybe we'll have to consider Moby Dick!
And . . . If you want your link to be click-able in the comments just cut and paste the HTML code below the comments. Then replace "LINK ADDRESS" with the link and replace YOUR TEXT with some text, in your case it might have been: I wrote a gushing review here.
Ta Da! Now you're writing in HTML code! And more folks will click on your link if they don't have to cut and paste it.
haha! Way over my head! Sometimes I have to call tech support (read "my mom") just to turn on my computer!
Oh. My. Goodness. My family had those ValueTales books and I LOVED them! I still remember the soldiers too! The meme in #2 definitely gave me a good laugh 🙂 Happy Friday!
Thanks for the morning smiles! 🙂
I loved the baby book version of P&P. My fave is the last page – it makes me laugh every time!
I have such fond memories of the Louis Pasteur book & little red soldiers, too!!
#5 – Yes this is what parents of traditional school kids have to deal with – even when they pay $10,000 / year to send their kids to Catholic School. I came home one day last May and was greeted by my 3 year old singing "Sexy lady". Apparently, during my Kindergartners "Brain Break" where they listen to Just Dance for Kids and move around, my son was introduced to "Gangnam Style" and taught his little brother when he got home. I am certain actual steam was issuing from my ears a la cartoon style!!
Yes, I love Babylit! We've got Little Master Shakspeare!
We have a couple of those board books, and I'm pretty sure I love them more than my chickadees! I agree with the whole park thing. I just spoke with our librarian here in Gouverneur about a similar situation here on Ny. She agreed that discernment about what books to read has been voided because of the terrible literacy rates in NY.
Great post!
I love the Baby Lit board books! We have Jane Eyre, but I would like more. 🙂
Love the baby lit books too! Of course P&P is a must! 🙂
I totally remember the Louis Pasteur book! But I've never seen the Baby Lit books before. Very cute!
Many awesome quick takes, but eating grandma is the best. Hooray for grammar! Also, glad to see that Chicago is treating the Tierneys right.
great!! I loved your quick takes.
I also love owls so I'll have to come back to check out the b-day party.
and for the reading I don't know what to say.. maybe do ask the list. I would probably do that, or stay the first few time and see what they read to them.
Oh-my-goodness! Those BabyLit books are adorable and AWESOME – I want them all! My kids are all grown, but I just learned that my first grandchild is on the way, so I am going to start collecting them! The earlier I can introduce my little ones to Jane Austen the better! And next I'm headed over to check out Theresa's review on the Cozy Classics series!