Thank you, Hallmark!

Have you seen the Hallmark recordable books? No, this is not a product review post. But I do love these books!

Yes, there are plenty of ways to record yourself reading a story to a loved one. But these Hallmark recordable books ended up being the only feasible option for us to be able to send to our children that are in Ethiopia, waiting for their Mommy and Daddy to come bring them home.

We sent a care package to our kids, which will get to them next week. It included a photo album, which will be the first they ever see our faces. And we also included one of these recordable books, All the Ways I Love You, (Hallmark has quite a few titles to choose from).

No, they aren't likely to understand the words being read to them (though we are hoping somebody at the foster home might translate it for them), but they will get to hear our voices. And we will be getting to read to them already! Before we even meet them! I kind of equate it to how we read to Isaac when he was still in my belly. He didn't understand what we were reading him either, but he was hearing our voices.

With these Hallmark books, there is a recording device in the book that allows you to record yourself reading it. Then you can flip a switch in the battery compartment to lock your recording. So this ensures that our voices will stay in the book we sent. And all they have to do is open the book and flip through the pages to hear us reading it to them!

I could see this being a really neat tool to use with beginner readers. They could record themselves and listen back. And as they become more fluent, they could make it fun and read in silly voices and such when they record. They could also record themselves reading and then send the book to a family member as a gift. What a great way to show off their reading skills! Maybe it could be sent to a parent serving overseas, who maybe has never heard their child read yet.

And obviously, they are a great way for friends and relatives to record themselves reading a story to a special little one in their life, and then give it to them.

I know you guys could think of some other creative uses for these recordable books too! Share in the comments section!

(I swear Hallmark is not offering me any reimbursement for this glowing review... though I would gladly accept it if they offered. Hee!)

Big Sale on Reading T-shirts!

Needing to make room and simplify in our house. I have a stack of these super-cute t-shirts that are begging for a real home of their own. :) Maybe yours?

I love mine, and everybody else seems to be loving theirs too. It's my quick go-to, look-good shirt! And I hear that they are quite the compliment magnet! They also make cool teacher gifts. (Come on, you're not really going to give your kid's teacher another ornament or coffee mug this year?)

Since I don't have room to keep storing them at the moment, and would love to have them out spreading the early literacy message, I'm putting them on SALE!! $10 and it's yours! (Add $2.50 if you need it shipped to you.)

I have limited stock so grab your size before it's gone, if it's not already!

These are unisex fit tees, and run true to size. Chocolate brown color with white text on it. Oh-so cute and stylish! Click the Paypal button below to order!

Here's what I've got:

Smalls - 2

Mediums - 0 (sorry!)

Large - 0 (sorry!)

XL - 0 (sorry!)

2XL - 3

Sizes

Small $10.00 Medium $10.00 XLarge $10.00 2XLarge $10.00

Oh! Oh! And I've got ONE of these tees left.

Only $7! It's a 2XL.

Sizes

2XL Tee $7.00

Flattered, but Annoyed

"I want Mommy!" A phrase my poor husband hears our son, Isaac, utter much more often than he he cares to. To be honest though, I'm not sure who it annoys more, him or me! We're assuming it's a stage (Isaac's 2). Praying it's a stage. But nonetheless, it's something we're forced to deal with now, till this assumed "stage" is over.

Bedtime seems to be the worst, which is so hard because my husband, like most dads, works during the day. The evening time is his one good shot each day at getting some quality time with Isaac. And boy, do I love it when my husband does bedtime!

BUT Isaac refuses for anyone but Mommy to read him stories lately. Daddy is not allowed. Auntie Rebecca is not allowed. Grandma is not allowed. Only Mommy. If you try to insist, he will throw the biggest crying fit you've ever seen. I kid you not.

Daddy reading with Isaac, back in the good ole days!

I'm flattered. Really. I mean, what a sincere compliment, right? Isn't he basically telling me, "Nobody reads a story like you read a story, Mom?" If he only had the vocabulary, that's exactly what he would say to us. It would be even more flattering if he weren't also likely to say (given the right vocab), "Nobody wipes my butt like you do, Mom." and "Nobody knows how to fix a cup of chocolate milk like you do, Mom."

So... I guess it's really more annoying than flattering. I want Daddy to have reading time with his Isaac. I think that's really important (and it's important that Mommy gets a few minutes of Mommy time once in a while). But how do you make that happen when you have a very resistant 2-year-old? Wait it out? Force it? Feels like we've tried everything else.

While you guys ponder that, I'm going to go get Isaac. I hear him waking up from his nap, and word around the Watson house is that nobody knows how pick him up out of his crib like me!

ESL Challenge

How to most effectively communicate with two children joining our family that don't speak English? That's the question that's been on my mind for a while. Now that our family has passed court in Ethiopia, we will be bringing our Amharic-speaking children home soon.

I've been talking with other adoptive families, doing research, and trying to brainstorm ideas for communication. I know it's likely our children will pick up English pretty quickly, but there will be at least a few months where we're not speaking the same language. And from my experiences with our now 2-yr-old, I know how frustrating it can be to be to try to express a need or a want and not be understood (this happens for both Isaac and Isaac's mommy and daddy!).

A few things we plan to try:

- Picture communication cards for when we're in Ethiopia, and for when we're home those first months. Someone (can't remember who) also suggested making a book with some basic communication pictures in it that I can keep in my purse for when we're out. The idea of the communication cards is that our children can simply point to the picture illustrating what they need or want, and we'll be able to understand.

- For when we're in Ethiopia (and when we're first home too, I guess), someone suggested a list of phrases like, "I'm hungry," or "I'm tired," written in Amharic with the English adjacent to it. We're hoping at least one of our children can read and would be able to point to the needed phrase, and we would have the translation right next to it. Luckily for us, we have a friend that speaks fluent Amharic and can help us with this.

- We have an Amharic phrase book that we can attempt to use as well, though I've heard that this is only somewhat helpful. From looking at the phrase book, it looks like Amharic is a bit tricky, and I think the accent is a lot of it, like most languages.

- Once home, I've considered labeling items around the house (couch, refrigerator, lamp, etc.) to help them learn to read English. Not sure how helpful this would or wouldn't be. Any opinions about this are welcome.

Ethiopia Reads

- We will obviously be reading a lot of books. Thanks to Ethiopia Reads, I can bring with picture books that have English and Amharic text in them. I also plan to bring some "first word" type books, as well as just some regular storybooks in English with us when we travel.

Ethiopia Reads - Donkey Mobile Libraries from ReFocus Media on Vimeo.

Adoption creates a tricky ESL situation, because it's a subtractive ESL situation, they're essentially losing their native language while learning a new one. Typically ESL situations are additive, meaning the native language is still spoken at home, and is used as kind of a scaffolding to learn the new language.

Please help me out in the comments section with any ESL tips you might have!

Meet The Newest Members of My Family!

Most of you know that my husband and I are in the process of adopting two children from Ethiopia. Today we passed court in Ethiopia, which means the children we're adopting are now legally part of our family (according to Ethiopia). We are thrilled!! We've been dealing with court postponements for the past two months, so it feels great to finally be approved!

Visit here to read more about our children, and about our adoption journey.

Now that our children are legally part of our family, we can share photos of them!! I put together a little slide show. Enjoy!

Living the Lessons

Being a first-time Mom has been an eye-opening experience for me. For the past five years I've been teaching other people's children to love reading, and encouraging other parents to foster a love of reading in their children. Now, I'm seeking to do the same thing within my own family. With my own child.

I feel the pressure to raise a strong and enthusiastic reader. There's that expectation from others... and it's not a silent expectation (from some). But these first couple of years with my son, I've felt pretty laid back in my reading encouragement as a momma. Laid back in that I haven't stressed too much about it; I haven't has any reason to. Perhaps that will change now that my son is getting older (he's not a baby anymore. Wah!) and inching closer and closer to reading independently. We'll see.

My son is talking more and more and has been melting my heart with his expressions of love for books lately. (Go check out the Literacy Launchpad facebook page to read some of his latest quotes.) Just today we were at a bounce house play place and he came and sat next to me on a bench and suggested I read him a book. Melt.

So now that I see that he really does love books, I've asked myself how we got from tiny newborn to book-loving toddler. To tell you the truth, it was pretty effortless. I've done things that come naturally, things that are enjoyable, things that are inexpensive (or free), and things that make my life easier as a mommy... Those things that I've been telling other parents to do for years. They really work. Go figure.

1. We have books everywhere. In every room. If they're there, your child will want to read them.
2. We read at bedtime and nap time. At least. If we read at no other point during the day (which is hard to do if you have books in every room in your house), we have these guaranteed built-in reading times every day. And Isaac looks forward to them.
3. We limit TV time. I always said I wasn't going to let my kids watch any TV before they were two. That didn't happen. But we only let Isaac watch a small amount of TV a day. And honestly, some of his TV watching has lead to extra reading excitement.

There are other little things we do to foster Isaac's love of reading, but these things listed above are the basics. Start here and magic will happen. It's true (gasp!). Everything else we do with our son is a natural progression that stems from these basics.

For more ideas (beyond the basics) just browse my blog, or email me. I would be glad to give you more ideas or help you however I can.

I would love to hear from you mommas of older kiddos about what I might be in store for in the not-so-distant future. How have your children's reading interests and enthusiasm progressed or regressed as they've gotten older? What do you do to keep the fire burning?

Why We Go to the Library

PL Youth Gaming and Virtual Worlds

Yes, I have posted about My Littler Reader's and my trips to the library several times in the past here and here and here. I guess I am just always fascinated (sometimes baffled) by the library and what goes on there.

I must admit, My Little Reader and I are just now getting into a regular library visiting habit. The fact that he's now getting to be old enough to have more of an understanding of, and appreciation for what happens there has served as a motivating factor for me.

This week I was a bit shocked on our visit to one of our local library branches. Isaac and I walked into the children's room (one of only two rooms in this small branch) to find three (or four?) moms sitting around a table chatting while their half a dozen kids (or so) ran around the small carpeted area in the middle of the room yelling and screaming and chasing one another around. There was no correction from their moms, no hushes or attempts to calm them down at all; the moms didn't even seem fazed by it.

I was so frustrated by this. Rightly so or not? There were so many things about this scene that frustrated me. A few:

• These mothers seemed to be using the library as a playroom for their kids to romp around in with no direction (or supervision it seemed), so they could socialize.
• I don't know what was more rude, the loud obnoxious kids, or the loud obnoxious parents.
• How sad to see these moms at the library with their kids, but not actually sharing the experience with their kids, or helping to guide and enhance the experience for their children.
• My son is 2 yrs. old and of course wanted to join in on the chaos that he was witnessing. Ugh! Now I have to deprogram him. (He did calm down once these families cleared out and headed home.)
• The chaos in the children's room made it nearly impossible to browse for books. We had to kind of hang back till they left.

No I didn't complain to the library staff. Perhaps I should have. Or perhaps I had my panties in too big of a bunch over it all? I don't know. But it got me thinking about what I want for Isaac and me when we visit the library. Why do we go to the library?

• To borrow books, of course. A variety of reading materials!
• To hear stories. (Sometimes we make it to story time.)
• To show Isaac the joy of discovering new books. (Look at all these books!)
• To help develop new interests in Isaac. (What fun new things can we read about?)
• To foster his interests that are already present. (Right now he's loving Dolphins!)
• To have a good time. (Getting out of the house is always fun!)
• To learn how the library works. (What's the library for, how to find what you're looking for at the library, etc.)

From what I saw this week at the library, I guess this is not why every family visits the library.

So please use the comments section to tell me why YOU visit the library with your child(ren). Please!