If you're writing a children's book, do NOT write it in rhyming couplets, unless your name is Dr. Seuss. Insipid prose is not improved by rhyming it. Children's minds are not improved by hearing doggerel. I should not be trying to read poems about disinfectant* with a straight face.
(A limerick about disinfectant, now . . . disinfectant, expectant, protectant . . . )
*It was an alphabet book about zoos, if you must know.
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I figured out what would make my days much easier. Just borrow someone else's 2-year-old for a few days. It would work on the same principle as bringing the cow inside for awhile, but I doubt anyone has a cow I could borrow.
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Also we don't have a video player and our tape player developed a taste for crinkled tape (and once they do that, you never can trust them again). But! I found this website, which has some excellent stories read aloud (and, very nicely, the text of each so I can preview to see if the kids would enjoy it). Google "free audio books kids" and there is a lot out there.
Except I billed it to D1 as a surprise and I think she was disappointed, hoping for something to eat or fight over. But when the first story ended she asked why we weren't listening to another one, so I expect she will develop a taste for them in time.
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We're having an early Thanksgiving for part of the family here tomorrow, driving five hours for another Thanksgiving next week (yes that's right! Five hours in the car with two children just barely potty-trained, and two who need to nurse every two hours),* and just found out that B5 is getting married next Saturday (date moved up for military paperwork reasons). After the next two weeks, just being stuck inside with the kids should seem like a piece of cake.
*Note to Thieves' Guild: We still don't have anything worth stealing (see above), so don't bother. There is this computer, but it's really old and doesn't have much resale value. We put all our money into children, and we're taking them with us.
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This is my first time to host Thanksgiving, or any Holiday Involving Turkey, and I should be past the new-bride stuff, but I did do a creditable job of boiling over the broth for the dressing all over my nice clean stove. I did not burn the carmelizing onions, though. The turkey is not thawed, despite being in the fridge since Tuesday. The pumpkin cheesecakes are done, but I'm very uneasy about the crust consistency.
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The advantage small children have in learning is not some more accelerated brain function, it's simply that they are not embarrassed by doing things badly for awhile. My Hebrew teacher used to say you have to become as a little child to learn a new language, but really you must become as a little child to learn anything new.
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Six again. The babies are fussing. I should be folding laundry and cleaning up that mess in the kitchen.
More Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.
5 comments:
Oh, I'm with you on rhymed stories. Especially rhymed Bible stories (ever read any Arch Books?).
The title of Most Horrifying Ever goes to a book called "Alice in Bible-Land." Shudder, shudder, shudder.
There have been rhyming books in the past that are so awful that even though it's Darren, not me, who does most of the reading aloud, I couldn't stand to hear them. The books disappeared.
Mama Squirrel -- Arch Books are unbelievably terrible rhymes. I could write a blog post in better rhymes than that. Hm, that's an idea...
-- SJ
Alice in Bible-Land is the worst thing that ever happened to children's literature.
Thanks for the link to storynory. We've listened to 3 stories already and I'm sure that we'll eventually hear them all. Bonus points that you can download them onto an ipod!
I think the turkey will work out fine. Just fine . . .
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