For Grandma

When we moved from Montana to Michigan, my mom and my grandma sat down with a tape recorder and read their favorite children's book. The girls listened to those stories on tape during the long drive between states, and they listen to the stories around town, a year and half later. They would listen to the stories every day, but I don't let them. Even though Grandma is an excellent reader, I can't listen to Gertrude McFuzz too many times without going crazy.

This morning on the way to MOPS, K was listening to her great grandma ( whose face she may not even remember, but she knows her voice) read The Velveteen Rabbit. K is normally silent in the car. I often forget she is there but suddenly her little voice said excitedly, "Mommy, the Velveteen Rabbit is like Pillowcase." Pillowcase is a flannel pillowcase that K carries around. Smelling it makes her feel safe. It is now threadbare, and has a giant hole in middle with a few long, brave threads spanning the abyss to hold the thing together. Now I know she understands the story.

Anyone know how to get a tape transferred to a CD?

Planets

Once a week, T tells stories or reads stories to the girls before they go to bed. Often the stories are about a princes and her Pegasus and they teach lessons. For a bit more on this see my post with video called Movie Time, from April. Lately, the girls have been making up their own stories about the princess to tell T. They are painful and enchanting. Their stories meander and go on and on and on and it's hard not to tune out. But if you don't, sometimes there is a plot. H's have been getting more story-like lately. Here is the story (minus all the embellishments) from last week, I think she was listening when someone taught her about planets.

God told the princess that she needed to go say "hi" to the moon. So she got in her rocket with Puffy Cloud. First the rocket went to Mars, but it was too hot there. Then the rocket went to Pluto, but it was too cold there. Finally the rocket went to the moon, but it was the wrong moon, then they visited another moon, it was also the wrong moon. Finally, the princess landed on the right moon. She said, "Hello moon." Then she went home.