This morning Ky Ky was playing one of his favorite drums. I could hear it but couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from. I went to check on him. This is what I found~~
Kyle is obsessed (as he is with many things) with Mac & Cheese.
Heather makes the boys lunch for school each day, but had not given him Mac & Cheese (despite repeated requests). However, when he came home yesterday describing in depth how another boy had Mac & Cheese, and it was clear he was enormously jealous, Heather had to act.
According to Kyle, the Mac & Cheese was “streaming” and they made it hot “in a little oven” and the “little oven is red.” He really really really really wants Mac & Cheese now because “I love it soooo much.”
Heather dutifully made the requested delicacy and put it in both boy’s lunches. When I dropped them off, I sidelined the teacher and told her about his m&c obsession – she knew about it. I told her that he had m&c for his lunch, and asked her how they heated it up – and that K had explained about the little red oven.
She smiled and said – we don’t have anyway to heat it up – the other little boy had brought it in a thermos!
Next item on the shopping list: Thermos.
It looks like my boys are going to be popular kids -and it’s starting early. Of course it remains to be seen – they are still “cute” in many eyes. What ever happens, this happened at school drop off today:
We walk in – and as usual (well – day 6 usual anyway), we’re greeted at the door with a big welcome. There are kids everywhere – ages 3 – 15 all hustle and bustle -time to go to class. Backpacks, slings, books, shoes, bumping and laughing and trying to not get in trouble for whatever it is you might be doing. Generally enjoying the morning before it’s time to start the day.
K & O stride down the halls with their own back packs on – “Papi – look at the fountain! Owen – you see the fountain???” “Yes, Kyle, I see it, I SEE IT!!!” Owen has to run his hand across every single thing as he goes past it, whether that’s a kid, a teacher, a door knob or wall – everything. Kyle just looks around in wonder at all the kids and tries (mostly successfully) to not fall down.
As we near their classroom, I hear “High five!” Then – “oh maaan!” Then again “high five! – yes!”
I turn to look and Kyle has just given a kid (who might be around 10 years old) a biiiig high five. Owen was too busy touching things and didn’t notice him; he turned back and gave the kid one too. I have never seen this boy before, and I can’t imagine that K or O have or know who he is – they don’t seem to.
The kid then turns to his friends and says in this most prideful way – I just got a high five from Kyle and Owen!
We have well over 100 children’s books right now that Kyle and Owen actively love (we have many more than 100 books, but about 100 that we are currently regularly reading). That is not an exaggeration. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it. But, K & O adore books — have right from the start. And don’t forget, they have two book-loving doctorate-degreed parents. We cycle through these current favorite books over and over, reading all of them regularly enough to warrant the excessive book collection (and the constant growth of the collection). K & O love the excitement of new books, but they love to read the same books over and over and over again too. One whole category of our books are books which are geared specifically for black kids and/or books with black characters in them. These books would be great for any/all kids but they are especially wonderful for our kids. Many of you have asked for a list of these books. Here are our Top 10 Current Favorite Books for Black Kids.
note: this list is in no particular ordernote #2: I’m not including children’s books about adoption here. I’m also not including children’s books about twins here. Maybe another time I’ll do a list of those books. They are not on this list.note #3: I’m not including board books here because K & O have generally outgrown them — but when they were younger we had well over 100 board books, many with black themes/characters, and if anyone is interested I can give you a list of those sometime too.note also: If you click on each book title you’ll see that I’ve linked each book to Amazon.com. I hate to endorse Amazon.com – such a huge corporate capitalist book dealer – but it was the easiest/quickest way for me to do it. Of course these books are available many places other than Amazon.com!another note: Anyone who has been to our house knows that I’m fond of making my own books for K & O and you’ll probably wonder why I haven’t included those books on this list (especially since K & O are so fond of them). I’ll post about that another time.last note: I cheated a little, as you’ll see… but it was very, very hard to limit this list to just 10!really last note: If there’s a book you love in your family, leave a comment here to share it with us!the very last note, I promise!: Remember, K & O are just three years old. There are tons of really great books out there for/about black kids that are geared toward kids starting around age 6/first-grade (some of which are sitting up on one of the higher shelves in Kyle’s room). This list is specifically for the 3-and-Under-Set!* * *Top 10: Our Current Favorite Books for Black Kids (& Every Other Kid Too!!!)
- The Skin You Live In – Michael Tyler, Author / David Lee Csicsko, Illustrator
- Sing Along Song – JoAnn Early Macken, Author / Leuyen Pham, Illustrator
- Anything by Bell Hooks, Author / Chris Raschka, Illustrator ~~ such as: Be Boy Buzz & Happy To Be Nappy
- Anything by Rachel Isadora (Author & Illustrator) ~~ such as: Caribbean Dream & Peekaboo Morning
- Please, Baby, Please & Please, Puppy, Please – both by Spike Lee & Tonya Lewis Lee, Authors / Kadir Nelson, Illustrator
- Black All Around – Patricia Hubbell, Author / Don Tate, Illustrator & Shades of Black: A Celebration of Our Children – Sandra L. Pinkney, Author / Myles Pinkney, Photographer (both of which I’ve blogged about before — click here and click here).
- Anything by Debbie Harter (Illustrator & sometimes Author too) ~~ such as The Animal Boogie & The Creepy Crawly Calypso & Bear On A Bike
- Queen of the Scene – Queen Latifah, Author / Frank Morrison, Illustrator
- Anything by Molly Bang (Author & Illustrator) ~~ such as In My Heart (note: this book is awesome for 2-career-families!!!) & Ten, Nine, Eight
- We All Went on Safari: A Counting Journey Through Tanzania – Laurie Krebs, Author / Julia Cairns, Illustrator
O.k., I’ve read many, many books on this subject (i.e. adoption; white parents adopting black kids; inter-racial adoption/bi-racial families). There are some good ones out there (and there are some not so good ones out there). Per your request, my dear readers, here is my List~~~
note: Please comment here to share your own favorite must-read adoption books (especially anything on black-white families!!!)
* * *Top Ten Favorite Books re: Adoption & Black-White Adoptive Families
- Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents, by Deborah Gray (my favorite adoption book of all time, a must-read for any adoptive parent of any child regardless of race/class/gender)
- Talking With Young Children About Adoption, by Mary Watkins & Susan Fisher (my 2nd favorite book on this topic of all time, again — regardless of race, a must-read!)
- Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew, by Sherrie Eldridge
- How It Feels to Be Adopted, by Jill Krementz
- Jamaica and Me: The Story of an Unusual Friendship, by Linda Atkins
- I’m Chocolate, You’re Vanilla: Raising Healthy Black and Biracial Children in a Race-Conscious World, by Marguerite Wright
- Birthmarks: Transracial Adoption in Contemporary America, by Sandra Patton
- Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption, by Barbara Katz Rothman
- Inside Transracial Adoption, by Gail Steinberg & Beth Hall
- Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib, by Jaiya John
Also… unrelated to adoption…
Re: Haiti — lots and lots of books out there, have read many, here are just two of my favorites:
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Re: CMs (Career/Working Moms) — a bunch of books out there, have read many (them all?), here are a couple of my favorites:
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Re: Twins — lots and lots and lots of books out there, have read many, have yet to find one I actually like. LOL!
Owen, so proud of this little ensemble he put together
Kyle & Braydon, so proud to be dressed “match to match”
Late this summer I announced to K & O that “now that they’re THREE!!!” they can “have gum!!!” It was a big huge deal to them. They were very excited. They’d tell me over and over and over: “‘Ittle babies can’t have gum! No! 2-year-‘solds can’t have gum! No no! Ony FHREE-year-‘solds can have gum! Yes!”
For one, gum became a quick fix for every worldly (and bodily) problem. Feeling cranky? Gum will fix it! On the floor in a terrible tantrum? The mere mention of gum snaps him right out! Got a boo-boo? Gum cures all (including, we’ve learned from experience, bloody scraped knees and ‘owies in the belly’). Gum has become a daily obsession: “Can I have gum? Very, very very, very please can I please have gum?”For the other, gum became a quick downer. As soon as he realized that gum is not to be swallowed the thrill was gone. The illusion was smashed. You can’t eat it???? What the heck? Then why on earth would anyone bother with it? He seems to think the rest of us gum-chewers are off-our-rockers. He raises his nose in the air at the mere mention of gum. He tried it once. That was enough for him. Now, when gum is mentioned, he simply says, “No thank you.” Then quickly: “Can I have fruit snacks?”
Owen loves gum. He can’t seem to get enough of it.Kyle hates gum. He can’t seem to get why anyone would want to chew it.Lovely combined with active, fun, nutty and the other normal modifiers of our life.
Went to the bookstore, got some important books including, of all the crazy things: Little Einstein’s “June’s New Shoes”. This was Kyle’s selection, although it seems that Owen is the one with some kind of June infatuation (note, June is one of the characters, not the month). Also went and got a new trash can for recycling – just recycling Matt and Stacey’s idea – love it. We’re also now composting – which we’re dropping off weekly at River Valley Waldorf School – love it.
Dropped HBJ off at the grocery store and K, O and I went for some much needed stone throwing in the river. Overheard:
O: “Kyle, watch this BIIIIIIIIIIG SPLASH! Do you see it Kyle?”K: “Yes Owen, I see it, it’s a BIIIIIIIIIG SPLASH OWEN!”K: “Owen, watch mine skip. You see it skip Owen, you see it?”O: “Yes I did see it skip, yes I did!”
Note: in both cases, there was neither a big splash nor a skip. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Speaking of…. We had never been down to this particular river and when we went, I thought we had entered another land – lost in some fin de sic era before cars took hold. Since I didn’t have my camera, I whipped out my cell phone to photograph this time before digitization with two cutie pies throwing rocks.
Needless to say, they loved it and there was no problem burning 40 minutes while HBJ shopped. Then we went and tried to do doughnuts in the parking lot behind the grocery store before HBJ came out. Note: you can’t really do doughnuts in a 4×4 on dry pavement, but our 3 year olds sure thought it was fun to try.
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