Chewandswallow

There is a new favorite book at the Williams' household: "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." While the repetition can get a bit wearying, there is simply no better children's book than this. The drawings are fabulous, and you have to love a book that teaches kids absurd humor. I loved this book as a kid, and when we first cracked it open for Abigail a few weeks ago, the pictures brought back so many memories! Baseball players snacking on pie, a mother running from giant doughnuts, a man lying squished under a huge hamburger, the houses made out of stale bread at the end ... Every child needs to learn very early on about irony. Hopefully we're on the successful path of instilling the proper appreciation of humor so she can later enjoy "The Princess Bride" and "Monty Python." Every mother's dream.

And aparently there's a sequel! Any one ever read "Pickles to Pittsburgh"? Based on the name alone, I'm intrigued.

Cooking with children

While at my mother's for the holidays, Grandma Roberta and Abigail decided to make cutout cookies. It would make a good flip book :)

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The latest addiction

Are any of you on Netflix? I have recently signed up, only four movies a month which means it will take forever to get through the drama and foreign-film heavy queue. This also means I have discovered the joys of having "Friends" on Netflix, offering the opportunity to yell at friends and coworkers things like, "What?! You mean you hated 'High Fidelity' and loved 'Being John Malkovic'? What are you smoking?!" So who all is on, so I can be incredibly nosey and look deep into the inner-psyche of your movie watching habits?

By the way, my most recently watched film was "The Chorus," a French film set just after the war in a boarding school for delinquents and orphans. The premise is that a failed musician comes to the school to work as a -- ugh, how to translate this idea? -- a "surveillant," someone who watches the boys during study hall, recess, at night in the dorms, etc. He then gets the idea to start a chorus for the boys, which of course in movie-land works like a charm and improves the lives of the boys. Maybe a bit optimistic, but how WONDERFUL!! A belief in the redemptive power of the arts and education reminiscent of "Dead Poets Society." This was a great, great, great film, won the Oscar for best foreign film a couple years ago. I more than highly recommend it.

It's a beautiful day, dammit

You know, 70 degrees, sunny and gorgeous blue sky makes for a wonderful day -- in APRIL. Mother Nature needs a wake up call, because this is January. I have two lovely new wool turtleneck sweaters that are screaming to be worn, which isn't an unreasonable demand even if this is South Carolina. Even South Carolina gets winter, albeit brief. Must I remind you, Mommy Nature Dearest, that two years ago you dumped two feet of snow on this exact-same town? Can I get just a couple inches of that? Or even just 45 for a high? If I must put up with the steam bath you call summer, can't I at least enjoy a nice nip in the air?

Move over, mascot

Meet Clemson.

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Originally uploaded by HFBW.

Clemson was a kids meal plastic Furby which saved our sanity during our recent trip to Florida. Now Clemson and her friend Roger, also a girl and purple and orange, continue to play major rolls in Abigail's imaginative play. At first, Abigail refused to allow Clemson to be named as such, or even named Tiger, despite her obvious tiger stripes and appropriate coloring. But eventually the name grew on her, so now we have Clemson, who is a "player," excelling in football, basketball and soccer. When Abigail grows up, she has said she wants to play football with Clemson. And I say more power to her!

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Originally uploaded by HFBW.

Book It!

As I planned to add well before a. ever put her $.02 in, I of course read countless children's books in 2005. Seriously, I have no idea how many. Not only do we have dozens and dozens at home, but the library is an exciting day trip for a 3-year-old, where we read books in addition to the ones checked out. Given the sheer quantity of kiddie lit read every day, I'll just keep this to the most popular -- ie., most repeated -- titles, in no particular order:

• "Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever" -- made newly annoying now that Abigail asks what each character is saying, and Scarry packs the pages


• "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" -- the song, illustrated by Steven Kellog


• "The Night Before Christmas" -- Clement Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas," illustrated by Mary Engelbreit


• "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims" -- also sung


• "The Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin"


• Any number of Berenstain Bear books -- my childhood favorites -- side note, how sad that Stan recently died


• "Franklin Goes to School"


• "My First 100 Words in French and English"

Now, if anyone has a suggestion as to how to get a child to come up with what characters might be saying on her OWN, that would be much appreciated!

Literary allusion

He's my husband, so I can steal his ideas, right? Actually, I thought a review of books read over the past year would be a gratifying exercise, so here you go:

Fiction

• "The House of Spirits" -- Isabel Allende -- very good, but a bit hard to stay enthralled


• "Farenheit 451" -- Ray Bradbury -- hardly the first time through, but how can you not repeatedly devour this book?


• "The Mists of Avalon" -- Marion Zimmer Bradley -- interested for the first 300 pages or so, but then I got tired of it. Not a huge fantasy fan


• "Angels & Demons" -- Dan Brown -- a page-turner, but no where near as good as Da Vinci


• "The Red Tent" -- Anita Diamant -- this fabulous book reduced me to tears -- again


• "As Hot As It Was, You Ought To Thank Me" -- Nanci Kincaid -- a surprisingly good book that I fully intended to review and never did


• "Cloud Atlas" -- David Mitchell -- in progress, and a very interesting read, but I'm not good at tearing through non-narrative books


• "Gilead" -- Marilynne Robinson -- wonderful characterization, though I'm not sure it merited the Pulitzer

Non-fiction

• "Asi Es" -- my Spanish textbook that I don't feel like looking for the author of


• "The New Testament: A Student's Introduction" -- Stephen Harris -- it's so nice having a Harvard educated friend who offers essentially free religious studies classes


• "The Old Testament: An introduction to the Hebrew Bible" -- Stephen Harris