Monday, January 16, 2012

Once Upon a Time...

I thought that motherhood would automatically grant me the superpowers to fabricate dazzling tales of magic and intrigue, with my words weave the rainbow-hued landscapes of childhood,  permit me to sing an entire catalog of earthy folk tunes from memory, in the voice of an angel - you kow, all those things that make such beautiful memories for children to carry with them from babyhood, on to their own next generation of offspring.  Sadly, I have none of that, and certainly no songs past my croaking of the usual standards, ABC or Twinkle Twinkle, and absolutely no imagination when it comes to telling stories.

None, I'm embarrassed to say.  And I'm really putting myself out on the line here by sharing with you the one, single, uber-pathetic story I have managed to create on my own, to present to Samantha, time and time again, because I have absolutely no idea what else to say.  Thankfully, she hasn't objected...yet.  And thankfully she's usually much happier to have me read a book to her every night at bedtime, effectively letting me off the hook.

For Sammi's and my next Learning Program session next weekend, my homework from our last meeting was to create a reading book personalized for Samantha, something she could read and enjoy over and over again, that would likely mean more and connect better to her than other books.  Not like she hasn't connected to a gazillion other books already, but it is nice to have something special, made for her.  I haven't laminated or bound the pages yet, but will take care of that this week at FedEx/Kinko's. 

I actually had a bit of fun making it, as I enlisted Samantha's help ahead of time.  I told her I was making a book for her to read, and I needed to take some photos of her reading a book, playing a game and having a tea party.  She said, "Sure!" and was incredibly cooperative, so I got the shots for pages 2, 3 and 4 with her assistance.  These kinds of books really are beneficial when teaching your child to read - these are words and concepts that they relate to.  Some of the words in this story are still unfamiliar to Samantha, but for the most part, she has taken a good stab at it and I've helped her out with beautiful, things, once, parties, and happily.  But you can bet, with a few more reads, she'll have them down pat, and you can bet that if they turn up in another one of her books, they will no longer be unfamiliar to her.   

And now, for la piece de resistance, as my ears turn pink and I cower under the covers in horror at my definitive lack of creativity...














16 comments:

Leah said...

Becca, that is BEAUTIFUL. Be proud, creative mama! The photos you take are truly beautiful. I know that she will LOVE this book for a long time to come!

Shauna said...

I LOVE it! I should do those for my older girls too! Reagan is too little to read but I bet she'd like the pictures since she loves books. :)

Rochelle said...

What a fabulous book, Sammi is gonna love it!

Heather said...

Beautiful. But then again, everything you do is ... just look no further than Sammi!

JC said...

Oh my gosh, what a great idea!!!! I love it!!! Fantastic job on the book :)

Lisa said...

That is FABULOUS!!! Makes me want to do one - I'll try to be creative and not just copy yours!

Unknown said...

REALLY THAT IS GREAT!! I love it! and I bet Sammi will love it...and it will soon be her favorite! our kids love there story the most! and this captures Sammi's perfect story! smiles

Anna Theurer said...

Becca!!!!! I LOVE this! What an excellent idea :) Sammi is going to love this book so much and I bet it will be her absolute favorite.

teal915 said...

That is so cute. She will love it, and I bet it will be something that she always loves. And by the way, I love the tea set too. I'm looking for something just like that for my 5 year olds birthday.

To Love Endlessly said...

I LOVE your book for your beautiful princess. I may just have to steal this idea for our own Little Mermaid.

Lacey said...

Sounds like a great story to me!!!

Kimberly said...

It's a super story. No matter how creative a person is, I think that a personalized story for a child at its best is something like this (and this is coming from the person whose husband stopper her in her story telling when the dragon adopted by frogs ate his frog teacher). Anyway, it's just perfect, I'm sure.

wendy said...

What a cute book! You did a great job!!

Rob Monroe said...

It does not have to be the most creative book in the world, this is absolutely perfect for her! Great job! You could even print a few of them at Shutterfly (nice plug, Rob) and send one to the grandparents or other places she hangs out so she has a familiar one wherever she goes. (Double up on bonus points, they get a keepsake of her and you don't have to do any more work than you have already done!)

Becca said...

Rob, you totally GOT it!! I just ordered 2 from Shutterfly lastnight!! They'd given me a $20 coupon that expired yesterday that I could use on anything, and I printed 2 copies, with some additional pages of just photos. :-) :-) :-)

Unknown said...

AWESOME! What a fantastic idea! I need to make these for my kids. Fantastic job.