Things once thought Childish...

So I spoke a little in my last about my new venture into Children's music, which is not so far fetched for me, similar to my cartoon watching habit, it was not a difficult road to get to the younger version of children's music and TV. A little bit of Dora, her cousin Diego, the Backyardigans, Kipper and Thomas the tank engine, stir and repeat daily (the same episodes mind you) and you've got some age appropriate stuff that Izzy can watch. Same on the music front, in fact if I change her music routine during bath time she gets mighty upset, in fact, down-right belligerent! However, when it comes to children's books I am completely useless. I have some favorites from my childhood and so does Earl but those books are from times when we were older, more patient and had the attention span of a normal human being. Try reading "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" when the page is being turned by you 19 month old because it took you too long to read the 15 words on the page! Not only it difficulty but it is also dangerous for our poor books, more than once I have been in fear of torn pages and bent covers. I must say that I like to teach a respect for books and being that I managed to keep my books in one piece for future use (now), I want Isabel's books to have that same chance. So what do you read a 19 month old who loves to be read to but cannot sit for long and needs a constant change of scenery? Well, I have bought many board books, some just word/vocabulary building books, some with short stories, some with longer stories but none have been so popular as the Sandra Boynton books. I discovered these books in Portland, OR at the Powell's bookstore, largest book store in western states (I swear it has everything!). The first books I bought were "The Belly Button Book" and "Snuggle Puppy", how can resist any book about Hippos and their belly buttons and puppies? I thought they were cute and figured even if Isabel wasn't interested, Earl and I might enjoy them. Well, they were inspirational to us, we became involved in the books and by association Isabel became fascinated and engaged! These are good books, I haven't had to switch out her books in over a month because she was so happy with them and we (the 'rents) weren't getting tired of them. It is amazing that the last time I remember knowing anything about children's book was when I was interning in a kindergarten classroom and the popular books that were winning awards are now considered classics.
I guess what I am trying get at is that it has been an easy transition from adult TV and music to children's TV and music but when it comes to books finding the right kind of books that we can live with in happiness and repetition has been a long hard road but what we have gotten in the end was definitely worth the search!