monoceros blogsYesterday evening, my friend, Irene, and I went to a baby shower thown for two former MFA-ers who were visiting (a poet and a fiction writer who entered the program together in 2002).
It was a surprise party with plenty of good food. I love cous cous with garlic! I brought a couple of fruit flans and Irene made a cucumber salad. Wine and beer; orange juice and three exuberant kids (the shower took place at Elizabeth's home). Kiril's hair is very short now. It's Bulgarian tradition for little boys to grow their hair long but when they reach a certain age (in this case, four and a half), they have to get it cut. So little Kiril is now looking boyishly handsome. He turns five next week.
Since this was a baby shower for a fiction writer and a poet, we decided to give books instead of clothing and blankets. We emailed our choices to each other to avoid duplicates. Now, the couple, who call their little one "the peanut" (the peanut is due August 1), have a growing library of children's books, well-loved titles from all of us. And the parents get to enjoy them first before the baby!
I wanted to get them some Brambly Hedge books, which I adore, but I couldn't find them easily (they're British publications), so I got them Nancy Willard's Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch, a book with wonderful illustrations. Hieronymus Bosch was a fifteenth century Dutch painter whose work featured much symbolism and many strange and peculiar creatures.
I hope that when LK and I have our own little peanut, we'll get to build an amazing collection of books too. Not that I haven't already begun. I probably have as many children's books as I do essay collections!
Something I discovered - hospitals in the U.S. gift new parents with the following titles:
Goodnight Moon
Stellaluna
Guess How Much I Love You
Love You Forever
I wonder if hospitals in Singapore do the same. If the government aims to encourage reading at a young age, surely there's no better way than to give books to babies - it lures babies and parents into the world of books, something particularly important since not many adults read themselves. As far as I'm concerned, reading together creates a bond as special as the one made when mothers breast-feed their babies!
Posted by Monoceros at March 23, 2005 9:56 PMI have the Brambly Hedge series! My mum bought it for my sis & i when we were wee kids and we've kept it since. Lovely illustrations. i love children's books. And don't worry, Auntie Joan will add (plenty) to your peanuts' collection. ;p
Posted by: dsd at March 24, 2005 10:43 AMOh, your mom made a good choice! I love the drawings. Wah, all these years, never knew we had that in common.
Thank you - future little peanut is lucky to have a bibliophile for an Auntie! =)
Posted by: monoceros at March 24, 2005 10:51 AMi'd love to have a collection too... they are so sweet...
auntie may will add something too to future little peanut's library... "Guess How Much I Love You" is sucha lovely book... i recall FaFa (Fabian), son of my houseparents in UWCAC, trying to read the German version (his mama, Ulli, is Austrian)... it comes with a soft toy bunny too!
Posted by: tiggie at March 24, 2005 12:46 PMwill have to check out that book then. little peanut's indeed very lucky. =)
Posted by: monoceros at March 24, 2005 10:23 PMYes, we aunties will dote on your peanuts so much! It would be fun if all of us had our own peanuts and had a gathering of peanuts. Haha. Oh imagine, we have our own literature discussions a la Reading Lolita in Tehran, then our peanuts have their own petit reading sessions at some other corner. Fun!
Posted by: dsd at March 30, 2005 12:15 AMDSD, I like the idea of a peanuts gathering! Not sure if they'd have the patience to sit quietly on their own for even half an hour though! =)
Posted by: monoceros at April 3, 2005 11:46 AM