I WANNA GROW UP!!!!!

Isabelle loves to read books.  For about the past 6 months she's been really into her monthly Highlights Hello books.  In the few weeks though, mainly because I'm needing some fresh material, I've been trying to introduce her to some new books.

Here are a few of them....

Thankfully Isabelle's been open to it.  Actually she loves the new books and has almost completely replaced her Highlights book with the newest selections. Of those listed above, some she likes the most are, "Are We There Yet?" "Cooking With the Cat" and "When I Grow Up"  We read the books, cheer The End  and then she says READ IT AGAIN!  Yes, pretty much in the same demanding tone you just read that in.  So, we read it again, and again and again.  She has the words memorized to each of the books, so a lot of the time I'll just say the first word on the page and she 'reads' the rest.

The other night we read the same 5 books for almost an hour.  When it was time for bed, I put the books down, grabbed Isabelle and her blankies and told her it was time for ni-night.  She was NOT having it.  Immediately she started screaming, "I WANNA GROW UP!"

Jarrett, who was in the kitchen next to us in the living room, looked at me and we both started laughing.  While she was 100% clear in what she wanted (to read the book When I Grow Up), it came out sounding completely different.

I said, "Oh Isabelle, please don't grow up.  Mommy loves you being small"  Insert Isabelle throwing a tantrum and screaming "I WANNA GROW UP!"

"Isabelle," Daddy said, "Do you want to grow up?" now playing along.  Still adamant she was not going to go to sleep, was now flailing her arms and wiggling like crazy to get out of my arms. "Mommy, I wanna grow up."

After 5 minutes of Isabelle demanding she wanted to grow up, I gave in and told her I'd read, Mercer Mayer's When I Grow Up one more time.

Funny, after reading it one more time, she seemed perfectly fine to be just the age she is now.  I put the book on the table, grabbed her blankets and picked her up.  "Isabelle" I asked, "Do you want to grow up?"  Looking at me with her droopy eyes and her head halfway resting on my head, "I wanna go ni-night"

Until next time,
angie