Sinner's Alley Happy Hour (Part 1)

Parent Cafe
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<p>I hardly ever allow myself to stop in here (such a teetotaler! :wink: ), but I can’t resist joining the discussion on children’s books. One of the things I most looked forward to with my second child was sharing again the books my first had loved. </p>

<p>My first child particularly appreciated some of those illustrated by Susan Jeffers (NOT the self-help author Susan Jeffers, but the painter Susan Jeffers) – “Hiawatha” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (with each line of the poem a separate page). Her “Wynken, Blynken and Nod” was another beautiful one. We have a collection of signed copies which I hope someday to share with grandchildren.</p>

<p>One Sunday my daughter, not yet a year, was in church and spied a little boy with a copy of the hardcover “Make Way for Ducklings.” She was frantic, as she had never realized that there are multiple identical copies of books, so she therefore was sure that that kid had HER book, which was actually safely at home! (She was not speaking then, but her distraught reaction made her concerns clear.)</p>

<p>Ah, those were the days! My first still loves the books of her youth, and refuses to dispose of them.</p>

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<p>I actually found [the</a> book I learned to read in](<a href=“http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/0750002204/202-7677323-7751868?SubscriptionId=09FVDRT8TEJ64C2A7Y02"]the”>http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/0750002204/202-7677323-7751868?SubscriptionId=09FVDRT8TEJ64C2A7Y02) on Amazon…it’s about a mouse who tries to get to the moon because he thinks it is a piece of cheese. Apparently they changed his name from Stanley to Fabian in the Swedish edition. I still have it in my room somewhere.</p>

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<p>That’s Good! That’s Bad!</p>

<p>Possum Come A-Knockin’</p>

<p>We’re Going on a Bear Hunt</p>

<p>In the Night Kitchen</p>

<p>Andrew’s Bath</p>

<p>Those semi-subversive texts were our favorites. AS for the monotone, I used to tell my boys that they they could come back downstairs if they closed their eyes while I counted to one hundred. If they were still awake by the time I got to one hundred, they were allowed to get up out of bed. </p>

<p>They dutifully closed tehir eyes and I whispered each number, softer and slower by the digit.</p>

<p>Okay, okay, I admit there were a few times I counted “88…89…61…62…”!</p>

<p>Needless to say, no small boys ever made it back downstairs. They both sleep like the dead to this day. ;)</p>

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<p>I love going on a bear hunt- Im not afraid! I havent seen a book but we used to play that at both of their preschools.
Charlotte Diamond was another favorite for music
and Naomi Baltuck for storytelling.lots of storytelling tapes
Tammy Grimes
Maurice Sendak- what a fabulous imagination
Higglety Piggelty Pop!
boy I really got into it- I had such a good time :slight_smile:
My husband was the one who managed to go on all the overnight field trips though- I got to drive on teh day trips which involved much more mud.
hey where is my drink?
I am trying to figure out what they put in this Caribbean Crush- I know it has coconut rum, dark rum and lt rum but what is the juice? it is pinkish and it tasts like a little bit pineapple but something else…</p>

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<p>Im thinking guava?</p>

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<p>guava sounds very good at the moment, or mountain apples or Japanese pear.</p>

<p>Books I could read over and over:
The vegetable thieves by Inga Moore
Silkie Girl, The Silver Cow by Susan Cooper
Dr. DeSoto by…? went blank</p>

<p>But just thinking of the Bernstein Beers makes me want a stiff whisky</p>

<p>The lightning bugs are everywhere and I still have an eight year old who finds them miraculous…we’ve been out chasing them, even in the muggy heat. Small pleasures.</p>

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<p>Managed to avoid getting both the Berenstain Bears and the Curious George books when S was young.</p>

<p>Have kept some of the clasics for use for grandchildren, sometime in the future, we hope.</p>

<p>My favorite book to read by Dr. Seuss: Fox in Socks. Lots of others were good, and don’t forget that he also wrote one for us AKs.</p>

<p>Goodnight Moon
another vote for Gregory the Terrible Eater
and speaking of terrible, a vote for Alexander and the Terrible Horrible Very Bad No Good Day (Judith Viorst)</p>

<p>Raffi’s songs were catchy, but I preferred a number from Sesame Street, especially one by Grover that I have now forgotten.</p>

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<p>Here are some offbeat ones we loved.</p>

<p>The Mountains of Tibet - a picture book about reincarnation(!)
A Hole to the Other Side of the World - a line drawing book about what would happen if you could actually build a rocketship/submarine to take you through the Earth’s core
The Great Pie Robbery - Richard Scary - so dumb but S loved it
Angelina Ballerina - the ballerina connection
Then this book about a little girl named Katie who actually walked into pictures at the National Gallery in London…the cubists caused her some problems:)</p>

<p>The songs I still love come from a lullabye tape by I think Priscilla Hermann. </p>

<p>Lullabye and good night
Go to sleep now my darling
There’s a sandman old and wise
Bringing happy dreams to you
Close your eyes and go to sleep
As the quiet night passes
You are safe in my arms
In my arms all night through…</p>

<p>Sang that for 5 years almost every night to the two of them. I still remember the first time my D sang to me, when she was maybe 3, Lullabye and doodnight, do to sleep my darling mommy. (She couldn’t say G).</p>

<p>Can you tell I am getting sappy as the day we install her in New Jersey approaches?</p>

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<p>willam Steig wrote Dr Desoto and also teh Amazing Bone and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
<a href=“http://www.williamsteig.com/index2.htm[/url]”>http://www.williamsteig.com/index2.htm&lt;/a&gt;
I sang you are my sunshine- when you walk through a storm and down in the valley everynight.( alternated the last with Old man river & Summertime)
When my oldest was in the hospital I sang you are my sunshine to her over and over again- so it never failed to choke me up</p>

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<p>Boy oh boy, are we drowning in our drinks yet?! The lost but not forgotten years of their sweet youth…</p>

<p>Thanks emerald for Wm. Steig. I think he wrote stories to go along with his carttons - very talented at both.</p>

<p>So - any more good jokes?</p>

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<p>Crash my partner in crime,</p>

<p>Sounds like your buzz is wearing off. Curm, another refill!!</p>

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<p>Two books of my daughter’s choice, followed by “her” songs every night. The songs were usually “You are My Sunshine”, “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”, “Away in a Manger” (second verse only), and “Rock-A-Bye, Baby” (with the words changed to “and IF the bough breaks, the cradle will fall; BUT Mum will catch baby, cradle and all”…it seemed a little less horrifying that way!)</p>

<p>By the time my daughter was five, the routine changed because she wanted to sing to me. Her first order of business was to add “Edelweis” which she’d learned from listening to an old “Sound of Music” soundtrack.</p>

<p>I guess I should have known then that she would want to study vocal music in college!</p>

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<p>Bushel and a Peck from Guys and Dolls</p>

<p>I could vary it from lullaby to rouser, depending on the mood.</p>

<p>"I love you
A bushel and a peck
Bushel and a peck
And a hug around the neck</p>

<p>Hug around the neck
And a barrel and a heap
Barrel and a heap
And I’m talkin’ in my sleep </p>

<p>About you
About you <em>stops in her tracks over spelling issues</em> da-loo-da-loo-do
Doo-da-loo-da-loo-do</p>

<p>Cuz I love you
A bushel and a peck
Ya betch your pretty neck I do
Doo-da-loo-da-loo-do, Doo-da-loo-da-loo-do, Doo-da-loo-da-loo-do-do.</p>

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<p>I can’t remember if I posted this story before–my lullaby as a baby was Elvis Costello’s “God’s Comic”. I had trouble with insomnia even then ;), and my dad would play the record (that’s vinyl, by the way) and sing along as he danced around the room rocking me to sleep. One time the social worker who lived up the stairs in our Moscow apartment building knocked on the door and demanded to know what in God’s name my parents were doing to their baby because she might just call the authorities. I guess it’s not the most conventional lullaby:</p>

<p>*I wish you’d known me when I was alive
I was a funny feller
The crowd would hoot and holler for more
I wore a drunk’s red nose for applause
Oh yes, I was a comical priest
“With a joke for the flock and a hand up your fleece”
Drooling the drink and the lipstick and greasepaint
Down the cardboard front of my dirty dog-collar</p>

<p>[Chorus]
Now I’m dead, now I’m dead, now I’m dead,
now I’m dead, now I’m dead
And I’m going on to meet my reward
I was scared, I was scared, I was scared, I was scared
He might have never heard God’s Comic</p>

<p>So there he was on a water-bed
Drinking a cola of a mystery brand
Reading an airport novelette
Listening to Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s “Requiem”
He said, before it had really begun, “I prefer the one about my son”
“I’ve been wading through all this unbelievable junk
and wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys”</p>

<p>[Chorus]</p>

<p>I’m going to take a little trip down Paradise’s endless shores
They say that travel broadens the mind
Till you can’t get your head out of doors</p>

<p>I’m sitting here on the top of the world
I hang around in the longest night
Until each beast has gone to bed
And then I say “God bless” and turn out the light
While you lie in the dark afraid to breathe
And you beg and you promise
And you bargain and you plead
Sometimes you confuse me with Santa Claus
It’s the big white beard I suppose
I’m going up to the pole, where you folks die of cold
I might be gone for a while if you need me</p>

<p>Now I’m dead, now I’m dead, now I’m dead,
now I’m dead, now I’m dead and you’re all
going on to meet your reward</p>

<p>Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared?
You might have never heard, but God’s comic.*</p>

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<p>jmmom-
I’m cryin’ in my beer here. My mother used to sing that song to me, many, many moons ago. I hadn’t realized where it came from.</p>

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<p>thisyearsgirl - I just realized that Elvis Costello and Ingmar Bergman are soulmates.</p>

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<p>Sybbie - you’ve got my number…need to rev things up a bit. Lots on my plate. Two scripts out, some interested, no takers (yet.) What was I thinking returning to writing after a thirty year hiatus? I am nuts?</p>

<p>It’s just that that old lament’s hitting powerfully now “Don’t wanna work no more for anybody else…” Are the early 50’s the mid-life crisis point for educated professional women? Seems like so many other buds are skidding to the same conclusion…</p>

<p>Where’s Norm when you need him? I better stick to the pino tonight…and some salicious gossip (as long as it’s not Hilary - that thread’s driving me nuts) - that’s ALWAYS a good distraction.</p>

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<p>Alumother: haha…why? I’m a bad* little Swedish girl…I have American friends who know more about Ingmar Bergman than I do.</p>

<p>*or culturally illiterate</p>

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<p>Dark deep feeling with an ironic twist that is somehow uplifting anyway. Also can put small children to sleep…</p>

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<p>hahaha very true</p>